My own children grew up with VeggieTales dvds, stories and songs. It's interesting now to watch my son singing the 'Where is my hairbrush song' to his little daughter and seeing her face light up with delight. 

VeggieTales connects with kids and families
Over the years, we've regularly presented the Veggietales movie events as new VeggieTales dvds were released. We've found that families from  the community that are unconnected with the church will attend fun events like these and we've been delighted at the opportunity to connect with these families.

VeggieTales Sunday School lessons
So... I'm very interested to see the release of VeggieTales Sunday School lessons for ages 3-8. Each series is a 4-week program with each lesson reinforcing a basic Bible concept.

What's included?
You’ll get a teacher guide to lead you through each lesson and a DVD with the video clips and coloring pages you’ll need. Each lesson includes:

• Easy-to-follow schedule for the lesson
• Exciting introduction
• Fun VeggieTales video clips
• Engaging experiences that tie in to the video
• Interactive coloring page
• Closing that wraps up the lesson and encourages kids to come back for more

Yes... it looks interesting, and I'll have to check it out further. I'm not too excited about an interactive colouring page. (Colouring pages are little more than 'busy activities' for me. I think there are better ways to reinforce the lesson but maybe those are included as the extra experiences.)
I'm ordering a lesson program to find out and evaluate it and I'll let you know.

If you're interested in these programs yourself, you can find them here.

"Grandparents are a delightful blend of laughter, caring deeds, wonderful stories and love."

Welcome all the family, both grandparents and grandchildren, to your special Grandparents Day service and family event. This is a wonderful way to celebrate the role of grandparents in the lives of families and share in some family fun. We're starting the day with a special dedication service for grandparents that includes a special kids' segment. Then the kids will hand out a gift for all the grandparents. You can find out more about it here.

Following the service, families will enjoy a barbecue lunch with plenty of activities for the kids: balloon sculptures, jumping castles,best decorated skateboard competition. Families have also been encouraged to pull out old family recipes to create an award-winning entry in the 'Best Dessert' competition.

How do you highlight the important role of grandparents in the lives of families? 

A 'Grandparents Day welcome' powerpoint slide is available to download below in two different formats.

A gift for the grandparents on Grandparents Day? Sure.. great idea.. but what? Over the years they've probably been given almost anything you can think of, and most would think twice about chocolate if they're watching their diet.

Mmmmm.... well, we decided to create these cute little teabag wrappers from FrogPrincepaperie. You can find the free templateshere. It's a lovely design and so easy that the kids in your kidmin can easily assemble them.

Simply print off the wrappers and cut out each one. They come in 4 different colours. Make 2 folds in the wrappers and, using stick glue, smear glue along 2 edges and assemble the cover. 

The design comes with a little coordinated tag that you can cut out and attach to the teabag string. Then, simply slip the teabag into the cover and it's ready to hand out to grandparents. 

You could pop different flavoured teabags into the various coloured wrappers if you wanted. We used peppermint, Earl Grey, English Breakfast and Chamomile.

If you didn't have much time, or your children were a little too young to manage the teabag wrappers, you could always prepare them beforehand and slip them into a card that the kids could make. You can find some ideas and printableshere.

Kiwicrate also have a suggested 10 crafts for grandparents that are a little more involved but certainly another alternative for grandparent's gift ideas to create. You can find themhere.

I was feeling a little frustrated... and more than a little surprised. Grandparents Day is on Sunday and, along with a load of other planning and preparation still to do, I was looking for an inspirational clip to highlight the role of grandparents and to introduce this segment in our special family service.

A search for quality Grandparents Day clip
After all, there are many wonderful clips for Mother's Day and a growing number for Father's Day. Surely, there would be some quality clips to recognise and highlight the importance of grandparents in the lives of today's families.

The changing role of today's grandparents
Many grandparents have pushed retirement aside and increasingly taken on regular care-giving roles in families.They are 'grand-parents' in every sense of the word as they take on these parenting roles after families have become fractured for a host of reasons. Many of the children who attend our children's ministry programs and Sunday morning Kids Church are brought along by grandparents.

 The story of today's caring grandparents
The story of grandparent carers is one of endless dedication and sacrifice.
Grandparents are Australia’s largest providers of informal child care, and one of the main reasons parents use this and other forms of informal care is to participate in the workforce.

Let's look at the statistics
The figures show that while half of all Australian children under 12 received childcare of some form last year, just 24 per cent were in formal care, compared with 26 per cent who were cared for by their grandparents.There are also more than 14,000 grandparent families in which the grandparents are the guardians or main carers of co-resident children aged 0 to 17 years.  (Australian Bureau of Statistics.)

The personal cost of care
“For those grandparents engaged in the primary care of their grandchildren, it’s not just the work-life family balance they have to worry about,There are also financial, legal, health, housing and safety concerns. Older people often rely on low incomes or pensions which are not designed to cover the costs of child-rearing.  - O’Neill (National Seniors group). 

So... how are you encouraging grandparents in this crucial, though often unnoticed, role in today's family? Have you come across any quality clips for this special day of the year? If so, please share a link below.

I've created a simple little clip using Smilebox that you may like to use yourself this Sunday- Grandparents Day. It takes a couple of seconds for the music to start. (See below)

A typical Sunday morning.. and I can pick the kidmin leaders even from a distance. They're the ones arriving early with the whole family laden with bags and boxes of equipment and resources. I really appreciate their enthusiasm and commitment. But I can't help wondering, 'What's it like to have a 'normal' Sunday morning- a morning where you just turn up to church?'

Sunday programs leave little time to connect with others
Sunday mornings are certainly busy, sometimes exhausting for kidmin leaders, with tasks ranging from setting up the learning areas to organising sign-in areas and parent resources leaving little time to connect with others. Try slipping in the occasional fun activity for your team, following a busy Sunday program, to relax and share some laughter together.

Relax and connect as a team
It doesn't have to be a massive planning commitment- just an opportunity to relax together as a team, enjoy a light meal together and share some fun and laughter. After all, there have been numerous studies done on the positive effects of laughter.

How?
Many families involved in children's ministry struggle to find time for breakfast on Sunday mornings. Plan an occasional fun brunch for your leaders following the Sunday morning program. This provides a relaxed environment for leaders to talk, connect and enjoy the time together.Yes, you could include a time of prayer for your ministry, families and any upcoming event. But, finish by showing a lighthearted, comedy dvd like some of the suggestions below. Set up areas for any leaders' kids, too, with an appropriate dvd showing for them to enjoy.

Suggestions:
* Is It Just Me?, or another of the Ken Davis dvds
* Thou Shalt Laugh
* Apostles of Comedy

Give it a go! Insert a little fun into your team building and lighten the Sunday morning routine. (You may find that other Sunday morning ministry teams want to share the fun.)

Amongst the busyness of life and the deluge of information and news items that most families must sort through and absorb, it's sometimes difficult to make your own kidmin news and information noticed.

Create an unique invitation
Although it takes a little extra time and effort, it might be worthwhile creating an invitation that really does grab the attention. Create these invitations for your play/mother's group and decrease the chances that it will be overlooked or lost.

Instructions
First.. Download and pint the simple bookmark style invitation. Cut out each one and laminate. (You can add extra information to the back of the card if you wish before you laminate it.) Punch a hole at the top and thread through a short length of yarn or ribbon.

Second...Download and print the baby block pattern. One side of the block provides an area to note your group's meeting day and time. Score along the dotted lines of the pattern. 

Next... Cut out the baby block. Smear a small amount of white PVA glue along the tabs. Glue the other end of your yarn or ribbon to one of the tabs before assembling the entire box. Fold up and glue the box.

Last...Fold up and glue the box.  The box should now be linked by the yarn to your laminated invitation.

They are certainly unique and should generate some interest that you can use to speak about your group. The invitations can be handed out individually to mothers and families or simply leave them out on your reception desk or table with a note: 'Please take one.'

Every child, every person, has a primary learning mode. 20-30% are auditory learners- they learn best through hearing information given, and listening. More than 40% of people are visual learners- they learn through seeing. But many learn through kinesthetic means and some, through a combination of all three. Kinetic learners are most engaged in the learning process when they acquire information through participating in an activity. How do you learn best?

Include all learning styles
During the presentation of our kidmin programs and activities, it's important to include activities that will target each learning style. Yes, story-telling is important, especially for auditory learners but you will need to include visuals with banners and printed posters of the lesson, memory verse and Bible point for those who learn best with visual input.

But, include learning activities that ensure participation, such as:drama  reenactment and puppets for the kids to use, actions as you learn the Bible point together, games that have a relevant teaching point.
Many, if not all, of these types of activities should be included in your program materials but it's helpful to remember the different learning styles as you present your lessons.

Create your own visuals with an app
You can also create your own visuals, (posters, images and slides) with some of the apps that are so readily available. For a bit of fun and added interest, try creating a comic strip to highlight an upcoming event, your Bible point or memory verse.

The technique, once you've downloaded the app, is simple. Choose your layout, include your photos, add your speech bubbles and place any stickers on your design. You will need to add special effects to create the 'comic-strip' look and you can choose the degree of intensity for these effects.

It's so much fun that you might like to include the kids in creating the graphics themselves.

You'll find a number of different comic-style apps but I used 'Comic Book' for these images. Check them out, and have some fun!

It's been said the nothing can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child.
For many, the task of presenting the gospel message in a simple fashion for a child to understand, can be daunting. Too often we use terms and words that we understand but that have no clear meaning for children.

Classic book
The classic 'Leading Little Ones to God' by Marion Schoolland is a book that provides a solid biblical foundation through easy explanations and vocabulary that helps children (8-12 yrs) understand such concepts as the nature of God, sin, salvation and the Christian life. 

This book was read to me as a child and I read it to my children who again, have read it to my grandchildren. It was while reading this book that 2 of my grandchildren, indeed, were lead to God. Other families have made similar observations.

Other helpful resources 
But there are other resources that present the gospel message in clear, easy to grasp terms. Click on the images below for more resource information.
What other resources have you found helpful? Please, add a comment and share your ideas.

Grandparents Day, an important celebration on our church family calendar, means an opportunity to highlight 'family' within our community. It also adds up to loads of fun activities for all ages, but a heap of planning for our family ministry outreach team.

Grandparents Day Go-cart Derby
Each year we place a special emphasis on the unique contribution of grandparents during our worship service. Following the service and morning tea, kids' activities are organised (jumping castle, face-painting, balloon modelling) and a BBQ lunch is provided. There will be competitions included: best decorated kid's skateboard, best home-cooked dessert. And, the big finale is the Grandparents Day Go-cart Derby. Four winners (different age-groups) will each take home a shiny, new go-cart.

 Needless to say. it's a very popular event. Grandparents push their grandkids around the race course and those children without grandparents can adopt a willing substitute from within our church family.

Activity teams
We've found that it runs smoothly and eases the load if we organise a director to oversee the event and various teams responsible for various aspects of this event: Lunch Team, Setup Team, Kids' Activities Team, Competitions Team, Go-cart Derby Team, First Aid Team, Decorations Team, Promotion/advertising Team. Everyone helps with the clean-up following the event.

So, for our planning meeting and to add a little retro touch, we organised a bit of fun.

Simple team quiz
Since we're looking at grandparents and earlier eras, we devised an ice-cream quiz that looks at retro ice-cream varieties. We handed out PaddlePop ice-creams as our team arrived. After a brief introduction, we gave everyone a copy of the quiz. The quiz provides a brief history of ice-cream production and then asks what date popular ice-creams were introduced. Then, we had pictures of the ice-creams and asked for volunteers come up and try and place them in order of date introduced. It certainly generated a lot of noisy discussion and was a great start to our planning meeting. The quiz file is included below if you would like to make use of it.

I noted, in a recent Facebook post, that new studies have highlighted the positive effect of music on kids. Playing music has been found to improve a children's cooperation and problem-solving skills.

Including music in kidmin programs
You probably don't need to be told about the benefits of including music in your children's ministry programs. We've found that playing bright background music as kids arrive sets a cheerful atmosphere where kids are eager to join in. Softer music will settle them down and we use specific music for transitions that helps kids know that it's time to move on to a different area.

Boom Whackers
But I must admit that, although we used some shakers occasionally, we haven't used a lot of instruments in our music segments and I'm going to begin to include these. For a term, we did add in some Boom Whackers and the kids certainly enjoyed being involved in the music presentation.

But I've checked out some simple ideas for creating your own instruments that you might like to consider for your own kidmin music segments.

Simple instruments to make yourself
The Youth Orchestra of Fresno have an extensive list of musical percussion instruments that you, or the kids, can make yourselves from Chinese Gongs to Didgeridoos and Sistrums, a hand-held percussion instrument that dates back to Ancient Egypt. You'll find the list here.

You can find more ideas for creating inexpensive percussion instrumentshere.
But you also might like to just show the kids a YouTube clip and encourage them to watch the clip and make the instrument.. see below