How well do the children in your Kids' Church or Sunday School know others within their church family?  Do members of your church know and interact with the children? Mary Kate Warner (Sunday School Teaching Tips) maintains that children who feel like they belong to a church community will want to come along and be involved within the church family. She suggests a "People Scavenger Hunt". Ahead of time, announce this upcoming activity to the church so that they are aware of what's happening. Children are given a list of people to find - the pastor, someone from the choir, someone who greets at the door etc. Children take their sheet and find these people and ask them to sign their scavenger hunt sheet- obviously, not during the service. She gives the kids a couple of weeks to complete their activity.
We've prepared a handout for you to download so that you can run this special event with your church and encourage your kids to feel connected in.... and it might just surprise and delight the adults, too. 

Download pdf HERE.

When visitors to your church walk into your children's ministry area, you need to be ready to greet them and invite the kids to experience a full-on, exciting adventure as they learn more about God and His love for them. You also need to provide them with information about your church and the activities, groups and programs that are a part of the children's ministry.
What better way than giving the children a gift- a bag of goodies to enjoy that also includes all the information that families need to learn about your church? Great idea.. but too time-consuming to organise? Check out this solution....
The first in our series of Activity Bags is now available and includes colourful stickers, easy-peel-off-sticker scene, 8 drawing and puzzle sheets, stencil set, non-toxic crayons and a 'Thank you for Visiting with Us' slip. Just slip any other information about your church events or your ministry into the bag and add a registration form... and it's done. What could be easier? Activity bags can be purchased from our online store in packs of 10 for $15. (A quality Australian product with more designs coming soon.)
ONLINE STORE

Elevate (Creative Pastors) has been producing material for families for some time but they have recently changed the format of these resources. Bible stories, music videos and music playable on computers, iPods, iPads and more can now be downloaded from their Elevate Family website, thereby avoiding the postage/handling costs which have been a concern for Australian and other international customers. These downloadables are convenient and affordable, with prices at $1.99 and $1.09. Bible story downloads include child study questions and family activities or colouring pages and family activities for preschoolers. The Elevate team hopes that this material will make the Bible come alive for kids and help them apply Gods' Word each and every day of the week.

Download these stories and music to include in your children's programs or encourage families to use the material with their kids at home, encouraging them to develop Bible study habits and skills that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.
A free sample Bible story is available for both presechool ages and Age 6-12 group.
Elevate Family site

Recenlty, we highlighted some of the music videos from Group's VBS programs like 'PandaMania'. (See below) Now you can see this and more on their new site- www.4everybuddy.com  This is a safe, kid-friendly, faith-based site for children ages 4 through to and includes games, videos, colouring sheets to download, resources and newsletters for parents and church leaders plus an online store for purchasing some of the follow-on materials from their holiday programs. Check out Fez and the Big Bad Bully, a Bible memory buddy book about standing up to bullies. This and other books are available from the 4everybuddy site.

  A number of publishers provide quality materials and programs for pre-schoolers, but the range of materials available for your 2-year-old group is certainly less extensive. Although studies abound regarding the importance of these early developmental years, many churches and children’s ministries group the inquisitive 2-year-olds with their nursery/crèche departments.

Rethink Group (http://whatisorange.org/firstlook) produce material in their First Look series for the two year olds which is worth checking out. But they also produce a great clip that I have used in presentations to parents, church family and church leaders to highlight the importance of establishing fundamental biblical principles in these early years.

Check out both the materials for 2-year-olds listed below and the First Look clip.

If you're looking for something a bit different for your after-school program, midweek activity or special event, then take a look at CAMP: High-energy. Unexpected. Outrageous. These programs are not new but certainly are full-on excitement and loaded with acitivites and ideas to help you create a unique event for your kids' program.
 
CAMP is a unique, high-energy program for primary school-aged kids (grades 1-7) built around fun themes—Spy Camp, Space Camp, Around the World Camp, and more! At CAMP, fun activities are connected to Bible truths while kids compete in outrageous activities, experience the unexpected, make friends, and build relationships. Each CD includes lesson plans for 12 incredible experiences for kids—including large-group time, activity rotations, and small-group time with ideas, activities, options, and resources to help plan 12 incredible experiences for kids.

Download sample lesson