Can't see the graphics?Click here to view.

Are you using Facebook? Does your ministry have a Facebook page? I know that, when you are busy with so many other tasks in your ministry, this seems like just another addition to an already full schedule. But there are some real benefits.

Why develop a Facebook page
Creating and developing a ministry Facebook page or other social media increases your ministry's reach by creating opportunities to connect with others and build community with those involved in your ministry.

It also allows you to connect beyond your church and ministry to those who hear about your ministry and want to check you out. So, simply creating a page is not sufficient. You need to regularly add content, information and updates to your page to generate interest and build community. If you want some help with starting this, check out this post from Media for Ministry.

When to post
It's helpful, too, to develop a posting schedule. Don't try and do too much at once. We stick to one post per day for our kidmin Facebook page and have found it works best if we post around 6pm. I expect that's when everyone is relaxing at home and taking time to catch up on their Facebook news. We find it easier to upload all our weekly content at once and schedule the posts for particular days. That way, it's done and complete for the week.

Posts that include graphics will produce more 'likes' and also increase the number of shares and re-posts. But remember, many of your Facebook images can also be added to your Pinterest boards- and so, save you time.

What can you post?
Add information about your programs, the kids' memory verses, reminders for upcoming events, plus hints about your next week's lesson and activities. If you'd like some ideas, you can check out our TweedKids Facebook page HERE..

We have found it helpful to include quotes, statistics and interesting information about children, families and parenting issues. A Christian viewpoint on current events that relate to families is also helpful. So, too, are links to movie or game reviews.

You can find additional information on the New Chapter Facebook page that you might like to share or re-post on your own ministry page.

'Like' our page to receive updates and information- see HERE.

This post contains graphics. If you cannot see the images, click here to view.

Our Sunday morning kidmin program places a strong emphasis on the Bible and we encourage kids to bring along their Bibles each week. We race to look up the Bible story passage, play games to learn the books of the Bible and the weekly memory verses for passages and set out laptops and iPads for kids to access the Impress Kids Bible Memory games before and after our program.

What Bible should I buy?
Parents often ask me which Bible should they buy for their kids. Christian bookstores now stock a wide variety of Bibles for children- it's great! (You can check out a selectionhere..) I usually keep a few samples on hand to give the parents some idea of what to consider- boy or girl, colours (yes, it does make a difference if it encourages your child to pick it up and read or bring along to kids church.) The size of the print is really important, as is the layout of the page. Early readers especially need a clear layout and bigger font size. It's helpful, too, if your version includes sidebars with explanations and more information. Yes, there are some translations that I prefer but it's helpful, too, to mention to parents the version that you use in your kidmin program and materials. If kids hear the Bible verse in kidmin and then read the same words from their Bible, it reinforces the words and helps them to memorise the Scripture passages.

This post contains graphics. If you cannot see the images, click here to view.

In Australia, it will be Father's Day next week and we'll begin our Sunday morning program with the traditional Father's Day Breakfast. This is a great opportunity to encourage all the kids to bring along dad and the family to enjoy breakfast with the whole church family.

Making Father's Day special
We also encourage the whole family to stay for our morning worship service with some added elements especially for dad. There will be a Father's Day clip, and if you're looking for a great clip check out these featured clipsHERE.

The kids will hand out a special gift to all the men in our church family.
But.... we've also been asked to present a special kids' item.

A special item from the kids
I don't know about the kids in your kidmin, but we find that they really don't want to sing. Sure.. they enjoy singing along with our program music and they love to use the percussion instruments when we include them, but up front? A special item? In church? No way! Someone might see me! I'd be so embarrassed! 

It's an added difficulty that kids' attendance is sporadic. We have a lot of regulars, but we also have many kids who turn up without their parents, who walk in late and attend every second or third week. So preparing and practising something special is really difficult. What do you do?

This post contains graphics. If you cannot see the images, click here to view.

I'm a big fan of TinyMe products. If you're unfamiliar with this Australian-based company, they produce quality, personalised products for kids: puzzles, labels, stationery, bags, decor, stickers, diaries and calendars and party needs.

What is TinyMe?
The company was launched in 2006 by a couple of talented dads and.. well, in their own words:
"Once upon a time 3 young dads (who happen to have to have 14 little kids between them) combined a whole bunch of geeky high tech machines, some generous dollops of cuteness, a slightly loopy team of people and mixed them together with the world wide webby thingy. The result was amazing.... a comprehensive range of affordable, premium quality, designer personalised products for kids. All custom made and shipped to you in a jiffy."

This post contains graphics. If you cannot see the images,click here to view.

Whether it's creating promotional materials and resources or customising images for ministry social media, working with graphics takes a big chunk of my time. So I'm excited when I find a program that helps me create graphics quickly and easily.

Online photo editor
The online photo editor, PicMonkey, does this and more. Easily upload an image to work with and you'll find basic edits- crop, rotate, colour and exposure and resizing. But there's plenty more for you to consider as you work with your image. 
You'll find effects that softly or dramatically alter your image: soften, darken the edges, change to septia or black & white, add a soft frost, polaroid cimerama and much more. 

Many effects and overlays
There are touch up brushes and effects, overlays and textures. Add an interesting frame or border. Include your text in appealing fonts and add some stamps and symbols. In fact, the real difficulty with using this program is choosing which of the wonderful effects you will incorporate in your design.

This post contains graphics. If you cannot see any images,click here to view.

I love that definition of boys- 'A boy is noise with dirt on it.' How true!  My daughter recently sighed and remarked that she has found herself saying things to her boys that she could never imagine having to say to her daughter; things like, 'Don't lick the floor,'  'Pockets are not for storing meal worms,' and 'You can collect and play with beetles, but do not eat them.' Bear Grylls has a lot to answer for.

Outreach event for Fathers & Sons
While most of our community outreach events are designed to encourage families to attend and enjoy together, sometimes we focus on a particular group. This month, we're holding a Father-Son Wild Game dinner for families within our church and the community. (We're following up with a Mother-Daughter event, too, and I'll tell you about that in a later post.)

Promotion
We're holding the event on the week following Father's Day (Australia) so the importance of dads will be a real focus for this period within our church and with our outreach efforts. We will be sending out information and flyers about this event, as well as special invitations. We will also be writing editorial content for the local community magazine.

Looking for a promotional idea for a baby dedication, parenting class or group or even a baby shower that will really grab the attention?

Create an invitation on the soles of these shoes
The invitation details for your event can be printed on the sole of the little shoes. They are a little fiddly to make but look really effective. Hand them out or include with a flyer or leaflet with more information about your event. Instead of using them for the invitation, you could also use them as party favours and fill the little shoes with chocolates or sugared almonds.

Materials needed:
Few materials are required to make these invitations and they can be altered easily by printing the design templates onto different coloured or patterned papers.
* A4 paper - plain or patterned (one sheet will make 2 baby bootee invitations)
* PVA glue- pour a small amount into the lid
* small lid
* toothpick
* small fabric bow or rose and pearl bead per bootee

Directions: Click on each image for the written instructions for each step.
The pdf file for the template can be found below the instructions.

This post contains graphics. If you cannot see the images,click here to view.

I like to take some time on Mondays for the three Rs: read, research and reflect. It's important for me to get some perspective for the upcoming week's tasks and to take some time to plan and organise.  It also provides the opportunity to begin the week refreshed and inspired. 

Although I read a variety of topics and writers, I especially enjoy reading articles and magazines related to children and family ministry so I look forward to downloading the latest edition of Group's Children's Ministry Magazine published bi-monthly. Do you read it? 

You'll find it available as hard-copy or as a downloadable magazine or for your iPad/iPhone so you can take it with you to enjoy at any time. Each edition can be purchased individually on your iPad or by yearly/2 year subscriptions for the print version and print & digital combo. Check it out HERE.

This post contains graphics. If you cannot see the images, click here to view.

This post includes graphics. If you cannot see any images,click here to view.

Ahhh... the end of the week, beautiful weather and a few spare moments to play around with some design ideas. You may have noticed a growing number of blackboard designs,signage and fonts. These have become increasingly popular, in keeping with the retro themes of many designs and promotional materials and you might like to consider using some of these backgrounds and graphic elements in your own promotional materials.

There are many free chalkboards and fonts to download and use for your own uses, especially for any 'Back to School' events that you may have planned for your children's ministry.

You'll find some simple chalkboards, both dark and green, HERE. Remember, you can alter the appearance of these backgrounds with the online program, pixlr.com. It's an easy program and will enable you to add effects, vintage shades, stamps and text. Choose the Express version.

There are many differing font styles, too, to download and use. You'll find some HERE, Favourite FREE Chalkboard Fonts.
Another source of FREE chalkboard fonts can be found atyouthedesigner.com
Lisa Moorfield's site lists many creative scrapbook designs and fun fonts for your projects and you can find more chalkboard fonts HERE.

But you may wish for some lined, graph or note paper for your projects or to include in any Back to School designs. Generatedpaper.com has a large selection of different lined papers .. find themHERE.
Need some chalkboard powerpoint templates? Sure.. you'll find someHERE.
There are also sites with FREE school clipart that you might like to use. HERE

This post contains graphics. If you cannot see the images, click here to view.