I've just recently come across these great hand puppets but obviously they have real potential for ministry and interacting with the kids.

They are non-toxic, animal hand tattoos that are easily removed with water. There are also sets of dinosaurs and other animals. They have great potential for use with small groups of kids to tell a story or as a special character that interacts with the kids.

 Creating a simple character, such as these hand puppets, is often helpful to
encourage those children who are quiet and more withdrawn to share and interact
through their puppet. Certainly, the kids would love to be the puppet character and I'm sure it would be the catalyst that promotes enlivening conversation and discussion within the group.
 
 The hand puppets or ‘Talking Hands’ are available from outlets such as David Jones, Bardot Jnr or from our online store. 
  See here..

September school holidays.. beautiful, warm, sunny days... and so many families away on holidays... Many churches opt for no kidz church program over this holiday break, and indeed, many leaders feel tired and stretched to the limit by the end of third term and really appreciate a break.
If you have decided to continue presenting a children's program over the holiday period, you may find yourself with a smaller number of volunteers available to assist. With so many families taking advantage of the beautiful weather to go away, you may also have smaller classes on Sunday. Then again, the holiday period may bring holidaying families along to your church on Sunday.
So... what  sort of activities can you include in your program that will mean easy preparation, needs few volunteers and can be easily customised for any number of children?
Here are a couple of ideas that can be used in conjunction with any Bible story presentation and can be used with any sized group.
1. Create a wall mural of your Bible lesson. Simply pin large sheets of paper on the wall. If you have a large number of kids, divide them into groups with specific scenes of the story to create. If you only have a handful of children, they can work togther on the wall mural. If you're really adventurous, they can use paints. And, to be perfectly honest, kids love painting wall murals and signing their name with their handprint. If not, use crayons or even chalks for a different effect.

2. Guess who. Create life-sized characters from your Bible lesson. Again, you’ll need large sheets of paper. Kids can work in pairs to trace around each other onto a large sheet of paper. Then each child can turn their silhouette into one of the characters from your lesson. After they are completed and cut out, attach them to the wall and see who can guess which characters have been created.

3. Drama activity. You may need to gather a few props for this activity, but kids love it. Give each child a particular character, or maybe they can be part of a crowd of onlookers, and ask them to act out the Bible lesson. You can extend it even further by taking pictures of the drama and popping them into a powerpoint presentation.. more work but a lot of fun and a great way to review the lesson.

4.Create a comic strip of the lesson. This one is really no-prep, other than cutting up some strips of paper for each child. Then they can create a comic strip of the lesson. Now, if you only have a small number of kids, and access to computers or iPads the kids can create their comic stories using technology. Bitstrips website allows you a free 60 day account- plenty of time to create some wonderful comic-book style Bible stories with the kids. If you wish to continue using this online program, it costs $10/month. There are a couple of apps that will produce comics, too. Strip Designer, Comic Strip and Pop Dot Comics use your photos to create the images so you’d need to have some photos ready to use or take some of the kids acting out the story to include. Zoodle Comics uses your drawings to create the comic, and the kids will love doing that!
Another app is Toontastic and this app provides backgrounds, posable characters and allows the story to be recorded while the characters move. It can then be played as an animated comic- great fun! The kids will really get into it.

5.You may be going away yourself, these holidays, and need a simple activity for someone who is filling in for you. Simple- print off this basic book jacket handout. (See below) The kids can design their own book cover for the Bible story and include the Bible point and reference. They can even provide a summary of the story on the back of the book jacket.

Enjoy these September holidays!

Pinterest is a wonderful source of information, ideas and inspiration and well worth your while investigating, and setting up interest boards for your own children's ministry. (See earlier post about Pinterest here..) 

So, when I recently needed some inspiration and ideas to thank the volunteers of our Kids' Club, I checked out Pinterest. The illustration is my version of a pinned idea I found there and it was so easy to prepare. And the recipients of my little 'thank you' gifts? ... laughed, groaned at the pun, and happily passed them around to each other. We ate them while we discussed our next term of Kids' Club (and which flavour doughnuts we preferred.)

If you'd like to use this simple design, I've attached a file ready to print off. I purchased the jam doughnuts but the cinnamon ones would be fine. Simply wrap each doughnut in food-safe cellophane. (It's a bit thicker than the gift wrapping variety.) If you're using jam or cinnamon doughnuts, wrap the 'Thank you' strip around the doughnut and then use double-sided tape to adhere the circular note of thanks to the top. I added a final ribbon bow, as well. If you decide to use iced doughnuts or Krispy Kreme style doughnuts, then omit the strip around the doughnut. (It won't be long enough.)

Our volunteers enjoy helping out at Kids Club and love being part of the group. They don't expect any thanks, but.. they certainly appreciate it when it's given, even if just as a simple bit of fun like this one. And.. it helps create an atmosphere of acceptance and appreciation of each other within our team.

A while ago, we highlighted Volunteer Spot, a free online program that allows organisations to sign-up and organise their volunteers rosters with ease. 
See previous article.. 
In brief, the simple organiser wizard allows you to create volunteer activities, job descriptions, roster times and requests for supplies. Volunteers can select their own assignments and dates. You can even add a link to the lesson plan for volunteers, print sign-in sheets and rosters. Volunteer Spot also sends out automated reminders to your volunteer team. 
VolunteerSpot is always looking for ways to streamline the volunteer process. The following is their information about the ease of use of their mobile signup.
'The faster parents and volunteers can respond to your requests for help, the more likely it is they will sign up to help. Now volunteers no longer have to wait to make it home to the computer and dig through their inboxes to access your online signup sheet and choose a spot. VolunteerSpot's new mobile website allows volunteers to sign up from their smartphones on-the-go -- no apps to download! Touch-screen access makes signing up easy - from anywhere - waiting in line at at the grocery store, the doctor's office, or on the soccer sidelines!
Mobile Sign Up (see Volunteer View below):  When volunteers receive an invitation to help from their organizer (volunteer leader, room mom, teacher, coach), they simply tap the link and are automatically routed to a sign up sheet formatted to fit their smartphone screen.'

But they also now have a Clipboard app. Simply download the app and sign everyone up on your iPad at your next meeting. Check it out..

At last.... late afternoon and everything is quiet... a couple of moments to check out those potentially worthwhile websites I discovered yesterday. Now, where were they?

If you're like me, you'll often come upon potential treasures on the internet while in the midst of something important, and rarely will you remember the addresses later. Or.. you'll write it down on a scrap of paper or jot it down in a notebook.. somewhere.. Other times, I've been reading a children's ministry magazine or book and need to take note of a site referred to, only to realise that I can't find the information later.

So.. I've created a simple Internet Journal page- a printable page to list those interesting websites and easily note the pertinent points- what does the site information relate to, did you need a log-in and password and what did you use, and any quick comments you need to include. Leave the pages at your computer or slip them into a folder when you're out and about. I hope it will save valuable time in research and reduce your frustration. You can download the Internet Journal file below..
Oh.. make sure you add www.newchapter.com.au to one of your Internet Journal pages and check back regularly for more helpful hints and ideas.

Group Publishing currently have a special deal of their Seasonal Specials for Children's Ministry. It's a publication that I haven't used but offers a book 'chock-full of fun and practical and practical ideas for all the major holidays including Easter, Christmas and more. Best of all, every idea interactively connects kids to Jesus through the year's celebrations we enjoy.' 

For a short time only, the book is on sale for $18.74 (25% off its current price of $25). It's worth considering, and especially at a discounted price.. but be quick! See here..
If you miss out, don't worry.. you can purchase it here from our online store for $18.24 (regular price) 

( I only wish it were available as an e-book since it's the postage that's expensive for those in Australia and other overseas countries.)

What a week! And... at the last minute, you've been asked to provide something special to give to the dads for Father's Day!

Don't despair!

Dash out and buy a few packs of mini KitKats. Then download this great Father'sDay design from WhipperBerry. Heather has originally designed it to decorate a magnetic notice board, and it looks terrific. But the design works well, too, for these small chocolates. Download the wrapper from WhipperBerry or, print the wrapper as I used it ..see below, if you'd prefer. 

I've also been checking out Father's Day clips... there are soooo many. Eventually, I've gone with the one below from Sermon Spice, that celebrates and honours, not fathers, but the daddies. Check it out.