~Tara~
12-03-2006, 12:26 PM
Every Sunday our pastors hand out a sheet with a brief sermon outline to be filled in/take notes for the adults. They also have a kids sheet made up. On the kids sheet they often have a little word find, or other type of word puzzle, with words relating to the message of the day. This sheet also asks about the previous week's passage and has a couple short questions on the side.
I've just been thinking, on my own, how to add to this.
Sometimes the word puzzles don't make sense to my kids (some of the scrambled things ... hmm how to describe the one they struggle with the most .. it has blocks, within each block there are a few letters..the blocks are scrambled and they have to place them in the correct order to put together this week's verse)
I was just trying to think of some more things for them to do to help them engage in the message.
A church we were a part of previously had a little sheet for the kids...
It started because there was a group of about a dozen kids that came in on the bus. No parents. A kind of rowdy bunch, though, with instruction they did 'ok', they were learning how to behave in church. They all very much enjoyed coming. However, having 10-14 yr olds who had never been instructed in 'sitting in church', they would often go off in la la land drawing on every scrap of paper they could find. So, my friend (the pastor's wife) took it upon herself to come up with a kids worship sheet. On it she asked a few questions, like:
name at least 1 song we sang today
what was today's passage?
and a few other things...never anything too overwhelming, just a few simple and application kind of questions to engage them
In addition to this...to be sure they were actually *using* it, she instilled 'rewards'. Each page was attached to a clipboard with a pen and handed out at the beginning of service. At the end of the service, they would turn it all in to her. She would look over it, not 'grading' it per se, but just giving a glance to look for an effort, rather than more random doodles and notes to one another. Then she would 'reward' them with some little trinket .. at first it was leftover suckers from something else, then it went to small little 'things' like you might get from Oriental Trading Company ... little crosses, mini notebooks w/pen, ring ... just silly little things. But kids just love that kind of stuff ya know?
So anyway, I was just thinking about that.
Not trying to take away from or undermine anything the pastors are already doing, but rather, to add to that. Once I have something together I would even present it to one of the pastors to see what they think, about the sheet itself and also about possibly implementing something as described above.
I just don't think the sheets in play right now are working well enough, for my kids anyway. I would hazard a guess the others run similarly as they're close in ages to mine. And a couple have only recently began coming to church.
I'm just trying to think of some good 'general' questions to ask. A format of sorts that could apply to all messages. Such as 'name a song we sang today' 'what was the passage' 'can you connect a song we sang to today's message?' something like that.
Any help?
Again, nothing extravagant, I don't need a ton of questions. I'm also planning to leave a box at the bottom so they can draw a picture that pertains to the day's message. So, see, we're talking a full page here. DOn't want to overwhelm, just engage for the full service. Help them get the most out of it.
All the kids are very well behaved, they do great during the service. I just want to try to help them focus on the message, rather than get lost in a Star Wars coloring book or whatever (mine don't bring such mind you, I'm just saying hehe).
Oh, another thing I thought about adding...a little 'Church Etiquette Tip' section ... with things like 'please stand when asked to stand' 'heads bowed, eyes closed during prayer' 'during prayer, stand nicely and do not touch your neighbor' 'if you have a question to ask your parent about the service, please remember to use your church voice/whisper' Stuff like that.
Whatcha think?
I've just been thinking, on my own, how to add to this.
Sometimes the word puzzles don't make sense to my kids (some of the scrambled things ... hmm how to describe the one they struggle with the most .. it has blocks, within each block there are a few letters..the blocks are scrambled and they have to place them in the correct order to put together this week's verse)
I was just trying to think of some more things for them to do to help them engage in the message.
A church we were a part of previously had a little sheet for the kids...
It started because there was a group of about a dozen kids that came in on the bus. No parents. A kind of rowdy bunch, though, with instruction they did 'ok', they were learning how to behave in church. They all very much enjoyed coming. However, having 10-14 yr olds who had never been instructed in 'sitting in church', they would often go off in la la land drawing on every scrap of paper they could find. So, my friend (the pastor's wife) took it upon herself to come up with a kids worship sheet. On it she asked a few questions, like:
name at least 1 song we sang today
what was today's passage?
and a few other things...never anything too overwhelming, just a few simple and application kind of questions to engage them
In addition to this...to be sure they were actually *using* it, she instilled 'rewards'. Each page was attached to a clipboard with a pen and handed out at the beginning of service. At the end of the service, they would turn it all in to her. She would look over it, not 'grading' it per se, but just giving a glance to look for an effort, rather than more random doodles and notes to one another. Then she would 'reward' them with some little trinket .. at first it was leftover suckers from something else, then it went to small little 'things' like you might get from Oriental Trading Company ... little crosses, mini notebooks w/pen, ring ... just silly little things. But kids just love that kind of stuff ya know?
So anyway, I was just thinking about that.
Not trying to take away from or undermine anything the pastors are already doing, but rather, to add to that. Once I have something together I would even present it to one of the pastors to see what they think, about the sheet itself and also about possibly implementing something as described above.
I just don't think the sheets in play right now are working well enough, for my kids anyway. I would hazard a guess the others run similarly as they're close in ages to mine. And a couple have only recently began coming to church.
I'm just trying to think of some good 'general' questions to ask. A format of sorts that could apply to all messages. Such as 'name a song we sang today' 'what was the passage' 'can you connect a song we sang to today's message?' something like that.
Any help?
Again, nothing extravagant, I don't need a ton of questions. I'm also planning to leave a box at the bottom so they can draw a picture that pertains to the day's message. So, see, we're talking a full page here. DOn't want to overwhelm, just engage for the full service. Help them get the most out of it.
All the kids are very well behaved, they do great during the service. I just want to try to help them focus on the message, rather than get lost in a Star Wars coloring book or whatever (mine don't bring such mind you, I'm just saying hehe).
Oh, another thing I thought about adding...a little 'Church Etiquette Tip' section ... with things like 'please stand when asked to stand' 'heads bowed, eyes closed during prayer' 'during prayer, stand nicely and do not touch your neighbor' 'if you have a question to ask your parent about the service, please remember to use your church voice/whisper' Stuff like that.
Whatcha think?