This fall in Life Kids Children’s Ministry, new classrooms and curriculum began on Back to Church Sunday! These new programs have been going along great, but I wanted to take a moment to pause and highlight all the wonderful things happening on Sunday mornings with these new changes.
Starting on the preschool side, our nursery has changed the age grouping from birth to 18 months to birth to 12 months. Making this change has made the nursery a calm area for our new babies to come, get rocked, and be loved on. My hope is that the parents of the new young babies will feel comfortable bringing their bundles of joy in at an early age, so they get used to the nursery and then will not struggle with stranger anxiety as they get older. Having the nursery is a wonderful opportunity for parents to go to church and take a moment to truly focus on the message and God’s Word.
The next added classroom to our Children’s Ministry is our one and walking class, which is for ages 12 months to 23 months old. This classroom is located in room 106 and is bright, cheerful, and full of great toys for the kids to play and enjoy their mobility! Adding this class has been great for the walkers to have a space of their own and gives them more time to mature before they go into the 2-year class, which has more structure and lessons.
This brings me to our new curriculum that is used for our 2-year-old class through the 4th grade. The new curriculum is Tru by David C. Cook and the lessons go through the Bible in chronological order. Each age group has different features that are made specifically for their age group and is very interactive! The kids seem to really be learning, engaging, and enjoying their time here at church. The 2 and 3-year-olds engage in different activities, songs, and games, but the kids’ favorite part from what I can see, is their special friend named Hamilton. Hamilton is a squirrel puppet that helps the kids learn God’s stories and shows them how to be good listeners and helpers. It has been such a blessing to see the children interact and get connected to Hamilton! If you are a parent of a child in this age group, please keep your eye out for the “Home Front Weekly” pamphlet that is in each of the classrooms. This is a parent resource tool that gives the lessons the kids will be learning that month, which Bible verse they will be focusing on for the month, and great discussion questions that you can ask your child to help them learn the lessons even better. This is a short, quick read with great age-appropriate questions for you to ask your children and have a moment of spiritual learning during the week.
Now, on to our Pre-K and Kindergarten group. This group has small group time at the beginning and end of their class time, with a large group worship and story time that is so precious to watch. These kids love to sing and hear God’s Word. During story time they are learning the Bible through the storyteller who interacts with the kids and lets them act out and participate together. These kids also have a memory verse that they focus on for one month at a time. In the classrooms there are “Remember Verse” cards (that is what the memory verse is called) and a “Home Front Weekly” paper that you should pick up each week as you leave the classroom. These are fantastic tools to use during the week to spark up a conversation about the next week’s lesson or to help them tuck God’s Word into their heart.
During Traditions time the kids are given the opportunity to recite the Remember Verse and/or show their teacher that they have brought their Bibles. For each Tradition that they do, they receive one Lego block to build on the Traditions wall. The purpose of this is to encourage them to learn God’s Word and work together as a community to accomplish a common goal. When the Traditions wall is full of Legos, the whole class will pause as a community and celebrate with a fun treat or activity.
During Connect time the kids are asked a question that is linked to the lesson for that day. They are instructed to ask someone in the class to learn their answer and then they share their answer with the same person. This is a great time where the kids are learning to express themselves and develop new social skills with kids that they may not have normally talked to. Then a storyteller comes in and engages the kids in the Bible story for that week. This is a time where the story comes to life and the kids get to be a part of the story. After the story has been told, the kids are given a short period of time to think about what they have learned and listen to what is being placed on their hearts. Then they can go to the different respond centers: prayer wall, giving box, and encouraging wall to express those thoughts that the Holy Spirit has impressed upon them. It has been such a blessing to see how the kids have responded during this time. This group ends in small group time and their Remember Verse cards and Home Front weekly are placed on the sign in tables all along the hall. Please make sure you take these home because as I have said earlier, they are a fantastic resource for you to use as a spiritual parenting tool during the week.
As for our 5th & 6th grade classes, they have been using a curriculum that is written specifically for this age group. We have also moved their room back up into the Worship Center so that all the Children’s Ministry can be together. At the beginning of the new year I will be updating these classrooms to be more suitable for this age group and will help them feel more relaxed and less like a classroom. I truly look forward to providing a new space for the kids and helping them feel like they have a place of their own.
Overall I have been very pleased with how all of the changes are going within Life Kids Children’s Ministry and I am looking forward to the future of refining the new curriculum, nurturing the kids with this new way of learning, and watching them all grow in Christ!
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