You've come to the right place if you are one of our WONDERFUL Children's Ministry Team Members and you're wanting to add a little something more to your class...
Here are some ideas for those extra minutes when the service runs long or when the lesson runs short--or if you're just wanting to add a new idea to your routine.
Concentration Good for primaries. Draw or cut out pictures relating to the lesson in fifteen matching pairs. Mix up the cards and place them face down on a table or the floor, or tack to the wall (with adult help).
Students take turns turning over two cards. If the cards match, the student keeps them, and gets another turn (if group small enough). If the student does not match a pair, the cards are replaced face down and his or her turn is over. The student with the most pairs wins. For larger groups, make several sets or break into teams.
Jeopardy Write questions about the lesson, or use the workbook's questions. Divide the questions into 5 categories, assigning a value to each question. Divide the class into teams, giving them points for each question they answer correctly. For incorrect answers, subtract the points, then let the other team attempt to answer the question.
Mix Up For Memory Work. Print the verse or list on 3x5 cards, one word per card. Make more than one set for large groups. Divide class into teams, and have the teams put the cards in order.
Variation: Tape the 3x5 cards onto cans. Have the students puts the cans in order on a table.
Newspaper Have students write articles and draw "photographs" for a newspaper covering the lesson. Include a crossword puzzle, or even cartoons relating to the lesson.
Noah Says Pre-school to Early Elementary. In this version of “Simon Says”, dogs bark and beg, cats meow and lick their paws, and ducks quack and waddle. First, divide the children into three teams, and have one team be dogs, the other cats and the third team ducks. The kids will catch on to this game quickly.
Explain to the teams that they are dogs, cats or ducks. Dogs bark and beg (arms raised and hands pointing down as if begging for food.) Cats meow and pretend to lick their paws (hands), and ducks quack and waddle (bending down with hands touching shoulders like wings.) Then give the instructions below.
When you give the commands preceded with “Noah says”:
Noah says "bark"--all creatures bark ("beg", all beg, "quack", all quack, etc.)
But if you just give the command without "Noah says" Then only the animal that would make the sound normally responds:
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"Bark"
"Meow"
"Quack"
"Beg"
"Lick"
"Waddle"
"Be still"
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only dogs bark
only cats meow
only ducks quack
only dogs beg
only cats lick
only ducks waddle
animals keep doing what they are doing |
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Any child who does not follow the command correctly has to sit out the rest of the game. The team with the last remaining player wins. Then mix up the teams and play again as time permits.
Note: For the older children, you can combine commands to make it more difficult, for example:
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Noah says, "bark and waddle" (everyone barks and waddles)
Noah says, "Lick and quack" (only cats lick and only ducks quack)
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Tic Tac Toe Small groups. All ages. Write or use questions based on the lesson, or as a review of several lessons. Have at least twenty for two games. Break the class into sets of two, Xs and Os. Read a question for the Xs. Whoever gets it right gets to place his or her X. If he or she does not answer correctly, no X is placed. Then read a question for the Os, and so on.
Variations: A single student can play the teacher, who can flip a coin to determine whether or not a letter is placed. Or, divide the class into two teams, and let them answer the question together. If team X answers incorrectly, let team O answer the question.
