Song Wall

Psalm 100 - Make a joyful nosie unto the Lord, all ye lands.

 

I love to sing songs with the kids as we begin Jr. Church and one thing I do most weeks is use my Song Wall. 

 

 

Each week I pick five or six kids, depending on how many songs

 I want to sing, and let them pick a square.  All the other kids in the room are usually rooting them on and telling them what color of square to pick.  Once they pick a sqaure, they then pull it off the wall

 and that is the song we sing.

 

Of course we have a bunch of fun songs that the kids love, Jesus Loves Me, The Jungle Song, Wonderful Words of Life, I Believe the Bible, The Wordless Book Song and the list goes on and on!

 

The wall was very easy to make.  First I cut different colors of squares out of foam.  I wrote a song we know on the back of each one and then put a small ball of sticky tack on the back of each and put them on the wall.  The sticky tack lets them be pulled off the wall over and attached again over and over without hurting the wall.  The I cut "Psalm 100" and some musical notes out of foam and attached them as a title piece for the wall I mounted everything on.

 

This is also a great idea if you have extra time in your class before you dimiss.  Remember kids always remember the last thing they hear you say, why not make that be a Jesus song!

 

 

Sunday School Craft - Marionettes

The kids loved their craft today in church!  Mason came up with the idea of making little Marionette puppets to go with the Bible story. 
Their story today was about how God used Jonathan to help David, when Jonathan's dad Saul, was trying to kill David.  For craft time they were to make Jonathan marionette puppets.  Of course you could make any Bible character to go with any story.

First each child was given a Popsicle stick, wooden circle for the head and rectangle wooden pieces for the feet to color.  Each child was also given a pipe cleaner to wrap around the body for arms and hands.

After the children colored their people they then brought them to us and we hot glued all the pieces together with string.  The three main strings can be glued to the marionette handle ahead of time.  Mason made a little marionette yesterday so he would know how long to cut each string.

The kids loved them and I thought they turned out very cute!  It was so neat to see the kids acting out the Bible story with their marionettes.

Tonight we had one of our children baptized! 

Alan had asked Jesus to be his Lord and Savior last year and last weekend as he and his mother were talking about God and salvation he asked his mother why, since he had already been saved, why hadn't he been baptized yet.  He talked to Pastor about baptism and Pastor felt he understood that baptism did not save you but was an outward symbol of dying to the old self and raising to walk in the newness of life.  Alan was so excited and we are excited too to see this young man give his whole heart and life to follow God!



Scream Ball

What do I do when, on a Sunday morning,  the kids are extra hyper and not sitting quietly and not focused and listening?
  I break out the Scream Ball!

The kids love the scream ball and pay extra attention when I pull it out.

When the ball is my hand the kids have to be totally quiet,

but when I throw it in the air.................

The kids scream as LOUD as they can!  As soon I catch the ball again..........

Everyone has to be totally silent! 

I do not use this every week, as I want to keep the Scream Ball special and not something the kids expect.  I do not like raising my voice in class so this works well to get and keep the kids attention on the days that the kids are having a hard time sitting still and staying focused.  I have to mention that we usually have one kid who tries to be onery and lets out a little scream after I have the ball in my hand while all the others are quiet.  When this happens I immediately hand out small treats to all the kids except the one who did not follow directions.  This usually solves the problem immediately as no one wants left out from getting a treat!



Easter Object Lesson

This the object lesson we did last night for Bible Adventures.  Of course when Fireman Joe found out we were lighting a match to light the candle he kept blowing it out.  He does not want us playing with fire at all! 

First, here are the things you need.

A plate or saucer, a coin, a candle, matches, cup of colored water (any color can be used), and a clear drinking glass.  Tell the kids that you are going to explain what happened at the cross. 

Hold the penny up and tell the kids that the penny represents us.  Place the penny on the plate toward the side.  Now take the colored water which represents sin.

Pour the colored water over the coin until it is submerged, just as in life we are covered with sin.  Experiment with the water to see how much to put on the plate for the experiment to work right.  Next take the white candle that represents Jesus and put it in the middle of the plate.

Light the candle, the flame represents the life of Christ.  Tell the children to watch carefully as you take the glass and put it over the lighted candle.

Within a few seconds, the flame will consume all the oxygen in the glass and be extinguished.  However, it will have created a vacuum which, in turn will draw the water up inside the glass (thus surrounding the candle) and leave the coin dry.  Tell the kids that on the cross Jesus gave up his life (the flame went out) so that he could take our sins on Himself and we could be free.  A great illustration as you present

 the gospel and give a salvation invitation.

Sunday School Behavior Motivator

Whereas we had a full day of sun yesterday, this morning we awoke to snow!  By the time church got out, we had several inches!

Today was a very hectic day in Jr. Church.  The teacher for the 3rd through 6th grade was sick so I combined my class with hers and we had 2 year olds up to 12 year olds.  This week started spring break for the schools so we were actually way down in numbers, which was actually a blessing.  We had several little ones that did not want to sit still and did not want to listen and it was very disrupting!

I taught the first of the Easter story today, the Triumphantal Entry.  For our craft we made donkey puppets out of paper bags.  It was very hectic, so I did not have time to grab the camera and snap any pictures. 

Today I used my gumball machine for a behavior motivator.

I told the class that the two boys and the two girls who behaved the best, sitting still, listening and obeying would get a gumball.  I asked my helpers to watch and at the end of class those kids came up to get a gumball.  Before they turned the machine knob, they tried to guess what color gumball would come out.  Then they turned the knob and the gumball came out.  If they guess the right color, they then get to get a prize out of the treasure chest.  If they guess the wrong color, they still got to keep the gumball.  I fill the treasure chest with all kinds of things I find at the dollar store.  Stuffed animals, jump ropes, cars, puzzles, markers and other various items that the kids love.

When I tell the kids that I am watching carefully for my gumball winner, you see the kids sit up straight and put their hands in their laps.  It really works well and the kids always ask as soon as they come to class if we're doing the gumball machine today.  I do not use it every week, but on weeks that I feel the kids are more hyper and need
a little more motivation to sit still. 

The Wise Man/Foolish Man

For Jr. Church Sunday I planned on teaching about the wise man and the foolish man.  Sunday morning I awoke to a fresh layer of snow covering everything.  Of couse, although I had my lesson planned out, I had not gotten my rock or sand for my illustration.  So in my Sunday shoes I went out and trudged around the church playground to get sand and then went looking to find a big rock.  I looked everywhere and could not find one rock that was bigger than a pebble!  Finally as I went back in the house I saw one sitting under the tree only few steps from the front door of the parsonage.  I was thrilled to find a rock but aggravated I hadn't seen it before.  I used simple paper cups for houses and told the kids the story as I poured water on the houses.  Of course the house built on the solid foundation stood while the house without the foundation fell.

We then talked about how God is the strong foundation that we needed to build our lives (houses) upon.  I took a plate and wrote God on it and then took pretzels and frosting and started building a pretzel house.  As I laid each piece of the house in place, we talked about how reading our Bibles, obeying, trusting, praying, attending church, ect. all help us to build our strong lives centered on God.  I then let each of the kids build their own pretzel houses.

It was so much fun to watch their serious little faces as they concentrated so hard on building their houses.  I heard several comments later from parents that their kids came home and retold the story and told how they need to build their lives on God.  Amen!  So nice to know that the kids are listening!

Jr. Church Lesson and the Chili Cook-Off

I think that one of my favorite stories to tell, is that of the God of the Israelites and the Philistine god, Dagon, which is found in 1 Samuel 5.  Dagon, an idol made by human hands, an idol made of stone, fell on it's face when placed before our mighty God.

Romans 14:11 - For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

The kids sat so still today and listened closely to the story.  After the story we talked about worship and the different ways we can worship God and then the kids colored a picture relating to the story.  Tristine is three years old and the youngest in my class and always brings a smile to my face.  He turned his color page over and drew a picture on the back.  He came to show me when he was done and it was wonderful picture of a rainbow and face that he had drawn in blue.  I told him what a beautiful picture it was and asked him who he had drawn.  With a big smile on his face he told me it was a picture of God , "cause God is blue and has a moustace."   Like I said, he makes me smile.

Tonight after services we had a Chili cook off.  We had fourteen people bring Chili for the cook-off and it was all so good!

I took a picture as we were setting things up but as soon as everyone

started eating, I got so busy making sure everyone had everything they needed and of course eating some chili myself that I totally forgot to get any more pictures!    There were several pots of Chili that were so hot that everyone was sweating and begging for more juice to drink.  The winning chili was Green Chicken Chili and it was so good that people were scrapping the bottom of the pot hoping to get the last little bit.  Of course the best part of the night was not only the food but all the laughter and fellowship and love we shared with each other.