Need ideas.....anyone else here work with children's ministry?

[live4christp1]

DH and I have been asked to do a Sunday night series for ages 5-10 for the next 3 weeks. We can use any thing we would like. A few years ago I remember seeing some children's curriculum that was hands on stuff but I can't recall then name. If anyone here knows, please post or PM me. Any other ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We have about 40-45 minutes to fill in.

In the past we have done some series with Moses, Abraham, Joseph, we usually do a big mural type thing with the charcter as the center and the stories we touch on around the character..(Moses - the burning bush, plagues, etc.)...coloring in each section as we go.

Would really like something exciting......we do Children's church on Sunday morning and throughout the school year they kids are in Awana club. So would like something that grabs their attention......not just the same old story, etc.

TIA

 

[live4christp1]

 

[SC Minnie]

I work with the group just older that you do on Sunday morning (our director says it's not Sunday School but CrossTime). The kids seem to get turned off my the term Sunday School.

Anyway, a few years ago I helped with the younger group, 3rd and 4th grade, and we had a hands on curriculum. I don't remember the name of the series through. But all the supplies came in a box and there were several different activities that would tie into the lesson. The kids seemed to enjoy it but I did have to pick and choose the activities.

 

[live4christp1]

I work with the group just older that you do on Sunday morning (our director says it's not Sunday School but CrossTime). The kids seem to get turned off my the term Sunday School.

Anyway, a few years ago I helped with the younger group, 3rd and 4th grade, and we had a hands on curriculum. I don't remember the name of the series through. But all the supplies came in a box and there were several different activities that would tie into the lesson. The kids seemed to enjoy it but I did have to pick and choose the activities.

I'm pretty sure that is the one I am thinking of. I saw it in a magazine and it had lots of little things for the kids to do. I know it was a box set and had everything included. Thanks, I was hoping I hadn't imagined it.

If anyone knows the name of this material, please post.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Big Idea has produced a number of programs that are designed as VBS programs, but could also be used for Sunday morning or evening programs. Also check out Cook Publishing -- they've produced a number of curriculum units that are all-inclusive programs.

 

[live4christp1]

Thanks Tigger Magic.

 

[SandiH]

I've used program by GROUP before. The are very activity oriented and easy to do. I remember our first VBS with the program - the story was Jonah and we made a huge whale out of black plastic - taped it to the floor, blew it up with a box fan and the kids actually went into the whale for the story. It was a blast and the kids loved it!!!!!

 

[live4christp1]

I've used program by GROUP before. The are very activity oriented and easy to do. I remember our first VBS with the program - the story was Jonah and we made a huge whale out of black plastic - taped it to the floor, blew it up with a box fan and the kids actually went into the whale for the story. It was a blast and the kids loved it!!!!!

What a cool idea, inside the belly of a whale. I did check out Groups website and they have some interesting looking material. Will have to run out to the Bible Bookstore this evening.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

I'm the Children's Ministry Director at our church, and I have lots of curriculum sources if you are interested! I just got done evaluating a couple dozen different curriculum options and picking one for our program...

I do recommend Group publishing - they've got a lot of different options and most of it is easily adaptable. They have a curriculum called "Hands On" that has a box with little stuff that the kids use and interact with in some way to communicate the lesson.

There's also a really great curriculum written by a woman named Karyn Henley called the "Foundations" series for 8 - 11 year olds (I've adapted it to fit a group of 6-12 year olds without too many problems). It's published by Standard Publishing company, but also available from Karyn Henley Resources' website.

Anyway, those are my top recommendations, but feel free to PM me if you'd like more info or more ideas. Hope you find something that works well for you, and you have fun with the kids!

 

[live4christp1]

I'm the Children's Ministry Director at our church, and I have lots of curriculum sources if you are interested! I just got done evaluating a couple dozen different curriculum options and picking one for our program...

I do recommend Group publishing - they've got a lot of different options and most of it is easily adaptable. They have a curriculum called "Hands On" that has a box with little stuff that the kids use and interact with in some way to communicate the lesson.

There's also a really great curriculum written by a woman named Karyn Henley called the "Foundations" series for 8 - 11 year olds (I've adapted it to fit a group of 6-12 year olds without too many problems). It's published by Standard Publishing company, but also available from Karyn Henley Resources' website.

Anyway, those are my top recommendations, but feel free to PM me if you'd like more info or more ideas. Hope you find something that works well for you, and you have fun with the kids!

We are looking at Faithweaver Friends by Group - they sent us a sample and it seemed like really good material. Have you used this at all before and if so what are your thoughts on it?

TIA

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

We are looking at Faithweaver Friends by Group - they sent us a sample and it seemed like really good material. Have you used this at all before and if so what are your thoughts on it?

TIA

I like Faithweaver Friends - kids seem to like it, it's fun, and the lessons are good. Teachers usually have an easy time following the lesson plans - that's always a bonus! I'm not using it in my current church because we're a new church plant and only have Sunday AM kids programs right now, but I've used it in the past.

There's just two problems I've run into with Group curriculum. The first is that they sometimes require supplies that I don't have or can't get in time. I've tried to solve that problem by having someone help me gather all of the "unusual" supplies for the quarter ahead of time. Things like construction paper, glue, scissors, etc. that are pretty standard I don't worry about, but sometimes the Group curriculum requires things like spring-clip wooden clothes pins, 2' lengths of nylon rope, one flashlight for every 2 kids, 1 clear and 1 "cats eye" marble for each child, etc....
Sometimes I just come up with another idea to substitute for the one with the unusual supplies, but I usually like Group's ideas better and think it would work better if I just could find all the supplies I need!

The other problem I've encountered is that some of the activities only work if you have a certain number of kids in the group. Most of my children's ministry work has been in smaller churches/organizations where we have maybe 4 kids in each grade, and so sometimes even when we combine grades we still don't have enough kids to really make some of Group's activities work well.

But like I said, I like Faithweaver Friends because it's well written, easy to follow, and the kids seem to enjoy it. I haven't minded working around a few glitches on my end to make it work!