The second part in creating a Children's ministry lesson brings five ways that help make a lesson engaging and easy to learn. Anyone in education can tell you that presenting information to kids is no easy task and that goes double for the church. So how do we make sure our lesson will stick and have an impact? Check out the tips below for how to create a lesson that will really shine.
1. Pick a theme
Themes help kids focus on a central idea or concept. It creates a base for children to learn on. It also helps with continuity. Even if you have to jump around some when it comes to the Biblical background (see previous post for why to avoid doing this), keeping a central theme allows children to relate different stories back to a central idea. Themes should last around 4-6 weeks, this gives kids enough time to focus on a single idea without becoming bored with it. Figure out one single point or main idea you want the children to learn and come up with similar lessons or verses that all explain an aspect of this idea. One theme I have used in the past is love, our memory verse was the great commission and we wanted to explain what it really meant to "love your neighbor". We started by explaining the different kinds of love (check our C.S. Lewis book "The Four Loves") and then ended with what actions we needed to take to be loving. Each kind of love was taught for one week with two weeks devoted to action steps. Before this we were learning about the different traits of Jesus, since being loving was one of his traits we were able to link the two themes together giving the children a base and then building on it.
2. Repetition works, repetition works, repetition works
Repetition works, no really it does. This is very reminiscent of the way that kids learn in school. They go over a subject until they understand it. They also spent time reviewing or referring back to a previous lesson. When doing things like memorizing a verse or theme lesson, going over it multiple times with different representations helps a lot. Pick a memory verse for the month, give them a piece of paper to take home with the verse on it, open up your meeting time by reciting the verse, have them repeat the verse one on one at the end (a little candy goes a long way in this), come up with motions or a song to help them memorize the words. Make sure to stay within the 4-6 week time frame to keep children from becoming bored. Repetition is great but there is definitely a thing as too much repetition.
3. Pay attention to how children learn
Children learn in many different ways. It's important to understand that not every kid can learn by sitting and listening. Children engage in learning by listening, seeing and being hands on. This is why having an engaging lesson and involving children are so important. Go beyond just passing out a piece of paper; cover the wall with your theme or memory verse, give them visual representations of what they are trying to learn, if they are learning about apologizing have them act it out. If you think back to your elementary days your favorite teachers were the ones who went beyond just reading a lesson, they engage you and taught in a way that made sense to you. Check out the links below for some more information about how children learn and how to teach in a manner that addresses these different styles.
Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic Learners
Different learning styles
4. Write it yourself/Use your voice
One of the things I can't stress enough is the importance of writing the lesson yourself. So many churches hand volunteers a piece of paper to read and then wonder why there is no growth in their children's ministry. Do you learn more by listening to a presentation or by giving a presentation yourself? If you know you are going to be teaching a lesson go over it yourself first and add something to it. You don't have to write the entire thing yourself, but you have to add something personal to it. That way when you teach it, your not just reading from a piece of paper but sharing something from yourself to others. Just like every other relationship, you have to give something of yourself to grow the relationship and to find common ground.
Your voice is absolutely the best tool you have at your disposal. What you are going to be doing the most of is talking, so its important to know how to use your voice to engage kids in learning. First, kids will mirror your energy. If you are starting out or need to get their attention, using a slightly louder faster paced voice with help. When you need to make a point, pause, then speak slowly in a deeper voice. This catches their attention and lets them know what you are saying is important. Your voice is unique and it will take personal experience to understand what works best for you. Check out this video below on getting some tips on how to use your voice.
How to speak so that people want to listen
5. Be a model
No no, you don't need to do turns on the catwalk (please don't) but you should be living your life as an example. Children's ministry is the neediest ministry in the entire church when it comes to volunteers. The more leaders that are around the better. One thing that helps a lesson go smoothly is enough people around to meet the needs of the children. When you have extra leaders handy who can ask questions, take time to pray or go over a verse it makes learning so much easier and children are able to see a demonstration of the things they are learning. And not every kid relates to the same adult the same way. Some kids connect best with a male adult because they lack one in their lives, some kids relate best to the older women because they are kind and have candy! Having different kinds of leaders just make children's ministry that much richer and successful.
The children are looking up to the adults to understand what they are supposed to do and how they are supposed to act. If you look like you are bored in church, kids are going to see that and be bored too. If you are unenthusiastic reading a lesson line by line, they are going to copy that energy (or lack there of) and get distracted. Be excited about teaching and they will be excited about learning.
Practice is of course the best teacher and the more times you get in front of a group of children the better you will feel about. The more time you spend with children the greater your relationship will be them. When their teacher is someone they recognize and trust, it goes a long way in helping them pay attention and take to heart what is being said
It is also important that children's ministry extends to beyond just lessons and I'm not talking about mid week programs or church pick-nicks. Children need to see that you are passionate and dedicated to being in the church. Children also need to know that they are important to you outside of the Sunday school classroom. This is how your children's ministry grows. We need to take the time for everything, from writing a good lesson to showing our support outside of the church. In order for our children to grow, we must first prepare the way for them, showing them everyday what being a follower of Christ looks like.
Best of all we get to impact children s lives for God's glory and have fun doing it.
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