Five ways to make an awesome Children's ministry lesson

     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. 

Five ways to make a terrible children's ministry lesson

     Children's ministry is something you can find in one form or another in almost every single church. Whether is big time high energy adventures or a simple classroom and some chairs, laying a spiritual foundation for children is something all churches can agree on. Unfortunately when it comes to lesson time, children's ministry is given little importance. The majority of churches have a revolving door of leaders reading from a prepared lesson that they had no hand in making. Just because kids are not able to respond to lessons in the same way as adults doesn't mean they deserve any less time. Everyone has a different approach and has different skills for reaching children but children's lessons usually become either too complicated to understand and or have so little content they are no longer useful. In this two part post, I am going to start out with Five ways to guarantee you have made a terrible lesson. This is a little tongue in cheek so if you don't like sarcasm we probably can't be friends, you probably won't like it.

1. Think like an adult 

               Something I see far too often in Children's curriculum is adult thinking. Leaders will find a subject matter and break it down but they forget to think like a child when they do this. Children need specific and concrete examples. They do not understand convoluted metaphors and analogies. Saying things like "God's love is like a blanket" to a child might sound nice as an adult, but in a child's mind it is essentially gibberish. When creating a lesson for children, you have to understand the limitations they will have in regard to the subject matter. That doesn't mean you should not teach certain things (I did a lesson with k-4th grade on the trinity and it went fine) but you must understand HOW to teach those things. Be as clear as possible, keep your reasoning simple and concrete. Instead of saying "God's love is like a blanket" say something simple like "God will always love you no matter what" or "God is always there for you when you need him"

2. Don't use continuity

     While there are many great curriculums out there for children, one common downfall for many of them is the lack of continuity. You simply cannot expect children to be able to handle large jumps through the Bible and be able to understand the connection. If you have a lesson on Moses one week, next week's lesson shouldn't be about Jesus and the disciples. Children will not be able to understand the different implications of these points in Biblical history. When doing a lesson try to plan out at least six weeks worth of lessons in a similar time frame or background. This amount of time allows for kids to get a complete grasp of what is happening and prepares them to move on to something new.

3. Make sure the children don't get involved 

     Having the children sit quietly and not participate is a great way to ensure that they will learn nothing. The simple act of having some children come up front and get to be a part of the lesson will automatically increase their grasp of the lesson 1000% (margin of error + or - 3%). Children learn when they get involved. Start easy, have them hold a sign or a picture. Think you can't do a Greek/Hebrew word study with children? Think again! Put the word  you want on one side of a big piece of cardboard paper then the Greek word on the other side. Give that paper to one of the kids and have them shout the meaning every time the paper is flipped over. Boom! If you want to be advanced then have the kids represent people in the story. Or do some extra work and give them a Bible verse or story of their own to share. Kids teaching kids, what could be better than that?

4. Don't be relational

     If your goal is to NOT reach kids be sure that what you are teaching them has no impact or relevance in their lives. One of the ways I have found it easier to connect with kids is to talk about yourself as a kid. This lets them know that what you are learning has a point. There is something you can do with the lesson you learned. In one church I was at, we made forgiveness a big theme of ours. We spent a month talking about what forgiveness means and why it is important. We talked about it and had them demonstrate how they say sorry to a sibling. This is something every kid with a sibling has to do (sometimes multiple times a day). When we connect forgiveness is the Bible to forgiveness with their families it clicked. All the kids were able to understand when you say sorry 1. you have to mean it 2. you have to try and not do that thing again.

   
5. Don't have fun

    The last on our list is a gimme. If you want to make sure children stay un-engaged and uninterested then don't have any fun. These are kids we are talking about here, they survive on fun. If your ministry whether in its lesson, rooms, or programs isn't any fun then they are not going to learn. Kids also know when YOU'RE not having fun. If you don't want to be there, it shows. If you are unprepared or uninterested in your lesson, it shows. If for some strange reason being around kids and teaching them Jesus isn't enough to be exciting to you, maybe children's ministry is not for you. Enjoy your time with these kids. Get excited about learning about God. These kids are looking up to you and are watching you to understand what is expected of them. You are not having any fun then are not going to either.  Also, its important to know the difference between fun and entertainment. The main goal should be for children to learn about God and enjoy it. When making sure the kids are not bored for even a second, it is usually the lesson time that suffers.

     This list isn't all inclusive but it does cover issues that can be seen in many ministries. While none of us can be perfect, we need to really understand who we are serving and why. Children's ministry requires a lot of thought and dedication. Until we are ready to become childlike ourselves we will continue to miss the mark when it comes to reaching kids for Christ. It is our dedication and our example of joyful learning that will inspire children to grow in their faith. 

     Check back for the second part of this post which will be "Five ways to make an incredible Children's ministry lesson"