Straight Outta the Dollar Store

I love Dollar Tree. It’s a fun store to go into and it’s the only store that I can shop in and know what I am paying for each item. It’s also packed full of items that children’s ministry leaders can use in their ministries to kids. In order to prove my point, I decided to go into Dollar Tree and find three activity ideas for kids in less than 15 minutes. I had no idea what I would find when I went in.

Without further adieu, here’s a look at my new treasures:

Easy, Homemade Dry-Erase Board – Dollar tree has a great selection of frames and dry erase markers. I bought a frame and took the “fake family” picture out and replaced it with a sheet of white copy paper. Bam! Instant dry-erase board. Here are some ideas for using the board.

1. Place kids into several teams. Give teams each a homemade dry-erase board and a marker. Ask review questions and let kids answer the questions on their boards. Make it more difficult for older kids by asking kids questions “Jeopardy” style where you give the answer first. For pre-readers you can allow kids to draw the story while you are telling it or you can give them two colors and ask the questions True/False style where a blue circle is true and a red circle is false. Have fidgeters? Maybe you should stock your class with enough boards for each kid and allow them to draw the story and their thoughts while you tell the Bible story.

Marblelous Bible Books. I bought a vegetable tray, a pack of marbles, and a pack of stickers for $1.00 each. I wrote the divisions of the Old Testament on five stickers and placed them on the vegetable tray. I then wrote the names of the books of the Old Testament on each sticker and adhered them to individual marbles.

1. Allow kids to sort the labeled marbles into their correct division area. Pre-readers can participate too. Display a Books of the Bible Poster and allow them to count the number of books in each division. They can then place that many marshmallows into each corresponding section. NOTE: I didn’t label the compartments or marbles with a permanent marker because I wanted to leave them available to change up if I want to. You could do story sequencing or switch to the New Testament. If you have children with special needs in your class, you can even create an interactive visual schedule. Label each compartment with the different sections of the Bible Study session. When it is time to move to the next session place a marble in the section completed.

New Testament Pop-up: I found these great popcorn bags 10 for $1.00! I labeled each bag with a division of the New Testament and I popped a bag of popcorn.

1. Pre-readers will love this activity. You can give them a bowl of popcorn and a Books of the Bible chart. They can count the number of books in each division and then place that many pieces of popcorn in each bag. For older kids, you can label table tennis balls with the books of the New Testament and let them gently throw the correct ball into each division labeled bag.

You can implement these ideas and find several more in the Practice Bible Skills section of Bible Studies For Life: Kids! 

Jeff Land loves life! That’s pretty great, because his job at Lifeway is the Team Leader for Bible Studies for Life: Kids. Jeff loves his life which is blessed by his wife and their four sons. When not serving at work, Jeff serves 2nd graders at his church.