Click below to download these fun Scripture reminders for your desk!
Volunteer Appreciation Resources
Looking for some fun gift ideas to show appreciation to your volunteers? We’ve got your covered! Click below to download some fun ideas.
Soapin’ you have a merry Christmas!
Preschool Christmas Crafts
All parents love Christmas tree ornaments made by their children. My wife and I still have treasured kid-made ornaments that are over 40 years old. And, we continue to place them on our Christmas tree each year!
Two of our favorites:
Wooden Drapery Ring Ornament:
Gather:
- Wooden Drapery Ring
- Acrylic Paint
- Glitter/Sequins
- Glue
- Photo of your child (possibly posed in front of a stable scene)
- Felt scrap
- Ribbon
- Black permanent marker
Create:
- Lay drapery ring on top of kid’s photo and then on the scrap of felt and trace the ring.
- Cut out the traced circle on the photo and on the felt.
- Paint the drapery ring.
- Glue the ring onto front of the photo with the metal circle of drapery ring on top.
- Trace, cut out, and glue felt circle onto the back of the photo.
- Decorate ring with glitter/sequins.
- Tie a loop of ribbon onto the metal ring for placing the ornament onto your Christmas tree.
- Print the child’s name and date on back of the ornament with a black permanent marker.
- Enjoy for years!
Jesus and the Star Ornament
Gather:
- Yellow star cut from poster board
- Gold/metallic chenille stem
- Small amount of hay
- Glue and tape
- Small, oval shape from white paper
- Small circle shape from pink or tan paper
- Silver sequins
- Black permanent marker
Create:
- Position the star with one of the points at the top.
- In the two lowest star points glue a small amount of hay.
- Glue the white oval onto the top of the hay for baby Jesus’ body.
- Glue the pink or tan circle onto one end of the oval for baby Jesus’ head.
- Encourage the child to draw a face on the baby Jesus with the black marker.
- Make a loop with the chenille stem and tape it onto the top/back of the star.
- Print the child’s name and the date on the back of the ornament.
- Enjoy for years!
Jerry Vogel is an Editorial Ministry Specialist in LifeWay Kids. He is a graduate of Dallas Baptist University and has served over 40 years in Kids Ministry at the local church level as well as at LifeWay. Jerry currently teaches four-year-olds at his church.
Volunteer Appreciation Ideas for Christmas
The smell of cinnamon and cedar is in the air. Christmas music is playing. You’re probably even decorating your Christmas tree when you get home from work tonight, right?
Wait … what? It’s only the beginning of November? Well, lucky for you, the LifeWay Kids team is always thinking ahead. This year, we wanted to give you a good start on the CHRISTmas season and go ahead and help you out with some Christmas appreciation ideas for your volunteers!
Bright Spot in Ministry
Supplies Needed:
- Candles with lids (I bought mine at Dollar General for $3.50 each)
- Labels
- Ribbon if desired
Directions:
Print labels and cut them out. Attach them to the lids of the candles that you have purchased. If you purchased ribbon, you might want to tie some ribbon around the candles for a more festive look.
Socks and Stockings
Supplies Needed:
Christmas Socks (I bought mine at Dollar General for $1.00 per pair)
- Labels
- Tape
- Directions:
Print labels and cut them out. Attach labels to the tag on the socks or you might choose to place them in a gift bag and make them more festive!
Ornament
Supplies Needed:
- Ornaments (I purchased mine at Dollar General for $1.00 each)
- Labels
- Glue
Directions:
Print labels and cut them out. Attach labels to the back of the ornament. Write a special note and be sure to date it! If you purchased an ornament that isn’t round, attach the label to the string of the ornament. Always be sure to sign and date the ornament so that the volunteer will be reminded of your appreciation for him or her every year when decorating.
Poinsettia
Supplies Needed:
- Poinsettias (Purchase the day after Thanksgiving at a home improvement store for $.99 each)
- Labels
- Ribbon
Directions:
Every year, home improvement stores run “Black Friday” specials on poinsettias for only 99 cents each! Go to your local retailer and pick up some of these beautiful flowers. Attach a label using a ribbon.
As always, it’s not important to spend lots of money on the gifts. Your volunteers don’t need you to break the budget trying to buy them a gift. They do, however, love to know that you appreciate them!
Jeff Land is Publishing Team Leader for Bible Studies For Life: Kids. He holds a BSW from Mississippi College and a MACE from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Jeff has served as children’s pastor and currently teaches second graders each week at his church. Jeff, his wife Abbey, and their four sons live in Coopertown, TN.
Spring Teacher Appreciation
There’s never really a bad time to show your volunteers that you appreciate them. With all of the new life that comes around during the Spring season, it just seems like a perfect time to tell your volunteers what they mean to you! Here are a few ideas.
UR ReMARKable
Supplies:
- Multicolored dry-erase markers
- Colored sheets of felt
- Glue gun
- Mason jar (optional)
- Labels
Directions:
- Cut a 12-inch long strip of felt about ¾-inch wide. It doesn’t matter if it is perfectly straight. (In fact, it’s better if it isn’t!)
- Roll the felt into the shape of a flower, gluing it into place along the way.
- Glue the flower head to the bottom of the marker.
- Place several flowers in a mason jar and give a bouquet of markers. The felt acts as an eraser, so this makes a great gift for volunteers to use in their Bible study rooms!
JELLY – Jesus really loves you!
Supplies:
- Jelly beans
- Cellophane bags (ziplock bags work, as well!)
- Stapler
- Labels
Directions:
- Fill bags with jelly beans.
- Fold top of bag over to seal.
- Attach a label with a stapler. Write a short note on each label and tell each volunteer something you love about her.
“GRAPE”ful
Supplies:
- Grape flavored Ice Cubes gum
- Cellophane bags
- Ribbon
- Labels
Directions:
- Place 5-10 pieces of gum in each cellophane bag. I found bags of 100 pieces at Wal-Mart in the candy section.
- Tie bags with ribbon.
- Write a note to each volunteer telling him why you are “grape”ful for him on individual labels. Attach labels to the ribbon with a stapler or by punching a hole through the ribbon.
Jeff Land serves as the Publishing Team Leader for Bible Studies for Life: Kids. Jeff holds degrees from Mississippi College and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Jeff has served as a Children’s Minister and teaches kids weekly in his church.
Friday Freebie: New Christmas Coloring Pages
Can you believe we’re only three weeks away from Christmas? Time flies in the holiday season. Today we’d like to equip you with free coloring pages to be used for early arriver activities, kidmin Christmas parties, take-home activities for your little ones, and just plain fun. Here are coloring pages from Bible Studies For Life, The Gospel Project, and Explore the Bible depicting the true reason for the season. Click on the images to begin your download.
Click here to download a coloring page from Explore the Bible.
Click here to download a coloring page from The Gospel Project.
Click here to download coloring pages from Bible Studies For Life.
Quick and Easy Coloring Books
I was recently looking through the coloring pages for Fall 2015 and thinking that I wished we had time in our Sunday School class to use them. We have a class full of 2nd Graders each week and we are generally too busy for coloring pages. Then it hit me—I could make them coloring books!
Each quarter we get our Kids Activity Pages and we pretty much just throw away the cover page. I realized that would be a great cover page for a coloring book. Then I printed off all of the coloring pages for the quarter and neatly stacked the activity page cover on top. I stapled in three places along the left border and BAM! Instant coloring book!
I liked my coloring book so much that I had to color one of the pages. Coloring books are really popular right now. Even adults have their own coloring books. I’ve even heard of coloring clubs! If you don’t use the coloring pages that come with your curriculum in your class, consider creating coloring books for your kids. These would be great for activity books during “big church”, or for families to work on together at home and have conversations about the Bible story!
So, go ahead, make a coloring book and enjoy some time coloring!
Jeff Land loves life! That’s pretty great, because his job here at LifeWay is the Team Leader for Bible Studies for Life: Kids. Jeff loves his life which is so blessed by his amazing wife, Abbey, and their four sons, Reed, Nash, Will, and Tuck. A natural encourager and fun-lover, look for Jeff’s posts about teacher appreciation and game ideas. When not serving at work, Jeff serves 2nd graders at his church, First Baptist Church, Joelton, TN.
Fall Appreciation: Thanks for “TEA”ching!
It’s that time of year when all the stores are offering great sales on school supplies. We’ve had a great summer, but I am really glad that it is time to get back to routine. Kids will start getting back to their regular bedtimes and families will be finished traveling. This marks an increase in church attendance and also a great time for you to tell teachers that you really care about them. Here are a couple of ideas for a new church year appreciation gift:
Water’d We Do Without You?
- Print one label for each leader.
- Buy one bottle of water per leader.
- Use clear tape.
Trim all of the printed labels. Remove the original labels from each water bottle. Wrap the trimmed labels around each bottle and secure with clear tape. Personally, I prefer a cold bottle of water to room temperature, so I put mine in the fridge overnight (but don’t let them get too cold because they will sweat through the paper if you do!).
Thanks for TEAching!
- Print one label for each leader.
- Buy one bottle of tea per leader (I used Snapple.).
- Use clear tape.
Trim all of the printed labels. Remove the original labels from each tea bottle. Wrap the trimmed labels around each bottle and secure with clear tape.
Jeff Land loves life! That’s pretty great, because his job here at LifeWay is the Team Leader for Bible Studies for Life: Kids. Jeff loves his life which is so blessed by his amazing wife, Abbey, and their four sons, Reed, Nash, Will, and Tuck. A natural encourager and fun-lover, look for Jeff’s posts about teacher appreciation and game ideas. When not serving at work, Jeff serves 2nd graders at his church, First Baptist Church, Joelton, TN.
Preschool Bible Learning Activity: Painting with Toes
Here’s another activity to use with your preschoolers!
Supplies needed:
- Brown tempera paint, water, shallow pan or cookie sheet in which to place paint, markers, paper towels, wet wipes, paper, plastic cloth
Procedures:
- Emphasize the Bible focus during this activity: Joshua obeyed God and led the people across the Jordan River (Joshua 3:1-4:17.)
- Ask your preschoolers who has walked barefoot in or near water. Comment that the water stopped flowing in this story and the people crossed the river bed. Say that the river bed may have been muddy. State that preschoolers will paint their toes.
- Allow a few children at a time to do this activity. Instruct children to remove their shoes and socks and place them in a designated area.
- Explain that the preschoolers will dip their toes in the paint and then paint pictures with their toes. Add that the kids can use markers to draw other shapes, designs and letters on their picture. Remind boys and girls to stay on the plastic cloth. You may also need to help them with balance.
- Comment that Joshua did what God told him to do — take the people across the river. Help children clean their feet with wet wipes and put socks and shoes back on.
Note: This activity could be used with any Bible story about “walking” and using “feet.” If you would be interested in more activities like this, check out Bible Studies For Life: Kids.
Jerry Vogel serves as a Childhood Ministry Specialist in LifeWay Church Resources. He is married to Janie and has four children and thirteen grand kids. Jerry is a member of Brentwood Baptist Church and teaches preschoolers there. He is committed to enriching the lives of those who teach kids as well as making eternal investments in the lives of children.
Easter Themed Coloring Pages
It’s funny, the title of this blog might actually bring to mind images of bunnies, chicks, and beautifully decorated eggs. For you, maybe you think of chocolates, baskets, and lots of candy. I hope, however, that we are never too far from the truth of why we celebrate Easter – the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
This Easter, be sure that you are impressing upon your kids ministry leaders to keep Easter about Easter. Help them do this by printing this selection of Easter themed coloring pages. If your church is like most, you will have a huge surge in attendance on Easter Sunday. It’s possible that many of the kids attending will have never heard the true Easter story. By showing and using these coloring pages, leader can walk kids through the true reason for why Christians celebrate Easter.
Here are seven coloring pages to choose from:
Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection
Jesus Appeared to the Disciples
Jeff Land loves Life! That’s pretty great, because his job here at LifeWay is the Team Leader for Bible Studies for Life: Kids. Jeff loves his life which is so blessed by his amazing wife, Abbey, and their four sons, Reed, Nash, Will, and Tuck. A natural encourager and fun-lover, look for Jeff’s posts about teacher appreciation and game ideas. When not serving at work, Jeff serves 2nd graders at his church, First Baptist Church, Joelton, TN.