activity ideas

By Rhonda VanCleave

If you have taught kids at church longer than 30 minutes, you’ve probably had that “what do I do next” feeling.

Can you relate to any of these?

Adult worship goes longer than you anticipated and experience has taught you to keep the kids engaged or risk chaos. What do you do?
Your well-planned lesson has gone great, EXCEPT it took those little geniuses only half as long to do the activity as you thought. What do you do?
For a variety of “who saw this coming” reasons, you are asked to “do something with the kids” for a bit while (fill-in this blank with lots of “adult” reasons). What do you do?

If you’ve worked with kids at church (or plan to) these times just happen. That’s why I’ve found it is helpful (and sanity saving) to always have a few ideas “in my back pocket.” Sometimes I have a couple of resources I can grab … and sometimes I have nothing but enthusiasm. I’d love to share some of what works for me with you.

I have a variety of categories of back-pocket ideas, but in a pinch, my go-to is Bible skills for some pretty basic reasons. Just like the drills that sports teams repeat daily to train their muscles, kids who get lots of practice knowing how their Bibles are organized are much better equipped to use their Bibles when it counts. Kids who become comfortable with their Bibles won’t become the adult who panics when the Bible teacher of their small group asks them to find Habakkuk (or be tricked into looking for the book of Hezekiah like some pastors I know try to pull).

I keep a couple of resources in my room for “emergencies.” I have a set of craft sticks with the names of the books of the Bible on them. I also have a set of disposable cups, each with the name of a Bible book. How I use them is determined by the abilities of the group at the time. Here are some examples:

Craft sticks

Draw a craft stick from the cup. Pronounce the name. (For non-readers, pronounce the name and ask the child to repeat.)
Draw a craft stick and name the book that comes before and after.
Form two teams. A player from each team draws a craft stick. Ask which Bible book comes first. The team with that stick keeps both. Each stick is worth a million points!

Plastic cups

Sort the cups by Old and New Testament (Use a Bible contents list or poster for assistance.)
Stack the cups by divisions
Try to stack all 66 cups (books) in order!

But what if you have NO resources at all? Here are a few quick ideas.

Designate one wall (direction) as Old Testament and the opposite as New Testament. Call out Bible book names and kids can point to the correct wall.
Form a circle. Beginning with one child, do “the wave” around the circle by throwing both hands in the air and saying the books of the Bible in order. As each child does the wave, that child says the next Bible book. If kids are new to this, the group can say the Bible book names together.
Call out different Bible stories. Kids can sit if the story is from the Old Testament or stand if it is from the New Testament. This is a good time to remind kids that the Old Testament contains stories that happened before Jesus came. The New Testament begins about the time of Jesus’ birth and beyond.
Kids can take turns naming Bible stories. Keep count of how many are Old Testament and how many are New Testament stories.

Keep a few ideas on your phone in a list app or on a sheet of paper taped to the wall. Add ideas you discover. Don’t panic when faced with a “What do I do?” moment. Grab a back pocket idea and redeem … make the most of … each precious moment you have with kids. (Ephesians 5:16)

I teach kindergartners, and we paint almost every week. Usually we paint at the easel with our brushes. But you can paint even if you don’t have an easel. And even if you don’t have brushes. You can paint with any age of kids (2s through preteens).

Here are some ideas for painting with kids without brushes or easels.

Use Cotton Swabs – Provide cotton swabs, paint, and paper. Kids can swab, dot, swipe, and create. They develops different skills; it takes control to make the swab do what you want. And they cannot get a lot of paint on the swab so it usually is less mess.

Use Slinkys – You can purchase small slinkies in the party section of discount stores and online (in bulk). Any shape will work. Kids can dip slinkys into paint. Then they can press the slinkys onto paper or bounce the slinkys onto the paper to create different designs. You can also use large slinkys. (But small slinkys are easier to control and don’t create as much mess.)

Use Cookie Cutters – Choose cookie cutters that relate to your session’s focus–letters, animals, shapes, or whatever. Fold a paper towel to fit into an aluminum pan and pour the paint on top of the paper towel. This makes a "paint pad" so paint will more easily adhere to the cookie cutter. Kids will love experimenting with making designs or spelling words.

Don’t have cookie cutters? Gather containers from your recycle bin or resource room and make prints with them.

Use Shoes – Locate small shoes with different tread patterns. Fold paper towels to put in the aluminum pans and pour paint on the towels to control the amount of paint that gets on the shoe. Encourage children to print and overprint to create designs. You can use shoes of any size (as long as the paper will accommodate them). I like smaller shoes for smaller hands to use.

Use Marbles – Or golf balls. Or table tennis balls. Or other rolling spheres. These can be used in different ways to paint. Here’s my favorite way. Place paper inside an oatmeal box. Roll a marble in paint and scoop it out with a spoon. Drop the painted marble into the oatmeal box and put the lid on the box. Roll the box back and forth. (Two children can roll the box to each other.) Open the box, pour out the marble (back into the paint). Repeat with the same color or another color if you choose. When complete, remove the paper and set aside to dry.

Use Hands – You actually don’t need any tools to paint. Just use the ones at the end of your arms. This is messy…no denying it. But it’s fun and low cost.

Why paint? Read this previous post for some of the benefits.

Back Pocket Ideas for Random Moments

Painting Without Brushes or Easels

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Digital Resources

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