Kids!
*No, I will not be making any comments regarding the death of my friend and mentor... Michael Jackson.
*Today's post is in response to some questions I've been getting from church planters regarding our kid's program.
*I'm not just saying this to sound nice, but I'm a huge fan of kids and I've seen the ideas I'm blogging about work!
*Here are some things we're doing at Great Lakes to build a high impact kid's program (in a set-up/tear-down setting):
- We use age appropriate DVD curriculum for kids. (Walkers- 2 Yrs: Boz,the Green Bear; 3-5 Yrs: Lil' K; K-5th Grade: Kidmo and Empowering Kids)
-For our elementary program, we use high quality DVD worship videos that are led upfront by energetic volunteers! The entire Shout Praises Kids collection is done very well!
-Most of our programming is done "live", but we use DVDs for the areas that need constant action: teaching and music.
-We use The Beginner's Bible for preschool and the NIrV Kid's Bible or New Living Translation for elementary.
-Instead of wasting tons of paper for handout sheets to let parents know what their kids are learning... we blog about it.
- We try to purchase highly durable games that kids wouldn't typically have at home. Some of the popular games in our elementary room include: Giant Connect Four, Giant Checkers, Boccerball, Giant Chutes & Ladders; Giant Dominoes, Giant Scrabble, Bean Bag Toss Game, etc. Check these out too... classic arcade looking systems!
-Some of our best buys for preschool are: A bounce house, multiple Superyard Gates, a paging system, and Mega Bloks.
-The video projectors we bought for our kid's areas are Optoma EP728. They cost around $1K w/ the 3 year warranty.
-We're still working on what's the best system for checking kids in and out. Wristbands have worked alright for us.
*We will NEVER allow limited space or resources to determine our effectiveness for kid's ministry.
*Thanks to our volunteers who work w/ kids at Great Lakes. I appreciate all you do!!!
Dave
PS: This video is VERY hard to see, but it was filmed at night (6.25.09). It speaks for itself.
*Today's post is in response to some questions I've been getting from church planters regarding our kid's program.
*I'm not just saying this to sound nice, but I'm a huge fan of kids and I've seen the ideas I'm blogging about work!
*Here are some things we're doing at Great Lakes to build a high impact kid's program (in a set-up/tear-down setting):
- We use age appropriate DVD curriculum for kids. (Walkers- 2 Yrs: Boz,the Green Bear; 3-5 Yrs: Lil' K; K-5th Grade: Kidmo and Empowering Kids)
-For our elementary program, we use high quality DVD worship videos that are led upfront by energetic volunteers! The entire Shout Praises Kids collection is done very well!
-Most of our programming is done "live", but we use DVDs for the areas that need constant action: teaching and music.
-We use The Beginner's Bible for preschool and the NIrV Kid's Bible or New Living Translation for elementary.
-Instead of wasting tons of paper for handout sheets to let parents know what their kids are learning... we blog about it.
- We try to purchase highly durable games that kids wouldn't typically have at home. Some of the popular games in our elementary room include: Giant Connect Four, Giant Checkers, Boccerball, Giant Chutes & Ladders; Giant Dominoes, Giant Scrabble, Bean Bag Toss Game, etc. Check these out too... classic arcade looking systems!
-Some of our best buys for preschool are: A bounce house, multiple Superyard Gates, a paging system, and Mega Bloks.
-The video projectors we bought for our kid's areas are Optoma EP728. They cost around $1K w/ the 3 year warranty.
-We're still working on what's the best system for checking kids in and out. Wristbands have worked alright for us.
*We will NEVER allow limited space or resources to determine our effectiveness for kid's ministry.
*Thanks to our volunteers who work w/ kids at Great Lakes. I appreciate all you do!!!
Dave
PS: This video is VERY hard to see, but it was filmed at night (6.25.09). It speaks for itself.
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