Preschoolers Faith, Fun and Activity

Teaching Preschoolers faith can be fun. The key is for the teacher to have fun. If you have fun, they will have fun. They may call you silly, but they will remember silly.

Today we discuss Activities. Preschoolers are explorers and they use all their 5 senses to get to know their world. Activities allow Preschoolers to explore their faith with their 5 senses. Activities are what they sound like Preschoolers getting active. The more the Preschooler is allowed to be part of the story the more relevant and memoriable the story will be.

Activities can be as simple as holding a poster. For example, if you have a series of lessons like Creation, you can create a simple poster to represent each lesson. This is a progressive activity. Volunteers hold a poster while you tell the story. For creation, the first day of creation is only one poster and only one volunteer. By the seventh day, the seventh lesson, you have seven posters and seven volunteers holding posters. It offers an easy review, a memorable visual and lets your Preschoolers touch the story/poster, be part of the story. Throw in a song or rhyme to add sounds, interactivity and memory, your kids will love it. I found a Creation song on ebibleteacher.com by Sharon Broome (http://www.ebibleteacher.com/children/songs.htm#Creation_Songs )that we sang each week. I placed my hand over the appropriate volunteer and poster as we sang.

Activities can be an obstacle course. You tell the story in circle time and then follow it up by having the kids walk through the story or part of the story. For the great Exodus, have the kids walk in a group around the room, but them at one point make them stop. They have to stop because of the Red Sea (a blanket preferably blue over some chairs). Then let Moses (you) part the Red Sea (remove the blanket) and let the kids walk through the sea (between a couple of chairs). For Noah, have the kids walk in pairs pretending to be a favorite animal and then walk them all behind a line of chairs (the ark) to make a crowded group.

Activities can be games. Be careful when planning games. These are Preschoolers. Everybody needs to have a turn and everybody wins. Preschool Church is a place for peace, love, sharing and taking turns; not hard lessons about life not being fair. There are gentler ways to teach Preschoolers about winning and losing, but that's a talk for another day.

A game that works great for many lessons is Red Light / Green Light. Kids are lined up on one side of the room and the teacher is on the other side of the room. You can tell kids to take two steps forward if what you say is true, but if what you say is false, they have to stay still or maybe take a step backwards. This is a great way to review the story. If you are talking about the journey to the promised land, you can have red and green signs. Kids walk forward when you hold up the green sign and stop when the red sign is up. Pharoah said the people could go (Green Sign), but they came to the Red Sea (Red Sign). Moses parted the sea (green sign), but the people didn't know what to do next (red sign). Moses found the promised land (green sign) but the people were afraid to go in (red sign). Forty years God provided for his people in the dessert (green sign) and then they were allowed in the promised land. Kids should be to the teacher by now.

It is hard to offer a specific resource for activities. They come from all sorts of places. Games come from Bible stories, books, teacher's guides and websites. Games are games you played as a kid. Games are games my kids play at home, at church, at school, at Boy Scouts, etc. A couple of websites that might help you get started include Children's Ministry Magazine http://www.childrensministry.com/ and Children's Ministry Inspiration Vault http://childrensministryvault.com/ministry-lessons-ideas-training/ .

Patience and flexibility are important when working with Preschoolers. Preschoolers are incredibly honest and bold. They will tell you what works and what doesn't. Teaching Preschoolers can be fun as long as you have fun. Remember your childhood. Relive your childhood a little. AND HAVE FUN!