A Year of Ideas
Karen Holford
Here are a few ideas to consider when planning activities for your children throughout the year. Pick a few that appeal to you and work in your setting, and try some different ones each year.
JANUARY
• Sabbath School Breakfast Party
Start the year with a Sabbath School breakfast party before Sabbath School. Invite the whole family so they can come early to church together.
• Sabbath School Room Decoration
Invite older children to help create new room decorations for the younger classes. Or they could make decorations for their own classes, sponsor a room in the church that they will keep tidy and attractive, or create an inspiring display for the church foyer.
FEBRUARY
• President’s Day
The week of President’s Day is a great time to remember George Washington and his leadership as the first president of the United States. This is a wonderful opportunity to teach the children the name of our current government leader and talk about the importance of praying for our president and other leaders.
• Home and Family Week/Valentine’s Day
Let the children host a special banquet for the married couples in the church, or even just a reception with a special cake and a drink. Perhaps they could also do a short, humorous sketch about being married and give the couples a few questions to discuss based on their sketch.
MARCH
• Clear-Out Sale
Encourage children to take part in spring cleaning and bring their unwanted toys and clothes to a yard sale at church to raise funds for ADRA.
• St. Patrick’s Day
Green doesn’t only signify St. Patrick’s Day, but it also represents growth in Christ. Tell your children the true life story of the man the day commemorates. His story shows a man who dedicated his life to following the calling of God. This is a perfect opportunity for the children to witness—when others wear green for St. Patrick, our children can share that they wear green to show their calling—to be a child of the King and grow in Him.
MARCH/APRIL
• Easter Cards
Make Easter cards that witness of Jesus’ resurrection.
• Good News Easter Egg Hunt
Have an Easter egg hunt to find large printed and laminated Easter egg shapes that you have hung out of the children’s reach, but where they are clearly visible. On each numbered Easter egg write a ‘good news’ verse about Jesus’ love, and His salvation. Give each child a pencil, clipboard, and a pre-printed sheet on which they can write the verses as they find them, next to their appropriate number. Give each child who completes the hunt a plastic egg in which you have hidden a small treat and a Bible verse telling them how Jesus has saved us. This can be an outreach activity.
MAY
• Mother’s Day
Search the Web (www.familyfun.go.com is a good place to start) to find lots of ideas and crafts for children to give to their mothers. Hold a tea party for moms or for all the ladies in the church and make it pretty and special. Children can help to make invitations, sandwiches, decorations, simple gifts, cold drinks, etc., and learn how to serve things carefully.
• Sponsored Events
This could be a good time of year to hold a sponsored fund-raising activity for ADRA, or to sponsor a child in India. Raise money for a local church project that would benefit the children.
• Father’s Day
Children can make cards and gifts for their dads.
Plan a children and dad’s event such as a kite-making project, sports activity, or even a men’s prayer breakfast at which the children serve the food. Be sensitive to children who may not have fathers who could come by including grandfathers and uncles or even moms.
JULY/AUGUST
• Fourth of July
Share with your children the concept of freedom—not only politically, but spiritually as well. Just as a new country was born in the fight for freedom, a new heart is given to all of us when we ask for forgiveness of our sins. Share that red stands for the blood Jesus shed, white stands for his grace covering our sins, and blue stands for heaven, where He is building a home for us.
• Vacation Bible Schools
This is a good time to run a Vacation Bible School. Purchase kits from your local ABC store. Ask your kids to help in the preparation of VBS and get them involved in inviting friends to come.
• Outings and Picnics
Summer is a time for outings and picnics, especially for children whose families may be unable to take out-of-town vacations during the summer.
• Church Camps
Don’t forget to encourage your children to attend the excellent church camps that are run in your area. The camps will send you brochures to keep on hand to share with the parents.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER
• A Back to School Party
Hold a fun party to “celebrate” going back to school. Provide take-home bags with school items, perhaps with Bible texts printed on them. Have a special prayer time of blessing for the children, their classes, and their teachers.
• Family Togetherness Week
Help plan a fun event for the families in your church, focusing on doing something together. One idea is to give each family all kinds of junk, a stapler, scissors, and sticky tape and then ask them to create something unusual out of the materials, such as making a fancy dress costume for a child, creating a new kind of animal, or making the components of a wedding (one family dresses a groom, another a bride, and others make a church, cake, car, and bouquet!)
OCTOBER
• Children’s Sabbath
Download and purchase materials from the North American Division Children’s Ministry Web site at www.childmin.com, then click “Children’s Sabbath.” If you do nothing else all year, try to make this Sabbath special for the children. If it’s too much for the children in your group to take the service, make sure you plan a special service that caters for the children’s needs throughout the program.
• Anti-Halloween Party
Why not hold an Anti-Halloween party? Ideas for Christian alternatives to Halloween parties can be found by searching the Web. Invite the children to dress up as their favorite real heroes or Bible characters. Or send the children from door to door, in groups with adults, collecting canned goods that can be used for winter food baskets, or giving encouraging gifts or treats to people rather than asking for treats from them.
NOVEMBER
• Harvest Thanksgiving
Involve children in your Thanksgiving harvest service. They can help to collect food, pack it up, and take it to needy people.
• Packing Shoe boxes for ADRA
Organize a special day when children can pack shoe boxes for the ADRA appeal. Provide the shoe boxes, wrapping paper, sticky tape, and labels, and invite the children to bring their goodies to wrap and pack. Give families a list of useful things to pack in the shoe box so that they are aware of what is needed.
DECEMBER
• End of Year Party
Hold an end of year party on a day when parents can take a break and go shopping for Christmas without the children. Perhaps you could show a film of the Nativity story, have a party at which the children make cards and gifts to give to their parents, or make goody bags to give to the older people in the church.
• Nativity/Advent Concert and Carol Singing
A nativity/Advent concert can be a good outreach opportunity and can be useful for children with non-Adventist parents, as the parents are likely to come to an event in which their child is performing. Take your children to sing in homes for the elderly. Rather than collecting money, give away small gifts such as wrapped sweets, oranges, or small candles.
Have a wonderful year!
