#KidsMin From A to Z: Attendance & AWANA

I am so excited about 2014! Why you ask?  Well, for one thing I'm getting married!  (It never gets old to say that by the way.  It also never gets old to look at my ring.  It's gorgeous.  And I love it!)  I'm also super excited because I'm very stoked about all of my ideas for my blog for this year!  I'm kicking off the year with a series on kids ministry from A to Z.  I'll be talking about everything from the nursery to security to volunteers.  

I'm kicking off this series today with the letter A... 

Some of the letters of the alphabet were really hard to narrow down so I picked two words for a few letters!  

Attendance: Getting kids to our ministries can be one of the most rewarding or one of the most frustrating part of the ministry.  There are so many important things to remember about getting kids to your ministries is that they can't drive!  Unless you have a bus ministry kids are brought to church by their parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles.  Unfortunately this means that your attendance can fluctuate up and down at a bizarre rate.  For example, I can have 70 kids one Wednesday night and 45 the next week.  Here's what's important to remember: Yes, numbers are important.  I look at it this way every child that comes through my door is a child that I get to tell about Jesus.  However, it's also important to remember that numbers aren't everything.  How do we keep that at our forefront:  We remember that every child is uniquely special.  I truly believe that if I only had one child show up for a service that I should still do everything that I can to make that morning incredible for that child.  Because they are important and they are loved. 

AWANA: This is such a huge topic that I could spend 10 posts talking about it and still not get everything covered.  I will say this, AWANA is certainly not for every church or every child.  However, it is a fabulous program that has been wildly successful at my church and for my kids.  AWANA is focused on memorizing scripture and having fun!  I am reminded all the time how important it is for kids to have God's word hidden in their heart.  There will be times in their life when they are in trouble, and my greatest prayer is that during that time they will remember something that they learned in our ministry that will get them through whatever they are going through.  If you are looking for a program for your Wednesday night ministry then I would seriously check out this program.  It's split up into three times: hand books, council or story time, and game time (every kids favorite!).  Here's what I would encourage you with on AWANA: Don't be afraid to mix it up if you need to.  No ministry is the same so every program won't work the same for every ministry.  I recently made a few logistical changes to our program this year and it has worked out splendidly for our church.  We use our AWANA program for our babies through 4th graders.  We recently moved our 5th-6th graders over to Transit (our pre-teen ministry) and everyone over 7th grade participates in our youth ministry.  Here is what I will tell you:  Our kids LOVE AWANA!  

(Visit here to see a complete list of all of our AWANA themes!) 

I'll also be using this series to answer any of your questions about any of the topics that I'm covering.  If you have a question leave it in the comments or e-mail me at kidsmincalling@gmail.com.  

Tomorrow I'll be talking all about Butcher Paper and Bible's.  

See you then! 

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Kids Christmas Party Recap!

Last night was our last night of AWANA for our 2013 year!  And all my #KidsMin said a big AMEN!  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my AWANA program and all of my sweet kiddos.  It is actually one of the highlights of my week.  However, I am ready for a three week winter break and plan to take full advantage of these free Wednesday nights (I'll be home catching up on laundry)!  

Last night we ended our last AWANA with a bang and I threw my kids a Happy Birthday, Jesus party!  I will say this, I have nothing against Santa, but when I'm at church I want our entire focus to be on celebrating the birth of Jesus who is our Savior.  That's what we did last night.  Our kids came in and I opened us with prayer and then sent my kids to their classrooms for a 20 minute lesson and fun time with their specific teachers.  At 7:00 PM our kids came back into the sanctuary and our party began.  

I read the Christmas story from Luke 2 and then it was time for pizza and Happy Birthday, Jesus cake!  Can you say excited?  I didn't serve pizza last year so the kids were thrilled to discover an extra treat this year!  Afterwards, I read them the story of "The Crippled Lamb" by Max Lucado and on a total whim invited 4 kids up to pray out loud with me as we thanked Jesus for coming to earth to be our Savior.  

I'm telling you, it is out of the mouths of children that I see the glory of God in ways I have never seen before.  By the end of their prayers, I had tears in my eyes and had a hard time finishing my own.  The love of God was so real and so tangible to all of his children that I was overwhelmed with God's goodness.

After our prayers we played one round of "Merry Christmas" bingo so everyone could win a piece of candy and sang a few Christmas carols together.  Despite having the longest and most lingering cold I was able to lead the kids in: We Wish you a Merry Christmas, Silent Night, and Joy to the World.  I will also say, there was nothing quite like hearing 50 little voices sing Silent Night.  Again... tears to my eyes.  

I'm officially ready now for our 3 week break!  

I'll still be blogging throughout our break but you can also follow me on these other networks to keep up:

Twitter: @KidsMinCalling

Facebook

Pinterest

Instagram: @KidsMinCalling

Thanksgiving Pie Night Recap

What's your favorite food at Thanksgiving?  That's the question I opened last night's AWANA list.  The answers were vast and varied.  Some kids said that there favorite was the Turkey, or corn, or stuffing.  After all those answers we finally got around to the answer that I was looking for... Pie!  And of course after one person said pie all of the other kids said pie as well as usually happens.  

After that I gave all of my little one's (I had about 45 preschoolers-4th graders) to a Thanksgiving challenge.  They were challenged to say 125 verses in our hour and a half time span.  At 7:30 we were at 97 verses total... Just 28 verses short of the goal.  By 7:50, just 20 minutes later, we had increased to a total of 167 verses!  

Their reward for blowing their challenge out of the water... Seeing Miss Mary get not one but two pies of whipped cream in my face.  I honestly couldn't tell you who loved it more... the kids or my volunteers.  Right before the whipped cream got me I looked up to see every volunteer in the room with their phones out to capture the moment on video.  It really was such a fun night! 

To all of my brave #KidsMin this is a great way to encourage your kids to say a lot of verses in one night!  Would I want to take a whipped cream pie in my face every Wednesday night... No!  But, in the spirit of Thanksgiving we had a great time last night!  It was a great way to end the night.  

What's the craziest incentive you have ever offered your kids to say their verses in AWANA?

Thanks to one of my sweet volunteers for taking these pictures! 

Parents Night Recap

I love Thursdays for so many reasons.  Thursdays are basically my Friday because it's my last day in my church office (my weekend is considered Friday and Saturday), and because I get to share what I did the night before in my Wednesday night program with all of my wonderful blogging friends.  The highlight of my Thursday morning is sitting down to write about what we did the night before.  

With that being said last night was Parents night!  Parents night is one of my favorite theme nights and we have it on our schedule twice during the AWANA year (once in the fall and once in the spring).  Last night was our fall parents night and we had this highest percentage of parents in attendance that we have had since I started parents night a year and a half ago.  We had roughly 70 % of our parents there last night participating with our kids. 

This is the postcard that I sent home the week before and uploaded to our social media pages to remind everyone of what we had coming up.  This has got to be one of my favorite postcards that I've made yet.  I love the look of the chalkboard and the simplicity of the whole design.  (It says tomorrow because I changed it the day before to upload to our social media pages.)

One of the reasons that I host parents night is to give parents who don't usually attend our church the opportunity to connect with our workers, myself, and our church staff.  I hosted a cupcake party early to give parents the opportunity to connect with our Pastor and play with their kids in our pre-service activities.  

Parents are encouraged to participate in every activity that we do.  When we say our pledges I have kids come up with mom & dad to lead the pledges.  Parents play on their kids team during game time, listen to their verses, and sit in on their council time.  The kids absolutely LOVE having their mom and dad there participating with them!  

At the close of the night I give some highlights of what we have coming up the rest of the semester, and I invite a member of our Leadership Team to talk to the parents and invite them to our services on Sunday.  

I'd strongly encourage everyone to have some form or type of parents night on their schedule.  I have learned that I can't ignore the family aspect of children's ministry.  I have to find ways and events to combine both and this is one way that I can invite the whole family in and give everyone an opportunity to hear about Jesus. 

If you host a parents night I'd love to hear about it in the comments. 

Yesterday, I hosted a link-up of all of your Thanksgiving ideas and if you didn't get to link up you can still go here and share your Thanksgiving crafts, recipes, traditions, etc... 

BARF Night

And no, before you get grossed out I am not talking about throw-up today.
But as a random side note one of the biggest things that I am most thankful for is that in my year and  a half in full time children's ministry I have not had to clean up anybody's throw up!  That's what I call something to be grateful for.  Any of my fellow KidsMin or volunteers out there on that one? 

Today when I say BARF I'm talking about last night's theme.  

Bring
A
Real
Friend

That's right, it was BARF night.  

BARF night is so much fun for so many reasons. 

1) It's a great night to see lots of new people.  
2) Hello, the kids think it's hilarious because it's called BARF.  
3) I incorporate BARF bags into their game time.  
4) Everyone who brings a friend gets to go to an ice cream party and since I'm the lady in charge I get to go too.  Being in charge has to have its perks somewhere. 

The week before BARF night is scheduled I send all of the kids home with two BARF bags that they use as their invitation to their friends.  I grab regular, brown paper bags from my local store and put our churches information on the outside.  I make sure to include our website and phone number so that if any parents have any questions they can easily reach me throughout the week.  Here's a look at this week's invite. 

The Big white space at the bottom is where I put my churches information.  

I tape this print-out onto my brown paper bag and do my best to encourage my kids to invite their friends. 

I also offer incentives, rewards, bribery, or whatever you want to call it for kids who bring friends:

1) 10 AWANA bucks for the 1st friend they bring. 

2) 5 AWANA bucks for every additional friend they bring. 

3) Everyone who brings a friend and their friend are treated to an ice cream party after the opening ceremony.  

I am very intentional about the date that I pick for BARF night.  I always pick the Wednesday that falls right before our Fall or Spring Festival.  Why do I do this?  I do this because this brings a whole new group of kids and parents who I can invite back to come for two of our biggest event of the year.  When every child left last night they received a flyer about next week's Fall Festival or Fear Not as we call it. 

Here's another great thing about BARF night!  It's another low-cost night!  

This year, the only expense I had was the ice cream for the ice cream party.  That's what I'd call a win in a KidsMin budget. 

We had a great turn out last night!
Our best BARF night since I started working there.  This was our 3rd. 

We had 59 kids total (remember my AWANA goes from Puggles-4th graders).  

Which was our highest number yet this year! 

Do you guys and gals ever have a BARF night?  

What are some interesting things that you do?  

Bible Hero Night- Recap

The Bible is filled with stories of great people of faith, those with courage in the face of adversity, and the most important hero of all... Jesus.  With the exception of Jesus who is everyone's hero, we all have certain stories or people in the Bible who speak to our heart and who impact our lives.  

The purpose behind Bible Hero night is to get the kids to think about all of the people that they are learning about and to experience what it was like to be them even in just a small way.  

Here's the postcard I sent out the week before to remind everyone.  

The great thing about Bible Hero night?  It didn't cost me one penny.  

That's right... Bible Hero night is a completely free event!

It's important that your parents don't feel overwhelmed or pressured to send their child in an elaborate costume.  

I encouraged my parents via social media to simply use old sheets or what they found laying around their house.  

I had kids show up in bath robes, scarves, sheets, and accessorized with staff's and shields.  Seeing their creativity was amazing. 

They came dressed as Rebekah, Moses, Deborah, Mary, Elizabeth, a Christian, and lots of my little one's came dressed as the greatest hero that they know... Jesus. 

I pulled out my costume box with old Babylon costumes for kids to use who didn't wear one, and almost all of my kids chose to put on a costume for the night.  I had little one's running around everyone in tan and brown robes and it was magnificent.

I personally went as Esther.  Something about her story just grips my heart.  Her simple obedience to do what was right knowing that it could cost her her life absolutely captivates me.  It's my prayer that I too will have that innate desire to always do what is right and to speak up for those who don't have a voice.  

That's how we planned Bible night.  

It's simple, easy, fun, and most importantly FREE!  

This is a great way to stay under budget and still have a great night!  

What did you do with your little one's last night?  

Music Night

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music."  

Psalm 98:4

Yesterday was the most glorious day!  

I absolutely love music.

I've been singing since I can remember, I play the violin, and I am actually self-teaching myself piano.
I've been in choirs, and led and sang on more praise teams than I can remember.
It's only natural that I incorporate music into as much as my #kidsmin as I can.  

In planning this year's themes I absolutely knew that I had to put music night on the calendar and I am so glad that I did. 

I sent home a postcard the week before as usual and encouraged all of my kids to get creative in coming up with their instruments and get creative they did!  I saw all of the most interesting and unique instruments last night. 

I set up a music station for our pre-service activity where all of the kids had the opportunity to make their own tambourines.  All I put out were plastic plates (paper works too) and markers.  I had one of my volunteers responsible for gluing the tambourines together and filling them with a mix of rice and beans.  We used hot glue because we used plastic plates and they were too thick to staple like you could a paper plate.  

Here's a look at what our table's looked like. 

After the kids made their tambourines they moved to their seats where Miss Mary helped lead them in lots of exciting music for Jesus while the rest of the kids were coming in and making their tambourines.  

We said our opening pledges and I gave a brief (3 minute) lesson on why we worship Jesus.  We talked about how the Bible says to shout to the Lord all the earth and how it doesn't matter how talented of a singer we are or how old we are.  We can all worship Jesus and it is exciting for all of us!

Here's a look at my tambourine!  Yes, it has bling on it!  Being the lady in charge has to have its perks somewhere.
Can you guys & gals keep a secret?
People think I plan theme nights for the kids... 
I really plan them so I can sit in my office and craft during the day without people looking at me like I'm weird.  

The most glorious thing that I've seen in my whole life happened after that.  All of the kids got their instruments and we worshiped Jesus together.  It was the best worship experience that I've ever had in my entire life.  There was truly something jubilant about worshiping Jesus with 50 of my littlest and closest friends. 

We sang "Shout" by Yancy and boy did my kids shout!
They loved it so much that we sang it again at the end of our club time.

If you don't have a music night planned already put it on your calendar... yesterday!

It's such an easy and again low-cost night!  This night cost me less than $25 dollars because I pulled together almost all of my supplies from what I already had in my resource room.  My biggest expense was my glue gun sticks to glue my plates together.

I truly believe that it is so important for kids to learn how to worship Jesus at a young age, and I'm looking forward to seeing all of my kids worshiping Jesus in church on Sunday.

Have you ever had a music night?  Share your thoughts below in the comments!

Don't forget to enter the October giveaway below!
Today is the last day to enter!

I'm giving away a copy of the Big Book of Bible Games & the Big Book of Bible Crafts.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Team Spirit Night

I love, love, love my Team Spirit night theme.  Well, let's face it you'll probably find me saying that about almost all of our themes.
 I especially love team spirit night.  Being the only University of South Carolina fan amid a sea of UGA Bulldawgs leaves me with lots of fun times.  Team Spirit night is the only day of the year that I can get away with wearing my USC gear.  To top it all off, Wednesday morning I woke up to a perfect cold and rainy fall day.  This meant that I could immediately throw on my USC t-shirt and sweatshirt and be out the door.  It was marvelous.

Team Spirit night is such an easy theme night.  

More importantly, it cost ZERO dollars.  That's right, I said $0.  

As #KidsMin volunteers and workers we all know how important those budgets are so a no cost event is right up our alley. 

Here's my promo that I send home with all my kids the week before. 

I generally pick some cool fonts and leave it at that, because with a theme every week I just don't have 3 hours to sit and design a super snazzy post-card, but I'm happy with it the way it is. 

For a copy of the promo that you can customize with your own information please e-mail: kidsmincalling@gmail.com.
I love to share!  

I let my kids show their support for whatever team they want.  While many of them do wear lots of UGA or college football gear I've had kids show up in t-shirts for their elementary schools, soccer teams, or little league.  I've also had kids show up in t-shirts showing support for big brothers and sisters who play sports in middle or high school. 

I also give my kids the option of wearing colors to support their team if they don't have a t-shirt with their logo on it.  

I like to plan this theme night right at the very beginning of fall because college football is starting and it's such a big deal in the south.  My kids love to get on me about being a USC fan in the midst of the Bulldawgs.  

Team Spirit Night is such an easy theme night that I think it should be on everyone's schedule. 

For lessons you can talk about having endurance in our relationship with Jesus, running the race, training to be strong Christians, etc... There are so many ways to tie in sports with Jesus so just get creative.

In what seemed like a whole other world Transit (our preteen ministry) had a fabulous night!
They had record numbers again for their pizza & craft party as they learned about self-perception.
Here's my craft that I made!  I can't wait to see it sitting on my desk when I go into work today.

Monday will be the official start date of the first #KidsMin Calling giveaway.
I'll be giving away a copy of 2 of my favorite go-to books: The Big Book of Bible Games & The Big Book of Bible Crafts.
Check in daily next week for your chance to enter the giveaway.

Come back next Wednesday for a recap of my Music Night.

I am currently looking for those who work in #KidsMin (whether as a leader or a volunteer) who would like the opportunity to guest blog for #KidsMin Calling.  If you are interested in guest blogging please e-mail me at kidsmincalling@gmail.com.  Thanks! 

Light the Night

Happy Wednesday Rewind- on Thursday!

Today, I'm talking all about our Light the Night theme.
This is one of the kids favorite themes and is so simple and easy to plan.

Last Wednesday, we passed out these little postcards to all the kids.
While I give everyone a calendar, I always pass out a little card to hand to parents that they can stick on the refrigerator to remind them of what we have going on this week.

If you would like a copy of my template please e-mail me at kidsmincalling@gmail.com and I will be glad to share with you!  

Last year, I had quite an elaborate set-up with a strobe light and smoke machine.  This year, my day slipped away from me so the set-up wasn't quite elaborate but the kids still loved it!  All I did was cover the windows in the doors with black fabric, and place led candles (battery operated) around the game time circle.  In order to keep the room from getting too dark I also leave my stage lights on low to help illuminate the room just a bit.  

All the kids bring a flashlight, but I also have a box of about 20 flashlights that I bought for $1.00 each that I save and put out for kids who may have forgotten their flashlight.  Kids get to use their flashlights during the opening ceremony, council time (if their teachers choose) and during game time. 

I leave the lights on during all times of transition and turn the lights back off for game time only after everyone is on their color line.  This is a great, fun, and inexpensive theme to use for your kids.  This year, it cost me $0 because I saved all of my flashlights and candles from last year.  

As always, safety should be your number 1 goal.  Make sure you know where your kids are at all times and that you play games during game time that are safe to play in low light.  This is our 2nd year using this theme and we haven't had any injuries minus your usual game time bumps and scrapes.  It is always best though to exercise caution at all times. 

This is a great night to talk about how Jesus is the light of the world, walking in the light/truth, and shining our light for Jesus to all our friends and family.  

Have you ever used a light the night theme?  

What worked or didn't work for you?  

Let me know in the comments!  

Come back next Thursday for a break-down of Team Spirit Night!  

For questions about Light the Night or any theme idea please e-mail kidsmincalling@gmail.com.  

Butcher Paper

My Wednesday night program begins at 6:30 PM.  My registration opens at 6:00 PM.  This leaves me with 30 minutes of time to occupy my early birds with.  And arrive early they do.  By 6:10 I have anywhere from 15-20 little ones already running around my sanctuary.

This leaves me with a slight problem.

What to do with those 30 minutes.  We all know that if we leave that many little ones with nothing organized to do that the sanctuary will quickly erupt into chaos.  And many nights, that can be exactly what happens.  However, I try my best to make sure that we have organized activities waiting on the kids from 6:00-6:30 PM.  This year on the 1st Wednesday of every month we are going to have Butcher Paper night!

If you work with kids butcher paper should be your new best friend.

This was a super simple and easy pre-service activity to set up.  I literally rolled out 3 long sheets of butcher paper, put crayons in bins, and let the kids have at it!  Kids love to color and express themselves and something about coloring on paper on the floor just makes everyone happy.

I usually greet kids and parents on arrival at our check-in point so when I walked into the sanctuary at 6:28 last night to get ready for the opening I saw happy kids and volunteers calmly coloring on the floor.

I'd call that a #KidsMin win.

Wednesday Rewind-On Thursday

Happy Thursday, ya'll!

Working in full-time ministry Sunday-Thursday actually makes Thursday my Friday and I couldn't be more thrilled.  I'm starting a new series today called Wednesday Rewind- On Thursday.  My most popular blog post to date has been my post on AWANA theme ideas.  Every Thursday (because who has time to do anything on Wednesday) I'll recap my Wednesday night for you right here on the blog.  I'll give you the how-to's for all of my theme nights.  If your lucky you may even see some pictures of me looking crazy!

This week was our official AWANA kick-off and I couldn't have been more thrilled with how everything went.  We got everyone (All 60+ kids including Transit) registered, in club, and back home without a hitch.  Since this was kick-off week there was no theme, but my kids are super excited about Crazy Hair night next week.

I always theme my looks for crazy hair week and this was my look last Spring for Easter.   

Come back next week- same time & same place- to see my Crazy Hair look for this fall. 

I'm gathering my supplies today and getting started early. 

See you tomorrow for High Five 4 Friday.  

AWANA Theme Nights

It's that time of year again!  Time for our Wednesday night programs to kick back off. 

We had a fabulous summer here at the church where I work. 

Our Kids Ministry was rocking despite the break from our normal programs. 

Check back next week for a recap of what we did on Wednesday nights.  

Our Wednesday night Kids Ministry kicks back off next week with AWANA. 

If you haven't heard of AWANA be sure and check out their website for more information.

If you've ever volunteered in AWANA before, you know that most churches employ the use of themes.  Themes are an easy and exciting way to get your kids excited about coming to AWANA. 

Last year was my very 1st year working with AWANA and I fell in love with coming up with my own themes.  My creativity came out and I had a blast.  If you are looking for a last minute theme to fill your calendar check out our list below:

Ice cream social night

Crazy hair night- Style, color, fix up, put down and create your Crazy Hair look for the night!  This theme night is so much fun for both kids and volunteers that we do it once in the fall and once in the spring.  Check out my look for last fall and spring. 

Light the Night: Bring a flashlight!  We host our opening/closing and game time in the dark.  The kids loved it last year!  

(Note: We set out our spotlights for safety to make sure it doesn't get too dark) 

Team Spirit Night: Wear your favorite sports team gear. 

Music Night:  Bring a musical instrument from home and come prepared to make a joyful noise!  Get creative!  

Homemade drums and whistles are a must.  

Let's Go Fishing:  Go fishing for prizes for every section you complete tonight!  Wear your fishing gear and hats.  

(Note: For safety we ask kids not to bring fish hooks, and we use our puppet stage as our fishing pond.) 

 Here is a picture of the fabric that I made to drape over our stage last year.  

Bible Hero Night:  Clubbers should dress as their favorite Bible hero or character. 

Bring a friend night:  We host this 2x a year and always plan it the week before a big event like our Fall or Easter festival!  

This way you can make sure all those visitors get information about your event. 

We "Can-Do It" night:  Clubbers are encouraged to bring 2-4 can goods tonight that we donate to our church's monthly food distribution. 

Parent Night:  We also do this night 2x a year and generally have about 60-70% participation from our parents.  

They participate in all AWANA games and activities with their clubbers. 

Pie Night:  If AWANA clubbers can say more than 100 verses tonight, there will be a special prize at the end of the night. 

Happy Birthday, Jesus!  Christmas Celebration: Wear your favorite Christmas sweater. 

Double Bucks Night- Clubbers earn double the AWANA bucks for sections completed tonight. 

Fever night:  For every verse memorized tonight clubber's will get a colored dot to put on their leader!  

The leader with the most dots at the end of the night will receive a special prize for their club! 

Spread the love night:  Bring a card or note for your AWANA leader tonight.  (Typically the Wednesday before Valentine's day)

Pajama night:  Wear your pajamas!  Don't forget sneakers for game time. 

Drive in movie night

Beach night:  Dress in your beach clothes (No bathing suits, please!) and come prepared to have a wave of a good time.  

Here's a look at the Ocean Lagoon last year.  

Think Green night: Wear something green. 

Paper Airplane night:  Bring in the best paper airplane you can make with your own colors and design. 

 AWANA bucks are awarded for the best design and farthest flying. 

AWANA Rewind night:  Clubbers will vote on their favorite theme night of the year and we will host it one last time.  

During the month of January we host "Make a Snowman" month.  For every section that clubber's complete they will receive 5 feet of toilet paper to turn their leaders into snowmen at our indoor snowball fight the first week of February.  The kids LOVED this last year!  I've never seen so much fun with shredded paper. 

What are your favorite theme nights?  

Leave them in the comments section. 

See a theme night that you want me to elaborate on.  

Leave me a comment and you may see those in posts of their own!

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