#KidsMin from A to Z: Expectations

Happy Monday, friends!  I hope that your weekends (and especially Sundays) were full of fun, laughter, and life change for some little one's.  I had a great Sunday with my little one's.  Then again, I knew it was going to be a great Sunday when I walked in the door and I had a little one running for a Miss Mary hug.  The #KidsMin life is sweet for sure.  I had a fabulous morning with my 3rd-5th graders.  I walked in the door at 9:20 (10 minutes before class starts) and I had 4 kids sitting at the table, Bibles open, waiting for me and asking me to do sword drills.  It was the most bizarre but heart warming Sunday.  And as an added Bonus I got the rare pleasure of attending church during the second service with my fiance'!  It was a truly great morning. 

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's Sunday Social.  If you've always wondered why I started blogging, who my favorite bloggers are, and what my favorite blog posts are you should totally visit here and check it out!  It was really fun to take a break from my #KidsMin from A to Z series but I'm back today.  We are 15% of the way through and still have a lot of great letters left!  I mean, come on... this week we are going to spend a day talking about Ice Cream.  I scream!  You scream!  We all scream for Ice Cream!  (And then we send little one's home with their parents... best part of the job!) 

A is for Attendance and Awana

B is for Butcher Paper and Bibles 
C is for Curriculum and Communication
D is for Do It Yourself

When I first began working in full time kids ministry (almost 2 years ago now... wow is that hard to believe) I had such high hopes and ideals for my little one's.  I had visions of kids sitting attentively in their chairs hanging on to my every word as I poured my soul out in my teaching.  I believed that we would play fun games and when I said stop everyone would halt in their tracks.  Whoa!  Was I mistaken or what?  We all know that kids ministry isn't that easy.  If it was, we would probably have less burnt out and frustrated Children's Pastors and a lot more happy little ones.  Here is what I realized after about 3 months in full time kids ministry.  It's all about the expectations.  

If I became frustrated and just expected my little ones to run wild and take over my kids ministry then guess what... they would do just that!  I learned that I had to make my expectations for my little one's simple and clear.  When Miss Mary is speaking they are expected to have good listening bodies.  Their hands are expected to be in their laps, they are expected to be sitting in a chair, their eyes are expected to be on me, and their mouths are expected to be closed.  When Miss Mary says walk instead of run they are expected to walk.  

The key to kids and expectations and order is to communicate your expectations clearly and simply.  

Here is a great example.  Yesterday morning I was teaching 3rd-5th grade Sunday School and we had a really fun game to play that involved playing tag around our classroom.  We have a fairly large classroom so I wasn't too concerned, but before we started I clearly communicated my expectations to my class.  I told them that we were going to have a great time playing tag, but they were not to yell (as classes meet right beside us) and that they were not to get too aggressive as we were playing inside and not out.  I also clearly communicated that I expected these rules to be followed or we would stop the game and not play anymore.  We had a great time playing tag, no one got hurt, and hopefully the classes meeting around us weren't disturbed too much.  In fact, I only had to give one reminder not to yell for the whole 5 minutes of the game.  

It really is all about expectations!  

You can take this same concept and even apply it to your volunteers and parents.  It's about making sure that your expectations are communicated clearly and they will more than likely be followed.  Sure there are always those issues where a kid tries to push your buttons, but I have found in my experience that that is the exception and not the majority. 

What are some ways that you communicate your expectations and make sure that they get followed? 

Oh, and P.S.  Tomorrow it's all about 2 #KidsMin favorites: Flexibility & Follow Up!  

Sunday Social {2014- #1}

I am really hoping to participate in Sunday Social a lot more this year.
This is my favorite link-up that I've ever participated in simply because I really feel like the guided questions really help you to get to know other blogs and to make new blogging friends.  

This week it's back to the beginning and it's all about the blog! 



What is the name of your blog?  How long have you been blogging?
The name of my blog is #KidsMin Calling (#KidsMin= Kids Ministry) and I have been blogging since January of 2013. 

Why do you blog?
I blog because I'm passionate about what I do.  It sounds really cliche' but it's true.  I'm passionate about kids ministry and I find that I spend a lot of time looking for ideas online.  And I remember times of not being able to find what I was looking for.  I blog because of one of my ideas can inspire a Children's Pastor or parent or volunteer, and then in turn they can change a child's life and then I have made a difference.  

What is the first blog you ever followed?
Enjoying the Small Things

What is your favorite post you wrote in 2013? 

It's hard to narrow it down to my favorite post.  How about a top 3?

A Person's a Person No Matter how Small

50 Ways to Know your a #KidsMin

A Letter to My Future Children

What are your top blogging goals for 2014? 

My top and only goal is to blog consistently and end the year with at least 182 published posts.  That would put me at an average of one blog post every two days.  Why not every day?  Well, I have a full time job and I'm getting married and about to have a life.  A girl has to have some priorities.

Top 3 favorite blogs to follow
Mix & Match Family
Kelly's Korner
Under the Sycamore

Happy Sunday to all of my friends! 

#KidsMin from A to Z: Do It Yourself

It's Friday, and this is my 5th day in a row to have a blog post ready!
Bring on the weekend!  For one thing I get to see my fiance' (saying that never gets old).  After two weeks apart we are so ready to see each other.  We will also get to spend Sunday getting to do fun wedding stuff like picking a date (officially) and deciding on a wedding venue.  Two things that all of our loved ones are getting pretty desperate to know.  And let's be honest, this Bride is ready to get into full fledged picking out flowers, designing centerpieces, and buying a dress wedding planning.  I will promise to not let the blog get to overrun with wedding stuff between now and wedding day, but a girl has to be able to share something.  

Speaking of sharing something... this is a letter in my new series that you do NOT want to miss.  

A is for Attendance and Awana

B is for Butcher Paper and Bibles 
C is for Curriculum and Communication

That's right, today I'm talking all about ways to cut costs, get creative, and do things yourself.  One thing that I is very important to me is running my ministries on cost-effective budgets.  I'm very aware of the fact that I am using God's money to minister and I want to make the most of it!  One of the biggest ways that I do that is by doing things myself.  I think it's great if you have a large budget and you can buy things already made and put together, but that just doesn't work for me.  

Here's a great example... VBS and crafts.  When I was coordinating my VBS this year I began investigating the cost of crafts.  Just to give you an idea I had an average of 110 kids every night.  Now, to buy the craft packs from the distributor (which again if you can afford to do is great) would have cost me close to $1,000!  When I saw that price my jaw dropped.  However, what I chose to do instead was to gather the supplies myself to still make the same crafts from my local craft stores.  By shopping smartly, using coupons, and throwing a craft prep party to pre-package our crafts I cut that $1,000 estimate into a third.  

I know that so many times we want our ministries to be fabulous and we think that means everything must look top notch and professional.  While it is important that we do things with excellence, that doesn't mean that everything has to look perfect.  Does your nursery need a new paint job?  Head to your local hardware store, buy your paint, and throw a painting party for your volunteers.  Have them help you do it yourself.  You'll save money just by not paying for a professional painter.  Have you been wanting a puppet stage?  Build one for yourself. 

Here's what is important to remember about doing it yourself... Everything is possible!  If I looked at projects and believed that I couldn't make them happen then I would never get anything done.  I would have to buy everything and my budget would be shot for the year.  Do you need new postcards or promotional items?  Design them yourself.  Are you looking for new and creative crafts?  Scrounge around in your resource or supply room and get creative.  It's nothing for our staff members to come into my office once a week and see me sitting on the floor surrounded by a glue gun and craft supplies working on a new project.  

The important thing to remember is that you don't have to buy everything new and to get creative!  Don't be afraid to think outside of the box and use what you have laying around.  One of the questions I get asked the most frequently is... Did you make that?  When I say yes people are often amazed at what I can come up with.  Bottom line... if your looking to cut your budget do less buying and more making.  

For more ideas on ways that you can Do It Yourself feel free to visit my Pinterest boards here! 

Next week I'll be talking about:

Expectations

Flexibility and Follow-Up

Games

Holidays

Ice Cream

Those are going to be super fun days that you don't want to miss!  

Have a fabulous weekend! 

#KidsMin from A to Z: Curriculum & Communication {Part 2}

This week is absolutely flying by and I'm super excited to be cranking out my fourth post for the week today.  I blogged 88 times in 2013 (which equates to about once every 4 days) and I'm really determined this year to blog more consistently.  One of my resolutions is to have blogged at least 182 times by the end of the year.  That would put me at blogging roughly every two days.  Why am I not shooting for every day?  Well, let's see I have a full-time job, and I'm getting married.  A girl has to have priorities!  Last night was so much fun with my sweet kiddos!  I missed them so much and was thrilled to see their smiling faces.  They had a great time getting their points for Arctic Snowball month and playing games!  

Now back to business!  
I have really enjoyed the beginning of my new series on #KidsMin from A to Z.  

A is for Attendance and Awana

B is for Butcher Paper and Bibles 

Today, I'm covering part 2 of the letter C in my newest series on #KidsMin from A to Z. 
Feel free to visit here to see yesterday's post talking all about my Curriculum.

I have one last thing to add about curriculum.  No, I do not write my own.  While I am perfectly capable of doing so and do write my own lessons on occasion I would prefer to use someone else's curriculum and and save time by tweaking it the way I want.  But, if you do write your own curriculum... Kudos!  I'm super impressed!  

Today I'm talking all about another equally big C... Communication. 

Communication. 
Communication.
Communication.

Are you seeing how important it is?

I truly believe that you can not have a successful ministry without learning how to communicate.  Listed below are my top tips for communicating with little ones, parents, and volunteers. 

Little Ones: 
Make sure that they have your undivided attention.  
Put your phones away and return text messages at another time. 
Get down on their level.  
Sometimes the best form of communication for little ones is to simply play. 
Use words that they can understand (save sanctification for another time).  

Parents:
Keep your parents informed on what their kids are learning.  
Clearly communicate problems that arise with little ones promptly. 
Give postcards to parents of upcoming special events. 
Send out e-mail blasts the day of a special event or theme night. 

Volunteers:
Send out monthly newsletters with a calendar attached.  
Take advantage of social media for those little reminders right before service. 
Send postcards to remind everyone of upcoming training or meetings. 
Digital updates are great but don't underestimate the power of snail mail.  
Don't forget to say thank you frequently!  

If your think you are over communicating, then... GREAT!  You are probably communicating just the right amount.  I send out monthly newsletters, weekly reminders, and update my social media constantly for my volunteers.  As a result I have fewer volunteers forget about meetings and special events.  I also have parents who remember what our theme nights are and their kids are always ready to go and excited!  

Communication is so so so important.

How do you communicate with your little ones, parents & volunteers?
Do you have any tips for us?

Sound off below!  

Oh, and I promise you... you DO NOT want to miss tomorrow's letter! 
I'll be talking all about budgets and how I DIY (do it yourself) to save money and get more creative!  A #KidsMin necessity!  

#KidsMin from A to Z: Curriculum & Communication

Happy Wednesday, Friends! 

I am so excited about this Wednesday!  For one thing I have missed my little ones terribly.  I've seen them on Sundays but our program takes a 3 week break for Christmas on Wednesdays and I haven't seen several of my kids since the last time we had AWANA and Transit back in 2013.  I'm also super excited because we are entering my favorite month in all of AWANA!  It's time for Arctic Snowball Month! 

Arctic Snowball time is simply put incredible.  In my neck of the woods we LOVE snow!  We so rarely see it that when there is even a hint of that fluffy and white winter goodness we kind of go crazy.  We go to bed with dreams of snowmen and snowball fights and wake up rushing to the window praying that when we pull back the curtains we'll see snowflakes.  Unfortunately, more often than not all we see when we pull back those curtains is dirt and dead grass.  I have come up with a way to motivate my kids to learn there verses and to bring them snow all at the same time.  Throughout the month they earn points to accumulate snow for Miss Mary's Snow Mountain the first week of February and it is a huge success!  I'll be doing a detailed post on this in a couple of weeks.  In the meantime if you'd like more information feel free to ask in the comments!  

I'm also excited because I think we are coming out of this dreadfully cold polar vortex.  Yesterday we had a high of 28 and today we are moving all the way up to 44.  That's much better for this southern girl.  Like I said yesterday, if we aren't having snow then I don't want it to be so dreadfully cold. 

Today, I'm covering the letter C in my newest series on #KidsMin from A to Z. 

A is for Attendance and Awana

B is for Butcher Paper and Bibles 

Curriculum and communication are such big and important topics that I couldn't think about leaving either one of them out.  In fact, they are so big that I'm breaking the letter C up into 2 days.  Today I'll cover curriculum and I'll come back and finish up with communication tomorrow.  

Curriculum:  Let me just say that I am so thankful for my fellow Children's Pastor friends because they are a lifeline when it comes to curriculum.  I can't count the number of times that we have all e-mailed each other asking for recommendations on what has worked for us and what hasn't.  I said this when I covered AWANA but I think it is so important that I am going to say it again.   What works for one ministry doesn't work for everyone.  We use a variety of curriculum from a variety of companies for our different ministries and I truly believe that I have found the best fits for my ministry.  However, that doesn't mean it is the best fit for you. 

Here's what we use and what I like about it:

Connections (or Sunday School): Group's Hands on Bible Curriculum for preschoolers-5th graders.  I absolutely love this curriculum for my connections hour.  It's simple and easy for my teachers because everything they need comes in their box (minus the basics such as crayons and markers).  The lesson plans are easy to read, understand, and teach from and it provides a variety of activities to keep the kids engaged from start to finish.  

Children's Church: The Gospel Project by Lifeway for our K-3rd graders.  This curriculum is simply amazing and I love what it has done for our Children's Church hour.  It's a wonderful media based curriculum that provides opportunities for both large group and small group times which is working wonderfully for our rapidly growing kids church.  It also provides short videos (you don't watch a screen the whole time) that correlate directly to the lesson and keep our kids engaged and interested.  

Wednesday Nights: AWANA- I think I summed this up pretty well on the letter A so visit here to see what we like about this fantastic program!  

Transit (Grades 5&6)- For Transit we also use another program by Lifeway called Flyte that is designed specifically for pre-teens and I love this curriculum!  I think that I can speak for my volunteers and say that they are enjoying it as well and enjoy teaching it.  Like the Gospel Project it is a media based program that keeps the kids engaged.  It also provides great ideas for games, activities, and small group time.  I have seen such a great amount of growth in the heart of our pre-teens since we started using this program and they are really connecting with it and learning from it. 

For our toddlers and preschoolers we use short 4 week series done by various people such as Veggie Tales to give the kids something that is simple and on their level.  Many times my volunteers for these classes will come in with their own lessons that they have designed at home based on simple Bible lessons and I always have a big supply of books, coloring sheets, and Veggie Tales stacked in my office for them to choose from.  Our babies listen to Praise Baby worship songs throughout our service and we consider that their teaching time and lesson. 

That's what we use and why we like it.  It's so important to provide your volunteers with solid curriculum that is easy for them to use.  Make sure that you are asking your volunteers what they like or don't like and that you are listening to their suggestions.  I get catalogs from companies monthly that I look through and I am always open to changing a curriculum or using something else if what we have isn't working.  The thing I remember about curriculum is that it's always about flexibility. 

Do you have a curriculum that you would recommend?  

Sound off in the comments below!   

#KidsMin from A to Z: Butcher Paper & Bible's

First off, is anyone else out there in Blog land absolutely freezing?  I love a good winter day as much as the next person but this southern girl is no where near ready for 5 degree temperatures with a -8 including the wind chill.  I mean that is bone chilling cold!  And... I'm just saying that if it's going to be this cold that it could at least snow as a courtesy.  If this polar vortex or whatever it's called isn't going to provide me with white and fluffy snow it can just move on out of my corner of the world.  (And all my southern friends said... Amen!)

Today is Day 2 of my #KidsMin from A to Z series.
I got some great feedback on yesterday's blog and am excited about continuing. 

A is for Attendance & AWANA

Butcher Paper: To see a post I wrote last year on Butcher Paper feel free to visit here.  

There are so many things that you can do with butcher paper that I recommend that everyone have a couple of rolls lying around.  It's great for covering toddler tables before coloring.  Unless of course you love having to spend your Thursday mornings scrubbing crayon marks off of your white table.  It's great for throwing on the floor and having your kids make a mural with that extra five minutes that you weren't prepared for.  My preschoolers love to be traced!  It's by far one of their favorite activities.  And butcher paper is great for tracing.  You can buy your butcher paper at office or school supply stores and it will last you forever!  I promise you.  I haven't bought any in over a year and I still have a lot left.

Bibles: I am the biggest advocate and believer that you will ever find in having your kids bring their Bible's to church!  The Bible is the lifeline for Christians.  You won't ever need a phone a friend or poll the audience when you have that with you.  It is the guiding force for our whole life and I want my kids to be familiar with what is in it.  I want them to know where the book of Habakkuk and Zephaniah is in the Bible.  I want them to know the difference between the Old and the New Testament.  Bibles are important!  If any of my kids don't have a Bible I will provide one for them.  I buy cases of 20 and hand them out as needed.  All of my kids deserve to have a Bible.  I encourage them to mark in it, to highlight there favorite verses, and to carry them in their backpacks.  When I'm teaching Sunday School I wait for every child to find our verse before I read it so that they can get familiar with what we are doing.  Do not make the mistake of thinking that kids don't need to bring their Bible's or be familiar with them.  They do!  I encourage my kids to read their Bible's at home and to study them and to ask me questions. 

For a post on some of my favorite Bible's for kids visit here.  

What are some creative ways that you use butcher paper in your ministries? 

And how do you encourage your kids to bring their Bibles?

Come back tomorrow for letter C... Communication & Curriculum! 

Let's talk about it! 

#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!