{"id":31551,"date":"2017-02-23T16:22:44","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T23:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/?p=31551"},"modified":"2017-02-23T16:27:34","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T23:27:34","slug":"20-activities-early-arrivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwv.group.com\/childrens-ministry\/blog\/sunday-school\/20-activities-early-arrivers\/","title":{"rendered":"20 Activities for Early Arrivers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How can you engage early birds in meaningful activities that show you\u2019re prepared? Try some of these ideas. Keep the same stations set up for a while, and\u00a0kids\u00a0who attend regularly\u00a0will know what to do at each one.\u00a0Then\u00a0new kids can follow their lead.<\/p>\n<p><b>Connect\u00a0<\/b><b>W<\/b><b>ith God<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Start a sticky note prayer wall.\u00a0<\/b>Keep a pad of sticky notes and several pens near a wall. Kids can post their prayer requests on sticky notes and remove other kids\u2019 sticky notes as they pray for them. At the end of your time\u00a0together, you can take\u00a0home\u00a0any extras\u00a0and pray for your kids all week.<\/li>\n<li><b>Start a God Sightings wall.\u00a0<\/b>Similar to\u00a0a\u00a0prayer wall, a God Sightings wall can\u00a0be made\u00a0using\u00a0sticky notes or a whiteboard or poster board. Encourage kids to look for ways God is at work in their lives and write their God Sightings on the wall!<\/li>\n<li><b>Make a worship corner.\u00a0<\/b>Cut\u00a0triangles\u00a0out of construction paper,\u00a0and have kids write words of praise to\u00a0create a string pennant.<\/li>\n<li><b>Allow space to confess.\u00a0<\/b>Cut a cross out of poster board, and set some red markers nearby. Kids can write or draw about sins they\u2019d like to say they\u2019re sorry for. Kids could\u00a0simply make red X\u2019s, too\u2014Jesus knows what they\u00a0mean.<\/li>\n<li><b>Sing!\u00a0<\/b>You may have a singing time as part of your class, but there\u2019s no problem starting early.\u00a0Set some music videos to run as kids arrive, and encourage them to sing along.<\/li>\n<li><b>Look out the window.\u00a0<\/b>God\u2019s created so many wonderful things around us.\u00a0Allow space for kids to look out the window and notice what God has made.<\/li>\n<li><b>Make bookmarks.\u00a0<\/b>Set up an area\u00a0where kids can make bookmarks with Bible verses to keep for themselves or give to others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Co<\/b><b>nnect\u00a0<\/b><b>W<\/b><b>ith Each Other<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Make a questions cup.\u00a0<\/b>Write fun questions on craft sticks\u00a0and stick them in a cup. Kids can pull one\u00a0or two\u00a0out\u00a0each week\u00a0and answer the question with other kids.<\/li>\n<li><b>Make a get-to-know-you mat.\u00a0<\/b>Using a\u00a0poster\u00a0board, mark\u00a012 squares\u00a0and\u00a0name\u00a012 different categories of favorites such as color, dinner, dessert, friend, song, TV show, and so on. Let kids toss beanbags and share their favorite based on where the beanbag lands. If it lands off the board, they get to pick\u00a0what to share.<\/li>\n<li><b>Use the\u00a0Gabbit\u00a0<\/b><b>a<\/b><b>pp or a Throw-and-Tell Ball.\u00a0<\/b>These two tools help kids connect by answering fun, random questions about each other.\u00a0Click\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mylifetree.com\/conversation-apps\/\">here for the Gabbit app<\/a>\u00a0or here for the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.group.com\/search.do?query=throw+and+tell+balls\">Throw-and-Tell Balls<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><b>Draw.\u00a0<\/b>Kids love to draw on whiteboards. Structure the activity\u00a0by preparing Pictionary cards that will help them gear up for the day\u2019s lesson. Don\u2019t\u00a0form\u00a0teams\u2014just let everyone guess what the\u00a0artist is drawing. That way, kids can join in at any point.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Connect\u00a0<\/b><b>W<\/b><b>ith the Church<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Do a service project.\u00a0<\/b>Do a little checking around to find out\u00a0what simple service projects your kids could do. Maybe the church needs some papers folded or something cut out. Let your kids help.<\/li>\n<li><b>Assemble snacks.\u00a0<\/b>Have kids assemble snacks to serve during your lesson\u00a0or serve to others in the church\u2014an\u00a0adult Sunday\u00a0school class, for example.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>\u00a0<\/b><b>Connect\u00a0<\/b><b>W<\/b><b>ith the Community\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Write letters.\u00a0<\/b>Set out some paper and pens, and let kids write letters or draw pictures to send to missionary kids affiliated with your church or kids who\u00a0would\u00a0benefit from your children\u2019s offering.<\/li>\n<li><b>Make cards.\u00a0<\/b>If you have a connection to a local children\u2019s hospital, set up a station where kids can make cards to send to kids\u00a0who\u00a0are in the hospital.<\/li>\n<li><b>Make jewelry or blankets.\u00a0<\/b>These items can be donated,\u00a0or\u00a0you can sell them to\u00a0raise money for missions.\u00a0Check out Pinterest for easy, inexpensive ideas.<\/li>\n<li><b>Pray for your city.\u00a0<\/b>This will require buying an actual\u00a0hard copy of a\u00a0newspaper.\u00a0Pick up a local paper,\u00a0and let kids pray for the needs in your city based on what\u2019s going on in the news.<\/li>\n<li><b>Pray for your city\u2026again.\u00a0<\/b>Get a printed map of your city. Have kids pray for one neighborhood at a time, highlighting when they\u2019ve prayed for one until the whole map is covered with prayer.<\/li>\n<li><b>Pray for local nonprofits.\u00a0<\/b>Collect\u00a0brochures for local nonprofits, and bring them to church. Have kids\u00a0look through the brochures and\u00a0pray for the\u00a0organizations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Get Active<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Hold a \u201cboot camp.\u201d<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b>Let kids\u00a0burn off some energy by\u00a0doing jumping jacks, push-ups, and so on. Remind them that we need to exercise spiritually, too\u2026and that\u2019s what Sunday\u00a0school is all about.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can you engage early birds in meaningful activities that show you\u2019re prepared? Try some of these ideas. Keep the same stations set up for a while, and\u00a0kids\u00a0who attend regularly\u00a0will know what to do at each one.\u00a0Then\u00a0new kids can follow their lead. Connect\u00a0With God Start a sticky note prayer wall.\u00a0Keep a pad of sticky notes and several pens near a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":31554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[711,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dig-in","category-sunday-school"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>20 Activities for Early Arrivers - Group Children&#039;s Ministry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How can you engage early birds in meaningful activities that show you\u2019re prepared? Try some of these ideas. 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