Have Theme, Will Sing
If you have a lesson and can't find a song to go with it . . . make one up! Putting words to music is easy and so much fun! All you have to do is think of a familiar nursery rhyme tune . . . and squeeze your words to fit!
Every lesson you teach has a theme - a purpose. You should be able to state it in one sentence.
Every time you go into your classroom you should know what your purpose is for that day. And
everything you do revolves around that purpose.
So when the kids leave and on the way home a parent asks, "What did you learn today?" Rather
than shrugging shoulders -- the child responds, "Abraham obeyed the Lord and I will, too." The
reason they remember that is because they've said it - they've drawn pictures about it -- they've
acted it out -- and they've sung it and sung it and sung it and sung it!
For a lesson about Abraham, you could use the tune of "Mary Had A Little Lamb" with these words: " Abraham obeyed the Lord, obeyed the Lord, obeyed the Lord. Abraham obeyed the Lord and I will, too."
Trash Detectives
Learning how to help keep the church clean -- or the playground clean -- or the neighborhood
around the church clean can be made into a fun activity. Give all children a badge to be a "Trash Detective"which will help them to remember to care for God's beautiful world.
Artwork Display
Put a dab of rubber cement on the back of children's artwork and it will adhere to glass doors and windows. When remove the item, simply rub the remaining glue off the glass. It comes right off.
Paper Cup People
Let children turn Styrofoam cups into people, by drawing face and body on sides. Place a large board or stiff cardboard at a gentle incline. Set each cup over a marble and let the paper cup people travel down the incline. Children can compete, if desired. Changing the incline of the slope adds variety.
From Here to There Game
Call out different ways people can get from here to there and children pretend to do that going from one end of the room to the other, such as swimming, tightrope walking, riding in a car, flying in an airplane, roller skating, riding a bicycle, etc.
Giant Machine
Choose outgoing child to be first! Does a movement and sound. Another child comes - touches him somewhere and does a movement and sound. Continue until all are participating and you have a giant machine.
Favorite Toys
Cut pictures of toys from catalogs. Place in a box. Have children take turns drawing out and showing. Have all children pretend to be that toy. This activity helps teach imagination.
Copy Cat
A child thinks of an animal - goes that way to the end of the room, doing both movement and sound. All other members of group "copy" how the first person went.
Grass Creature
Fill panty hose with saw dust and grass seed. Glue on eyes to make a "creature." Place in shallow container. Keep wet. Grass will grow through the hose.
Color Clean Up
For variety in cleaning up a play area, have children pick up items by color. "Let's pick up all the red toys. Now all the blue ones."
Murals
Cover a table with paper. No rules -- just draw as you want. Some children may want to trace around items such as plastic plates and cups. Others may wish to freehand.
Shoe Find
For a fun matching skills game, have children all take off their right shoe and place in a pile in middle of circle. Mix up pile. Take turns finding their own shoe. For variety, everyone takes off left shoe - everyone passes their shoe to the right three times. Each child tries to find matching shoe. When found - give to owner.
Styrofoam Creations
Ask parents to help save Styrofoam for you (including meat trays and egg cartons) and get a large box to store it all. Other materials needed: plastic knives, golf tees, straws, toothpicks, pipe cleaners.
