Creative Ideas Zone

Money doesn't last forever, so invest it in something that does last forever- the church!

While teaching Jonah make your room look like the belly of a big fish.

A recipe for watercolors that smell!

Helping and encouraging the soldiers and marines in Iraq and Afghanistan by flooding them with cards, gifts and letters they can send home to their families letting them know "we" are with them and praying for them.

A recipe for sidewalk paint

This is a recipe for Silly Putty

Simple and inexpensive way to let your volunteers know you appreciate them.

Reinforces the lesson of Peter trusting Jesus and walking on the water.

We created a "day" of free spa services to single-parent moms with fun, food and inflatable games for their children. On a Saturday, from 1pm - 5pm. Using almost every room in the building; Enough professionals volunteered their services; massagesc - 2 did full body massage, one did 15 minute chair massages , hair-stylists, facials, manicures, pedicures, make-up application, and "face-taping" for skin treatment. We offered 2 services per person, except full body massage (60 minutes) was considered 2 services. Several of the ladies created a beautiful buffet type table of food. We put comfortable lounge type furniture in the foyer, with lots of silk trees, near the food and played soothing music continually. The ladies waited there between services. A registration table near the door with two ladies who had taken the appointments thoughout the week, and helped eveyone know where they should be. They gave the "clients" to a greeter who took them on a "tour" to see where the food, bathrooms, and relaxing areas were. And took them and to drop kids off at the Children's area, then took the Moms to the relaxing area and made them comfortable. These greeters also would find the "clients" later to take them to the service... manicure, pedicure etc. Our bus picked up about 11 ladies and their kids from a women's "safe" house. A couple of them cried once they were in the door, sitting down to relax with a cup of coffee.. and we hadn't even done any spa service yet! The other ladies were friends of church people, or people who had come from little invitation cards we made for our church people to hand out, going into the "highways and byways" of their lives, and inviting anyone they met. All the invitees were told that THEY MUST CALL AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT. We did not consider them scheduled until we put them in our books. When they called, we also asked how many children they would be bringing and what ages.. so we could plan. Just a warning; most people called in the last 3 days before the event. We ended up serving 47 Moms, (one grandma who has custody of the kids) And 45 children... even though, from the phone calls, we thought we would have 20 children. Ran into; a few came, even though they never called... we invited them in relax, eat, bring their kids in for food and games, and see if any cancellations; there were "no-shows", so these did get a service. A couple of ladies were late, had to rework the schedule a little, but it all worked out. The kids were divided into a two and under room (we had about 12 of them) A very busy area! We tried to rotate workers, and give them breaks. Pre-school age and 6-12's. They split up for games. Used the playground area. Hot dogs and that type of food was available, an indoor area to cool off a little, then two of the large inflatable games took up lots of time and were very popular with all of them! We didn't do any preaching with words... they knew they were coming to a church. Some of our ladies however, did get into different conversations with these lonely, hard-working moms. Did pray with some. We just served, and let them bring us into their conversations. To the least of these... You could do however you wanted, bringing in Christian entertainment while they relaxed or something, doing puppets for the kids at intervals, because they didn't all come at the same time

Two teams have a spelling bee using children's alphabet blocks. Sound too intellectual? Just give it a try!

This game show skit will get your kids involved, and put them on the floor laughing. You can perform it as a puppet skit or as a live skit using your drama team. Or you could take it to the streets and get a community involved. You will need the following: Jesus and costume, three contestants and the voice of the Holy Spirit. Enjoy!

This is a salvation lesson using a SpongeBob SquarePants episode called Hooky. The emphasis is about not getting "hooked into sin."

These covered cans may be used for storage or organizers for children's room, craft cupboard, etc.

This is a yummy craft (though you can't really eat it!)

Super Book Olympics is a teaching unit that can be used in Children's Church, VBS, Midweek Programs. Published by One Way Street

How to use The Incredibles to build up your kids!

Something fun to have your teacher's wear on Appreciation Sunday!

I find the story of Blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10, Luke 18) ideal for teaching children about how we should pray.

Showing how we can teach children to make their own right choices.

I have found that it is relatively easy to get the younger children to pray out loud in class, but those aged about 8 and above are more self-conscious, and so less inclined to do so. The following is a technique that I have found to be very effective in encouraging older children to pray in public.

Fifteen fun ways of teaching scripture memory verses are shared.

A variety of ideas for teaching kids the books of the Bible.

Each letter of the word 'CHRISTMAS' is used to tell the Christmas story.

This is a song sung to the tune of "The 12 Days of Christmas" about the 7 days of creation.

A humorous skit about the Big Bad Wolf begin put on trial for terrorizing Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. It ends with a strong Gospel presentation.

A decorated Christmas tree is used to teach some important truths about Christmas.

We may never be the person to start a church. BUT we may be the person who claims Jesus as our savior which will cause a sequence of events which will lead to great things for the glory of the Kingdom!

How to teach children the real meaning of the Lord's prayer.

God has blessed some of us with a lot of things. God wants us to give some of it back, in proportion to what we get.

Some ideas are shared on the use of balloon modelling with children's groups.

To show our appreciation for our teachers and volunteers in ministry we used the theme VOTE YES! (since it is election year). Use red, white and blue for all decorations.

A Sunday School Empahsis to get kids excited about attending and bringing their friends.

We are the light of the world.

This interactive lesson helps kids understand that God's mercy shows us his love!

Some amusing answers given by children to the question "What is love?" are used as a basis in explaining the difference between human love and God's love.

About what your Spirit is, and where your treasure should be....

Helping to build up a child's self-esteem by sharing the meaning of their name with them.

Give each child a slip of paper and have them quietly reflect on a name they would like to be called by God that would reflect the kind of person they want to be.

God wants our heart to be focused on good things, not the things of the world!

This is the Wordless Book To Go! Kids can wear the wordless book and share Jesus when friends ask about their bracelet!

These are instructions on how to make a bookmark.

We spent a summer learning about what heaven was like and what it took to get there. Here's how we visualized the experience

LEGO people, one and all, come to worship the newborne babe...

A funny fudraiser that will involve the whole church. The objective is to put money in a jar to keep a pie out of your face or put money in to make sure someone else does get the pie.

Struggling for an idea to thank your volunteers? Read on....

Psalm 16:1 Keep us safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. God helps keep us safe.

Ideas for missions-oriented activities when you have missionaries visiting your church.

Creative booth ideas

This is a daily Bible Reading Plan with several options for kids to follow.