When I was a child, our elementary Sunday school teacher led us in a lot of “Sword Drills.” Maybe you experienced something similar. We would all hold our Bibles in our laps, and the teacher would say something like “Micah…chapter 7…verse 4.” Then
after a pause she would say, “Go!” Twenty eager kids, motivated by a piece of hard candy, quickly turned the pages until one deft-of-hand child stood and began reading,
“The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen has come, the day God visits you. Now is the time of their confusion.”
I only found out later that these fun, though disconnected, activities
were simply time-fillers. They were additions in the Sunday school hour
due to long worship services or special speakers. What do you do when
your best-laid plans don’t work out, come up short, or take a direction you
did not plan? Don’t panic! Try these lesson stretchers:
■ Prepare a few extra activities that will enhance your lesson. If you prepare
in advance, you won’t just fill time; you’ll use it. Activities that
require no or few supplies are easiest to implement. Game books such as
The Humongous Book of Games for Children’s Ministry (Group Publishing)
provide great game ideas for almost every major Bible story.
■ Bring the songs you’ve sung to life by adding motions. Having children
create their own motions will help them learn the meaning of the words
they sing.
■ Take Scripture memory verses deeper by having children create murals
based on the Scriptures on your windows using dry-erase markers. Make
sure you test the markers so you know that they’ll wipe off.
■ Review your Bible stories with actions and movement in a call-respond
method in which the kids imitate rain (rubbing hands together, snapping
fingers, patting legs, stomping feet), create lightning (blinking or turning
off lights), and make other background effects.
■ Foster deeper discussion with more questions answered in groups of two
or three rather than all together!
Finally, never let ’em see you sweat. Unlike school during the week, you
don’t have a bell, a lunch, or a bus schedule to keep. This is not clockwork;
this is church, and we are a family that sometimes likes to talk. Relax! Enjoy
the extra time you have to connect, build relationships, and encourage
Christian friendships.
