Three Books and a Program

Everyone who works with children has certain things that they use consistently.   Those things will be different for everyone, but we all have those certain books we go to when we need an object lesson, a game, or an idea.  There are many places you can look on the web for ideas (and I do), but we all need a few books handy too. I'm including a link to where each of these can be purchased if you would like them for your own library.  Just click on the name of the book.

#1.  Really Big Book of Kids Sermons and Object Talks
I love, love, love this book.  In fact, next to my Bible, I have probably used this book (and the next one on this list) more than any other in my library.  Why?  Because it has something for nearly any time of year and any sort of lesson.  Need an object lesson on obeying others, perseverance, putting others first, sacrifice, or perhaps on encouragement?  Maybe you'd like to talk about a person of faith like Fanny Crosby, Samuel Morris, Watchman Nee, or Corrie ten Boom?  Or perhaps you'd like to talk about a specific holiday like the Feast of Tabernacles, Mother's Day, Epiphany, Shabbot, or Pentecost?  You can find object lessons and/or kids' sermons on all of those things and so much more in this book.  It really is full of amazing stuff.  Depending on where you buy it, it can cost up to $40, but it is totally worth it.

#2  The Big Book of God's Amazing Animals
This is another book from Gospel Light and it too is full of awesome object lessons.  This time they revolve around different animals.  Some you will be familiar with, and others perhaps not, but the kids love learning about them.  When I use these, I make a PowerPoint presentation of the animal we are talking about.  That way, as we learn about the animal, they can see what it looks like too.  Sometimes the PowerPoint is a true/false quiz about the animal (a tip from the book) and that is a lot of fun.  Also a plus with this book is that each lesson comes with a reproducible take home page.  I love that the kids can use that page to go home and tell their families what they learned about God through learning about that day's animal.



#3 More Than A Movie Night

I am not a fan of doing anything without a purpose.  Whether it is a game, a song, or an event, I feel that there needs to be a purpose to the evening.  That is why I am a huge fan of this book.  It shows you how to have a movie night that goes beyond just showing the movie.  It includes snack ideas, games, and a Biblical lesson.  The movies are secular, but the lesson is not.  It even shows you how to follow copyrite laws when showing the films.  This is a great addition to any Children's Ministry library.


Finally, I wanted to share with you about a program that I use to display our media each week.  Over the years, I have tried or used Media Shout, Easy Worship, and a couple of others and they were all fine, but my favorite is Proclaim.  And the reason is simply because it works.  I rarely have an issue with a video not working or something not showing the way I had hoped.  I am still learning all there is to this program and so have not yet figured out how to play my music through it (except in video form), but I still LOVE it.  I can run it from my iPad or from the computer.  My workers can sign in and have the information on their devices if they want to as well.   And, it is the only program that I have found that allows you to purchase it monthly if you so desire.   The basic package is about $20 a month for a group of 100 people or less, so it is very affordable.

Those are my tips for this week.  I hope you find them useful.  If you have any you'd like to share, I'd enjoy hearing from you.   Have a great week in the Lord!