100 Best Ideas to Turbocharged your Preschool Ministry (8 page)

One Sunday afternoon after Mary Grace had been with us awhile, I invited my leaders to come together to share their prayer requests, celebrate victories, and unload their burdens.
During this meeting as we discussed our preschoolers, some leaders shared heartwarming stories of things their preschoolers had said; others told about special moments when they’d seen in preschoolers’ eyes that true learning had taken place.

A little message of love can go a long way.
In the middle of the meeting, Mary Grace asked if she could share something with us.
She told us that when she was in preschool, many of the preschool leaders would send her cards each week.
Some would say, “I’m praying for you”; others might say, “I’m glad you were here.”
She told us she couldn’t wait to check the mail each day.
It was the highlight of her week.
She said she’d kept every card in a box in her room, and she still had them today.
Here was a young, beautiful, Christlike woman, who was blessed to have others pour their lives into hers and is still reaping the benefits today.

Her story had a great impact on all those who were in that meeting.
It was a gentle but powerful reminder of how small acts can have a lifelong effect.
Snail mail still works—and preschoolers love it.

Mr.
Postman, look and see.
I send out birthday cards to every preschooler on his or her birthday.
I’ve had moms tell me their children will carry those birthday cards around until they literally fall apart.
These simple little cards make them feel special, loved, and valued.

Encourage your leaders to write to their preschoolers on a regular basis.
Help them find success in this by providing cards, labels, postage, and a mail drop.
This small effort will bring lots of smiles to preschoolers.

—Gina

As adults we know that learning through repetition is an aspect of studying most people dread.
But studies show that by the second day after we’ve learned something, we’ve forgotten 50 percent.
By day 30, we retain 2 to 3 percent of the knowledge, and if there’s no review, we won’t retain the information at all after a month.
Repetition as an instrument of education is how we learn as adults and children.

Why preschoolers need repetition
—By repeating words and phrases, you’re reinforcing neural pathways that link sound and meaning in preschoolers’ brains.
Hearing something over and over again helps preschoolers remember information for increasing periods of time.
Repetition allows children to build on what they’ve learned.
Preschoolers need repetition of biblical truth to help them gain knowledge and confidence in the Bible.

Why preschoolers love repetition
—Once children have learned something, they enjoy repetition because they know what comes next.
Children love the predictability that comes from hearing the same Bible passage or song over and over again.
Repetition makes children feel more secure and in control because they feel they can predict what’s going to happen.

In our preschool ministries, keeping to a strict routine helps children relax.
Ask preschoolers, “What will we do next?”
and they’ll be able to tell you exactly what activity they’re expecting.
And if you don’t follow the routine, they’ll quickly point out your mistake.

Incorporating repetition into our ministries is essential for preschoolers.
For younger preschoolers, this means the same routine can continue for a year, with activities varying as children increase in age.
By the time children approach kindergarten age, they’re able to accept change in routine every three months.
Follow this principle, and you’ll have attentive learners and eager participants.

—Barbara

Blue’s Clues
, a children’s TV show that aired on Nickelodeon from 1996 until 2006, was one of the most successful, critically acclaimed, and groundbreaking preschool shows of all time.
The main character was an animated dog named Blue, and the show’s host was a guy named Steve.
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book
The Tipping Point,
called the show “perhaps the stickiest TV show ever.”
By sticky, he means irresistible and involving.

Within 18 months of its premiere, virtually 100 percent of preschoolers’ parents in America knew about
Blue’s Clues.
More than 10 million
Blue’s Clues
books were in print by 2001, and more than 3 million copies of CD titles had been sold.
By 2002, 13.7 million viewers tuned in each week.

Preschool ministries can learn a lot from
Blue’s Clues...

Reach preschoolers through stories.
Children’s educational shows before
Blue’s Clues
used a magazine format made up of a variety of segments.
Blue’s Clues
changed all that by telling a single story from beginning to end in each episode.
Left-to-right camera movement and scene transitions had the rhythm and motion of pages turning in a child’s storybook.

• Use stories to communicate truth.
  
• Present each story in an engaging and exciting way. The
  way
  you tell the story is important.
  

Use preschooler’s everyday activities and places as the background for your teaching.
The settings and scenes for
Blue’s Clues
reflected children’s everyday lives.

• Use places and things that are familiar to children.
  
• Use everyday objects as teaching tools. Jesus did this when he taught; he used birds, flowers, coins, gates, and sheep.
  
• Keep it simple and age-appropriate.
  

Focus on active participation instead of passive viewing.
The premise behind
Blue’s Clues
was to have children intellectually and behaviorally active during the show.
Up until the time the show was created, children’s educational TV had presented content in a one-way conversation.
But
Blue’s Clues
addressed questions directly to the children watching and paused to let kids think and respond.
The creators believed that if children were more involved in the action of what they viewed, they’d stay engaged longer.
They were right!

• Use active learning. Get kids actively involved in every part of your preschool ministry, including the teaching time.
  
• Ask lots of questions. Give children time to respond.
  
• Remember kids learn more by doing than by listening.
  

Kid-test your programming.
Every episode was field-tested three times before it aired.
Producers had groups of preschool children watch the show.
They made notes when children looked away, which meant kids were disengaged.
Then producers went back and adjusted those parts of the show to make them more engaging.

• Look through the eyes of a preschooler when planning. Make sure elements are age-appropriate.
  
• During your preschool ministry, watch for times when children become restless or start looking around. Modify these segments to be more interactive and compelling.
  

Emphasize repetition to ensure retention.
The same episode of
Blue’s Clues
aired daily for five days before the next one aired.
Children’s attention and comprehension increased with each repeated viewing.
Repetition was also built into each episode.
For example, in one episode the host says some variation of the word
predict
15 times.

• Less is more. Decide what basic, must-know truths you want preschoolers to learn, and focus on those truths.
  
• Repeat the main lesson point multiple times each week.
  

Get the right people on your team.
Producers carefully chose characters and voices for the show.
After months of research they picked out the host, Steve Burns, from more than 100 people who auditioned.
They cast Tracie Paige Johnson as Blue’s voice because she sounded the most like a dog.

• Don’t just focus on filling positions—find people who are gifted and called to the roles in your preschool ministry.
  

Engage children in problem solving.
Steve, the host, presented the audience with a puzzle that involved Blue.
The audience then worked through a series of games that were mini-puzzles related to the overall puzzle.
At the end of the show, the clues came together to uncover the answer.

• Challenge preschoolers to think. Move beyond simple yes and no questions. Pose questions that’ll spark dialogue.
  
• Guide children to
  discover
  answers instead of being
  told
  answers.
  

Rent or buy a set of
Blue’s Clues
DVDs and look for more clues on how to effectively communicate to preschoolers.

—Dale

Preschoolers have a natural propensity to play.
Not only is play natural for them, it’s also essential for their overall development.
Through play, children discover how to express themselves and interact socially.
Play also helps young children explore and understand their world.
Play facilitates learning for preschoolers.
While play is essential to the physical, emotional, and social development of children, it’s key to their spiritual development as well.
Here are four practical ways to incorporate play into your preschool programming.

1.
Use make-believe.
For preschoolers, the opportunity to pretend gives them the ability to comprehend.
Pretending expands children’s life experiences by letting them be whoever they desire to be.
Through pretending, children can investigate and appreciate the world around them.
Pretend play opens up preschoolers’ imaginations and allows them to express themselves creatively.
Use arts and crafts in your preschool programming, and incorporate pretend play by letting kids dress up and role-play the Bible.

2.
Make it learner-based.
Our lessons must be learner-based to effectively reach preschoolers.
In a Children’s Ministry Magazine article, “What’s the Matter With Christian Education?”
author Thom Schultz shares four techniques that Jesus used to help people genuinely learn:

• Start with the preschoolers’ context. Look for ways to connect the Bible to something that’s familiar to preschoolers, and keep in mind that play is their natural learning context.
  
• Allow preschoolers to discover truth. Ask open-ended questions that help children discover the truth on their own.
  
• Take advantage of teachable moments. Teachable moments occur throughout your preschool ministry time. Notice when your kids are most attentive, and use these times to teach because kids are most ready to learn. This might mean coming alongside preschoolers as they play and modeling biblical truth for them; for example, how to treat others.
  
• Provide preschoolers with opportunities to practice what they’ve learned. Application is the glue that makes your lessons stick. Create fun experiences that help preschoolers apply what they’re learning.