7. Sunday School Kickoff: F.R.O.G. Carnival
We begin our new Sunday school year with a Kickoff Carnival. After an opening ceremony, children meet their teachers and then travel to game stations with their teachers. One year we built our carnival around a F.R.O.G. (Fully Rely On God) theme to tie in with Proverbs 3:5-6—our Scripture for the year.
We rented some carnival games and created others. Many traditional carnival-style games were easily adapted to the F.R.O.G. theme. For example, we had children take turns catching rubber frogs floating in a pond, and the number on the bottom of each frog determined which mini Bible storybook the child got for a prize.
Another game was a penny toss we made with verses about giving scattered across a large laminated playing space. Each child tossed a penny. If it landed on a verse, the child read the verse and then put the penny in an offering box that we used to start our fall collection. Children who missed got to try again, while those whose pennies landed on a lily pad got to keep their pennies.
Great prizes for this event include things that connect to kids’ classrooms, such as boxes of offering envelopes, class supplies, special name tags, welcome notes from teachers, or Bible bookmarks.
Our teachers played get-to-know-you games with children while traveling to games or during any short wait they had at any particular stop. This event was easy to staff and a fun way for everyone to get to know one another while kicking off a new year.
Sarah Storvick
Woodbury, Minnesota
8. Sunday School Kickoff: Parents Night
To help parents learn what we do in our classes, we hold a Parents Night. During summer Sunday school, the children make invitations for their parents to attend this special kickoff event.
During our Parents Night, we have our regular classes with our theme, motto, and pledges done by the children. We have the parents go through everything with us, and then the games begin.
Parents are the players for all our games and activities. The children cheer on and encourage their parents. Parents have so much fun that we’ve even been able to recruit some as helpers. We have snacks at the end. And we also give parents bubble gum for being great sports. The whole night is a great success, and everyone talks about it for weeks.
Deb Harrell
Warsaw, Indiana
9. Sunday School Kickoff: Book Club
I like to include professional growth in my fall kickoff plan. When making goals for the new ministry year, I often include a few goals for my professional growth. Countless times I’ve made it my aim to read books that I know will be of great benefit to my growth as a children’s minister. But much to my disappointment, 365 days fly by, and I’ve barely opened a book. Well, not this year!
In the St. Louis area, I’m starting a children’s ministers book club. During the course of the year, we’ll read four to six books together. We’ll meet every other month to have lunch and discuss ways we can implement what we’ve read. That’ll give us 50 to 60 days to read each book. Our club will most likely run with the school year since most children’s ministers’ summer schedules are so busy.
Here’s a sample outline we’ll follow for our discussions:
- What was your overall impression of this book?
- What are the most valuable insights you gleaned from reading this book?
- Are there any points at which you disagree with the author?
- What did you learn that you want to apply to your ministry?
- What challenged you the most?
- Is there anything you didn’t understand?
If you want to start a book club, call a few colleagues in your area and make yourself accountable to reading in the new school year!
Lori Salomo
Ballwin, Missouri
