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SSTN # 52 - June 8, 2005


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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:

NO COST - VBS Series

1) Ideas?
2) Family Month?
3) Discipline
4) Preschool ideas for Paraguay or any VBS
5) Preschool ideas for Paraguay

--> Armor of God Summer Series

6) Joseph's life
7) Reward 'tickets'
8) Preschool for Paraguay
9) Sandals / key chains?
10) Song / Musical?

-->  Fruit of the Spirit - Summer Series

11) Preschool Ideas
12) Swampy theme games and crafts?
13) Reward System
14) Kids Out Of Control
15) Church Picnic


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NO COST - VBS Series

The LORD Is My Shepherd VBS can be used over five days
or in 10-12 one hour sessions. A great resource for summer Bible clubs!
Learn more in the VBS / Bible Club section at:

http://www.christiancrafters.com/sermons.html 


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1) Ideas?

Good day all

Does anyone have any ideas i could use for my kids.
I work with kids between the ages 8 and 13.They have such enquiring minds
which i enjoy.  I started this year with the books of the bible and
getting to know God through his work. They have been asking many questions and i
know they are learning.
I am running out of ideas though.
Last week i played suads and drill. finding scriptured quickly , reading
and explaining. We enjoyed it.
Does anyone have more ideas.

Thanks and God Bless you all.
Desiree

--from SSTN: Hi Desiree: I find it is much easier to develop lessons when
you choose specific themes in the Bible. For example, The Miracles of
Jesus, Fruit of the Spirit or the Names of God. These are the inspirations
for my Hands-On Bible Lessons which may be found on the following page:
http://www.christiancrafters.com/curriculum.html 
Your webservant,
Sarah Keith <><


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2) Family Month?

Hi Fellow in Christ.

I’m a SS teacher. I've been asked to prepare a ‘family months’ event in
our church. Normally we had a bazaar for parents / adults while kids
having a dynamic activities like: extreme games, worship, puppets, craft
and snack. We usually booked a sport club hall, basketball court, and
their pool side for holding this event.

Because we’re under budget constraint for this year, we’re planning for
doing something simply different. I am thinking and praying about doing
some ‘family interactive’ event, which I’m not sure yet about how it’s
gonna be.

What’s in my head now is having a day (Saturday/Sunday) where we can put
parents and children worship and learn together, Starting with singing
and having a parents-kids games, then we divide them unto two groups.
The parents group will have a little seminar / parenting class (such as:
“Parent as Primary Spiritual Teacher” Theme). This is important since we
see their kids for only an hours a week, we wanna equip parents to be a
real parents that raise up boys and girls that love Christ!

While the kids group will having a “fun day time” consists of dynamic
games, singing, gospel lesson thru magic and animal balloon, and snacks.

This is our first time doing split events (parents class & kids fun
time) in a day. Does anyone have any ideas or resources that would help
me out. I would love also to hear any advice and suggestions from those
of you who have been experience this way before.

Regards,
dee
Be joyful always!
Pray continually!
Give thanks in all circumstances!
 

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3) Discipline

I agree with you. The other night I swatted my 8 year old on his behind at
my oldest sons graduation and a friend said, "Someone will call social
services on you for that". I told her that if they wanted to they could
because I spank my kids, I don't beat them and if my son needs a swat on
the behind, no matter where we are, he will get it. I repeat this verse to
people who say things to me about spanking my kids, "Spare the rod and
spoil the child". I think some people have mistaken that verse to mean
that they are suppose to spoil the child. I believe it is saying don't do
that. My children are spoiled to a point. When it comes to disrespecting
someone or downright disobedience, I won't stand for it. If our children
are to learn about God and Satan, who do we think is going to teach them?
Certainly not school and if we don't take them to church how can we expect
them to know anything?

With God's Love,
Samantha in Kentucky


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4) Preschool ideas for Paraguay or any VBS

"I am looking for ideas for use during a week long conference in
Paraguay."

We just finished VBS.  We used Standard's Construction Zone and it went
really well.  Here are two of the preschoolers favorite crafts.  We use
these every year.  We find rocks for the kids.  They are about 4-5 inches
wide and 2-3 inches tall.  We let the kids paint them anyway they want to
for a craft.  You could do a fruit theme, though.  The older kids will do
really well at this.  Have them paint the rocks bright pink.  The next day
they can add dark green watermelon "rind" around the bottom and the
outside. Then they can paint black "seeds" on the bright pink.  If you
could have someone in Paraguay find the rocks for you, all you would need
would be paint.

For the preschoolers, we use Fruit Loops cereal everyday.  This might fit
into your Fruit of the Spirit theme, too.  Before class we write the
"theme" for the day on them (like humble, caring, faithful, etc., or even
"Jesus") on a piece of construction paper for each child.  Even if the
kids can't read, they will tell their parents what it says, later, because
they do remember!  In class, we go around to each child and "decorate" the
poster with swirls of Elmer's glue.  The preschoolers can take their bowl
of Fruit Loops, and stick the cereal loops right on the glue to make their
posters pretty.  Some get eaten.  But we tell them not to eat them if
there is any glue on them.  Most of the time, this works really well.  The
kids don't actually handle the glue, so except for picking up cereal off
the floor at day's end, this is a pretty easy and neat activity.

Have fun in Paraguay!  We'll be praying for you!
~Trish in Nebraska


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5) Preschool ideas for Paraguay

I would suggest you chose a really simple topic, like God's care (His
love, protection, etc.).  Unless the children attending are "church kids"
the armor of God is pretty advanced for that age and in a foreign country.
 
Do a lot of action, where the kids can be involved.
 
Teresa


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--> Armor of God Summer Series

Learn more on the following page:

http://www.christiancrafters.com/game_armor.html 


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6) Joseph's life

Angela, 

I wasn't sure what the focus was for Joseph, so I have included a few
items that could be used for various time periods of Joseph's
life.  Hopefully one or more of these will help you.

Connie G.

Coat of Many Colors 

Have your students create their own coat of many colors out of
construction paper.  Provide the students with a coat pattern on an 8 ½ by
11 inch paper.  Let them glue different colored construction paper pieces
on the pattern.

*** The students can make their own coat of many colors to wear out of a
brown paper bag and either paint or construction paper.  Cut a hole in the
top of the bag for the students head and two holes for their arms.  Cut
open the front of the bag to make it easier to put on or remove the
“coat”.  Let the students paint the coat various colors using tempera or
acrylic paint.  If you don’t have time for the coat to dry, you might want
the students to glue on strips of different colors of construction paper
instead of painting.

*** Have your students make a coat of many colors out of foam.  Cut out a
coat pattern from foam and then punch holes around the outside edges of
the coat.  Have the students thread .yarn from hole to hole.  (You may
wish to let the students draw different colored stripes on the foam with
magic markers.)

Play Dough Cows (Dream)

Have the students make 14 cows from play dough to be used while telling
the story.  Seven of these cows should be fat and seven should be skinny. 
Make a barrel for the body; add a round head, and then ears and legs.

Rhyme Time (Life of Joseph)

 Source:  Unknown 

Say the following verses encouraging the students to supply the missing
rhyming word.
When Joseph was taken from home
He was sad, all alone and afraid
But before he arrived in Egypt land
A promise to God he had _____________________ . (Made)
He asked God to help him be brave
To be cheerful and do his work well
But then one day when his boss was away
His wife, oh the lie she did ______________________.  (Tell)
Into prison poor Joseph did go
But God had a job for him there
Two men had been dreaming,
And they didn’t know the meaning
So with Joseph their dreams they did ______________. (Share)
When Joseph was taken from prison
He helped the king with his dreams too
God was able to use him in a land not his own
Because Joseph had stayed strong and _____________. (True)
You can make a decision like Joseph
You can choose to be cheerful and kind
With a smile on your face you can do you work well
God will help you leave grumpies be___________.  (hind)

Sins Revealed (For Joseph Forgives his Brothers)

After Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery they told their father that
he was dead.  They had to live with this lie for years.  The brothers
probably thought that no one would every find out what they had done. 
However, years later the brothers are confronted with not only their
brother but also having to tell the truth to their father.  To illustrate
how sins are eventually revealed do the illustration entitled “Sins
Revealed.”

 http://www.kidssundayschool.com/Gradeschool/Objects/1object06.php

Also see:  http://mssscrafts.com/oldtestament/josephegypt.htm and
http://mssscrafts.com/oldtestament/josephscoat.htm

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7) Reward 'tickets'
 
I liked the idea of Bible Bux that someone sent in.  We have adopted it,
but with a slightly different slant:  The children earn 'Kingdom Kwid'
(this being Britain and 'Quid' being slang for £).  They get to keep their
kwid until the end of the lesson, when they count and compare, which has
an element of competition, BUT  they then all bank them, open up the bank
and see how much, collectively, they have earned all together.  They have
been promised that when they have collectively earned 100 Kwid they will
all have a video and party food morning.  The aim is to get them to
co-operate and support each other.  With the wide age-range and sparring
sister/cousin relationships we have in our group at the moment this is
working well.  This particular group needed to learn to co-operate more
than they needed to compete.  Also it saves us the hassle and expense of
keeping a stock of small prizes that the children would feel worth
earning.  When they get to 100 we can start again working towards some
other treat of their own choice.
 
Frances
Wales, UK


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8) Preschool for Paraguay

I am sure several others will send ideas for this but I wonder about
teaching Fruit of the Spirit and Armor of God to unsaved kids. Of
course, I do not know the little ones are not saved but if there are 2 and
3 year olds in the group it is possible some of them are not.  I know very
young children can be saved but I believe it would be a good idea to teach
lessons stressing the very basics of salvation just to help them know what
they believe. I am sure in the SSTN archives there would be all kinds of
ideas to do that. Simple lessons like the Wordless Book, can be used to
cover one week of lessons, too.
Helen Setser

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9) Sandals / key chains?

I am looking for the pattern to make the sandals or the key chains. There
was a pattern with the Rickshaw Rally crafts but i can't find the pattern.
if anyone has one they would share i would appreciate it.
ilovechrist551@ol.com
sherry-ky.


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10) Song / Musical?

I'm so glad to have somewhere I can ask questions.
Someone had posted wanting information on the musical
"Cool in the Furnace".
I would like to know if the person who wrote that
musical has done any more. My g'daughter performed in
it last night and the music is fabulous and great
script. I googled and could find nothing on it.
My other question is, has anyone seen a recording
preferably with kids singing  The Lord's my Shepherd'
to the tune of Happy Wanderer?
I saw that suggestion on line but there is no contact
addy.( it was part of a sermon)
thanks
Brenda


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-->  Fruit of the Spirit - Summer Series

Learn more on the following page:

http://www.christiancrafters.com/lesson_spirit_fruit.html 



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11) Preschool Ideas

Check out http://www.freewebs.com/trainemup

You'll find 70 preschool activities to do (several with no materials at
all), new Bible-based lyrics to classic tunes that are favorites of
preschoolers, and 17 Old Testament Lessons for Preschoolers that include
crafts, games, snack ideas, and other activities.

I think a good theme might be "Thank You, God." There is a series of five
sensory lessons at
http://www.whnazarene.org/vsItemDisplay.dsp&objectID=14BAD12E-9269-4AE3-BF1E8408DDC8A778&method=display
.

If that link won't work, go to
http://www.whnazarene/org/ss/children/childrensworkers.dsp and click on
'Lessons' and then 'Thank You, God.' You'll find preschool lessons titled,
"Thank You, God, for my eyes," "Thank You, God, for my ears,"...nose,
mouth,
hands & feet. You could discuss how the children are 'fearfully and
wonderfully made!'

Angie<><


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12) Swampy theme games and crafts?
 
Each year we use Medieval props and theme for our VBS writing the drama's
and teaching with leading from the Holy Spirit. This year it is a take off
from Shrek with the main character an Ogre named Fret who is chosen by the
King to rescue captives from the land of "I". We are looking for
exceptional craft and game ideas for kids ages 5-10 that would tie in with
this theme. Any suggestions?
Jan from BC,Canada
 


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13) Reward System

The jobs or things that kids can do to earn tickets that have already been
mentioned are excellent ones.  We did something different other than
tickets.  I printed up fake money on the computer with the church's name
on it (or you could buy several boxes of fake money you find in dollar
stores, throwing out the loose change, just keeping the bills).  I then
made bid paddles from craft sticks and printed squares with rounded
corners cut from card stock on them on the computer and hot glued them to
the craft sticks. I used a program that prints greeting cards, business
cards, etc. and used the blank pages section of the program.  Each week
someone would keep a small log book with each reward done by each child
and they would receive so many "church bucks" or points.  Example: bring a
Bible each Sunday is worth $3 bucks, bring a new friend is worth $10
bucks, etc.  We kept track of the point or "buck" system for one year but
you could do it every quarter or semi-annually.  We were donated the free
services of an auctioneer, the congregation donated new or nice working cd
players or plates of choc. chip cookies, etc.  The kids would get one
church "dollar" for every point earned.  They would get a bid paddle and
they would be allowed to bid on items with the "bucks" they earned through
a certain period.  Our kids love this auction.  Adults or teens would help
the little ones.  The items don't have to be new stuff to where it is
costing people a lot of money but if you watch dollar store sales, end of
season sales or nice items from garage sales the kids are pefectly happy
with it.  They understand the more they cooperate and behave at church the
bigger their church dollar reward is.  It also encourages them to keep up
with good attendance when you reward them with so many points or bucks
just for attending and encourages them to bring new friends or family so
your church can grow.  You save the bid paddles and "dollars" for the next
time.  I thought I'd just share our twist on our reward system.
Bren in OH


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14) Kids Out Of Control

Here is what we did in Kids Church and it has worked really well for us. 
We took two pieces of about a 3 foot or so long section of cardboard,
printed a face of girls for the top of one and boys for the top of the
other.  We bought blue balloons for boys and pink balloons for girls. 
Some of the kids were too young to read but they understood by the
pictures and color of the balloons which was for girls and which was for
boys.  Every Sunday the teacher would take 3 balloons of each color and
blow them up, then tack them to the cardboard or plaque.  This plaque of
balloons would hang on a nail by attaching a piece of twine to the back of
it for hanging.  The kids would be told at the beginning of kids service
that if the teacher was interrupted by their talking or someone was not
listening then a balloon would be popped. If it was a girl misbehaving
then a girl's balloon would be popped, if a boy then a boy's  balloon.  We
had a plastic container that had small inexpensive items in it like things
from Oriental Trading or snack size candy bars and at the end of kids
church whoever had 3 unpopped balloons left their team would get to go
through the box and pick out one item to take home.  If a boy was unruly
the boys would lose, and vice versa for the girls.  It had to take all 3
balloons still unpopped for any one group to get to take home anything. 
If only one balloon was popped and 2 were left, they still did not get to
go through the box of goodies.  It only took a few months of this before
things came pretty much under control with the younger
ones even.  The kids were good about getting on each other about behaving
and the teacher wouldn't be the one sometimes telling them to be quiet.
We'd let it slip by at the beginnning when kids were telling others to
behave while they learned our routine and so did the teachers.  After a
few months we were able to stop from doing this and things have been
great.  If they start acting up again we'll bring out the balloons again. 
You can reward them with inexpensive things like a sticker, a sucker,
etc.  If there was someone that wouldn't listen or behave no matter what
we tried then their parent was contacted upstairs.
Bren in Ohio


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15) Church Picnic

What about renting carnival games from a party rental store?  We have one
called E-Z Rental they also rent machinery, lawn equipment, wedding items,
etc.  We put a reserve on items to hold them until next year's picnic. 
You will probably need to reserve an item at least 2 months in advance. 
We have rented big blow up castles full of plastic balls for the kids to
jump in, a big inflatable slide that everyone uses, popcorn machine,
cotton candy machine or snowcone machine.  They have quite a few games to
rent as well.
We also made up our own game booths and use them once every 3-4 years. 
That way the kids don't know what they are doing from year to year if you
don't use them every year.  The games we made are listed on our youth
webiste at http://www.hillsideyg.homestead.com/ at the bottom of the main
page.  I hope
this helps.
Bren in OH


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