Giving LOTS of Thanks!

Our 5th and 6th grade group met for their last class of 2014 yesterday, and with it being only 4 days until Thanksgiving, I figured it would be a good idea to do some giving of thanks!

Our messy game of the day was a partner challenge: One partner laid on their backs while another dipped mini marshmallows in chocolate sauce and tried to toss them into their partner's mouths. Yum!

We started with a trip through the Bible to find examples of people giving and showing thanks. Since this year we're digging through the New Testament, I picked Anna, the leper, and Jesus as our focus characters (Luke 2:36-38, Luke 17:11-19, and Matthew 14:18-20). We did a jigsaw in teams filling out this paper about who gave thanks, for what, and how they showed it. Then we shared out so we all heard every story!

Once the Bible exploration was done, we got down to some games and crafts! 

Before the kiddos came, I had taped two sets of the letters T-H-A-N-K-F-U-L to the bottom of 16 plastic ducks and hid them around the church. We split into two teams (their favorite: boys against girls!) and raced to find 8 different ducks. They had a blast! Even though the ducks weren't hidden SUPER well (let's be real, I needed to be able to find them afterward!) it was still a challenge to check that they didn't get any doubles. And of course, if they did find a double, they just had to re-hide them in a harder spot so the other team couldn't find them!

Once all the ducks were collected, we wrote the letters on this sheet and each person named one thing they were thankful for that started with that letter. 

Then, they chose one of those items and wrote it on a strip of paper with their name and we played Thanksgiving Guess Who! I pulled a card out of the bag and read it aloud. Each team had 1 guess as to who had written it. I was surprised at how well they did! Of course, it helped that the letters had forced them to write crazy things, like unicorns and turkey!

Our final project was meant to show how incredibly blessed we are as Americans and as Christians. First, we made paper bag cornucopias by twisting the bottom of a bag and then folding back the top.

Then, we filled up our cornucopias with all our blessings by writing things we're thankful for on slips of paper, crumpling them up, and putting them in! It was incredible to see how full and colorful our cornucopias were- and how thankful we need to be for all the amazing things in our lives!

We had a great time being thankful. Now on to the turkey! :)

Trunk or Treat!

I know this post is loooong overdue, but it seems like there is always something else to run and go do before totally debriefing the last event! We had our first ever Trunk or Treat this year, and it was a FABULOUS success. I loved seeing the creativity everyone put into their trunks and costumes... Everyone had a theme! It was great!

One of the best things about a Trunk or Treat from the staff person's viewpoint: The congregation does the hard work! Thinking of ideas, decorating their trunks, even bringing the candy- I got to be pretty hands-off and just sit back and watch it happen!

I did have a couple of games ready inside for those kids who weren't ready for the FREEZING temps! (It was still warmer than Halloween, though- good old Michigan! We got SNOW on Halloween!) We had bobbing for apples, pin the nose on the jack o lantern, pumpkin coloring, a candy estimation game (the closest guess got to keep the candy!), and this fun witch's hat ring toss I found at Meijer for $7!

Of course, we provided the pizza, too. :)

At the end of the night we polled the congregants on the cutest, scariest, and most original costumes. We had two winners for each category (adult and child) and they each got a certificate. Everyone got a scary fake finger as a participation prize!

If you want to use the poll we used to decide on our costume winners, or the certificates we gave out, feel free!

Operation Christmas Child: Take One!

Tonight was our first go-round with Operation Christmas Child, and we ended up with 100 stuffed and sealed boxes! We have 30 more boxes to finish with the Sunday School kids next week, but tonight was the older kids' turn - our confirmation, senior high, and Connect (5th and 6th graders) kids.

We've been collecting donations from the congregation for a few weeks. As a fun advertisement, our pastor suggested we decorate a refrigerator box as a HUGE shoebox to collect the donations in. And, I do mean HUGE!

Yes, those are kids in there!

It took about half an hour to organize all those donations and set up the gym in an assembly line...

And then, the kids showed up!
We started in the sanctuary for some worship songs and a messy game! (This week, they had to dig a gummy worm out of a plate of whipped cream using just their mouths.. Yuck!)


We had to split up the three age groups so one group packed their boxes at a time. My 5th and 6th graders LOVED choosing the items for their kids! They put a lot of time and thought into which toys were appropriate for a child in their age range. We had some pretty cool stuff, too!

Then it was back to our room to fill out our notes! They wanted to make sure their boxes' recipients knew all about them.

I made sure we had some fun Christmas-themed activities for our early finishers - They loved these free Christmas Mad Libs and this Memory game!

Phew! I'm so glad we made it through - 100 boxes!!! Only 30 more to go!

What's a Director of Children's Ministry?!

I have to say, I ask myself that alllll the time... When I'm rushing to plan a zillion different things at church, plus teach full time in a public school, PLUS plan my wedding, I'm wondering what on earth I was thinking to take on the position of director of children's ministry at the church where I grew up. While my job at church should have just a few responsibilities - Sunday School, Connect (our 5th and 6th grade Sunday night program), Vacation Bible School, and monthly family fellowship events - it seems like every week there is something new on my desk or some request in my inbox that adds to my ever present list of Things to Do!

But then I get a chance to lead the opening in Sunday School, and see the excitement on the kids' faces to learn about parables.. Or we have a FANTASTIC response to Trunk or Treat, and get families from all over the community into our church... Or really, any moment where I'm seeing the kids experience God through the lessons and projects that I've planned for them, I know that this is absolutely the most rewarding job out there.

I'm excited to start this blog to share about the crazy, ridiculous kids at my church and the crazy, ridiculous things we do with them in Sunday School, Sunday night youth group, and Wednesday night family fellowship events. Stop by and have a look around!