Kids Resources

Kids Resources

As mentioned last week, this is a special Sunday, the closing Sunday of of New Life Summer Camp. All students are invited to Sunday School, whether they are attending New Life Summer Camp or not. All families are also invited to stay for pizza and closing activities after church. Sunday School / close of NLI Summer Camp will start at the usual time of 10am, with registration desk open at 9:50. All families of students who will attend are asked to please use the Registration Form for Sunday School, whether you are attending Summer Camp or not. Thank you again for your patience with this extra step. It will allow the check-in desk to have tags ready ahead of time, as well as help the team have supplies for all students and support the Covid precautions in place.

Volunteer Opportunities: Volunteers are a critical part of Sunday School. We have an urgent need of adult volunteers for nursery, as well as a need for teachers, TAs, craft helpers, and worship / music leaders as we head into Move-Up Sunday and open up new classes. If you sign up to help,you will be contacted to further discuss your areas of interest and you will be asked for permission to run a background check to protect the safety of our covenant children.

If you have questions or comments about the New Life Kids Sunday School, please contact me by replying to this email or emailing me directly at beverly@newlifeirvine.org any time.

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How do I worship with these kids at home?!

We know that many of you are still struggling with how to balance your own personal worship with family worship during the sermon time. If your house is anything like mine, trying to wrestle your children to sit through an hour long virtual worship service is tough (and distracting). With that in mind, I’d like to suggest a few helpful hints for worshipping at home with your little ones during this unique season.

Be Flexible

Expectations are everything and there is freedom to be found in flexibility. A child’s attention span is short and the need to move/interact is high. You can adapt your family worship time to best meet the needs of your family. Perhaps you all sit together to hear the pastors’ sermons or perhaps your kids only join you for the music portion. Maybe you do children’s worship directly before or after the livestream service or maybe you save it for another day of the week. You have multiple personalities and multiple ages in your home; one size will not fit all and that’s okay.

Be Prepared

  1. Take a few minutes to peruse the Bible lesson, videos and activities ahead of time and decide which ones are most appropriate for your child’s age. Print materials ahead of time, gather any necessary supplies (crayons, scissors, glue etc) and have the Bible videos uploaded on your computer ready to go. Set your family up in an area mostly free of distraction. AKA-put the toys and Nintendo Switches in a different room. 🙂
  2. If your childen aren’t ready to do a Sunday School lesson independently during the worship service time, be prepared with other activities for them to do. I highly recommend creating play centers or stations for your childen. Set up activites ahead of time that will keep them engaged. Some ideas include a coloring station with coloring books and crayons, a craft station (ex: Perler beads, stickers), a puzzle station, a building station with Legos, Magnatiles or blocks. The ideas are endless, just think of activities your kids enjoy. Then, set a timer for 15-20 minutes and direct your children when it’s time to rotate. Your children will catch on quickly and most likely move themselves when the timer rings!
  3. When all else fails, it’s okay to indulge them in a little screen time. If you want something faith-based to view, you could opt for an episode of VeggieTales or Superbook.

I know we are all accustomed to an hour long Sunday School time, but keep in mind that that time includes 20 or more children and multiple variables that you don’t encounter at home with 2 or 3 kids. It’s okay if your child’s Sunday School lesson only takes 15-20 minutes.