Summer Sunday school ideas: Keep learning, avoid carnage

Many churches ring the changes on what they do with children during August. Some give their hard-worked children’s leaders the month off by recruiting a rota of parents, others run a series of "all-in” family services. Here are some great resources that can help you do that effectively and efficiently.

Material for novice leaders

Click

You may be using some other material as your mainstay for regular children’s ministry, so why not try using Click for your summer sessions? Each lesson has clear instructions, stories and a programme, together with a large selection of crafts, games and other activities to suit groups of all sizes, and all kinds of spaces. Here’s our suggestion for what you might use:

• For ages 3-5: Click Unit 9 lessons 6-9 covers Jesus stilling the storm and then the three “lost and found” parables from Luke 15.
• For ages 5-7: Click Unit 1 lessons 3-6 has stories from the early part of Luke on who Jesus is and why he came.
• For ages 8-11: Click Unit 9 lessons 4,5,7-9 has some great sessions on “heroes of faith” from the OT listed in Hebrews 11.

Relative newcomers to working with children will find this material easy to follow and use.

Material for multi-age groups

If your church puts the whole range of 3-11 year olds in one group over the summer, you’ll need teaching material that suits the whole spectrum. Here are two great options:

1. Epic Explorers

This children’s version of Christianity Explored can be used as Sunday school material over 5 weeks—perfect if you want to do something a little bit different this August. With the Scratchpad for 4-7s and the Logbook for 7-11s both covering the same Bible stories from Mark, Epic Explorers would suit a multi-aged Sunday school group.

(Plus, there’s even a theme song!)

2. The King the Snake and the Promise or Meet the King

These two CDs are packed with great songs—but if you put them into your computer you can also access fantastic Sunday school lessons for children from 3-11 years old. The King, the Snake and the Promise is a Bible overview, while Meet the King covers stories from Mark.

Helping children engage with “big church”

1. Sermon note sheets

If your older children sit through the “grown up” sermons over the summer, why not print out a sheet to help them take notes on the talk and give one to each child on their way in? You could easily make one yourself, or there are lots online—here are one, two or three that are available for free [warning—these links go to external sites!]. Or here’s one that encourages children to play sermon bingo (which grown ups would probably find that fun too…)!

2. Summer memory verse

Why not use the summer to teach the whole church family a memory verse (or two)? Get creative: set them to a well-known tune, have a jigsaw relay, make up some actions. Lots more ideas can be found in Remember Remember (currently being reprinted, but back in stock from 25th July!).

3. Tales that tell the truth

For family services or a “kid’s slot”, why not download the digital artwork for this award-winning series of Bible stories so that you can display these stunning visuals on a big screen from the front. You’ll find them for The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross, The Storm that Stopped, and the award-winning The One O’Clock Miracle.

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