Ten Ways to Keep Your Kid Engaged in Service
So, you’re gonna have your kids with you in church…
Here at Orlinda Moms Group (a ministry of Orlinda Baptist Church), we’ve come up with ten activities that may help entertain, engage, and maybe even educate your kids while they struggle to stifle their wiggles for an hour. Check out our recommendations and find the links at the end 😊
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Coloring! Lots of options here: traditional coloring book and colored pencils (markers and crayons can mark on pews/chairs much too easily); Color Wonder markers that draw only on special paper (link A); Water Wow books that color with water pens (link B).
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Stickers! Not the actually sticky type. Melissa and Doug has some fantastic reusable sticker books – some with puffy stickers (link C), some with clings (link D). There are also a number of makers of magnet books with the same concept (link E). Definitely worth it.
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Felt! Next time you do a WalMart pickup, add some sheets of felt from the crafting area. Glue one sheet into a folder for a background and cut a bunch of shapes from the others. Kids can make patterns, designs, pictures, people…whatever they imagine. It’s silent and sticks to itself pretty well.
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Flashcards or simple card games! Think math fact review or alphabet practice for the flash cards. Simple games might be go fish (teach them how to play without words at home first) or a small game of memory.
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Activity Sheets! The Church will post a kids activity sheet to the Facebook page every week. Print it out ahead of time and bring it with you. Or Church Bingo! OMG is gonna try to put up some church bingo sheets for you to screenshot or print out at home. They’ll have to pay attention if they actually want to win. If they get a bingo, maybe you offer a prize. Maybe not. You’re the mom.
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Spirograph! Remember these things? My daughter got one recently and man they’re fun. Once your kids know how to use them, they can do this activity pretty quietly.
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Notebook! My kids love to have things that are “theirs”. Give your kid a notebook, decorate it, and let him bring it to church with a couple cool pens or pencils. Many kids love to have some freedom to just doodle and be creative without any expectations.
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Books! We realize that reading during the sermon means they aren’t listening, but…
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Sermon activity books! Yes, these are a real thing (link F). These books help teach kids how to take notes on a sermon, how to doodle intentionally with what’s being taught, and how to build their attention span. They are made for many different age ranges, too.
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Phone! Yeah, if all else fails, you gotta do what you gotta do. Just make sure your volume is all the way down and let them play a game or two on your phone. No judgment.
Links: