Here is a quick look at this new series with an overall review of the first three dvd’s in the series.  We will go more in depth with each individual dvd soon!

Each review will be given three ratings: Overall, Content (quality of information taught), and Fun (will it hold the attention of a group of children)

Overall Rating: 8/10

Content: 10/10

Fun: 5/10

In Depth Look:

This is a new series by Phil Vischer.  For those of you who have never heard the name Phil Vischer, perhaps you have heard of Larry the Cucumber.  That’s right, Phil Vischer is the creator of everyone’s favorite vegetable (even though a tomato is clearly a fruit) children’s series, Veggietales.  The series currently has three dvd’s in it.  The goal stated from Phil Vischer himself is to walk children through the entire Bible with each episode covering a book.  I have used all of these as a series in my Wednesday night services the past few weeks.  The quality of the actual shows are great and the bonus features are fun as well.  Overall this is a very ambitious series that I look forward to seeing.  I catch myself learning things I didn’t know!  The dvd’s go very in depth, and cover a lot of the Bible and its origins.  The only negative I can say about the dvd’s unfortunately also has to do with the in depth nature of the show.  The kids lose interest during the 30 minute parts.  Each dvd has two parts at about 30 minutes each.  What I have found myself doing is cutting down those two 30 minute sections into four 15 minute lessons.  I then ask the children questions about what we have learned to make sure they are grasping all of it.  Now this may change once they get further in the Bible.  Lets face it, there is only so much one can do to really spice up Leviticus, although I loved how they did it, and it held my attention no problem.  Despite this minor negative, I am greatly looking forward to the next installments.  It is hard to find children’s material of this high quality.

For more information: What’s in the Bible?

©2010 Become A Hero. All Rights Reserved.

How I used it…
Main Point – We need to let God use us!  Don’t be a stale christian!

Illustration: Ask the kids if they like chips!  Ask them who would want some.  Then explain how hungry you are, and you got the chips from waaaaaaay back in the cabinet.  Open the back and gasp.  Tell them it kind of smells a little bit, and you wonder if it has to do with the fact they have been in the cabinet for 7 years now.  Ask them if you should still eat them.  (Of course you are going to some kids say yes.)  Explain to them that food ends up going bad or stale after a while.  You don’t want to eat spoiled, stale, or rotten food!  You have to eat food when it is good or you can miss out on the great taste!  So many of us let our talents and abilities that God has given us go stale.  We miss opportunities to show God’s love to people.  God wants us to use our talents right now in the present!

Examples of some things kids can do: Pray, Raise money for missions, Help others, etc.

©2010 Become A Hero. All Rights Reserved.

How I used it…
Main Point – We need to be excited about doing things for God!

Illustration: Show the kids your brand new toy.  Explain to them how you have waited a really long time to get this toy.  (Be really excited about it).  Then just put it down and say something like, “Well I guess I will leave it here,” and start to walk away.  Some of the kids will ask what you are doing.  If not, just ask, “How many of you would leave your brand new toy alone and not play with it?”  Of course not!  You would play with it all the time!  It is the same with us.  God has given us talents, and gifts, and yet we don’t use them now in the present.  We have different excuses, like we aren’t old enough yet or I’m scared to do something, but if God has given us the ability to do something then He will help us accomplish the task!

Examples of some things kids can do: Pray, Raise money for missions, Help others, etc.

©2010 Become A Hero. All Rights Reserved.

Supplies: A Stud Finder

Preparation: None

How I used it…
Main Point – God created us, and knows the best plan for our lives!

Illustration: Let’s say I saved up for a really long time and I mean a really, really long time in order to buy myself a brand new flat screen TV.  Now if I took a really long time to save up and buy this flat screen TV, how many of you boys and girls know that I would take extra care for it.  Now how many of you would hang up your flat screen TV on the wall?  I want to too, but I can’t just hang it anywhere. If I hang it just anywhere, the wall may not be strong enough to hold it up.  Imagine if my brand new TV fell off the wall and got smashed to pieces!  I would lose all I saved up for. I have to find the strong points in the wall.  Inside a wall are things called studs… no not muscle men, but pieces of wood or metal that hold up the wall.  This is what I want to anchor the TV on.  The best way to find the studs is with a stud finder like this one.  By Finding the strong points in the wall through a stud finder, I can hang up the TV the right way.  You see boys and girls, God is our stud finder.  He builds His plan for us around our strong points, and if we follow it we can do what is right and not be afraid of falling!

©2010 Become A Hero. All Rights Reserved.

Supplies: Some kind of strong rope

Preparation: None

How I used it…
Main Point – We need to encourage one another!  Hebrews 10:25

Illustration: Have some of the kids on one side of the rope and some on the other.  Then after they go add more only to one side.  Then add more to the other side again.  Then have everyone sit down, and explain that the more people you have on your side the better your chance at succeeding.  When we come to church, and build relationships there, its like adding people to your team!

©2010 Become A Hero. All Rights Reserved.

The main problem with recruiting adult volunteers usually lies in this fact… most adults are scared of children.  Now, I’m not sure if they think the children will bite them, throw things at them, or poop on them, but I know there is a huge fear when being in a room with these miniature human beings.

And so time and time again, many children’s pastors, volunteers, leaders, etc. struggle to gather in adult leaders for the various ministries that fall under the children’s department umbrella.  I would just like all of you out there to know that there is no need to be afraid!  Kids are one of the easiest groups to work with.  The number one reason for this is that 99% of kids trust you first, until you give them a reason not too.  This gives you instant credibility and authority.  Now it is easy to lose that, but here are some things to help keep control of your classroom, or auditorium of children so they can learn and have a great time at church.

#1: Rules

If you don’t lay out guidelines at the beginning of each program you run, then you can not expect children to read your mind as to how you want them to behave.  It is not fair to them to be punished for what you have not explained to them was a boundary.  Keep the rules simple and fun while you tell them to your kids before the program begins.  The rules we use at Kidtricity are the following:

1 – Listen

2 – Stay in your seat

3 – Use the bathroom, get donuts, get water, all before service

4 – Keep hands and feet to your self

5 – Save candy

Now rules can be fun to go over.  I always try to make the kids laugh.  When I tell them about rule number three, I might tell them they can save time by drinking right out of the toilet bowl!  Of course the kids laugh and yell about how gross that is, but the rule is in place and we had some fun while going over them.  Setting up those boundaries at the beginning will help you from explaining it all in the middle of your service.

#2: Competition

Every kid likes competition to some level, and every one in the world likes winning something.  So the second key to controlling the chaos is competition.  Divide up your group into 2, 3, or 4 groups, depending on the amount of children you have.  As you go through your lesson reward points to the teams that are doing well.  ALWAYS BE POSITIVE!!!  I can not emphasize this enough.  Reward teams for behaving.  Do not take away points!  Kids get enough negativity and punishment throughout the week.  We want the kids to want to be at church, so if one team or side is talking a lot and messing around, just stop and praise the team that is doing good and give them points.  At Kidtricity, we do something known as “quiet side”.  The kids know that when I or any of my leaders say “quiet side” the first team to sit up straight, hands in their lap, and making eye contact gets a random amount of points.

Now when it comes to points, do your best to keep the totals as close as possible.  You do not want one team beating the other by a million points each week.  Again, we want kids to have fun at church, not leave feeling demoralized week after week.  If you’ve noticed a team has been losing every week, find a way to reward them anyway.  Competition is a strong resource for controlling the chaos.

#3: Personal Warnings

Let’s face it.  You need a system of punishment for those students who just don’t get it.  I realize I just talked about not punishing the students and church should be a fun experience for the kids, but there comes a point when one child can hurt other students opportunities to hear what God has for them in that particular service.  Your leaders, who should be sitting with the kids, also need some kind of system and authority.  Here is our personal warning system and consequences:

Warning #1 – Child is told they have strike 1

Warning #2 – Child is told they have strike 2 and have lost any prize they had earned that day

Warning #3 – Child is told they have strike 3 and are removed from the children’s service and brought to their parents

There are two important points with the personal warning system.  The first point is this – try your best not to use this at all,  use the point system, reward other students for their good behavior, do all of that first, and then if the child still is not getting it give them a warning.  The second point is you can not bluff.  If you tell a student strike 3, then you have to follow through.  If that child is begging you to stay and they are crying as they apologize, it is too late.  If you give in, then your system will never work.  Also, a strike 3 should not be given by anyone other than yourself, or another adult leader who will use it as a last resort.  Again, do your best to not use this, but also make sure the kids realize it is an option.  The worst thing is to have a problem and no way set up to deal with that issue.  If the worst happens, and a child needs to be removed, be sure to contact the child and their parents and talk about what happened.  Remember, you are responsible for all the students in your care, and there comes a point that if a child is going to be so disruptive as to distract all the other students from hearing from God that service then you need to act.

Here are three techniques to get started with controlling the chaos.  Hopefully these will get you started, and never be afraid!  Children’s ministry is one of the most rewarding ministries you can be a part of, so don’t let a bunch of kids scare you!

©2010 Become A Hero. All Rights Reserved.

Supplies: 4 Cups, String

How I used it…
Main Point – We have a direct line of communication with God.

Illustration: Have one child come up and you talk to them through one end of the cup phone.  They should have the other end held up to their ear.  Now explain to them how prayer is just as simple as that.  We can talk to God anytime, anywhere.  We have a direct connection to God!

Now it wasn’t always like this.  When Adam and Eve sinned, this connection was broken.  Have another student come in the middle with the other set.  Explain how in the Old Testament there was someone called a prophet who would come and communicate what God wanted to tell people, and then there were priests who would take to God on our behalf.  Well when Jesus came and died for our sins, those middle people were thrown out!  Asking Jesus into our lives gives restores that direct connection.  Jesus is both our prophet and priest.  While explaining all this, you can use the two cup phones to illustrate the different connections.

©2010 Become A Hero. All Rights Reserved.

Supplies: Jelly Donut

How I used it…
Main Point – You can’t really know someone until you get to know them!

Illustration: Show the kids the Jelly donut.  Ask who loves jelly donuts! Explain how it is such a mystery!  You can smell and hold up and do all sorts of other investigations to find out what is in it, but until you open it up and take a bite you can never truly know!  Have one of the kids take a bite and let you know what is inside.  Know make the point with something like this, “Boys and girls, until you really dive in and learn about someone you can never truly know them.  That’s one reason why God wants us to love each other.  We can’t judge someone by the way they dress or look.  We need to get to know someone!”

©2010 Become A Hero. All Rights Reserved.

Supplies: Picture of the Old/Young Women

How I used it…
Main Point – We can’t judge people, but need to show God’s love to everyone!

Illustration:

Show the kids the picture.  Ask what they see.  Some will see a young women and others will see an old women.  Some may even see more than that.  Point out the two images and make the point like this: “Boys and girls there are a few different ways to see this picture, each of us see kind of what we want to see.  The same thing happens with people.  We sometimes see what we want to see.  Now the person who drew the drawing knows exactly what they were doing.  The only way to really find out what this is is to ask the creator.  In order for us to find out about someone and who they really are, we need to actually talk to them.  You never really know about someone until you take the time to get to know them.  God wants us to show his love to everyone!”

©2010 Become A Hero. All Rights Reserved.

Supplies: Cellphone

How I used it…
Main Point – Jesus is our connection to God!

Illustration: Show the kids the cellphone.  Ask the kids what it is and what it is used for.  Of course the kids will say it is a cellphone and you use it to talk to people.  Now tell the kids something like this, “That’s right, this is a cell phone, and we use it to connect to people.  We can talk to them and see how they are doing, and we can even talk to people that are really far away.  Now can I use this cell phone without the battery?  Of course not!  Without the battery I can not connect to anyone.  You see boys and girls, Jesus is like the battery for our lives.  When we ask Jesus to be our best friend we can connect with God.  Jesus makes it so we can have a relationship with God and spend eternity with him in heaven.  The big difference is that unlike a battery, Jesus never has to be recharged!”

©2010 Become A Hero. All Rights Reserved.