Monday, July 2, 2018

Keeping God at the Center


Keeping God Central from Joan Eppehimer on Vimeo.
Years ago we had homemade tables in our church. Someone had screwed threaded steel pipes into flanges which were screwed onto 4 x 8 pieces of plywood. The church fellowship hall was in the basement of our parsonage and my husband and I were sometimes tasked with unscrewing the pipe legs so the tables could be stored. One day we attempted to remove a pipe and it would not budge. I decided we needed some more muscle and found our neighbor, who also could not budge it. But he had this wonderful invention called a pipe wrench. In seconds the pipe was out. He told me sometimes you just need the right tool. This is a lesson about tools for keeping God central in one's life.

Monday, June 4, 2018

Repurposing In KidMin - Doors & Windows


I admit it, I am a perfectionist. And I don't always take no for an answer. Sometimes that turns out to be a good thing. Like when we redid our children's area, and I could not stand how the old doors looked in the new area.

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Tips for Kidmin in the Small Church (link)


Recently I was searching the web for some ideas and help for music in our children's ministry. In the process, I came across this great article about a church that had no children. Zilch...nada...none. And this went on for almost a year, and then low and behold, God began to unfold a small miracle. Now if you are from a church with over 100 in attendance, it is unlikely you would ever find yourself in this position. But if you are from a really small church, you might.

I am linking to this article because
#1 It was very encouraging.
#2 It also had some great advice on how to get ready for a children's ministry.
#3 No one thought it was going to rain when Noah built the ark either, but it did. And if the children come, you want to have your ark ready, err, I mean your children's ministry.

So read this and be encouraged: 9 Pieces of Advice for Starting a New Children's Ministry.

Friday, March 23, 2018

Saul Sees the Light


This post includes a drama for acting out the events of Acts 9 and an activity for helping children to understand how God's word acts like a "light" to help us see the path we should walk on. The two can be used separately, I just happened to use the lesson for Operation Arctic which paired Psalm 119:105 with the story.

Disclaimer: KidFrugal primarily helps the small church. The activities in this post will work best with less than 20 children. You can pull it off with as few as 3 or 4 children if you use adults.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

We're In!


I am not sure that many adults grasp how momentous the events of Acts 10 are, let alone children. This chapter marks the entrance of the Gentiles (which would probably be most of you reading this) into the kingdom of God.

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Stoned!


To tell the story of Stephen in Acts 7, I used 3-D visuals. I printed out Bible people that I downloaded through this site. Then I glued them onto empty toilet paper rolls so they could stand up.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Rejection at Nazareth!


Jesus rejected in Nazareth, his home town from Luke 4:14-30 is a very easy story to re-enact. It requires little props, the only prep work was to make a scroll. I used old packing paper I had saved from Amazon boxes and taped it together to make a long scroll.

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Pancakes and Missions



Kid's Mission's Breakfast from Joan Eppehimer on Vimeo.

They say that kids learn best when they are having fun. The first half of this event included "catching" your breakfast. Our cook flipped the pancakes and the kids caught them on their plates. The kids had a blast, but they also learned about the importance of Bible translation and smuggling and heard from a missionary. Parents were invited too, creating a family event at the same time.

Instructions for the Pin the Bible on the World game can be found in this post from November.


Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Explaining the Second Birth to Kids


A friend gave me an old teacher's book that had a great illustration for explaining the second birth to children. I made the illustration out of doubled sided poster board. I experimented until I found 2 different plate sizes to trace the concentric circles. I used a yardstick to draw the lines to divide the 2 circles into thirds.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Chalk Board Tables


Chalk Board Table from Joan Eppehimer on Vimeo.

We had some old tables hanging around the church. For about $10 you can get a quart of paint and convert many surfaces into a chalkboard. We bought our paint at Sherman Williams (with coupons of course.) Amazon and Target also carry it.

The surface is quite gritty, but I read you can sand it with 150 grit sandpaper. Since I already primed the table you see in this, I can't sand it...BUT I can try the one that is under the blue tablecloth.

In our case, this project was kind of a dud. The kids enjoyed painting the tables, but so far, no one enjoys coloring on them as a pre-class activity. I will have to think of some creative ways to incorporate these into class. The surface does not look as nice and black as I thought it would either. A little disappointing.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

How to Play Pin the Bible


I read a banned book almost every day. In fact it is the most banned book in the world. Any guesses what it is?

If you guessed the Bible you are right.

We played a fun game in Sunday School to help our kids learn about the importance of the Bible translation and access to the Bible for Christians. It was called Pin the Bible.

Pirate Themed Trunk & Treat

Shiver me timbers and batton down the hatch, it's trunk and treat time and have we got a theme for you. Be sure to check the video out a...