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SSTN  # 83- August 14, 2002


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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:

1) Judges, Deborah, Gideon, and Samson
2) I've got Old Sunday School Curricula   
3) Motivating My Teachers
4) Preadolescent books

--> Armor of God Game

5) Toddler songs   
6) Soncastle Faire VBS
7) Christian Posters
8) Fruit of the Spirit
9) Children's activities during church?
10) Activity Bags
11) Activity Bags
12) The Friendly Beast?


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1) Judges, Deborah, Gideon, and Samson

"Choosing Victory Overcoming Defeat" for our homeschool study of Joshua,
Judges and Ruth.  You will get a great WEALTH of learning from this,
though you'll have to design your own handouts, visuals and activities for
the little folks.

--from SSTN: you can find this in our bookstore by typing
CHOOSING VICTORY-JOSHUA/JUDGES/RUTH  into the search box:  
http://www.christiancrafters.com/bookstore.html 

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2) I've got Old Sunday School Curricula   

What a great resource this is! I'm hoping someone can help me.  Our Church has several year's
worth of old Sunday School lessons, many are still in the original boxes.  These have been used, but are now gathering dust. Is there any place where I may send them so that they will be used?

Thanks!
Tracey from Maryland
barrick@chesapeake.net

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3) Motivating My Teachers

> My philosophy, over the years, has come to be that GOD WILL CALL INTO
>SERVICE THOSE WHOM HE HAS GIFTED FOR THE MINISTRY.  This means, that 
>at times we have had to cancel an otherwise great program.

I agree 100% with Debbie.  We sometimes see a great idea and run with it
and push our agenda instead of His.  I wanted to do VBS soooo bad this
summer but ended up not having enough volunteers to do it.  So we
cancelled
it.  It sent a vibe through our whole congregation...but it also taught
them that if they feel the prompting of the Holy Spirit to do something
they need to do it.  Faith is action.  We have to step out in faith and do
the things God is calling us to do.  Sometimes though we need to hold back
and wait to hear from the Lord what He is telling us to do.  He will send
the ideas, the funds, and the people to get His job done.
Thanks Debbie!  Glad to hear there are other churches out there who are
willing to hold up and wait until God provides the laborers.

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4) Preadolescent books    

Do you carry "The Princess and the Kiss" (A Story of God's Gift of Purity)
by Jennie Bishop (pub. Warner Press1999).  I purchased it recently at a
Conference of Crisis Pregnancy Centers.
Lu

--from SSTN: Yes. Type  "The Princess and the Kiss"  into the bookstore
search box: http://www.christiancrafters.com/bookstore.html 
           
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Armor of God Game

Kids scramble to be the first to build a full suit of armor using peel 'n'
play stickers, and soak up the lessons taught in Ephesians 6 while they
play!  In the Games section of the Bookstore at:

http://www.christiancrafters.com/bookstore.html 


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5) Toddler songs   

It's me again --- I have had additional encouragement to share some more
of my songs that I have sung with Toddlers.
Joyfully Serving HIM,
Emmalea

To the tune of Ring Around the Rosie

This is the way we go to church
go to church
go to church
This is the way we go to church
to learn about Je-sus (dipping down for fun :o)

Church is where we learn to pray
learn to pray
learn to pray
Church is where we learn to pray
Let's talk to Je-sus.

To the tune of London Bridge (another ><E> original)

Let's go to church and praise the Lord
Praise the Lord
Praise the Lord
Let's go to church and praise the Lord
Let's wor-ship Jesus (catch a child)

Sing and pray and praise the Lord (rock them back and forth)
Praise the Lord
Praise the Lord
Sing and pray and praise the Lord
Let's wor-ship Jesus. (let 'em go)


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6) Soncastle Faire VBS

I don't have any of this stuff, but I can offer a few helpful tips about
VBS curriculum.

1. This is considered "dated" material by publishers. Therefore, they
print a certain quantity, and when it is gone, it's gone.  It is available
for only for the year they target it for, so you cannot order this years
stuff next year.

2. If you think you are going to use a curriculum at a later date,
purchase the promo package.  This usually has one teachers manual and one
student book (or paper) for each level, a directors book and a cd/tape or
video.  Some of them include decorating ideas.  IF you live near a
Christian bookstore, most of them carry these sample packs. Lifeway
carries all the major ones. OR you can order sample packs and preview them
for 10 days. Return the ones you don't want and you will not be charged.
All it costs you is the postage to return it.

3.  VBS companies (some of them) start offering previews in Sept. This is
usually just the themes, lessons covered, etc.
By January the promo packets/boxes are averrable.  IF you attend
Children's pastors conference or some of the other big conferences you can
preview al of them.  We saw video clips from all the major ones at CPC in
January. They also give away lots of stuff at CPC.  You should choose the
curriculum you will use by March or April. This insures that you can get
all the pieces that you want.

4.  Several VBS publishers have workshops in the spring to give ideas.
These are 1/2 day workshops and cost $15-20.  They are well worth the
money.  This year Group had one for Bug Safari and there were 2 others
from other publishers.
Check the publishers websites for info.  If you go to
www.childrensministry.net, there is a list of VBS themes on the home page.
She posts next years themes as soon as they are available.

Teresa Bohannon
La marque, TX

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7) Christian Posters

I do not know who publishes these, but the local Christian bookstores have
them.

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8) Fruit of the Spirit

>We are working on Fruit of the Spirit for VBS and we need any ideas.
>Crafts, lessons or games. We are asking for anything.

Hello, I did a children's church series on fruits of the spirit recently
that the kids liked. Our children's church is for 1-3 grade, during the
sermon portion of our service (after worship the kids are dismissed), so I
only had to fill about a half hour. You could stretch the lessons out
though. For each fruit I found an old testament character that represented
the fruit. For example, love was the story of Jonathon and David. We
focused on the portion of the story where Jonathon shot arrows to signal
to David whether he was safe or needed to leave. Each child got to play
David, who hid behind a large rock, and also portrayed Jonathon shooting
arrows (we used paper airplanes) as well as the arrowbearer. David was
also used in the lesson about self-control. We talked about areas that
were hard to have self control in. Many of them said being quiet, not
fighting with a brother, etc. I read them the story of David cutting a
piece of Saul's robe when he could have killed him. For ou! r activity, I
had my son (a 5th grader) lay under a table covered with a sheet. He was
dressed in one of his dad's old shirts and pretended to be asleep. Each of
the children snuck into Saul's "cave" and cut a piece of the shirt off.
Then I had them use a Sharpie marker to write on their cloth the things
they needed God's help to control. The kids really liked this series! If
you want the rest of the lessons I used, you can email me
psalm_77@yahoo.com. Have fun woth your VBS!

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9) Children's activities during church?

Hi, I am the Children's Ministry leader at a small church.  We have quiet
a few kids, but no one willing to teach children's church.  I tried having
coloring and activity pages for the kids to do during church but the kids
say they're boring.  What else can I do?  Some parents wish we had
children's church, but we just don't have enough workers.  What's the next
best thing?
-Jane

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10) Activity Bags

You might try including smal "magnadoodles" that you buy on clearance.  We
also made a game using a large, heavy plastic plate; a tongue depressor; a
large paper clip (make sure it is not aluminium) and a heavy, round
magnet.  We used the prodigal son, but lots of stories will do.  Make a
path on a sheet of paper along with the picture of the son.  Cut out the
son and the path to fit inside the plate and glue the path down.  Glue the
magnet to the tongue depressor and put the paper clip on the son.  When
the depressor is ran along the underside of the plate, the son will follow
it.  The kids also like to see what else the magnet will do.  Try putting
different types of metal objects in the sack every few weeks.  Also, the
quiet, soft flannel books are nice.  You can make your own with sheets of
flannel, buttons, zippers, and different types of fabric.  Some of the
items are animals and flowers that are made.  Try to make the book Bibical
related.  Hope this helps    Peggy


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"Get em' in the LOOP!" 

L-eading kids to Christ,
O-ffering advice
O-pen discussion forum
P-roviding free resources

Invite your friends, pastors, and coworkers
to join our discussion in SSTN.

http://www.christiancrafters.com/page3.html 

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11) Activity Bags

>If any one has done this, what types of activities and things do you put
>in the bag and where do you get them.  Thanks,  Julie

To Julie-
As Sarah said, crayons, pencils, paper, but I would also suggest that
you go to your local dollar store.  Many times they have coloring and/or
activity books that are biblically based and they are very cheap.  Pens
may or may not be advisable, depending on the child.  However, to avoid
fighting, don't give something to one or two that isn't given to all.
We have 6 little ones, aged 10 and under, 5 of which belong to the same
family, so we got a variety of them (different colors or covers) and put
their names on them, so no one would fight over them.  I also strongly
suggest small packages of tissues (purse pack sized).  It saves the
parents from having to hunt for tissues when the little ones get a runny
nose.  I hope this helps! 

-Teresa

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12) The Friendly Beast?   

Hi, This year our Children's Dept. will be doing their Christmas musical
based on the song The Friendly Beast.   I was wondering if anyone had any
ideas or references that they would like to share with us. We would
appreciate all the help we can get.

Thank You!
Christi

--from SSTN: make sure you check the Archives List for previous
discussions on this. Type "beast" into the search box:
http://christiancrafters.com/archives.html 

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