Preteen Party Ideas

Preteen Party Ideas

by Mike Wonch

Fast Food Progressive Dinner – This is a new twist to the normal progressive dinner. Rather than going to various homes for the salad, appetizers, or desserts, why not go to fast food restaurants around town?

Have your French fries at one restaurant and your sandwich at another.

Reverse Progressive Dinner – Instead of starting with salad, begin with dessert and work your way backward. In other words, start with dessert, eat the main meal, follow with appetizers, and end with salad or drink.

Make-Your-Own Pizza Night – This activity can take place in the church kitchen or someone’s home. You supply the dough, cheese, sauce, and pans. Ask your preteens to bring their favorite toppings. Encourage your students to be creative. Then have fun creating different pizza combos and eating them as a group. Think about it! When was the last time you had an anchovy, mushroom, and pineapple pizza? Build the Largest . . . – Try building excitement within your group by planning a “Build the largest...” night. A few ideas include using guttering to build a 50-foot long banana split or laying hoagie bread end to end to build a giant sub sandwich. Make sure to take a lot of pictures of this event.

Food from Around the World – Set up your gym or multi-purpose room with stations serving various types of food from around the world. One area might contain enchiladas from Mexico, while another might have Domburi from Japan. Encourage students to try food they may never have eaten. Add flavor to this event by decorating the various food stations with items from the countries represented.

Popcorn and Film Night – Find a video/DVD that is appropriate to show to your students. (I suggest a comedy, nothing too serious.) Then plan a night to make popcorn and watch the movie as a group. Try providing a variety of popcorn flavors such as caramel, cheese, cinnamon, or kettle. Have fun laughing and just being together.

Teaching Children to P.R.A.Y.

by Maurice Sweetsur

Here is a simple prayer pattern which you can teach children for encouraging regular prayer habits.

Preparation. Get a piece of cardboard, and write out the four words as shown below, ensuring that the first letter of each word is larger than the others.

PRAISE

Regrets

Ask

Yourself

Cut and fold the cardboard in such a way that you can show the word "PRAY" on its own, and then in turn unfold the remainder of each word as you talk about it. Teaching. Prayer is talking to God, and I can't think of anything that God likes better than when we do this. We can talk to God anywhere, anytime, and about anything. The most important thing about prayer, however, is that it should be regular. Set aside a few minutes every day to talk to God. Most people find that the best time of the day to do this is either first thing in the morning, or last thing at night, before they go to bed. These are times which you can easily remember, and you are less likely to be interrupted.

There are basically four different types of prayer, and if you remember the word 'P.R.A.Y.' it will remind you of them. You can use this as your prayer pattern as you talk to God.

(Unfold the card to reveal the first word).

P stands for 'Praise'. Praise is talking (or singing) to God about God. You could pray something like "God you're good, loving, wonderful, awesome, etc." Praise also includes thanksgiving. I am sure you can all think of a lot to thank God for - your lives, His gift of Jesus, your families, friends, school, etc.

R stands for 'Regrets'. Think back to the last time you prayed, and ask yourself if there is anything you regret - anything that you have done, said, or even thought that you are sorry about. If there is, ask God to forgive you, and He well. Then ask Him to help you do better next time.

A stands for 'Ask'. We can ask God to help others. We can pray for our family, friends, anybody at all and ask God to be with them and meet their needs. The Bible particularly says that we should pray for those in authority over us, e.g. parents, teachers, those in government. If you don't know their particular needs, you could ask God to help them make good choices.

Y stands for 'Yourself'. God encourages us to come to Him and ask for our needs. In fact, Jesus promised that He would give us all our needs. What are some of the things we need? That's right, food, water, clothes, homes, families to look after us, peace (if we are troubled), joy (if we are sad), love (if someone is annoying us), patience (if we are waiting for something). However, God did not promise to give us everything we want - our wants are different from our needs. God likes to bless us, and there is nothing wrong in asking Him for whatever you want. But He knows what is best for you, and will never give you something that would be bad for you. Therefore, His answer to your request might be Yes, wait, or no. (You could do the well known traffic light illustration here).

OBJECT LESSON

We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box.

Ideas for Making Rhythm Instruments for Preschoolers

by Kathy Lewis

Ankle Bells - Cut wide elastic into strips, and sew the ends of the strips together to fit comfortably around a baby’s ankle. Sew 2-inch bells to the elastic. Encourage children to shake their feet and ring the bells when you play music. Make larger ankle bells for children who are walking. CAUTION: Don’t use bells smaller than two inches, as they can pose a choking hazard.

Wooden Sticks - Buy dowel rods and cut them to an appropriate size for the children in your class. Sand the ends to get rid of rough edges.

Paint the sticks with non-toxic paint, or leave them plain. Give each toddler two sticks during music time, and show them how to keep rhythm by hitting the sticks together.

Cymbals - Aluminum pie tins make great cymbals! Make handles by taping elastic strips to the back of two tins. Show children how to hit the tins together to make an interesting sound during music time.

Shakers - Pour dried beans or rice into empty plastic 12-ounce soda bottles. Securely tape or glue the lids on, and let kids shake up a cool sound! Use film canisters for younger children. Be sure to tape the lids securely in place. Small fingers work diligently to open containers.

Drums - Empty oatmeal containers or ice cream tubs and wooden spoons make great drums! Children can also use wooden spoons on old pots and pans to create a fun sound.

Sandpaper Blocks - Glue fine sandpaper to one side of wooden blocks. Attach elastic handles on the opposite side of the blocks. Show children how to rub the “scratchy” sides together to make a unique musical sound.

When the Body Moves, The Brain Remembers

The old fallacy said: "Students learn best when seated upright at a table."

Research concludes: "The stress on the tissues of the buttocks often causes fatigue, discomfort and the need for frequent postural change!" The old fallacy said: "Students who do not sit still are not ready to learn." Research concludes: "When permitted to move, children achieve statistically better than when required to learn while remaining seated."

Participation learning is known as Total Pupil Response, or when the body moves the brain remembers.

This resource will help you make Bible stories and characters come alive and to present information in a transforming way. Children will become emotionally involved with biblical characters as they experience feelings, and then apply situations to everyday life.

Interactive Bible stories create enjoyable learning, which follows the biblical principle found in Proverbs 15:2, "A wise teacher makes learning a joy."