It’s a dilemma familiar to anyone involved in planning a children’s ministry: What activity will follow the story time? More often than not we immediately consider a reproducible activity sheet, or a simple paper craft involving some cutting and pasting for the younger age group, or a puzzle or word game for the older kids. If we do not have to invent our activity we are probably using a curriculum that provides similar prepared pages. All paper based, all involving some level of literacy and all quickly prepared to suit whatever story was the focus of the day.

It’s very easy to fall into the trap of relying on such materials, but there are several compelling reasons why I believe this type of activity resource may not always be the best  to use. I would even argue that in some children’s ministry environments it may be worth trying to avoid their use as much as possible.
Here are five reasons I like to steer away from paper based craft in children’s ministry settings:

1. Paper based activity sheets often rely heavily on literacy based skills unintentionally marginalising those children who, for one reason or another, find themselves struggling in this area. The last thing we want is for children like this to learn a subconscious message that they are not smart enough for God.

2. Many hand out or worksheet activities are focused on individual learning. Although it is important for children to make faith decisions for themselves, as individuals, children’s ministry settings offer a unique opportunity for practicing faith community. Let’s make the most of this!

3. Workbooks, photocopies handouts, word-searches etc all have an unspoken ‘school’ feel to them. The last thing many children want when out of school hours is to feel like they are back there! Although spiritual formation does include learning, it does not need to always feel like formalised education. Boys, in particular, often feel a natural aversion to this type of learning.

4. Quickly made paper based crafts are often reluctantly received by parents and quickly find their way into the recycling bin. (There are only so many beautiful colouring pages that fit on a standard size fridge.) Unfortunately we are sending home a message that what is learnt in our programs is quickly replaceable and forgettable. We also end up supporting a very disposable culture which at it’s heart opposes the values of the Kingdom of God.

5. If we are only using hand out and ‘sit down at a desk’ type activities we limit the learning style catered for in our ministry setting. God made us all unique with different ways of internalizing what is learned, committing things to memory and building on a faith foundation. We may be missing some kids altogether, or unintentionally delivering a shallow faith lesson to many more when we only use the same type of activities to ‘compliment’ the lesson.

I’m certainly not saying ‘never‘ use paper based activities (cut outs, worksheets, simple crafts etc) but I believe it’s certainly worth keeping our eyes open for alternatives that are inclusive, encouraging, lasting and focused on promoting genuine internalization of the important faith lessons explored in your ministry setting.

Over my next few posts (my slot is the first and third Thursday of each month) I’ll start unpacking what some alternative activities might look like. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Penny