Welcome to Spiritbuilding!

Letter to Parents

Send a letter to the parents, lesson papers, and/or craft, etc. home with the child with his/her name printed on it. It is important to parents to see what their child has done and learned in class. (I got to the point of sending a pre-copied sheet with a paragraph or two addressed to the parents explaining what we did in class that day. Click here to download a “Sample Parent Letter.”) This way parents could actually question kids on the drive home about the lesson and have the opportunity to discuss it as a family. You’ll never know just how many parents you’re impacting as well.

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It's Raining Cats and Dogs

If someone were to tell you that it's raining cats and dogs, you would assume they meant it was really coming a downpour. If you told a small child that, however, they would run to the window fully expecting to see animals falling from the sky.

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We Love To Pray...

Ideas for the classroom when you are studying prayer.

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Attendance Booster...

This activity encourages children to attend Bible class and is a wonderful way for children to review past lessons. This activity requires different colored construction paper, glue (or a stapler), and a marker.

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Bounce This Idea Around

Think of your words as tennis balls. Every idea or lesson point is one ball. When you teach using the lecture method, you are tossing several balls to the children and expecting them to catch and hold on to all of them.

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Add Life to Your Bible Class

What Makes a Class Fun (Favorite Teachers)?

Go outside for the lesson – Taking the students outside for a study of nature or for other Bible lesson ideas is popular with the students. One teacher compared the size of the Noah’s Ark to the size of our church building.

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101 Ways to Teach a Bible Verse
gospelhall.org

Teaching a Bible verse is perhaps one of the most important things a Sunday School teacher can do. After all, the Bible tells us

“..And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15)

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Teaching Tips
via nhim.net

Jesus taught by example. He taught His disciples to go out and do as they had seen Him do. We could follow His example as we lead the little ones that God has given us the privilege of teaching. The tips on this page really work! Children want hands-on involvement in their learning. There is something here for every aged child.

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Hints and Tips for Sunday School Teachers (Age 2 thru Grade 6)
via ChristianEdWarehouse.com

Why? Why? Why?
To stop an unending series of "whys", give the child a clear explanation, then ask her to repeat it back to you. Explain to her that you want to make sure she understands it. This works best with three-year-olds.

Creating lessons which keep children's interest and help them understand the story better can be a challenge at any time. It can also be especially tough if the class has children of varying ages and abilities, such as a preschool class of 0-5 year olds! Here are a few suggestions on how you can create lively, interesting and interactive Bible lessons. (Be prepared / Use your voice / Involve the children in the telling of the story / Encourage emotional involvement / Pray)

If you don't know it, they won't learn it
The first big lesson that I would spare you having to learn by experience is this: if you don't know it, they won't learn it. I learned this when teaching primary children the books of the Old Testament. It had been a while since I had reviewed them. When the kids discovered that I didn't know them forwards and backwards, it totally drained their motivation to learn them.

Sometimes I think we forget the importance of our wall space in adult classrooms. Adults like color and visuals as well as kids and there is certainly the opportunity to teach important principals or carry out the theme of the quarter on a blank canvas; a bulletin board.

If You Teach, Teach!
by Dana Burk

I am in the process of writing some ladies Bible class material and one of the subjects I am addressing is the common attitude toward not wanting to teach children's classes. And you know how your mind wanders, well, at least my mind wanders. I began thinking about my own experience in Bible classes; my experience as a child.