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Special Events
Special Events
Each of these Special Days involve a little extra planning and preparation, but they are well worth it! The kids enjoy the break from the "regular routine" and the leaders do too. These are good oportunities for kids to bring friends.
Here are a few ideas: (specific details to follow...someday!)
Christmas Party
After Christmas is the best time to purchase craft supplies for next year's Christmas Party. Last year, we purchased hundreds (literally) of those plaster ornaments that you can paint. Up here in Canda, White Rose, Michaels, and Lewis Craft are three large craft stores that carry these ornaments. Normally, they can be purchased for aprox. 50 - 80 cents Canadian, but after Christmas, they go to 50%, then 75%, then 90% off the lowest ticketed price. We ended up purchasing them for 5 cents last year. So, now that Christmas is over, go Bargain shopping for kids Christmas Craft supplies!
At our Christmas party, we divided the group into boys and girls. After the kids registered, they went to join their group. The girls worked on a craft in one room, and the boys played a game in another room. After 20 minutes, the two groups switched, and they each did the opposite activity. After the next 20 minutes, I had intended to show them the "Veggie Tales Christmas" video, but we ran out of time. I fully intended to show. We have a large number of kids, so I use a video projection machine, so the video is projected to a very large size on a wall.
The game that the kids played was, "Pass the Gift". I wrapped 5 gifts for the boys, and 5 gifts for the girls. I wrapped them each with 10-15 layers of wrapping paper or plastic bags, or brown paper. Have the group sit on the floor in a circle. I played Christmas music. As the music played, they passed the gift around the circle. Each time the music stopped (paused) the person holding the gift got to unwrap a layer of paper. When the music started again, they continued to pass the gift around the circle. After a while, I added another gift to the circle so there were two gifts being passed. Eventually they get to the final layer of wrapping paper, and that person gets to keep the prize. They kids loved this game!
After the game, craft and movie, the we gave the kids hot dogs for a snack. To them, this was a real treat. (They are always asking for Hot Dogs for a treat) Another suggestion might be cake & icecream, or cupcakes, or Christmas cookies to give out as a snack at the end.
Finally, the kids got to spend their Wise Buy Bucks as the Wise Buy Buck Store. The store is only open once a month for them, and this was a great time for them to be able to buy prizes to give as gifts to their families. Please refer to the Prize Methods Page for more details on how Wise Buy Bucks work.
Valentine's Party
Purchase lots of cinnimon heart candies. Put a large amount 7 or 8 hundred of them into a clear container with a lid. Count them! (Yes, you read correctly, Count them!) As the kids enter, have them try to guess how many candy hearts are in the container. Have a piece of paper where they can print their name, and the guess. At the end of the party, the person who guessed the closest, or the exact amount gets to take home the jar of candy hearts.
We divided our group into 2 groups, because it was to large to do activities with all of them at once. Half of them did a craft, while the other half did the lesson part and a game. If you need your party to take longer than an hour, do not divide the group! It will take longer!
Craft - Have different people in your church make cupcakes. Pink cake would be ideal, but white, chocolate, or any other kind would be fine. Also, make icing, and dye it pink. Purchase decorations to decorate the cupcakes with. Some ideas are: cinnimon hearts, red sprinkles, red shoe string licorice, chocolate chips, or anything else you can imagine. Let the kids have fun being creative, and decorating their cupcake. When they're all done, they can eat it!
Other Craft Ideas: Make Valenties, Decorate sugar cookies, Decorate paper bags to keep valentine's in, make a valentine to Jesus and display them on a bulletin board.
Game - Valentine Bingo. Draw a bingo card. (25 squares, 5 across, 5 down) Provide a list of words (30 or more) for them to choose from. Have them write one word in each box on their card. They can use each word only once. The leader calls out words, one at a time, and if the kids have that word on their paper, they put an X in that box. Give out prizes (chocolate hearts) for the first person to get a straight line, or an X , or a box, or a full card.
Memory Verse - Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7
Put each word on a piece of paper that has been cut out in the shape of a heart. I used red and pink paper. Have kids hold up each word of the verse. Say it several times. One by one, take away the words.
Easter Egg Hunt
Here is an idea to invite kids to your kids program. Get as many people as possible to buy several packages of plastic eggs. They usually come in easter colours, and come apart and the centre seam. There are about a dozen in a package. Photocopy lots of "mini" flyers that advertise your kids program. Be sure to include ages, where, when, what etc. on the flyer and an eye catching graphic or two. Put these mini flyers in each egg. Sometime on Easter weekend go around the neighbourhood you wish to evangelize and deliver the eggs. You can either put them in people's mail boxes, or hide them in the neighbourhood, in flowerbeds, or in parks etc, so that kids will eventually find them! (I have been informed by a very kind soul that it is illegal to put things in mailboxes in the US without proper postage. Therefore this kind soul suggested that perhaps an egg in a "baggie" put on a door handle would solve this problem. Thanks Loraine for this helpful info!) It is wise to do this in the early hours of the day, or late at night, when no one is outside, or looking outside. Ideally it would be nice to have 300 or more eggs, depending on the size of area you are trying to evangelize. It's a creative way to let kids know about your program. I would also like to mention that some people may not endorse the "bunnies and eggs" part of Easter. But keep in mind that this is a way to get the attention of people who don't care about Easter, and bring them to a place where they can discover the real reason for Easter. It's like planting a seed for them to hear about Jesus! Happy Egg Planting!
A Guest Appearance
We had a police officer who was going for a promotion call our church. He needed to do some community speaking. He knew that our church was very community oriented, so he called us and asked us if he could talk to the kids for about 5 minutes or so during our after school program. We arranged the date, and he showed up in full uniform, with some papers, books, and buttons to hand out to the kids. The 5 minute visit ended up taking up the entire program because the kids were enjoying it so much. He mostly answered questions that the kids had. It was great to show that police officers are normal, real people, and are there to help, not out to get you! Afterwards, the officer let kids sit in his car, and he showed them all the bells and whistles on it. They loved it! I would definitely do it again, and even invite other professional people to visit, like a fireman, a vetranarian, a first aid person, a doctor, or anyone else I could think of. It turned out to be a great kids program!
Please note my new email address!
kidsandstuff@hotmail.com
A Guest Appearance
