Whether it’s for the sake of education or the enrichment of faith, Sunday school is helpful in strengthening the bond our children have with the Lord in their youth. More than that, this unconventional approach to schooling serves as a supplement not only to children’s primary curriculum, but also as an aid in the development of strong moral justice and overall good conduct.
Nurturing these kids from an early age helps to establish the right foundation that will help them make responsible choices as adults. It also assists in creating a path for them that ensures our Creator’s place in their hearts and minds.
For parents who feel they could do more to instill the proper values and principles in treating others right, Sunday school is especially beneficial in providing all the guidance and support your children need to become good stewards of God’s creation.
Also read: 14 Tips for Planning A Great Family Bible Study
Planning Sunday School at Home
While there are already a lot of Sunday school facilities open to taking your child in, making one from the comfort of your home helps to personalize the experience for your son or daughter’s needs, for a fraction of the cost.
Here are some tips on how to hold a Sunday school at home.
Plan and Prepare Classes in Advance
To make sure you’ve completely got a hold of the lesson or topic for the day, make sure to create a detailed long-term plan of your Sunday school classes. This technique can help you stay on top of your lecture, as well as help you spot-check for improvements or a missed opportunity to incorporate a fun exercise or activity.
Moreover, having a well-devised plan helps to ensure that your lessons have flow and progression for maximum learning experience.
Use Songs and Other Multimedia Devices
Thanks to the internet, among other advancements in technology, we now have more ways to make school fun and exciting for the kids.
Using songs of praise, as well as educational biblical videos on what transpired in the past are great accessories for Sunday school. With the help of these tools, kids can use their imaginations to understand certain events in the Bible, making it simple and comprehensible for them to understand.
Sunday School Activities at Home
For ideas on activities to do when hosting your own Sunday school at home, keep on reading below.
Read a Bible Story
A big part of Sunday school is reading to your kids the valuable lessons in the Bible in the form of short stories and passages. For this one, just grab a book and ask your children to sit down in front of you. Make sure to read slow, so they can listen in and hear clearly. Encourage them to ask questions afterwards, so you all can have more clarity on the topic at hand.
Bible Crossword
A regular crossword is a test of one’s vocabulary and critical thinking skills. When you make it into a Bible-inspired crossword, you would be able to test your children’s understanding of the topic when you customize the answers to your lessons.
Bible Wordsearch
Just like the crossword, think of this as another fun approach to word games. You can create a list of questions underneath the wordsearch puzzle, throwing in some extra words and phrases for added difficulty.
Bible Scavenger Hunt
A good activity indoors is a treasure hunt! And, what better way to engage the kids than with a game that requires them to move around? Set up Bible verses around the house, which the children have to look for. This activity is very good to do, especially for memory verses.
Coloring Book
Depending on your child’s age, coloring books that take after Biblical events are a great way to fuel their imagination. Not only is coloring fun and relaxing, it also helps your children visualize these momentous scenes in the scriptures.
Prepare a Skit
Skits are a delight to watch, but it’s definitely fun to take part in one, too. Have your kids prepare a reenactment of a specific scenario or happening that took place in the Bible. With this activity, not only will they have an afternoon of fun, they’ll also be able to deeply understand and connect with the Lord more through this experience.
Guess Who
Instead of performing a show, playing a simple game of Guess Who is a great way to start the lesson for the day. Here you can include Jesus’ apostles, allies, and supporters, as well as his greatest foes. This mini-game can also serve as a review to make sure your kids remember who’s who and what’s what.
Books of the Bible Bingo
Learning the Books of the Bible has never been more fun, and will definitely keep the kiddos’ attention! You’ll easily be able to reuse these pintable bingo cards for hours of Bible Bingo fun!
Jigsaw Puzzles
Another fun activity that you can do is to give your kids some jigsaw puzzles. These can be really simple and straight to the point, or they can also include more complex images depending on your child’s age. This is a great ice-breaker that will help keep their interest, and have them looking forward for more.
Plant a Seed
What better way to bask and celebrate in God’s beautiful creations than growing one your own? In your own backyard or porch, you can set a gardening activity, so they can learn to appreciate the gifts and blessings from our Creator. Consider this as a mini-excursion that they can reflect on for years to come.
Play Pretend with Animals
Just like plants, animals are also symbols of God’s gifts that were bestowed upon the Earth. For this one, you can liven up the lesson by bringing in some toy animals or by dressing up as one.
You can work to tie this one with the story of Noah’s ark for a more engaging study of the lesson. But more importantly, this lesson will teach your kids the importance of treating animals with love and care.
Fill in the Verse
Want to test out how well your kids know their verses? Play this mini-game during recitation or after the class, so you can see how well they were able to comprehend the topic. No worries though if they weren’t able to answer all of them correctly, you can easily go back and address where they got confused.
Paint Me a Picture
This game is for groups, and can definitely stir-up the mood for the entire day. First, you must prepare a list of themes and events that took place in the Bible that can easily be imitated by children.
From there, ask them to do their best interpretation of the scenario by posing as the Biblical figures themselves. The challenge here is that they only have 5 to 10 seconds to make their formation. Good examples of these are the Last Supper and the Nativity Scene.
Dress Up for a Day
A great test of impact and resonance is this activity where you ask your children to dress up for the day. Make them go all-out in choosing the clothing that best represents their favorite character in the Bible. Here, you would be able to see what values and lessons stick with them the most, while they’re having the time of their lives.
Connect the Dots
Similar to other word games, connect the dots is like a multiple choice test sequence where you ask your kids to connect two dots with a line going in the middle. This can easily become very tricky if the kids are not well-prepared, so this is also a good test for whether or not they understand clearly.
Act it Out as I Read it Out Loud Challenge
Ask your kids to prepare to act out as if on a play. Everything will pan out like a traditional skit, but the twist is that they won’t know what they’re supposed to do until you read it out loud. This is a good exercise for leadership and teamwork, but the goal here is to ingrain those valuable Biblical scenarios in their heads.
Circle Sharing
Who said Sunday school was all about the teachers doing all the talking? From time to time, you can schedule a circle sharing, for you and your kids to reflect on all the lessons they’ve learned in Sunday school. Here, they can talk about their favorite passages, Biblical events, or Jesus’ miraculous acts to see what resonated with them most.
Mystery Box
Simply reading your children some books or passages from the Bible every sunday can easily make them lose their attention. For this activity, bring in a large box to class without telling them what’s inside.
As you go on with your story, pull out random items that supplement certain events or happenings. This keeps your children on edge, and excited to see you pull out the next big thing out of that mystery box.
Bible Quiz Bee
If you want to see how well your children have mastered their lessons, performing a Bible Quiz Bee instead of a long test can turn out to be a fun and interesting activity for everyone involved. For added challenge, you can even give incentives to your winning teams/students.
Incorporate a Magic Trick
To demonstrate the kind of miracles Jesus himself performed during His time, why not think about incorporating a magic trick into your routine? A good and easy sample would be when Jesus turned water into wine, or when he multiplied a pair of fish and bread into thousands.
While you don’t have to aim for the exact results, performing a magic trick in the midst of lessons can help to get the message across.
Group Presentation
Aside from circle sharing and skits, you can also choose to give your kids full creative responsibility through a group presentation. With this one, you can let them do either a play, a song, or a poem to see which their key takeaways were, and how they apply it to real life situations.
Special Guests
Last but not the least, inviting special guests over for your in-house Sunday school classes is a great way to switch things up and let your kids view these Biblical teachings in a different perspective. The guests can share their own experiences that are relevant to these kids, or they can even act out as a Biblical character, such as Jesus Christ himself, for a more interactive experience.
Conclusion
Sunday school at home can be fun and thrilling, as long as you know how to strike the balance between an educational and entertaining approach. Follow along our guide and see how big of a positive change Sunday school can have on your little ones from here on out.
