For the past week, I have posted information about preparing for Group’s KidMin Conference and my experiences as a result of the conference (search the blog for related posts). Today, I thought I’d share notes from the two workshops that I took at the conference.
WORKSHOP #1: “Bringing the Bible to Life” by David Jennings
Workshop Description: Discover more than 50 practical, NEW ideas you can take home and use right away in your ministry. You’ll also learn various “smarts” that aim to help kids experience the Bible in a surprising and personally specific way.
Workshop Content:
- Most of our teaching is “word smart”, meaning the teacher does most of the talking.
- Usually we teach in the way we learn best. However, kids learn best when they use their preferred way to learn.
- Make learning more kid-focused than teacher-focused.
The first activity we did was to complete a “Got Smarts?” quiz to determine our own preferred way of learning. I scored highest in “Self Smart”, meaning I: understand myself; am reflective, meditative and self-motivated; desire time alone; am aware of my own feelings and my own strengths and weaknesses.
Then we moved into talking about 8 multiple intelligences that we discussed in detail.
**Download my notes here.
**Download additional resources here.
WORKSHOP #2: “Teach Kids to Pray” by Mary Sims
Workshop Description: Maximize prayer in fresh and exciting new ways while you teach kids to pray at different ages. Experience multiple prayer styles, from The Lord’s Prayer to using music and art to pray. Take home LOTS of creative strategies to your children’s ministry.
Workshop Content:
- Mary shared personal stories of ways she’s incorporated a variety of prayer methods in her ministry. I love personal stories!
- She had a good balance of lecture time and interactive time around the tables. One activity we did was to pray in color (my second time at the conference). Another activity included a bowl of ordinary objects (such as bandages, slinkies, plastic rings, etc.) and we told how we would use that object to teach children about prayer. That was pretty cool – I love really practical stuff!
**Download the workshop notes here.
Keep the conversation going! How could you implement these ideas into your ministry? Share below!