Play! Listen! Talk!

Five equals ten? What kind of math is that? It's the kind of math that multiplies 5 kids by Christmas excitement to equal 10!

We were busy with lots of playing and talking (maybe a little short on listening) as we hunted for Christmas bows, built with blocks and acted out the story of Jesus' birth. We said the Bible verse with hands shaped like megaphones and circled happy faces on our TalkTime papers.

Over and over again we talked about the good news of Jesus' birth that has been multiplied not only in our classroom, but throughout the world.

What I learned today: play dough is a great stress reliever for kids AND their teachers!

"Look at the princess!" the little 4-year-old girl said as she pointed to a picture of Mary in a Nativity scene. I must admit I was a little surprised that she didn't know who Mary was. Surely kids know the story of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus! But as I thought about it, I realized that

• to a young child Christmas most often means Santa Claus and presents, and
• to a young girl, beautiful young women are most often Disney princesses

So while I could lament that our culture crowds out Jesus and His birth, especially at this season, or I could be dismayed that her parents haven't told the good news of Jesus, I was so glad to be the one who could say, "Mary looks like a princess, doesn't she. But she was even more special than a princess! She was the mother of Jesus. And at Christmas we get to celebrate and do lots of special things because we remember that Jesus was born."

I wonder how many other opportunities I'll have in Sunday School to help kids hear the true Christmas Story.

At first glance, our class today had our full share of real-life challenges. Despite our best preparation, we had kids:

• •Kicking the blocks, instead of building with them
• •Using a sling as a Star Wars weapon
• •Feeling frustrated because a younger child was trying to play with them
• •Complaining “I didn’t get a turn” “I can’t see”
• •Overturning buckets of toys

As a teacher, it’s easy to view discipline problems or challenging behavior as the things that stop you from teaching “the lesson.” Today, it was cool to get to the end of class and realize that as teachers we’re walking and talking examples of kindness in responding to discipline problems. I was teaching the lesson of "Be kind to one another" with my actions more than my words ever could!

What I learned today: Kindly but firmly telling kids what to START doing instead of focusing on what to STOP doing really does work to guide behavior.

Everything I need to know, I learned in kindergarten! Well, at least today, everything kids need to know to get along with others was discovered in Sunday School! You see, Buddy our favorite dog puppet had a big problem getting along with his friend Scruffy. When the kids were asked what he should do to be friends again, the answers came without hesitation:

• “kiss and hug and be friends” from sweet Hayden,
• “just start playin’ again” from practical Jaeda and
• “you have to say you’re sorry” from wise Cole.

These are wise words of advice from preschoolers who are figuring out every day what it means to “Do good to all people” (Galatians 6:10)—even when unkindness has been shown.

What I learned today: even though we don't talk about memorizing them, our Bible verses stick with the kids! One mom told me that her son asked for her help in cleaning up his toys because “the Bible says ‘With love help each other.’” I’m sure he learned it’s a two-way street!

Count Your Blessings

On this Sunday, a few weeks before Thanksgiving, it seemed only right that we spent a lot of time counting in our Sunday School class today. We counted: people in our friendship chain, people in our poster, the number of balls friends helped each other balance and carry, the “gifts” we gave each other in gift bags and the friends in our class.

Looking back on it, I’m also counting the hugs received and given in class: Madeleine’s hug that always warms my heart, Jonathon’s and Dodge’s hugs as they proclaimed in unison "we're best friends" and even the hugs Daffodil the puppet received from her preschool fans. So maybe our Bible verse "A friend loves at all times" could be paraphrased this way for preschoolers: "A friend hugs at all times."

In Sunday School, our preschoolers were builders today--but instead of blocks, we used frosting and graham crackers. We built houses, churches and schools--a little crooked, a little sideways and a little wobbly.

Our teachers were builders today, too. Not with frosting and graham crackers, but with smiles, Bible verses, Buddy the puppet, a Bible story and lots of playing, listening and talking. We were building hearts and minds and lives. And just like our graham-cracker buildings, the lives we're building are a little imperfect. But, just like the song we've been singing, "Every day I'm growing up, a little bit more, a little bit more."

What I learned today: Playing the Bible Story Review Game "What's Missing?" was a big hit! First I took away a storytelling figure, and then once the kids got the hang of it, I let them take away a figure or two. We could have played for an hour!

Our room was full of many things today:

• flour, salt, measuring cups and mixing spoons all in a jumble
• a rainbow of crayons carefully sorted by color into paper bags
• blocks and cars and railroad tracks
• cotton ball sheep, a little toy David and even a lion oh my!

Most of all, however, our room was full of smiles and laughter from the excited children happy to be at Sunday School. It was a whirlwind of helpers! "With love, help each other" (our Bible verse today) was lived out from start to finish.

What I discovered (again!) today: Learning is best when it's part of really fun play! Our Play to Learn time segment is getting longer and longer as our teachers get better and better at connecting the fun play to the learning goals for the day.

OK, I'll admit it. I'm a clock-watcher! During Sunday School, I'm the one checking the clock to see if it's time to clean up the play activities, if our group time is too long or too short, or if the church service is running short or long. I'm the one who always tries to keep the class moving along at just the right time so that our planned activities end just as parents begin arriving to pick up their children.

But, as any of you who teach small children know, things often don't go along according to schedule. Today, for example, we had whole fields of water and grass being built in the Blocks Center. And several kids decided at the last minute that they just HAD to make a fall wreath.

So as we finished our TalkTime pages, parents were already on their way to pick up their children--except for one little boy who ended up waiting and waiting and waiting for his grandma to come. But for once, watching the clock didn't seem so important to me. Because while we waited, we played. And even more important, we talked! And those were the first words little Benjamin had said the entire morning. So while I'm still going to be the one who keeps an eye on the schedule, I'm also going to keep an eye out for the unexpected opportunities to play, listen and talk--even when the clock says we should be doing something else!

What I learned today:

• Buddy is a favorite friend (along with Daffodil) who should never miss a Sunday, even when he doesn't know all his lines!

In Sunday School, it's okay

• if you're new and shy and want to stand behind the table and just watch when we gather for our large group time
• if you want to put your stickers on the "wrong" side of the TalkTime paper
• if you want to keep your eyes open when we pray
• if you ask over and over "When's my grandma coming?"

All of those things and many more are okay because God doesn't require any of us to be perfect before we can receive His love and hear His voice. As we learned in today's Bible story, it even took Eli three times to figure out that the voice Samuel had heard was God speaking!

So it's okay if I didn't get the words of the puppet script just right, and wasn't as attentive as I should have been to parents when they arrived. God's love is for me, just as I am.

What I learned today: I can invite parents to help their children "Come and listen to the words of the Lord" (today's Bible verse) by using the PrayerTime suggestion on the take-home paper. It's just right for bedtime!

What jobs were on your To Do list this weekend?

My list included trim the bushes in the backyard, pay bills, collect candlesticks to help kids picture the story of Samuel helping at the Tabernacle, go grocery shopping, dust the furniture, make a birthday cake, practice telling the Bible story, go for a walk! And now, I'm adding take a nap!

Sometimes my job list just seems like so much never-ending work. But this morning as I played with kids pretending to polish candlesticks, listened to kids tell how they are helpers, and talked about how doing our best work shows our love for God, the lesson's Bible verse came alive for me: "Whatever you do, do your work for the Lord" (Colossians 3:23). I'm ready to face my To Do list with God's perspective, not mine.

And I'll defnitely remember Cameron wearing his decorated dusting sock and dusting EVERYTHING in the room. (Cameron, can you please come to my house?)

So there I was, sitting on a too-small chair, pretending to eat plastic chicken and to drink invisible coffee. It was a busy morning in the Dramatic Play center at Sunday School!

Suddenly a little girl snuggled up next to me and whispered, “Teacher, I prayed for you.” At first, I wasn’t sure what she meant. But then I remembered that when I was recovering from a broken wrist, her mom had told me that my little friend Lily had prayed for me every night at bedtime. That was a year ago!

The friendship we have built over many cups of invisible coffee has continued to grow. In Sunday School, we play with each other, we listen to each other and we talk together. We do all those things so that teachers and kids can learn about loving God and loving others.

With all the talk about what's fair and what isn't these days, it was an unexpected joy to watch the kids in my Sunday School class have such fun playing a game today. They eagerly and cheerfully took turns hiding and finding pretend manna as they acted out the story of God's people gathering His provision of food. It didn't seem to matter if the "gatherers" watched the "hiders" set out the manna around the classroom. And then the "hiders" were more than happy to point out to the "gatherers" exactly where the manna had been hidden! There was no thought of who was winning or not as this fun game was played.

What I learned today: everyone's a winner when the sheer delight of playing a game trumps competition. And I hope the kids came away knowing that in God's eyes they can be winners every day as they depend on God's provision for them.

"Here I am" were the words I heard this morning as one confident little girl came to Sunday School. And while she was the only who said those words aloud, all the kids announced their arrival in their own unique ways: a glance from a shy one, a stare from a new one, a sad face from one whose morning wasn't going quite right, a smile from one happy to see friends at church. In between, I was busy helping kids make shakers and blow ping pong balls on water!

What I learned today: shakers can be very loud--next time I'm going to look for some soft things to put inside our water bottle shakers!

But I also learned that following my "schedule" isn't nearly as important as responding to each child's feelings. After all, our lesson today was about the people God gives to care for us and keep us safe. And in Sunday School, God has given me the privilege of caring about each child's feelings and making our class a "safe" place to be.

Have you ever read the label on something and it said “washable” but it turned out NOT to be washable?

Well, in the art activity I led today (making fingerprint paths on butcher paper to show that God is with us wherever we go), I was very grateful that the ink pads really WERE washable. Both boys and girls were intrigued with this activity. I had wondered if some kids wouldn’t want to get messy, but that didn’t turn out to be a problem at all! In fact, several kids enjoyed the messy factor so much that they made handprint paths! So we drew roads and houses and our church and connected them all with a multitude of colorful fingerprints.

Other small favors from today’s lesson:
*the challenge of “Let’s see if everyone can put away 7 things” continues to work to help kids quickly clean up the blocks, the play dishes and more.
*the shout-out of “I love these” from a boy who spotted the dot-to-dots on his TalkTime paper

My favorite small favor continues to be, however, the small children who come to Sunday School. For them, I am very grateful!

No matter how many Sunday School classes I've taught, the first day of a new wonderful group of kids always gives me first-day jitters. That must have been the reason I woke up at 4:30 to go over the puppet script one more time. (Really, how many people do you know who are up at that time of the morning having an imaginary conversation with Buddy the cute, cuddly dog puppet!)

The class started off enthusiastically! Our first kid came headlong into the room yelling, "Sunday School!" with a huge grin on his face. And we were off and running! What fun we had!

What I learned: Next quarter I'm going to cut off the Fridge Factor in the Family FunTime paper, laminate it and give it out separately to parents. (I gave out way too much paper yesterday!) And I learned to follow the kids' lead in getting started in the activity of their choice (I'm so grateful for a curriculum that gives me enough activities from which to choose so that every kid can find a place of comfort and discovery.)

Oh, and my conversation with Buddy? When I started the script with one or two kids at my side, I thought, "Well, this isn't really going to work." But as soon as Buddy popped up his head, child after child joined the group. They even laughed at the jokes! Best of all, the boys who couldn't wait to play with cars and trucks, fell silent in their play so they could watch and listen, too. Best of all, they "got it" that God cares about them.