Play! Listen! Talk!

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!