Play! Listen! Talk!

What’s something important you’ve lost recently? How did you feel when you realized it was missing? Were you frustrated because it was something you lose all the time (like me—I can NEVER find my keys), or were you panicked because losing it was an emergency? When we asked kids yesterday what things their parents have lost, we heard all kinds of answers: keys, cell phones, important papers, jewelry, money, sunglasses—even the car! (I’ve done that, too—parked the car and completely forgot where it was!)

But talking about lost items was easy compared to talking about “lost” people. Even though all our preschoolers have probably been lost from their parents at one time or another, we wanted to help them understand what it meant to be “lost” from God. So as we told about the woman in Luke 15 who celebrated when she found her lost coin, we talked about how God is glad and celebrates when we become part of His family. I don’t know how much these little ones got it, but my prayer is that the message of God’s love for them and His excitement when they are “found” will be remembered and built on Sunday after Sunday. And just to emphasize the message today, as kids left we gave each one a chocolate coin: “Here’s a reminder of today’s Bible story. You are more valuable to God than any coin. He wants you to be part of His family!”

Have you noticed that with preschoolers the best lesson plans and preparation can suddenly take a turn—into real life?

In our classroom that happened when a spider was discovered in the bathroom! The kids were delighted, but you can imagine the scene as every child in the room crowded into the bathroom to see the spider, and then shrieked in pleasure or fear! And later, as part of an activity where kids were supposed to be drawing themselves to show that God loved them, two little boys turned the activity into drawing monsters instead.

What’s a teacher to do? How do you connect spiders and monsters to following Jesus? Actually, real-life experiences are one of the reasons I enjoy teaching preschoolers so much. Their honest responses give me a perfect opportunity to talk about the things that matter to them. “Look at this cool spider God made!” “God loves you and He made you able to do so many things—you can draw cool monsters!” So I’m glad when real-life experiences take place in my classroom—although I’m hoping there won’t be too many more spiders!

I don’t know about your church, but the preschool classroom where I teach has wonderful, brightly colored, ergonomically correct chairs—for preschoolers! Not so much for adults! We teachers sit in the same little chairs, so getting on the kids’ eye level can be a stretch. (Or maybe it's just getting up from the little chairs that's a stretch!)

But in order to really play, listen and talk with kids, I’ve got to be at their level. So that means not standing up while kids are sitting down; no hovering around the back of them while they’re seated at the table and not talking to my co-teacher while kids are playing on the floor. (Even though I love my co-teacher and really enjoy talking with her—we share our lives before or after class.)

I’ve figured out the extra effort to get down to the kids’ level is worth it because my goal every Sunday is to have close-up eye contact with every child. I’m thinking there are already enough places where kids are overlooked and passed by because they are part of the crowd. At church, every kid deserves focused attention.

What I learned today: Dress comfortably!