Bible Story Transition Ideas

Helping young children transition from active times to more quiet parts of your lesson can be a challenge. You can create activities specially designed to give them a chance to calm down and turn on their listening ears. Here are a few suggestions:

• Give children a warning when moving from one activity to another. A couple of minutes before you want them to finish what they are doing, say, "This is your two-minute warning. We will start putting away the toys (or crayons) in two minutes." As adults, we get frustrated when someone interrupts what we're doing. Children often have the same frustration when we stop their activity abruptly instead of giving them time to finish what they're doing.

• If you want your students to move from an active to a quiet activity, provide a transition activity to help them calm down and get the wiggles out. This can be an action rhyme, "The Wiggle Song," a march around the room (getting slower and quieter each time around), or an action song such as "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" (getting faster and faster; then getting slower with each round until everyone ends by sitting down).

• Do a fun action rhyme before the Bible story time, to help your students calm down and begin to focus their attention on you, the teacher. 

Here's a rhyme you can try with your class to help with the transition to your Bible story. Before doing the rhyme together, hold your open Bible and explain that the Bible is God's Word and it is true. Show your students how to hold their hands together, palms up, to look like an open Bible. Now lead them in this rhyme (younger children will either say the words with you or do the motions but probably won't be able to do both, which is fine).

I open my Bible (hold hands open like a book)
    And listen to God (hold hands to ear).
He tells me what I should do (point up).
    I know that He loves me (hug self)
He hears when I pray (hold hands folded as in prayer)
    And all of His stories are true (nod head)

I also know that Jesus loves me
    (point up, then hug self)
And watches over me every day
   (shade eyes and look side to side).
I like my Bible (hold hands open like a book)
   It's special to me (fold hands over heart)—
Like a friend I see every day (point to eyes).

So now I'll be quiet
    (put finger to lips and sit down)
My hands will be still (fold hands).
    I'll hear what God has to say.
(Hold one hand to ear and point up.)

Baby Moses Craft

Before your lesson, make a sample craft from the patterns below, but do not glue Moses in the basket. Hold the basket and Moses visuals in your Bible until the story time. Also print the patterns for each child in your class.

During the lesson, ask the children to name people who help take care of them. Then say, "I’m glad God planned for people to care for us. Let’s listen quietly to a Bible story about a boy whose mother loved him very much. This is a true story from God's Word, the Bible." Hold your open Bible as you tell the story of baby Moses from Exodus 2:1-10. Hold up the baby Moses figure when you mention Moses. Hold up the basket when you mention how Jochebed made it. Then place Moses in the basket when you get to that point in the story. Open the basket (or have a a child open it) when you tell how Pharaoh's daughter found Moses in the basket.

After the story, give each child scissors, crayons, glue, and the activity sheets from below. Let each child color and cut out the basket and baby Moses. Show the children how to glue the basket pieces back to back and glue Moses in the basket. Help them fold down the basket lid. Point to the Bible verse on the basket as you say it, "Let us love one another" — John 4:7. Have the children say it with you. Talk about ways the children can show love to others. (being helpful, sharing, saying kind words, etc.)

(This activity is taken from Bible Foundations Downloadable Curriculum for Preschool. To download an entire Bible Foundations lesson for preschool, early elementary, or late elementary ages, visit our Bible Foundations Samples Page.)

Click on the image above to download the craft.

Ideas for Teaching Preschoolers

A preschooler's intellectual ability, imagination, and curiosity are growing very quickly. He is trying to establish his own identity and independence, so he is apt to want to "strike out on his own" frequently. However, he often finds independence to be scary, and he may cry or scream for the protection and comfort he received as a baby or young toddler.

The games and activities in Honeybees for Jesus and Cubby Bears for Jesus Bible Clubs provide many opportunities for children to have their own experiences for precisely this reason. However, these Bible club learning experiences always include the loving care of adult leaders and helpers nearby to provide comfort and love when the child needs it.

Preschoolers especially are challenged by just about everything they experience. Their self-confidence grows as they master simple tasks they are able to accomplish. For this reason, Honeybees for Jesus and Cubby Bears for Jesus Bible Clubs include a wide range of learning activities, using many different methods, to challenge and teach children about their heavenly Father and in the process build their self-confidence as they master important skills.

Preschoolers remember best when they use all their senses—touch, hearing, sight, smell, and even taste— in the learning process. The more senses a child uses in learning, the more real that item or experience will become to him. This is the reason the activities in these Bible club programs incorporate the use of many senses. You will want to include activities that use a variety of senses in your lessons.

It is also important which senses are used in teaching. Studies have shown children learn 1% by taste, 1.5% by touch, 3.5% by smell, 11% by hearing, and 83% by sight. So you will want to enhance your room environment with visuals and decorations to engage the children. Placing a few small beanbag chair or rockers near a tub of picture books can make a reading corner where children can enjoy books on their own or while sitting in the lap of an adult leader.

Preschoolers' curiosity and creativity can be further stimulated by opportunities to explore and experience. Learning centers are a great way to let children explore new art mediums and nature items under the close supervision of a loving, Christian adult. Children need lots of new sensations, new impressions, new sights, feelings, and sounds. Honeybees for Jesus and Cubby Bears for Jesus Bible Clubs are designed to help you create such a place, where the growing child can receive a foundation of positive interaction with other children. Not only do preschoolers sing and talk about loving God and each other, but the children are given the chance to talk and interact with each other and with adults who love and care for them.

Children also learn by questioning—asking questions to solve current problems and clear up any misconceptions. Allow your students' questions to guide the direction of your discussions, moving your teaching to fit the children's ever-changing interests while being sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Now you're ready to guide your preschoolers on an exciting journey toward a personal relationship with Jesus and a love for God and His Word!

Preschool Thanksgiving Lesson

The harvest season is upon us. Stores have begun selling pumpkins, dried gourds, and cranberries. Leaves on trees are turning from green to red, gold, and brown. They're starting to fall, creating soft piles to jump into. This is a wonderful season to teach your young students about giving thanks to God for the many blessings He's given us.

Try this Thanksgiving lesson with your preschoolers. It's completely reproducible and includes student sheets, visuals, and lots of creative ideas. Download your FREE preschool Thanksgiving lesson. Then check out the other 51 lessons for preschoolers we've developed as part of our Preschool Sunday School Lessons series. Each lesson is just $6.95. You can print as many teacher's guides and student pages as you need so there's never any waste. Click on the image below to go to the free lesson page.

We hope you enjoy sharing this lesson with your students. May God bless you and grant you a memorable harvest season.

Setting Up Your Preschool Bible Club Room

It is extremely important that your Bible club classroom provides a bright, cheerful, welcoming environment where the children want to stay. Following are some basic guidelines for setting up your preschool room:

Space

Thirty-five square feet is recommended for each child in a preschool class. Toddlers and preschoolers are very active and require plenty of space for active movement. As much as possible, do not use a room that is smaller than 12 x 16 feet for your Honeybees or Cubby Bears classroom. Ideally, for a class of 12 children, you should have a room with a minimum size of 15 x 30 feet or larger. (A rectangular room gives a much more open appearance than does a square room.)

The room should be on the ground floor, if possible, and restrooms should be close by. A Dutch door is useful so the parents do not enter the room when they bring their children to the meeting. Electrical outlets should be above the children’s reach or kept capped with safety covers.

Floor coverings

Floor coverings should allow children to participate freely and sit on the floor. Floors should be spot-resistant and relatively easy to clean so the children can participate in “messy” activities freely. For colder climates, carpet is much warmer and will allow more freedom to use the floor year around. (You may wish to have a non-carpeted area for “messy” activities and snacks.)

No matter what your floor covering is, a large story rug, big enough for all the children and teachers to sit on, is necessary as a “gathering spot” for stories and group activities. A large flower-shaped rug could be created from burlap-backed felt or colorful carpet scraps sewed together.

Ventilation and lighting

There should be plenty of fresh air and light, but windows should open from the top only so little ones cannot accidentally fall out.

Wall coverings

Light colors are airy and restful, while bright colors may over-stimulate the children and cause behavior problems; use bright colors for accents. Choose paint or wallpaper that is non-toxic. Do not use murals as they can be a distraction to toddlers. However, a black-and-white coloring mural can be a fun area for your little ones to scribble color or add stickers. You will need two bulletin boards or other areas where posters, the Honeybees or Cubby Bears Attendance Chart, and other materials may be mounted on the wall.

Room layout

See the illustration in the PDF article below for a suggested room layout suitable for a class of up to 12 children using three learning centers.

Download FREE report

For more information about setting up your preschool Bible Club room, download the FREE PDF "How to Set Up Your Preschool Classrooms."

Teaching Twos and Threes

Up until the time a child reaches his second birthday, his main interests have been his parents, exploring his world, and practicing new motor skills. These interests continue while he is two and three, but as twos, the children also develop social skills and specific interests. This makes learning centers an especially good method for teaching twos and threes (see the "Setting Up Learning Centers" post from February 25, 2010); your goal as a Bible club teacher is to promote and develop each child's individuality and interests.

Intellectual reasoning or "thinking it out in your head" also develops while a child is two years old. An infant trying to get a hard-to-reach object will usually try various physical methods to reach the object, whereas the child over two years of age will very often consider an alternative in her head, and then act.

As a Bible club teacher, you can help each child develop the ability to "think through" a problem by using directed conversation. By saying words as the child plays or scribble colors, you can direct her thoughts to consider different behavioral options. This leads the child to think about and talk to you about a way to solve the problem before the child acts. Don't forge to use praise and encouragement as the child thinks through the situation and after she succeeds in solving the problem.

After a child's second birthday, he will become increasingly interested in his peers, whereas earlier, his main interest was his parents. However, while young children are interested in other children, they do not always interact with them or find it easy to develop friendships.

Children become capable of loving others as they have first received love and as they learn to interact with others. Therefore, children need a positive opportunity to interact with other children in an atmosphere of loving and caring so they can learn how to form friendships, a skill with life-long importance.

The activities in Honeybees for Jesus and Cubby Bears for Jesus Bible Clubs are designed to help you create such a place, where the growing child can receive a foundation of positive interaction with other children. Not only do preschoolers sing and talk about loving God and each other, but the children are given the chance to talk and interact with each other and with adults who love and care for them.

Those Creative Preschoolers (Part 2)

A walk in the rain, a seed planted in a flower pot, a magnifying glass, colorful leaves, a thank-you note to Grandma, a castle made with blocks—the ideas for creative growth are all around us. They extend to your own interest areas, too. Young children like nothing better than to be included in your activities and hobbies, even if it’s cooking, auto repair, or carpentry. To help children keep and expand the creativity of their early years requires understanding:

•  Recognize that everything is new for your young students. “Everything” includes the sky, clouds, rain, stars, and wind, and extends to tiny insects, pebbles, snowflakes, and leaves that most adults seldom notice. After all, small children are often a couple of feet closer to them than we are!

•  Accept the idea that the exciting world comes to them through their eyes, but also through sounds, tastes, and smells, and by way of their fingertips, too.

•  Realize that we have to show interest to help them retain theirs, but it’s foolish to fake it. Most children, even young ones, are alert to adults acting as thought they enjoy childhood games, when those games are really a bore to them.

•  Emphasize that the pictures they draw, the sounds and words they create, and the body movements they make are their very own. They are as much theirs, and theirs alone, as are their fingerprints.

Allow each child to be the creative being God has made him or her! 

Those Creative Preschoolers (Part 1)

Keep in mind that creativity means doing the “extra” ordinary. There’s no wrong way to mold clay, paint a picture, build with blocks, etc. Offer suggestions or assistance only when a child requests help or gets frustrated. The process and the creation need only be pleasing to the child, not to you or other adults. Find something to compliment in each child’s work, but don’t overdo it to the point it becomes insincere. If you can’t tell what the drawing is supposed to be, compliment the use of color or texture and ask the child to tell you about it. Display your preschoolers’ pictures and works of art around your Cubby Bears room and in your church nursery, make a scrapbook of art they can flip through, give card-size creations to shut-ins, and send creations home with parents. Show off your own creativity (arranging flowers, cooking up a new snack, painting a piece of furniture, hanging a new picture, making up a story or song to share, etc.) in front of your preschoolers. Let those creative juices flow!

Encouraging creativity in preschoolers isn’t really difficult. Here are a few examples:

•  Young children like to use their bodies to jump, rock, sway, creep, skip, and walk in funny ways, using their heads, hands, arms, ad legs. So let music come into your classroom through CDs, radio, singing, and instruments. Don’t worry if you can’t carry a tune. Most of your preschoolers won’t even notice!

•  Preschoolers like to make things, sometimes using tools and brushes. They like to feel different materials, and squeeze them through their fingers. So once in a while provide clay, scraps of soft wood, colored paper, paint, sand, and even mud. It will all wash off! Some items aren’t safe, and some stain, so use your good judgment to keep your preschoolers safe and clean.

•  Children like to make believe. So give them puppets, grown-up clothes, scarves, hats, large pieces of fabric, and other props out of which they’ll create a whole new world of fantasy. You might be an audience for them occasionally—and you’ll be sure to enjoy the show.

•  Young children like to rhyme sounds and words, tell stories, and compose songs and poems. So encourage them and listen to them. Don’t be too upset by silly behavior, unless it’s disrupting your activity. Give them times to let go and have fun. If they can’t “let themselves go” when they’re two, three, or four (or eight), when can they?