David & Goliath

This Sunday was the 1st Sunday of the month, and in our kids’ ministry this week is a little different from the rest of the month. Our church does communion on the 1st Sunday, and we like to have families participate in that experience together. So all of the kids (kindergarten and up) stay upstairs through worship and communion with their parents before coming downstairs to kids’ church. Our middle school service that usually meets on Sundays even takes a break on this week, so that families can be together.

Once the kids come downstairs, we have about 45 minutes, compared to our usual 1 hour and 15 minutes, so we switch up our downstairs experience. We do a short lesson and game or activity, usually unrelated to our curriculum, then at the end of the service we have our “Pier Dollar Store.” Every week when they come, kids get the chance to earn “Pier Dollars” by bringing their Bible, knowing the memory verse, bringing a friend, and participating in class. Then, once a month, we have a store where they can spend their “dollars.” It’s a lot of fun and really encourages the kids to be actively involved in class!

This week, we decided to talk about David and Goliath, and how through God we can do anything (no matter what our age)! Chris summarized the story while he had two helpers “act” it out. “Goliath” got to stand on a chair and hold a “spear” and a sword, while “David” got to throw a “rock” and kill him. The kids had fun with it. 🙂

Then we took them outside to an area we had roped off and played a version of Sharks and Minnows that we called “Goliath is Hungry.” The kids all lined up on one end of the field as the Israelites. Chris stood in the middle as a giant. When he said, “Goliath is hungry!” all the kids ran from one end to the other, trying not to get tagged by Chris. When you got tagged, you became a Philistine and had to go in the middle and help tag. The game continued until all the kids had been tagged. It was a beautiful day so it was great to be able to get outside and enjoy it!