KidsGames.com, a Source for Summer Programming Ideas

Carol Reinsma, the Children’s Education Director at Cragmor CRC in Colorado Springs, Colorado tipped me off this week to a great site for summer programming ideas for kids, families, teens and adults. The website is an international outreach program that invites volunteers to submit ideas they’ve developed for others to shape and use for free (though a login and password is required).

Carol was introduced to KidsGames.com by one of her professors at Fuller. She saw that the site was full of potential, but wasn’t sure how her church could pull off a summer camp this year. They have a small number of young families, but a good group of older members who are very supportive. She chose Champions Have a Great Coach because it offered several stories about Jesus that she could use for the basis of her summer camp. The format is based on playing three games together and then offering a Bible story drama.

The original vision for the Champions Have a Great Coach was for it to be used in a city-wide effort to provide children’s programming that involves many congregations working together. KidsGames.com allows you to adapt the material for the needs of your own context, so Carol decided to try it in her own church first this summer and she'd be thrilled if there could be wider participation in the community next year. Fortunately, her church has a relationship with New City Church in Jersey City, New Jersey. Director Josh Dornbos and two of the older teens from New City Church will be traveling to Colorado this summer to help lead the program at Cragmor.

Reflecting on what God has done so far, Carol quoted the movie, Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come!” She has done lots of curriculum writing for Faith Alive over the years so she’s enjoying the chance to shape the material from KidsGames into the best program for her community. When her church has finished the camp she hopes to submit the ideas she added to the material to KidsGames.com for others to use in the future.