Karen DeBoer

Love this! Thanks for sharing.

Hey Jo,

Here are a few ideas you might want to try:

Take a page from your local bakeshop and find ways to create 'display cases' of materials that will catch the eye of children and youth. One church I was in recently stood several kids books up on the window ledges of the library room. If your library doesn't have windows and ledges, look around for other areas of the building that do---and stand a few books on them along with a note that says something like: "Check me out!" 

Photocopy the covers of some books/videos/music that will appeal to kids. Hang them--at kid eye level, not adult eye level!---in a hall near where the children meet. Use sticky tack to hang them up and add a caption like---"See something you like? Peel it off the wall, take it to the library and bring the real thing home!"

Kids love to crack codes. How about scrambling the words of a book title or turning it into a code kids can crack and then placing the scrambled title/coded words on the bulletin. First person who arrives in the library with the correct title can take the item home. (Be sure to have a stack of other great selections for the runners-up!)

Pick up some inexpensive canvas bags at the dollar store. Fill each one with a few books (or CDs or videos if your library has them) for a specific age level. (And maybe a candy to enjoy while reading:) Personally invite kids to come and check out one of these 'surprise' bags to take home.

Ever notice how big bookstores and local libraries have a shelf with books/items that the staff personally recommends? How about personally visiting a few Sunday school classes along with a variety of books from the library. Give each child an index card and a couple of books to take home. Ask them to take the books home for a week, write down which book they would recommend on the index card and then return them to the library so you can display their picks, along with the index card that says: "Brooke's pick..." or "Joel suggests...".

Hope that helps---the library is such a wonderful and important ministry to our children and youth!!!

My all-time favorite Christmas storybook is The Nativity by Julie Vivas. The illustrations are divine!

What a wonderful story! At my church we use the Kid Connection curriculum which means we begin with a large group time each Sunday and, because we're a church plant and in a rented facility, we have to set up and take everything down in our room. Each Sunday Matthew, a boy in grade 4, pops his head into the room and asks if he can do anything to help. Then he rounds up his buddies and they set up chairs and help get out the supplies. Your story gave me a new perspective on Matthew and his crew---how awesome that they feel like they are a significant part of what is happening at our church. As Sunday school leaders it's our prayer that they'll always feel that way!!   

That's great idea! At my church we use Kid Connection so we save the leftover copies of the Guess What! Family Magazine that accumulate through out the year and set them on the table at our Welcome Center during July and August for any visiting kids (and our kids!) to select and take home.

We used to rent a highschool for our church services and used the teacher's staff room for our nursery. In addition to staplers and paper cutters that needed to be covered up there was a huge bubble gum machine in the room!! We used the bedsheet system too:)

Whenever I'm setting up my Sunday school room I always take a moment to sit where the kids will be sitting so I can see what they will see. That way I can remove distractions and make sure the action is at their eye level.

Thanks for all the ways you have blessed us a children's ministry leaders, Jo! And thanks for the hope-filled encouragement you've given us in this post. We will miss you! 

Wow! Thank you to all who participated in the making of these incredible resources. There's so much to be learned from these stories. Thank you for sharing them.