Movers and shakers

Nurturing the faith of children should be highly valued in our churches. This is because Jesus placed great value on children, taking them in his arms and blessing them despite what the disciples thought of them. Children were not a distraction, or a burden to Jesus. Instead "to them the kingdom of God belonged'. At what age should we begin nurturing their faith? I believe it should happen from the start in small ways that are fitting for the child as they grow. When it comes to toddlers, it is clear to me that they can and do learn from stories, television and that they understand more than they can reflect back to us in words. If we accept the value Jesus places on toddlers, acknowledge their favourable disposition toward his kingdom and that they are capable of instruction, then we have a strong encouragement to nurture their faith in our churches.

What resources are there for nurturing the faith of these little ones? "Teaching Little Ones' by Matthias Media is a full year of photocopiable lessons that can be downloaded from a CD. The program is a topical series, covering subjects like What God made and God loves. We have enjoyed using this program in our Sunday morning crÃ¨che for the past year however, some of the parents wanted the children to learn the stories of the Bible. Consequently, I went looking for an alternative that actually taught bible stories in the OT and NT. A friend recommended the Gospel Light series and so I ordered two teachers packs for children aged between 2 and 3 years old titled Movers and Shakers, one on the stories of Genesis, the other on the Gospels.

What is Movers and Shakers?

Movers and Shakers is a comprehensive, colour-printed, fully-integrated resource that aims to teach toddlers the stories of the Old and New Testament. It comes with lesson outlines, teaching tips, full lesson scripts, felt board figures for story telling, child activity books, parent take home worksheets, colour posters, music CD, and a song book with music sheets and lyrics.

How does it work?

Although Movers and Shakers could work within a roster system of volunteer crÃ¨che workers, the program works best if there is at least one volunteer crÃ¨che worker or leader who is prepared to be there every week and take on the teaching role. This person should focus on building relationships with the kids as well as providing and maintaining the Bible teaching focus. Rostered volunteers should then assist by supporting the Bible teaching time, preparing crafts that reinforce the teaching of the day and by supervising the children as they play and generally assisting with the weekly administration of the crÃ¨che.

Now some people may think that having one person dedicated to the crÃ¨che is a bit "far fetched', that it is a "big ask' on one person or that a roster of volunteers should be sufficient. But this is shortsighted for a number of reasons. First, we must remember that our service of toddlers and their parents should be shaped by what is best for them, not just what is most convenient for those of us who do the serving. Children will settle more quickly into crÃ¨che if there is at least one face they recognise every week. This is important if we are to care properly for the children in the first instance but it also means that parents will more readily be able to "detach' themselves from their child to go and enjoy church. Second, a Bible teaching program for toddlers will often be done better if one person is responsible for it. Third, trying to administer a program that includes craft, songs, stories and activities (like Gospel Light) will prove to be quite a challenge if it is to be split up amongst volunteers on a roster. Such a great resource should not be wasted. Instead try and find someone who will teach the toddlers every week and this program really will shine!

What are the strengths?

The sheer scale of the resource and its quality presentation will excite just about anybody keen to give teaching the Bible to toddlers a go. The program comes neatly packed in a colourful, solid, flat cardboard box which contains all the resources. Within each lesson are different ideas for communicating the message each week. All the leader has to do is choose the activity which they feels suits their children and context best. For example, to introduce the idea of "John the Baptist Preaching in the Desert', children can start their lesson using craft, a demonstration, block play or a game. We used both the craft activity and the demonstration. The craft activity was to make a picture on sand-paper, while the demonstration allowed children to see and touch dry physical objects. Both activities aimed at engaging toddler's minds in experiencing the "wilderness' environment that John preached in thereby setting the scene for the Bible story. The Bible story comes fully scripted with felt board figures, application points and prayers.

What are the weaknesses?

The Bible content is often controlled by what application can be made for toddlers. While application should not be neglected, this means the program has the tendency to moralise. This is especially true of the OT series. Often the Bible stories are not appreciated in the salvation historical context. Instead of highlighting the fulfillment of God's promises (e.g. to Abraham in Gen 12), the moral significance of an event is brought to the foreground. On occasions the moral application suggested for the children seems out of place and difficult to sustain from the passage. On the positive side, we found the NT material on the gospels stronger, cleaner and needing little revision.

Such weaknesses are not insurmountable or serious enough to discourage one from using it. As should be the case with all children's resources, someone with theological training should oversee the content of the program, helping the leader adjust the lessons as necessary.

Tips to remember when using the Gospel Light series:

1. Use the resource critically. Be prepared to strengthen the Bible content.

2. Each lesson can be made to last for about 1 hour, though in practice we found that half that time was plenty, particularly when some activities proved to be impractical or were a bit weak.

3. Watch out for food activities and allergies (the US doesn't seem to be aware of peanut allergies!)

4. We found that the teaching component of the crÃ¨che went for about 25 minutes and was best situated after the children had at least 30-40 minutes of free play.

5. Should you wish each child to have their own activity book or you would like parents to have ‘take home worksheets’ to reinforce the weekly message, these will have to be ordered in addition to the teacher's pack. We felt the activity books were worth the extra cost. However, given the Bible teaching needed adjusting in some programs (esp. OT) the "take home' sheets for parents probably aren't worth the extra cost.

6. Beware of high freight costs- order at least one year's worth (4 terms) to make it worthwhile.

7. I found the website a little difficult to navigate and order through. Some components are poorly arranged on the site and therefore difficult to find (e.g. Activity books).