Working in children’s ministry can be a great avenue to let your creativity flow as you dream up some original ideas! But what happens when you’re fresh out of ideas? Some of us are just starting this ministry and need some inspiration to take off. Others of us have been at it for over a decade and feel like we’ve already done it all.
Below are 25 low-prep children’s ministry outreach ideas that can give your brain a break while continuing to keep your church actively reaching out to families in your community.
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Spring Time Plant
Provide small pots, foam springtime stickers, potting soil, and seeds. Set up stations where the kids can decorate pots, fill them with soil, plant seeds, top off with more soil, and water them.
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Slip and Slide Summer Fun
Set up a few large slip-and-slides on the church grounds connected to hose hook-ups. Provide bubble wands, a few bubble machines, and tiny bubble handouts. Don’t forget to put out a few large water jugs and cups for thirsty active kids!
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Dance Party
Set up a fun dance party with streamers, balloons, snacks, and drinks. Play Christian music and a few group dance songs like The Electric Slide, The Bunny Hop, and The Chicken Dance! Start a dance competition to see who can dance the longest without stopping.
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Littles Storytime
Invite toddler/preschool-aged kids to Storytime. Choose 2 stories and prepare a few fun songs and rhymes for the children to join in such as “Where is Thumbkin?” and “Father Abraham”. Alternate between reading a story and doing a song to help keep the children’s interest. End Storytime by giving each kid a coloring sheet or stamp.
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YOU CAN BUILD IT!
Put out collection barrels and ask church members to donate cardboard, pompoms, string, bubble wrap, pipe cleaners, glue, duct tape, etc., about a month prior to the event. Spread material out on tables and provide scissors and markers. Encourage the kids to use their imagination and build their own creations.
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Guest Speaker
Invite a guest speaker to come and do a program for the children. Some ideas are a reptile expert, bug expert, artist, or local author. Ask the speaker to do show-and-tell as well as involve the kids in a project or hands-on activity.
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Camp Fire Night
Host a Camp Fire Night! Provide warm cider and s’more supplies. Ask a volunteer from your worship team to play acoustic guitar around the fire, leading the kids in some fun campfire songs, and worship songs, and playing background music.
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Cardboard Box Drive-in Movie Theatre
Begin the movie event with a lot of large-sized cardboard boxes. Give the children markers to decorate boxes into cars to sit in at the drive-in. Put out popcorn and drinks and show a Christian kid’s movie.
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Outing Day
Encourage kids to invite their neighbors and friends to a church outing day. Some great places you could go are a zoo, children’s museum, theme park, or cavern.
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Bible Story Wall Art
Cover classroom walls with bulletin board paper using sticky-tack or command strips. Provide jumbo-sized crayons and invite children to draw beautiful wall art! Read Bible stories to the children as they draw. Encourage them to work together to create larger-sized images such as Jonah and the Whale, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, Jesus and the Fish on the Boat, etc. Have some clear packaging tape on hand in case of any rips.
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Involve Your Youth Group
Ask if the youth director would be willing to organize skits or a talent show for the youth group to perform for the elementary-aged kids. Give the youth some freedom to create their own show with the necessary supervision. Having at least one dress rehearsal is encouraged.
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Super-bowling Party!
Combine the Superbowl with bowling to make a fun event that parents and kids will both want to attend. Set up party snacks and drinks and put the game on the big projector screen. In an attached room, set up toy bowling pins and balls. Make several lanes by using masking tape on the floor to mark them. In lieu of the halftime show, invite the pastor to speak or play worship music. -
Stuffed Animal Picnic
Invite kids to bring a stuffed animal to an outdoor picnic. Set up several picnic blankets and baskets full of finger food and juice boxes. Read the creation story to the children in Genesis 1. Bring some chalk for sidewalk drawing and set up close to a playground area.
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Clean-Up Community Event
Join together with other local churches and go out into your community to do a litter clean-up.
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Missionary Weekend
Invite a visiting missionary to put on a program for the children. Ask them to bring some interesting items to show and to involve the kids in some activities.
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Show and Tell
Ask the kids to bring something to show and tell, such as a collection from home, trophies from their sports/dance competitions, or artwork and set up on tables. Give each kid a number. Ask all of the even numbers to walk around and see the collections while the other kids talk about their displays. Then switch and have all the odd numbers take a turn.
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Board Game Night
Set up a room full of board games. Invite kids to choose a game to play with one another. Be sure to have enough adults for supervision and to join in the games to keep things positive and fun.
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Make It and Taste It!
Have a fun make-and-taste event. Pick a treat kids can make that is no-bake, such as rice crispy treats, chocolate-covered pretzels with sprinkles, or some kind of chocolate protein balls. For warming things up like chocolate or butter, use crock pots and have them on a separate table with adult supervision. Make sure there is time at the end to taste those creations!
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Outdoor Relays!
Have a fun relay outdoor event on church grounds or at a local park. Set up running races, water relay races, soccer ball races, and more. Supplies that you’ll most likely need are cones, soccer balls, water jugs, and plastic cups.
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Dress Up
Kids love an excuse to dress up. Pick a fun theme such as Hawaiian luau, Bible characters, or superheroes, and invite kids to come to church dressed up. Stick with the theme you chose and decorate the classrooms as well.
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Big Balloon Event
Have a big balloon event. Fill a room with lots of balloons to play with. Provide a few large parachutes to bounce balloons on. Fill up some balloons with helium tied to a ribbon to hand out. Have a few volunteers make balloon animals for the kids. If weather permits, set up a water balloon station outside. To take it to the next level, put videos of hot air balloons flying on the large projector screen.
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Petting Zoo
Wrap up the summer and celebrate the back-to-school season with a fun petting zoo. Ask local farmers to bring small friendly animals for children to visit and pet. Be sure they provide their own cages and fencing. Encourage families in the church to invite their friends and neighbors to the church petting zoo event.
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Fall Festival
Create a fun Fall Festival without too many games or volunteers to organize. Set up a corn play area by filling up about 10 sandboxes with dried cattle corn and adding some plastic shovels, buckets, and small toy construction vehicles. Create an art station with a few volunteer face paint artists and a table full of small pumpkins and paints with a “paint your own pumpkin” sign. Ask a local farmer to provide a hayride and ask the church members to host a pot-luck dinner with plenty of main dishes, desserts, and drinks for everyone to enjoy!
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Christmas Carols, Cookies, and Hot Cocoa
Tis the season for some good old-fashioned Christmas songs. Begin the event with Christmas carol hymns in the sanctuary and end it with cookies and conversation. Ask families to bring a batch of their favorite Christmas cookies to share. Set up tables with hot cocoa, coffee, tea, and room for plates of cookies.
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Gifts Under the Christmas Tree
Have a large-sized Christmas tree set up and decorated for the day of your Christmas Service. Wrap a small gift for every child with plenty of extra for potential Christmas visitors. Make sure it’s the SAME kind of gift for all of the kids. One great and affordable idea is a book such as, “Berenstain Bears and the Joy of Giving”. Another idea is a small toy such as a slinky, yo-yo, or squishy toy. This can be a great way to show each child they are loved and to make family visitors feel welcome.
