• Leaders to kids
• Kids to leaders
• Kids to kids

Participate in all activities even if it is from the sideline

Be real with the kids

Set and keep good standards

2. Use action and variety
   • Be well prepared.
   • Use activities that suit the children’s age group.
   • Give the children some responsibility.

3. Create a sense of belonging

• Know their names and interests.
• Have a positive and encouraging atmosphere.
• Have a known strategy for managing your children..
• Make sure your working environment is as appealing as possible.

4. Study the Bible creatively

• Sell it by your own walk with God
• Help them to see how God wants to be in communication with them
• Broaden their horizons – social justice, current events
• Make it visual and involve them

5. Play games with them

• Always take into account the differences between boys and girls.
• Have noisy and quiet games.
• Make sure that it is fun for everyone –including those with special needs.

Each player is given five toothpicks. Then the leader offers six more to anyone who can make them into nine toothpicks. All eleven toothpicks must be used. This is quite a puzzle until someone discovers that by laying the toothpicks so as to make the word N I N E  he/she has used all eleven toothpicks.

Tangles : This game is great with a large group and works well either right at the start of a program or right at the end. It works well both outside and inside in a larger space.

Choose between 2-5 people who stand outside a large circle of children (and or adults). Emphasize that no one is to let go of their hands and also that you are to move slowly and gently. Everyone joins hands except those standing outside circle. The leader then takes one side of the circle across to the other side and takes the children under the arms of the other side. The rest of the circle then proceeds to tangle up their arms by going under or over other arms until the leader calls everyone to “freeze”. The children on the outside now have 3-5 minutes (depending on group size) to untangle the circle back to how it started. It’s important to keep reminding people not to let go and to co-operate with the “untanglers”.

Variation: You could play this game as a competition beween two groups and time the “untangling”.

TSP prayers include Thanks God , Sorry God , Please God

• Hand of prayer…

Pointer finger- reminds us that our lives should point to God to thank and praise Him.
Tall man (finger ) -The biggest finger reminds us to pray for people
who are leaders …ministers, Sunday school teachers, teachers, Prime Minister/President…
Ring finger – reminds us to pray for people you know who need prayer…parents, family, friends, missionaries, sick people.
Little finger- reminds us to pray for ourselves, to ask God to be with us , to help us and to give us what we need to love and obey Him.

• Silent hands confession

With short silences and closed eyes move through this three-part confession.
Fists should be clenched to help bring to mind wrong things we hold on tightly to .
Turn fists downwards and open hands as a sign of letting go the things we are sorry for and repent of.
Turn hands upward, with palms open, as a mark of receiving God’s forgiveness.

• Arrow Prayers ( You will need cardboard arrow-shapes; pens)

Sometimes when you’re in a difficult situation, feeling frightened or nervous, there’s no time to kneel and pray or to wait for a quiet time at the end of the day; you simply have to shoot an arrow prayer to God right away. Try to give your group some examples of when they might want to pray instant on-the-spot prayers. For example: whe you’re facing a fierce dog, when you’re nervous about reading something out loud. Talk about Nehemiah’s short prayer in Nehemiah 2:4-5 before he spoke to the king. Give all the children a cardboard arrow shape and encourage them to write the words of Psalm 31:22 along the shaft as a take home reminder that God hears even the shortest prayers.

Here are some of the resources that I used -

John 9 Bible Reading -  The Blind Man (Powerpoint (54 mg)  Mp3 based on Scripture Union’s filmstrip -also available as Awesome DVD)

The life of Jesus was told through the eyes of Matthew and John. But how were his actions viewed through the eyes of three flies? Find the answer in this quirky 2D animation.  R U Smarter than a Fly? Max7.org

Ronnie Puppet script : Light up my life from Eliab.com

Open Shut Them..give little blink (rewritten song- used after the children’s talk)

The Blind Man  web search

Confession & Assurance of Forgiveness Doc