Questions such as “Is it safe?”, “What kind of food do you eat?”, “How do you go about telling others about Jesus?”, “What kind of house do you live in?”, and “Do you have running water and electricity?” were not answered in traditional videos yet were easily answered via our Skype sessions.

Our first Skype session was a wonderful learning experience.  It was such a success that our middle and high school VBS students Skyped with missionaries in Guatemala a few weeks later. Check out pics from both sessions at my Techie Church Kids Facebook page.

Listed below are some helpful tips.

Prior to the session

1.  Identify missionaries who would be interested in videoconferencing.  Our church had an existing relationship with the Snyders in Madagascar.  The Dodd family in Guatemala had relatives who were members of our church. The International Mission Board (www.imb.org) is also a good resource.  I used Facebook’s Messenger app and email to communicate.
2. Schedule the event. Consider the difference in time zones.  We were able to schedule during times the kids would normally be at church.
3. Successfully complete a test Skype session at least a day before the actual videoconference to make sure all software and hardware are working properly. If the video doesn’t work, audio only can be a backup plan.

For Kids to Complete In Class Prior to Session With Help from Teacher

1. Many missionaries have a blog and Facebook page.  Read about their work and life as missionaries.  Share info with classmates.
2. Complete a Facebook scavenger hunt based on questions created by the teacher.
3. Research geography, weather, and the time zone using Google Earth, Google, and http://www.timeanddate.com/time/map/.
4. Brainstorm questions for the missionaries. Email them a week prior to the event.

After the Session

1. Send an electronic or snail mail thank you note from the class. Invite them to your church when they return home for a visit.
2. Encourage kids to continue to pray for their new missionary friends and their work.

The post 9 Tips for a Successful Skype with Missionaries appeared first on Techie Church Kids.

In February I began encouraging my fourth and fifth grade students to bring their own mobile devices (iPods, iPads, iPhones, and Kindles) for use in Sunday school. Below are some of the lessons I learned.

First Steps to Implementing BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

• Think about what you want to accomplish. What is your goal?  My goal is to teach biblical concepts through the use of technology.
• Get approval from your pastor and Sunday school director. I am fortunate to have a very supportive church staff and this was an easy step for me.
• Establish a simple acceptable use policy. My students helped me create our electronic access class policy and it has worked well.
• Communicate with parents and get them on board.  I require permission from parents for use of mobile devices in Sunday school.

BYOD Issues You Will Probably Have to Deal With

• Hardware access. Kids sometimes forget to charge their device in preparation for Sunday school or more rarely forget to bring their device. One child broke their device at home and no longer has access. Have kids share devices or have some extra devices for them to use. I allow kids to use my personal iPhone, iPad, and laptop if needed and award points for each time they bring their own device.
• Technical issues and different hardware/software platforms.  I have a mixture of devices in my classroom including iPads, iPhones, iPods, and Kindles. You don’t have to be an expert but it helps to be somewhat familiar with both Apple and Android platforms. If I don’t know the answer, I always ask my students. Between all of us, we can usually figure it out.
• Reliable wireless access. Check your wi-fi access as soon as you arrive. If there are wi-fi problems, I troubleshoot immediately. Resetting the wireless router usually fixes the problem.  If not, I find the church’s techie person, who is always willing to help.
• Password Protection.  Kids can’t download apps on the fly because devices are password protected by parents.  Plan ahead. I text parents the name of the app to download prior to Sunday.  Some kids have their device password and download the app at the beginning of class.
• Finding free apps for use on both platforms.  Free apps can usually be found for both Apple and Droid but it may take some searching. I download the apps and try them out before asking my students to download.

One parent stopped by my classroom recently to tell me their child is so excited about being in my Sunday school class because he will get to use his mobile device (apparently word travels fast).  Another parent told me that their child excitedly looks forward to attending Sunday school each week. That’s proof enough for me to continue my BYOD initiative to teach kids about Jesus!

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Two of my favorite electronic puppet apps for use in children’s ministry are listed below although there are numerous puppet apps in the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store.  A traditional puppet ministry can be expensive yet electronic puppets with backdrops are free or relatively inexpensive.

Bible Buddies HD Director’s Pass
Download Bible story such as Daniel and the Lion’s Den, Noah and the Ark, Birth of Jesus, David and Goliath, Jonah and more. Additional characters and backdrops can be uploaded from photos and productions can be saved for later viewing. Children can star along with Bible characters! This app is available for the iPad or iPhone for $3.99.

Sock Puppets
Create your own lip-synched sock puppets. Upload your video to YouTube or Facebook. This app is available for free with limited capability or for full capability the cost is $3.99 for the iPad or iPhone.

Scripts and Making Your Own Puppets

Of course, you can make your own puppets.  Check out the web sites below for patterns, directions and scripts. Consider incorporating technology into a traditional puppet show by allowing kids to video the production and post to YouTube, Vimeo or Facebook.

Danielle’s Place — http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/puppets.html

Creative Ministry Solutions — http://www.creativemin.com/category/puppetry

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Even though secular books such as these teach valuable lessons about money, the Bible should be every Christian’s authority on how to spend, save, and give.  Did you know the Bible has over 2,000 verses on money? Teaching kids to tithe by giving God ten percent of their earnings demonstrates to God that He is first in their lives. Tithing to the church shows God we love Him and are eager to give him back a portion of what He has blessed us with.

Malachi 3:10 says “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so that there will be food enough in my Temple; if you do, I will open up the windows of heaven for you and pour out a blessing so great you won’t have room enough to take it in!”. In this verse, God promises to bless us immeasurably if we will honor Him with our tithe.

So how do we teach young children about the concept of tithing? As a parent or children’s ministry teacher we should model tithing. We can’t teach something we are not doing ourselves.

Apps and websites such Oink, Countmybeanz, and Tykoon teach money management such as spending, saving, and giving yet are not suitable for teaching tithing. With these apps, kids may only give to charities approved by the software vendor and purchase items only from selected sites.  You may be surprised to hear this from me but in this case technology is not necessarily the best choice for teaching kids to tithe. The tried and true tips below are just as effective.

• Teach kids the meaning of the word tithe (one tenth of our personal income set apart for God). This is easily taught visually by using ten (10) one dollar bills. One of the ten one dollar bills (or one/tenth) is a tithe. This can also be taught with a bag of M & M’s as suggested by Kaylana.
• Teach kids what the Bible says about tithing and why it is important.
• Parents should give children a weekly allowance based on the child’s completion of chores. Kids need money to be able to tithe.
• Play fun games such as the soda explosion gimmick.
• Allow kids to create a tangible money management system by decorating three mason jars labeled Give to God, Save, and Spend. My Giving Bank with three banks in one is also a good system. My daughter used it years ago.
• Encourage kids to give their tithe to God each Sunday during the regular church offering.

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This is the Week of Prayer for International Missions, a time when Southern Baptists pray and give to support the 5,000+ Southern Baptist missionaries serving throughout the world. This is also a time to give thanks for the hundreds of thousands of souls saved, the thousands of churches planted, and the over one million gospel presentations made during the previous year.

Yet Christmas time isn’t the only time of year to be made aware of the importance of missions. Mission education throughout the year is fundamental to the spread of the gospel and the growth of the church. And who is the future church? Our kids are the future church, of course.

Can kids be missionaries? Sure. Are they too young? No! Kids are never too young to serve God and spread the good news of Jesus Christ. With the guidance of an adult, even the youngest kids can perform mission work in their local community or through online mission projects while learning valuable life lessons. Instilling in children a mission-minded mentality can change the world!

Below are simple electronic and traditional methods to educate kids on missions.

1. Begin by teaching kids about the Great Commission.
   And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)
2. Provide paper books or electronic books for older children to read on their own time. The Heroes of the Faith series has some great stories of real-life missionaries such as David Livingstone and Jim Elliott.
3. Set up a Skype session to communicate electronically via webcam with a missionary that is state-side or in the mission field. Both you and the missionary will need a webcam, free Skype software, and a microphone for the session. Don’t forget to coordinate time zones.
4. With guidance from an adult, allow children to help select a class mission project. By allowing children to select the mission project, they will feel ownership as they pray, serve, and provide financial support. If it is a local mission project, allow the children to meet the people they will be serving and present in person any donations to be given.  Some mission projects ideas that children can relate to can be found at www.onelifematters.org, https://gobgr.org/ or www.missionpossiblekids.org. When selecting mission projects consider the not so obvious mission opportunities in addition to the usual mission projects.
5. Invite a missionary to speak to your class.  Ask them dress in the attire of the country they served, show lots of pictures, and talk about how their work impacted the Great Commission. Video and take pictures of the presentation. Post to your class web site, wiki, or blog for children and parents to view.
6. Encourage children to pray regularly for unreached people groups.  Check out PRAYERthreads KIDS for a list of people groups who kids can pray for who have no gospel witness or missionary.
7. Reference paper maps or electronic maps such as Google Earth when talking about where missionaries and unreached people groups. Children are visual learners.
8. Utilize online mission education resources such as the plethora found at http://www.wmu.com/index.php?q=children.
9. Have children build a shoebox Christmas gift to be given to a child in a foreign country through Operation Christmas Child. Kids can even track their shoeboxes online to a specific country through online tracking.

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John, like many artsy kids today, was not interested in traditional homework assignments but excelled if the assignment included drawing. Bible teachers know that keeping the attention of children like John in a traditional children’s ministry classroom can be challenging. I have found that allowing these kids (who are often boys) to become digital artists instills interest in the content being taught–the wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ.

So how do they become digital artists and learn Christian principles at the same time?  It’s as simple as utilizing free online comic strip creators. If you think comic strips or cartoon characters are things of the past, think again. Hundreds of movies based on comic strip characters have been created over the years and are more popular than ever. Children’s Bibles such as The Action Bible have been published with a comic strip format. The Comic Book Bible app is available on iTunes. Kids love comic strips!

Strategies for Integrating Comic Strip Creators into Bible Lessons

1. As the teacher, create the first comic slide of a real life scenario. Have the children create the remaining comic slides of characters exhibiting a Christ-like attitude such as humility, friendliness, encouragement, love, etc.
2. Have kids create a comic strip to retell or replay a Bible story.
3. Have kids create a comic strip role playing how they should live their life to serve God.
4. After studying a Bible topic such as salvation, have kids create a comic strip of themselves telling their lost friend about Jesus and how to be saved.
5. Ask kids to reflect upon the great godly men of the Bible such as Joseph.  Create a comic strip of the character exhibiting that godly behavior. For example, Joseph was mistreated by his brothers but he did not seek revenge but forgave his brothers.
6. Have kids use lyrics from a Christian song or hymn to create a comic strip. This requires kids to interpret the meaning of the song.

Comic Strip Creators Suitable for Elementary Kids

1. Read Write Think is a very simple comic strip creator that can be used with children as young as kindergarten.
   http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/
2. TooDoo at www.toondoo.com is a fun and easy way to create comic strips without having to draw. Just click, drag and drop.
3. Create black and white comic strips with Strip Generator at www.stripgenerator.com
4. Make Beliefs Comix at www.makebeliefscomix.com is simple enough for younger children but suitable for adults. This site includes great story starters.

You may find that kids enjoy comic creation so much that they continue to develop their projects at home. If this happens, you will know you have accomplished your goal of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ!

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Hiding under a rock won’t work but you don’t have to spend all your time immersed in technology either. After years as a technology educator, I have discovered four simple, non-technology tips that have helped me and I believe will help others as they strive to stay abreast of the latest technologies.  Whether it be learning how to use different social media tools to learning how to program computer code, these tips are relevant.

1. This tip is the one I believe is the most important. I repeat. This tip is the most important. Develop the mindset and attitude of a lifelong learner. Wikipedia defines lifelong learning as the “ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons”. In other words, lifelong learners are inquisitive and passionate about learning. They know that learning is not contained to a classroom but is on-going throughout life. They will be learning until the day they die.
2. Set SMART goals for yourself whether it is personal or professional. SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. People who set goals generally accomplish what they set out to do.
3.  Teach others. The best indicator to determine if you really know how to do something is trying to teach it to someone else. This does not have to be a formal classroom environment.  Informal teaching is just as effective.
4. Read, read and read some more. Reading is an excellent way to get where you want to go. In general, reading makes you smarter and keeps your mind sharp.

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I fondly recall my days as a child in Sunday School when I was allowed to write graffiti on my classroom wall. Well, it actually wasn’t graffiti but was a chronological timeline of Old Testament Bible events. I don’t know if my Sunday School teacher got permission from the church leaders before allowing us to write on all four walls, but I know I can clearly recall many of those Bible stories today.

Whether it is electronic or paper, a timeline displayed prominently in a classroom is a valuable reference tool when telling Bible stories. Allowing children to record Bible events on a timeline during or after the story puts the story timeframe in perspective.

Recording Bible events in chronological order on a timeline with the direction of a teacher is achievable.  Teaching kids to understand the difference between BC/AD (Before Christ/Anno Domini) and BCE/CE (Before Common Era/Common Era) as they create a timeline can be more challenging but is just as important.

YouTube Resources

The YouTube video BC/AD VS BCE/CE at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mChlWJLdUEw is an excellent video resource that models in very simple terms how our calendar works in relation to the birth of Jesus Christ. Teachers may wish to model the same explanation from the video for their students or allow the entire class to watch the video and then discuss.

The YouTube video BC and AD Timeline at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFu-zMjGJJA explains in mathematical terms how a timeline works in relation to our calendar. This video is appropriate for older kids.

Electronic Timelines

If you want to really get kids engaged in learning, allow them to use technology when creating timelines.  Check out Educational Technology and Mobile Learning’s  web site at the link below. Numerous free timeline web sites are listed with one specifically geared toward kids. Read, Write, Think  (http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/timeline-30007.html) timelines are very easy to create, can be saved to build upon later and can be printed.

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/08/8-excellent-free-timeline-creation.html

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A word cloud is a graphical representation of word frequency. The picture located at the top left of this blog post is a sample word cloud I created based on the character traits of Jesus. There are many free online word cloud generators but I recommend http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm  for elementary kids. It has a kid- friendly interface that allows kids to change fonts, colors, print, and save.

Lesson Plan (grades 4-6)

The Character Traits of Jesus

This lesson is meant to allow for class discussion of the character traits of Jesus but can be used to teach the character traits of any Bible character. Teachers may use this lesson to introduce a series of Bible stories about Jesus or review content previously taught depending upon the student level.

1.  As the teacher, watch the YouTube video “Create a Character Word Cloud” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycwnA6Dy1fg. This slideshow for teachers, developed by Laura Candler, demonstrates step-by-step how to create a word cloud at http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm and use the “Create a Character Word Cloud” handout provided on www.lauracandler.com. To access the handout, select “Strategies” from the menu at the top of the page and then “Literacy Instruction”. Select the “Reading Aloud” folder. Scroll to the bottom of the page to “Read Aloud Activities and Strategies”.  Select the “Character Word Cloud” link in number 1.
2. Make photocopies of the “Character Clouds” handout for your children.  Have them complete either individually, in groups, or as a whole class the “Character Rating Scale”.
3. Type the text into the word cloud creator at www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm or open a word processing program and type the text. The word with the highest rating (#1) on the character rating scale will be typed 10 times. The word with the second highest rating will be typed 9 times and so forth. If using a word processor, copy and paste the entire text into the word cloud creator at www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm.
4. Complete the creation of the word cloud by following the instructions on the site allowing children to change the font, arrangement, etc.
5. Your completed graphical display can be saved and printed. Consider displaying it in your classroom as a Word Wall for review and reinforcement or just to brighten up your classroom.

The lesson above uses word clouds to teach the character traits of Jesus but word clouds can also be created to

• Predict what might happen next in the Bible story
• Describe the country of Israel (physical and/or spiritual)
• Emphasize Bible vocabulary words
• Compare a English Bible word to a Hebrew Bible word (to keep words together in a word cloud use the tilde symbol between the words; for example “Jesus~Yeshua”)
• Create a personal narrative about each child

The post Want to Teach Kids to be Like Jesus? Try this Simple Technology Lesson. appeared first on Techie Church Kids.

As children’s ministry leaders, Bible teachers, and parents we should be instilling and modeling appropriate technology behavior with kids and teenagers every opportunity we get. Schools can’t do it alone.

Digital citizenship does not end with social media. It also includes digital etiquette, the law in relation to digital access, digital literacy, online commerce, internet safety, and digital rights and responsibilities.

Below is what I believe are some of the top digital citizenship resources currently available on the web.  As a children’s ministry leader or teacher, I encourage you to take a few minutes to review these web sites and talk about these concepts with a child or teenager as the opportunity arises.

As a parent, I encourage you to educate yourself on strategies you can use with your own kids. God wants us to do everything we can to keep our children safe which will allow them to become responsible, respectful digital citizens.

• iKeepsafe — http://www.ikeepsafe.org (non-profit web site with lots of resources for educators, parents, and kids; includes Faux Paw the Techno Cat videos)
• Commonsense Media —  http://www.commonsensemedia.org/advice-for-parents/digital-citizenship. Includes useful common sense strategies to use with kids and YouTube videos such as “A Common Sense Approach to Internet Safety” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUyQI0USNSY . Also includes instructions on how to set parental controls on your iPhone at http://www.commonsensemedia.org/advice-for-parents/how-set-parental-controls-iphone.
• Cyberwise — http://www.cyberwise.org/Digital-Citizenship-Hub.html#.Um277VCkqPy (digital citizenship online games, flashcards, and curriculum)
• Family Online Safety Institute – http://www.fosi.org/images/stories/resources/family-online-safety-contract.pdf  (Family Online Safety Contract for Parents and Kids)

Photo: Thomas Galvez (http://www.flickr.com/photos/togawanderings/6988486459/)

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