General Tips:
- Ask yourself “How can I make this activity more challenging/simplified?”
- Use a “buddy system” – pair older ages with younger ages.
- Prepare the activity at different stages to match the abilities of the learners.
- Use art as a way to encourage youngsters to express their ideas.
- Use curriculum matching the age of the majority of the enrolled children.
Preschool Tips:
- Provide a variety of materials that are safe for every child in the room to use and explore.
- Provide 2 or 3 activities for the beginning of the session. When the children are no longer interested, remove one activity and replace it with another that you have prepared and set aside.
- Print Bible thoughts/verses on address labels for younger preschoolers to stick on; kindergartners can write (copy) verses themselves.
- When changing a diaper, sit on the floor with your back to the wall so you can see everything that’s going on in the room.
- For kindergartners, add writing, counting, sequencing, & organizing to activities.
Children’s Tips:
- Provide centers for independent learning activities.
- Have group time together, then group by older/younger for small-group learning activities
- Use cooperative rather than competitive activities, games
- Use older children as leaders – have them read review questions, look up verses, mark attendance charts, etc.
- Use the same memory verse for all students, but shorten it for the younger ones. (Example: the older ones learn “Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil. 2:11” The younger ones could memorize, “Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Phil. 2:11.”)
