Almost every church runs their Kids 4 Truth program a little differently. Small group time setup can be especially varied depending upon the number of children and workers, the space available, time constraints, and the philosophy of the church running the club. For churches just beginning the Kids 4 Truth program, it may take a little bit of time to find which set up works best for them. As the club develops, the following questions often arise:

 

1. How can I keep the kids in my group from getting distracted by the other groups around them, especially in a small space containing several different small groups?
   
   
2. How can I help the kids in my group understand what they are memorizing while I am still trying to listen to everyone’s memory work in a limited amount of time?
   
   
3. How can I help to keep the noise level down so that the kids can concentrate on what they are memorizing?
   
   
4. How can I ensure that the kids are really “getting” what they are quoting back to me during small group time? (What are some ways that I can reinforce the lesson without taking away from their memory work time?)

 
Here are some starter ideas that may help answer some of these questions:

1.       Avoiding Distractions:

a.       If you have several groups in one room, try pairing up groups to compete against each other. This could be done by level and/or gender. See which group can get the most accurate work done in one evening. (Make sure to add bonus points for accuracy and careful work over simply speeding through the memory work).

b.       In a smaller setting, you can encourage competition among the children in an individual group in the same way.

 
2.       Dealing with time constraints on memory work

a.       If you have children who tend to come early or stay later, listen to their memory work before or after club time.

b.      Encourage the kids who are further ahead to help those waiting to say their memory work. This will help the child make sure that they really have their answer and verse memorized before coming to say it to you which will speed up the whole process. This also encourages a spirit of discipleship and service in the children.

c.       If you see that you are consistently running against the clock to finish memory work, try to enlist the help of some volunteers in the church who would be willing to just help out during small group time to listen to the memory work.  

 
3.       Lesson Reinforcement

a.       As you listen to memory work, ask questions concerning specific words and phrases of the verse, especially words that the child may be unfamiliar with.

b.      If all of the children are working on the same “Memorize It” section or sections close to each other, ask a few questions to the whole group to gauge their understanding of the passages being taught.

c.       Try to glance over the truth quest section not only to see that all of the blanks are filled in, but that the children have a good understanding of what is being asked.

d.      Try to spend some individualized time with un-churched clubbers if at all possible to ensure understanding both of what is being taught and what they are memorizing.  

 

So what are your ideas? Please share what your church has done to answer some of these small group time questions, or other ideas relating to small group time.

 

 In our group we have them say their verses in an area away from the children who are trying to memorize their verses.  Each group is sitting apart from each other and children are not next to each other- a space for a child in between.  We ask the child to say the verse in their mind not out loud, because this can cause other to be distracted.  When the child is really they go to one of the leaders and say their verses-away from the others.

With our church schedule the Discoverers say their memory work at the beginning of the evening. Most of our children are regularly in church. Our K4T program is a club that a child joins. Our parents choose for their child to memorize KJV or ESV. We rely on them to teach their child the memory work. In most cases, the children are taught at home.

For 3 year old Discoverers, I found it difficult to keep the attention of a small group of 3 yr. olds while only one child was trying to recite their memory work. I also found that with the different versions of scripture reviewing in a group could be confusing to the children. So, we changed our plan. As the children arrived, they recited their memory work, and then they had quiet free play with toys until everyone had recited. The free play kept us from having to plan and lead an organized activity while we were listening to memory work. Afterwards, if we had enough time, we would have a review of the key truth sentences as a class.

This year with our new visual aids in both KJV and ESV, we plan to have review every club night for each age group (3's, 4's and 5's). The Discoverers will break up into groups according to the version their parents chose for them to memorize. The purpose of our small groups is for review of the memory work and reinforcing the lesson.

For our big reviews on the club nights that we complete a truth, we also plan to use some of the games from Ed Dunlop's book, Teaching Bible Games: Twenty "Kid-Tested" Contests to Make Christian Education Fun. Build-A-Bug, Busy Bees, Hungry Bears, and Chasing Butterflies work well for preschoolers. More complex games like Leap Frog and Double Dip are easily simplified for preschoolers. The instructions and patterns are included in the book. This book was loaned to me by a friend about a month ago. What an awesome resource for our club this year! We are scheduling a Discoverers cummulative review with a power point game as we finish Key Truths #4, #8 and #12. The final review of the year is called Truth Celebration.