Categories: Blog

Discipleship Happens One Drop at a Time

My family spends a week at the beach every summer for our family vacation. One year, our 2-year-old wanted to fill up her big bucket with water, but it was too heavy for her to carry with water in it. So she decided to use a small bucket to fill up the larger one. She placed the large bucket on the beach and started walking back and forth from the water to the beach, a distance of nearly 40 yards, since the tide was low and the shore was long. She didn't start with much water in the little bucket each time, and along the way, most of the water in the little bucket got sloshed and splashed out. I recommended she move the larger bucket closer to fill it up, but that was too logical for a 2-year-old. So she walked back and forth, back and forth for over an hour, from the water to the beach, filling up her big bucket of water with drops from her...
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Filed Under Blog, Leadership

VBS Volunteer Appreciation That Will Make Them Want to Serve Year After Year

VBS doesn't happen because of a great theme, a solid schedule, or a killer decoration plan. It happens because faithful volunteers show up day after day and pour themselves into kids. They arrive early, stay late, manage chaos with a smile, and give their energy to help kids experience Jesus in a meaningful way. That kind of investment deserves more than a quick “thanks” on the last day. If you want your VBS volunteers to feel seen, valued, and excited to come back next year, appreciation has to be intentional. Not flashy. Not expensive. Just thoughtful and well-timed. Here are some practical, realistic ways to appreciate your VBS volunteers in ways that actually matter: Appreciation starts before VBS begins. One of the most overlooked ways to honor volunteers is by making it easy to volunteer in the first place. Clear communication...
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Filed Under Blog, Leadership, Volunteers

VBS Volunteer Appreciation Ideas

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]If you want your VBS volunteers to feel seen, valued, and excited to come back next year, appreciation has to be intentional. Not flashy. Not expensive. Just thoughtful and well-timed. Here are some practical, realistic ways to appreciate your VBS volunteers in ways that make them want to serve at VBS again next year. This resource is included in our full VBS Planning Bundle.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title="DOWNLOAD HERE! " align="center" css=""...
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Filed Under Blog, Free Weekly Downloads, Volunteers

20 Plug-and-Play Curiosity Questions to Increase Engagement on Sunday Mornings

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]Sparking curiosity is one of the best ways to engage today’s learners. (Find more details about that here.) Choose 3-4 of the questions below to spark curiosity during your teaching time each Sunday. You could even share this printable with your volunteers to choose 1-2 questions to use during small group time.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title="Download a Printable Version here! " align="center" css="" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fdeeperkidmin.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F04%2FDKM-20-Plug-and-Play-Curiosity-Questions-to-increase-engagement-on-Sunday-mornings.pdf|target:_blank"][vc_column_text css=""]START WITH CURIOSITY (Hook them at the beginning) Use these to grab attention & pull kids in as you introduce the story: What do you think is going to happen? What would you do if you were in...
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Filed Under Blog, Free Weekly Downloads, Leadership

The Baby Boom That Reshaped One Leader’s KidMin Strategy

Every kids ministry has seasons. Sometimes you’re swimming in 4th graders. Sometimes everyone moves up to the youth group at once. And sometimes, like at Trinity Church in Larchmont, NY, your nursery suddenly becomes the most crowded room in the building. I chatted with Kathleen Jaoudi, a DKM Vendor (find all Kathleen's resources here) and the Children’s Pastor at Trinity Church, about the baby boom they experienced over the last year. “We average 35 to 45 kids on a Sunday,” she told me. “Those stats have flipped in the last year from mostly 1st to 5th graders to mostly 0 to 4 year olds.” When Kathleen returned from maternity leave, she started hearing pregnancy announcements. Then more. Then she and her team started counting. “We realized we would have 8 babies born between February and June 2025, including a set of twins,”...
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Book Recommendations for Baby Dedications + Church Nursery

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]It’s never too early to start building a faith foundation, even for babies and little ones. Gifting young families a special book or other faith-based resource when welcoming a new baby, either at birth or at a baby dedication, is a great way to equip and encourage new parents to disciple their kids! The list below comes from Kathleen Jaoudi, a DKM Vendor and a children’s pastor in NY and also includes some other favorites. Kathleen’s ministry experienced a baby boom one year when they welcomed 11 new babies in a short time frame! She shares more about her experiences here and shared her list below based on her experiences both personally and as a ministry leader during the baby boom. Order a few copies for the new babies in your ministry, or keep them in the nursery for Sunday...
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Filed Under Blog, For Parents, Leadership

6 Father’s Day Games to Play in Your Children’s Ministry

What better way to honor dads and father figures than with some fun games! Play these games in your children's ministry this Father's Day! (Find all of our Father's Day resources here!) Does Dad Have Hair on His Chinny Chin Chin? - In this on-screen game, kids/families must guess if the dad in each family photo has a beard or not. It's wildly hilarious and harder than you think! Dad Jokes Showdown - Pick a few kids to come up front and deliver their best (or worst) dad joke. Invite kids up in groups of 2-3 and let the room vote for their favorite each round. (You could even use this 5-minute Dad Jokes countdown to introduce the game!) Who's That Hero? - Write names/jobs on name tags (superheroes, Bible heroes, everyday heroes like teacher, firefighter, policeman, etc.) and put a name tag on each child's back. Kids walk around and ask...
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Father’s Day + Mother’s Day Note Cards

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]Use these printable cards to invite kids to write a note to someone special for Mother’s Day and/or Father’s Day! There are 4 cards to a page. Print on cardstock, then cut into 4ths. Set up a note-writing station for kids to write a note to a special person in their lives for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. There are generic and “mom/dad”-specific cards.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title="Download here! " align="center" css="" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fdeeperkidmin.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F04%2FDKM-Fathers-Day-Mothers-Day-Note-Cards.pdf|target:_blank"][vc_column_text css=""] Find all of our Mother’s Day resources here. Find all of our Father’s Day resources...
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Filed Under Blog, Free Weekly Downloads

Podcasts Every Kidmin Leader Should Be Listening To

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]When you turn learning into an intentional habit, your leadership grows. Podcasts are one of the simplest ways to keep growing and learning as a leader without adding more to your plate or using any of your budget. Podcasts are also great tools to use with an intern! Here are some of my favorite podcasts for kidmin leaders in 2026:[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title="Download Printable Version here!" align="center" css="" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fdeeperkidmin.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F04%2FDKM-Podcasts-every-kidmin-leader-should-listen-to-.pdf|target:_blank"][vc_column_text css=""] KidMin-Specific Podcasts: Kids Ministry Circle with Lauren Jackson The KidMin Huddle Podcast with Amber Pike The Lead Ministry Podcast with Josh Denhart Stained Glass Kids with Yancy The KidzMatter...
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Filed Under Blog, Leadership

This One Habit Could Change Your Sunday Mornings

What if the secret to better Sunday mornings was hiding in a stack of printed articles on a Wednesday afternoon? My friends joke that research is one of my spiritual gifts, and one of them claims that research is my parenting style (they're not wrong). So when I heard about a kidmin leader who does intentional research as a weekly habit, I knew I had to learn more. Meet Andrae Jones. Andrae is the Kids Pastor at One Community Church in Plano, TX, a multisite church with six campuses, where he oversees nursery through 4th grade. He'll tell you he's working with a lean team but that they have some of the most amazing volunteers ever. Andrae is also doing something that not enough kidmin leaders are doing. He's learning and researching. Consistently. Intentionally. Every single week. And it's changing how he leads. How It Started Andrae has always...
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Filed Under Blog, Leadership

The 5 I’s for Connecting with Families This Summer

Summer will soon be upon us, and that means more travel, family vacations, and sporadic attendance for both your volunteers and the kids you serve. But summer can be a prime opportunity to connect with families in the midst of their summer activities outside of Sunday mornings. This week, we're sharing 5 tips to connect with families this summer from Cheri Kulhawick and Becky Sargent of Church Resource Spot! Find their resources on Deeper KidMin here, and explore all our summer resources here.  We can sometimes assume that because we teach or lead in a children’s ministry, we are instantly connected to the children and families we serve. In reality, it takes some intentionality to build relationships that make a difference. God equipped us with the Holy Spirit and His love to help us develop connections with others. Follow His leading...
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Filed Under Blog, Leadership

10 Interactive Storytelling Ideas for Elementary Kids

One of my favorite chapters in my book about digital discipleship is the one on teaching digital natives, and I'm excited to host an online workshop this June 2026 all about teaching kids in a distracted world (save your spot for that online workshop here). One key element to engaging today's digital native kids is to make your Bible teaching time highly interactive, which is why I'm so excited to share this week's guest blog post from David Rausch, creator of Go! Curriculum and a DKM Vendor, all about 10 interactive storytelling ideas for elementary kids:  If you want to make your KidMin lessons more interactive (and you should), the best place to start is with the Biblical storytelling. But here's the million-dollar question: How exactly do you do that? Unfortunately, I don't have a million dollars for you, but I DO have an answer....
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Bible Verse Tic-Tac-Toe Bible Memory Game

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]Use this fun and active version of Tic-Tac-Toe to help kids memorize your weekly or monthly Bible verse! It works with any curriculum and with any Bible verse you’re learning.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title="Download a printable version + the X and O signs here!" align="center" css="" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fdeeperkidmin.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F04%2FDKM-Bible-Verse-Tic-Tac-Toe-Freebie.pdf|target:_blank"][vc_column_text css=""]Set up: Using tape, create a tic-tac-toe board on the floor in the middle of the group. The squares should be large enough to fit an 8½” x 11” sheet of paper. Print the X and O pages. Directions: Review the Bible verse with kids several times. Divide your group into two teams. Give one team the “X” papers and the other team the “O” papers. Decide which...
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Maycember Faith Habits For Families

This week's guest blog post is from Vanessa Myers, creator of Family Faith Builders, and she shares how she helps families be intentional with one of the busiest months of the year: May. She shares a little about her ministry calendar for this season and shares 5 ways families can keep discipleship happening at home even in the midst of a crazy time of year. Find all of Vanessa's resources here, and learn more about Family Faith Builders here.  We all know Maycember is real. It’s the time of year when May feels just as packed as December—sports, recitals, field days, awards ceremonies, and more. If you've got a senior (like me), then you've got EXTRA things to do on top of the regular end of school fun. I love all these senior things, but at the same time, I'm having a hard time watching my baby grow up and go to college! Lots...
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Filed Under Blog, For Parents, Leadership

3 Simple But Meaningful Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Mother's Day is right around the corner, and you may be wondering what to gift the women in your ministry. Since becoming a mom myself, I've realized the gifts moms want most are 2 things: 1) simple and 2) meaningful. So here are 3 simple but meaningful Mother's Day gift ideas to celebrate all of the women in your church. White Carnations - Did you know the white carnation is the official flower of Mother's Day? Anna Jarvis, the creator of Mother's Day, used to tend a garden full of white carnations with her mother as a girl. In 1907, Anna delivered 500 white carnations to her church. She requested that each mother in the congregation get one as they arrived at church that week. Every year after that, the church upheld the tradition and continued to hand out carnations at the Mother’s Day service....
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Filed Under Blog, For Parents, Leadership

Mother’s Day Prayer Prompt Activity

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]Use this printable as a way to invite kids to write a special prayer for their moms or another special woman for Mother’s Day! This mad-libs-style prompt encourages kids to pray specifically for their moms.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title="Download the Mother's Day Prayer Activity here!" css="" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fdeeperkidmin.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F03%2FDKM-Mothers-Day-Prayer-Prompt-Freebie-Activity.pdf|target:_blank"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_single_image image="152142" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css="" link="https://deeperkidmin.com/product/bible-breakfast-mothers-day-kits/"][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text css=""]This activity comes from our Bibles & Breakfast Mother’s Day Kit....
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Know God Prayer Activity for Kids

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""] Use this activity to give kids a practical and hands-on explanation of prayer and how prayer is vital to our relationship with God.  [/vc_column_text][vc_btn title="DOWNLOAD HERE!" align="center" css="" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fdeeperkidmin.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F03%2FDKM-Know-God-Prayer-Activity-For-Kids.pdf|target:_blank"][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/2"][vc_single_image image="95030" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css="" link="https://deeperkidmin.com/product/know-god-inward-5-week-series-on-the-inward-spiritual-disciplines/"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/2"][vc_column_text css=""]This is one of the activities in our Know God Inward series, a 5-week series for elementary kids focused on the inward spiritual...
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Children’s Church By Age: What, When, and How to Teach Each Age Group

Teaching kids, especially multiple age groups, can be tricky, but when we keep kids' developmental traits in mind, teaching gets easier and more effective (a win-win in our minds). In this week's guest blog post, the team at Ministry Spark explores how you can reach every age group when you keep their key developmental stages and characteristics in mind. (And if you want to dive deep into engaging elementary kids through interactive teaching methods, join us for our next online workshop! More details here.)  Teaching kids every Sunday poses its own unique set of challenges. It can be even more challenging when you serve several age groups. That’s because age groups represent different stages of cognitive development, so they react to and process information differently. If we want to truly reach the kids we’re serving, we must make sure...
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Filed Under Blog, Day-to-Day, Leadership

Don’t Ask For Volunteers, Invite Them

"I have more volunteers than I know what to do with." - Said no kidmin leader ever. Volunteers can be hard to come by, and it requires constant and consistent recruitment to add to your team. As you navigate what it looks like to build a team for your ministry, consider a subtle but intentional shift in the language you use: Rather than asking for volunteers to serve in your ministry, invite them into the story of what God is doing in your ministry. (Join us for a full 90-minute online workshop where we unpack and apply this thinking here.) Think about the difference between an ask vs an invitation. An ask implies they're doing you a favor, while an invitation is something they want to be part of. An ask can be ambiguous with no definitive boundaries while an invitation provides clear details and descriptions. An ask communicates that you just...
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Volunteer Recruitment Elevator Pitch Script Template

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]Use the following prompts to draft your 30-second elevator pitch for recruiting volunteers to serve in your children’s ministry. This template applies the ideas from this blog post that positions volunteer recruitment as an invitation rather than just an ask. Find all of our volunteer resources here. [/vc_column_text][vc_btn title="Download the elevator pitch template here! " align="center" css=""...
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The Post-Easter To-Do List Every KidMin Leader Needs

Easter weekend is over. You did it! The volunteers showed up (mostly), the kids were energetic, the lesson landed, and you survived the holiday chaos with your sanity roughly intact. So now what? Here's the thing nobody tells you: what you do in the week after Easter matters just as much as everything you did to prepare for it. So here is the post-Easter to-do list I think every kidmin leader needs. 1. Rest - I know, I know. You are already thinking about what's next (VBS and summer programming anyone?). But listen: your body and your brain just ran a sprint, and they need a minute to catch up (plus, we'll get to summer in a minute). Rest is not laziness. It is faithfulness to the calling you can't sustain on empty. Take a real day off. Sleep in. Take a nap. Go for a walk in the sunshine. Read a book just for fun. Spend time with your people. Do...
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KidMin Leader Easter Coloring Page

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]Use this coloring page to help you pause during Holy Week and the Easter season to remember the power and grace in the cross. Here's a quick reminder to help you slow down and savor the week even in the midst of the volunteer-scheduling, parent-emailing, and lesson-prepping. Find all of our Easter resources here.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title="Download here! " align="center" css="" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fdeeperkidmin.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F03%2FDKM-KidMin-Leader-Coloring-Page.pdf|target:_blank"][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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A Holy Week Invitation for Kidmin Leaders

If you serve in children's ministry, there's a good chance Holy Week looks a little different for you than most of the world. You're thinking about volunteer schedules, cleaning up from Easter events, printing parent resources, gathering supplies, and running through the Easter Sunday morning plan in your head. Don't get me wrong; all of those details matter. Doing ministry with excellence is part of loving the families we serve. But sometimes we spend so much time preparing the Easter story for others that we forget to sit in its truth and power ourselves. So here is a small Holy Week invitation just for you, kidmin leader: Before you send the next email or check off the next thing on your to-do list, take two quiet minutes and read Matthew 28:5–6 slowly: “Do not be afraid… He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.” The women...
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Summer Camp Parent Info Sheet Template Freebie

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Are you headed to overnight camp this summer with the kids or preteens in your ministry (here are 5 reasons why you should be)? Use this free Camp Parent Info Sheet Template to share all of the important details parents need to know in one simple document! It includes details like the packing list, itinerary details, contact info, etc.[/vc_column_text][vc_btn title="Download this freebie here!" align="center" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fdeeperkidmin.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F05%2FDKM-Camp-Parent-Info-Sheet-Freebie.docx|target:_blank"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_single_image image="82482" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" link="https://deeperkidmin.com/product/so-youre-going-to-camp-bundle/"][/vc_column][vc_column...
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Filed Under Blog, For Parents, Free Weekly Downloads, Leadership

Top 7 Easter Worship Songs for Kids

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=""]This week's blog post was compiled and written by Dylan Arms, a worship leader, songwriter, and new dad. Check out his music and lyric videos for kids worship in the DKM Marketplace here, and find out more about Dylan here. Easter is one of the most meaningful opportunities we have in kids ministry. It is a chance to help children understand the hope, joy, and new life we have because of Jesus. Worship plays a powerful role in helping kids experience and remember these truths long after the service ends. If you are planning your Easter gathering, here are seven songs that work especially well for helping kids celebrate the resurrection in engaging and meaningful ways. 1. For God So Loved the World (John 3:16) – Seeds Family Worship - This song beautifully captures the heart of the gospel...
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