Resource: Creating Children's Church Packs

It's great to have children as part of the service. Their presence also creates a special challenge. As one slightly frazzled mother blurted out recently, "My four old can't sit still in church all that time. He's four, he simply can't."
Most churches have some form of activity for children during the service, or at least during the sermon. Often this is a simple colouring sheet or a word find etc.
At Wantirna (where I am the part time children's ministry worker) we have now created a Children's Church pack for each child. We have different packs suited for 4 - 6 year olds and for 7 - 12.
They come in an A3 plastic zip lock bag and contain textas, pen, pencil, scrapbook (for ideas, prayers, notes, drawings), glue stick, Bible activity book, scissors, children's reading book and code breaker. When the children are in the service (we have a cycle of 3-4 weeks in Sunday School followed by 2 or more weeks in church) we add activities relevant to the service. The packs are usually handed out after a children's ministry time.

The packs enable us to provide a variety of activities related to the service. for example, our current service theme is "Telling the story of Jesus." We have created a story wheel (see below) that the children construct and colour during the service and then take home to use in their families.
Children can pace themselves and complete work previously begun or do 'extras' if they finish quickly.
We have created extra packs for visitors and give a child their own if they become regular attendees.
So far children have embraced them enthusiastically (as have the parents.)