FREE Fall Kickoff Event: Wild About God!

Use this children’s ministry jungle event: Wild About God to make your children’s ministry event planning easy and build momentum for your ministry. Includes FREE downloads!

We’re wild about God—and we want to get kids wild about God, too! After the hustle and bustle of a new ministry year settles down, use this jungle-themed event to continue your summer momentum and make your children’s ministry wildly unforgettable! This open house event will help parents and kids get to know their Sunday school leaders and other key players in your ministry. You can also introduce new families to your church by providing space for other family-related ministries to showcase their upcoming events.

You can even create jungle-themed invitations to send out to families who’ve registered for your ministry this year. Then get ready for a wild time!

Children’s Ministry Event: Wild About God

Creating Your Jungle

You’ll need:

• potted plants
• sidewalk chalk
• green and yellow streamers
• animal print blankets
• mosquito netting
• poster board
• markers
• construction paper
• tape
• scissors
• jungle music

Decorating

Give your meeting area a “welcome to the jungle” feel by placing large potted palms or other plants in the area. Use chalk to draw big gray elephant footprints on the sidewalk leading into your event. Twist green and yellow streamers together to look like vines, and drape them from the walls or ceiling. Strategically place animal print blankets on the floor and/or mosquito netting draped over furniture or hung from the ceiling.

Make signs that say things such as “Zebra Crossing,” “Civilization: 17 Miles,” or “Beware of Lions,” and hang them on your walls. Cut out construction-paper paw prints, and tape them going up a wall.

Music

Play jungle music or do an online search for “jungle sounds” to play in the background.

Guides

Set up some or all of the following stations as a fun way to connect families to your ministry. Post your Sunday school leaders at each station so families can meet them. Provide information about your ministry at each station that families can collect. Encourage leaders to greet families, provide information, and answer parent questions as kids enjoy the station. When families depart each station, have your team remind kids how exciting it is to be “wild about God!”

Jungle Gear Shop

You’ll need:

• paper plates
• paper bowls
• glue
• markers
• jungle-themed stickers
• yarn
• scissors
• stapler
• clear tape
• paper cups
• colored plastic wrap

Any good explorer needs the right tools to navigate the jungle. At this station, give kids the option to make both safari hats and binoculars.

Make a safari hat by cutting the center out of a paper plate and covering the hole with an upside down paper bowl. After gluing the plate and bowl together, let kids decorate their hats with markers and jungle stickers. Add a chin strap by taping a long piece of yarn to the inside of the hat.

To create binoculars, have leaders show kids how to cut the bottom out of two cups. Then have kids glue colored plastic wrap to the larger open ends. Kids can then staple the cups together and tape on yarn for a neck strap. Let kids add their own decorations with markers and stickers.

Elephant Stampede

You’ll need:

• elephant face template (1 per child)
• gray card stock
• scissors
• party horns

Create your own noisy elephant stampede with this fun and simple craft.

Find a simple line art elephant face online to use as a template. Print off the elephant template on gray card stock, one per child. Provide safety scissors for kids to cut out the elephant template. Have kids cut a hole where the trunk should be and place a party horn through the hole. When kids blow on the party horn, it creates and extends the elephant’s trunk.

Palm Tree Oasis

You’ll need:

• brown construction paper
• white paper
• green and brown tempera paint
• shallow containers to pour paint into
• scissors
• wet wipes
• tape

Let families help create a wonderful oasis with this craft.

Create a simple tree trunk on the wall using brown construction paper. Add texture to the trunk by making brown handprints on the paper. When families come, they can make green handprints on white paper and cut them out. Provide wet wipes for families to clean up their hands, and then have them tape these palm prints as palm leaves on the tree. You may want to keep this tree in your ministry area as a reminder of how your leaders and parents support kids in spiritual growth.

Bird’s Nest

You’ll need:

• bed sheets
• blankets
• pillows
• plastic eggs
• candy or slips of paper with Bible verses
• jungle bird stuffed animals (optional)

Create a large bird’s nest using sheets, blankets, and pillows. (Brown or tan blankets work best.) Fill plastic eggs with candy or slips of paper with Bible verses such as Matthew 6:26 or Genesis 1:21. Hide the eggs among the pillows and sheets, and encourage kids to go on an egg hunt in the nest. Consider hanging jungle bird stuffed animals above the nest.

Slithery Snake Pit

You’ll need:

• old neckties (check your local thrift store)
• scissors
• cotton balls or Poly-fil craft stuffing
• pencils
• hot glue gun
• googly eyes
• red felt cut into snake-tongue shapes

Not all snakes are scary! Kids will leave this snake pit with a friendly companion to wear around their necks. Have leaders help kids carefully cut the threads apart at the large end of a necktie. Show kids how to stuff cotton balls into the tie by using a pencil to shove the cotton all the way to the skinny end of the tie. After kids have stuffed the snakes, have a volunteer “snake handler” help kids hot glue the tie back together and then hot glue eyes and a red felt tongue in place.

Elephant Feeding Time

You’ll need:

• cardboard
• elephant face template
• gray card stock
• tape or stapler
• marker
• foam peanuts

Kids will love the challenge of feeding an elephant with this game.

Use the elephant template as a guide to cut out the shape of an elephant head from cardboard. Fashion a cone from gray card stock, and attach it below the ears to form the elephant’s trunk. Draw the elephant’s eyes above the trunk.

As kids stop by the station, give them a handful of foam peanuts to throw one by one into the elephant’s trunk. You might make different starting lines based on age ranges so that it’s a fun challenge for any age!

Jungle Petting Zoo

You’ll need:

• stuffed animals

Give kids a chance to get up close and personal with some animal friends at the “Jungle Petting Zoo.” Arrange plush jungle animals such as lions, monkeys, giraffes, and zebras in an area where kids can pet them. Station your preschool volunteers here, and encourage them to share fun facts about the animals such as these:

• Zebras run in a zigzag pattern when chased.
• Giraffes have four stomachs.
• Monkeys actually peel their bananas and don’t eat the skins.
• A lion’s roar can be heard from as far away as five miles.

Looking for more fall ideas? Check these out!