3 Engaging Ministry Activities for Your Preschoolers

Preschoolers learn best through hands-on experiences. Here are three activities to engage the little ones in your preschool ministry.

3 Can’t-Miss Activity Ideas for Your Preschool Ministry

Preschool Ministry Idea #1: Underwater

You’ll need a parachute or large sheet to play this fun game about Jesus’ baptism. Gather kids around the parachute, and have them stand to shake the parachute up and down.

Teach kids this rhyme:

When Jesus’ baptism was done,
God said, “He is my Son.”

Choose one child to let go of the parachute. That child will walk around the circle, tapping each child’s head as you say the rhyme. For each word, the child will tap another child’s head. Meanwhile, the other kids will continue to shake the parachute. The child whose head is tapped on “Son” will go under the parachute, pretending to go underwater like Jesus did when he was baptized. Then that child will come out and take the role of tapping kids’ heads for the next round.

Preschool Ministry Idea #2: Loving Friends

Valentine’s Day for preschoolers is all about showing love to friends. Help your kids practice loving one another as they learn about Jonathan and David’s friendship.

You’ll need:

• a Bible
• small cups of an allergy-friendly snack (1 cup for every 2 kids)

Have kids clean their hands. Read aloud 1 Samuel 18:1-4, and then ask the children to describe special things they do with their friends, like playing certain games or eating special snacks together. Say: Jonathan showed David that they were going to stay friends no matter what by giving him some of his best belongings.

Form two groups, “Jonathans” and “Davids.” Distribute snacks to all the Jonathans, and let them start eating while the Davids look on. Then have the Jonathans each partner up with a David and share the snack.

Ask:

• What can you do to show love to a friend?

Say: This Valentine’s Day, let’s be loving friends!

Preschool Ministry Idea #3: Jesus’ Two Homes

Use this craft to illustrate Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52).

You’ll need:

• paper lunch bags
• crayons
• construction paper
• adhesive-backed Velcro dots
• paper
• a stapler
• copies of Jesus pictures found online

Hold up a Bible and say: In the Bible passage, Jesus had two homes. One was with his mom and dad on earth. The other was the Temple—God’s house.

Let kids color one side of the bag gold to represent the Temple and the other side another color to represent a regular house.

Have kids stick a Velcro dot on both sides of their bag. Let kids stuff the bags with crumpled paper. Fold over the top of the bag and staple it closed, and have kids fold construction paper and fit it over the top of the bag to form a roof.

Give kids each a Jesus picture, and have them place a Velcro dot on the back. Show the kids how to move Jesus from one house to the other.