Engaging at Easter

Many church-based toddler groups have discovered how useful festivals like Christmas and Easter are as gateways for engaging with the children and parents who come along. These occasions enable parents and toddlers to connect with some of the other things the church has to offer. They also help the church to explain to little ones concepts such as gratitude, being sorry, saying 'please', and forgiveness.

Sally Walker helps to run 'First Steps', a toddler group in South Devon. First Steps arranges special Easter services as part of their parent and toddler programme. Here she shares some of the things that help her group make these events relevant to toddlers and their parents:

"We have learned how important it is to make our 'services' positive, and make parents feel comfortable. We have the services in the church building. But the majority of our regular parents don't come to church and it can feel foreign to them - so we have to help them become accustomed to the church building itself.

"What we've done in the run-up to the services is hold an activity in the church building. For example, we give the children and the adult they've come with photos of things in the church. Then they walk around together and find those things. It's a good way of helping the church feel more familiar."

Action songs

"It also helps not to call it a 'service'. We call it a special story and singing time, as parents are used to both stories and singing. We do three songs to familiar tunes; practising them in the group beforehand helps to build up the anticipation. We do two action songs, and one that uses instruments and percussion.

"It's good to have something for the kids to get up to do during the service. When we did Teddy's Easter Adventure the kids had to go to find little paper hearts with the words 'I love you' written on them. They took the hearts back to the hall afterwards and we had a craft time, where they turned them into Easter cards."

Stay child-focussed

"When we talk to the parents, they say they do expect a church group to do something at Easter, or Christmas, and they like the way we stay child-focussed in our presentations. It's very important to consider what you are saying and how it will be heard by a pre-school child.

"The 'Teddy's Adventure' story talks about God's love in a positive, child-friendly way.

"It helps to develop a format for your services. Familiarity can be a good thing. Songs and other interactive parts can change, but you can keep the format the same. But do keep your special story times short: 15 minutes is about the ideal length - including the songs - if you want to keep the attention of the children, and engage their parents too."

Click here to find out how Care for the Family supports church toddler groups through the Playtime initiative.

Last Updated 06 December 2010