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How do you keep kids busy in church? This will look different depending on the ages of your children. Here are 10+ ways to keep kids busy in church!
When I first started going to church, my oldest was only 11 months old. I remember being overwhelmed trying to keep her quiet. I began packing a HUGE bag of toys each week hoping it’d keep her entertained. It ended up being more of a distraction, for everyone!
Fast forward a year and I was expecting baby #2. I dreaded going to church with two little ones. Until a sweet older mom pulled me aside and gave me a little advice.
DITCH THE MADNESS!
But, how? Don’t the kids need to be entertained? The short answer NO. The key she told me was to keep them busy, while also teaching them reverence for the word. How to keep kids busy in church has looked different for each of our kids and is also different depending on the ages of our children.
So, how do you keep kids busy in church?
Younger Kids (2-7)
Have younger kids? No worries! I asked some of you for tips and you all came up with a LONG list of ways to keep the kids busy!
- For my 6 yr old, I have a tote bag with loose coloring book pages and white paper. She has crayons (not markers, cause they make too much noise when she drops them and they roll.lol) she can share the pages this way as well with her buddies. I always keep extra crayons in my purse. ~Alicia
- When my son was younger, I always kept a small notebook tucked in the case with my bible – he used it to draw pictures & as he got older he would take notes in it (but he still drew sometimes) He is old enough now that he doesn’t need it anymore.~Marci
- Extreme dot to dot books from MindWare~Newman Homeschool Group
- Note cards to draw on or copy Bible Verses. Easy to remember as I keep them in my Bible anyway!~Kim from Day to Day Adventures
- My kids have “Quiet Bags” that have their Bible, a coloring book and crayons, their lesson book for Sabbath School and a small “quiet” toy they use during the sermon~Ashley
- Stickers are great for toddlers/preschoolers. It is a quiet activity and takes up lots of time to take them all off the sheet and put on construction paper, notebook or the pew–(we buy the ones that peel off easily) If they are on the pew, additional time to remove them and put back on sticker sheet.~Missy
- I used “busy bags” that varied by age. Bet you could get a good idea of things to include by searching that term. Lacing cards were good for motor coordination, I remember.~Cindi
- We use a Boogie Board – it has a stylus type pen and erases the screen with a touch of a button~Tiffany
- Printable church time sheets I created~Tonya from Learning as We Go
Here are some items that I have used to keep my little ones busy in church!
- Board Books
- Busy Books
- Children’s Bibles
- Etch a Sketch
- Busy bags for church
Older Kids (8-12)
I recently discovered a GREAT way to teach our older kids how to by busy, yet engaged in church and wish it was around when my oldest was elementary age. It is called Busy Books Sermon Notes for Kids and was created by Madison and Darlene Schacht. This book encourages kids to take notes, listen to service, pray, read their bible, and ask questions. It also allows kids to be kids by giving them an area to doodle and even color.
My middle has been raised in the church, but also tends to be a daydreamer during service. This book keeps her engaged, paying attention, and is still a lot of fun! We have been giving her points for filling out the blocks and allowing her to earn a day without chores, or another treat.
So far this has been a huge hit for her and I plan on using it with my boy when he is older as well. It is geared for kids 8-12 and is a great way to ease a child into just a notebook for note taking by the time they have hit the teen years.
As parents, one of our jobs is to train up our children. It is SO important to train them from a young age to have reverence in the house of God. One of the ways we can do this is to keep them busy, yet engaged and quiet during church.
What have you used to keep your kids busy in church?
Have a daughter? The world is telling our girls everything they need to be, but little of it lines up with the word of God. Train your girls to know they are the daughter of a king.
Ha! Been there 🙂 Also, there is a little boy in our church who’s papaw leads service. Papaw often times is leading with the boy on his hip because he keeps yelling Hi at papaw. Time will pass soon enough. Hugs!!
My son is 2 and I WISH he would sit still. My dad’s the minister, so my son “shouts grandpa on” from the pews. Needless to say most Sundays are spent in the church nursery. Anxious for him to be old enough to stay quiet so I can actually hear a sermon lol
That sounds like an interesting book. I may have to check it out. My kids (ages 9, 10) have dot to dot, spiral notebook, crayons in their “church bag”.
You’re welcome! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Thank you for this awesome giveaway..I always have paper, pencil, crayons with me.
You’re welcome! Good luck!
I don’t believe so! I would recommend contacting Darlene at Time Warp Wife and suggesting that to her 🙂 I’ll shoot her a message and check as well.
Are there printable versions of the journals? Our family keeps binders as our study tools and need a way to print the pages out.
Yes, my girls can get to playing games (MASH is one of them!) and that can get distracting. I have found adults do the same though. My least favorite distraction is electronics…. I mean really?? (Adults AND Kids..)
This is a brook. My granddaughter would love it. Thanks for the chance to win.
We have kept our children with us since they were born (not the norm at our church). Currently they are 5 and 7 yrs old and we typically let them have paper and a pencil along with their Bibles. Anything else gets too distracting and loud…sometimes paper and a pencil gets distracting too =) haha
This would be perfect for it!
Yes! They are SO nice!!
Yes! Same here!
That’s great! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ha! Kids play hard 😉
Yes! Our church is very similiar. I have my kids participate in service from a young age. I love teaching them reverence from the get go 🙂
Would love to use this for the Children’s Ministry at my church! We have several kids who are no longer in Children’s Church but are not old enough for Youth and we have been trying to develop a program for them.
They are allowed to doodle…this would definitely be better!
I love the idea of the busy sermon notes book! I like keeping my kiddos busy but giving them a chance to listen as well. Great post!
Good ideas! We use the Sermon Notes book you mentioned for both our girls, 1st & 5th grade (6 & 10 yrs old) and they both absolutely love it. They bring colored pencils and color in the little artsy things in the book while they’re listening for the key words to check off. Our church friends have watched the girls work away & now they all want their own copies, too!
We have coloring sheets for the little ones and bible word seaeches, crossword puzzles etc for the older kids to help keep them busy.
All mine are doodlers. It’s fun to see that doodling mature as they get older. Now their drawings illustrate the sermon. Sometimes I think they’re catching more than I am!
This is a great list. This past Sunday I wrote out some questions for my son and he loved answering those questions. We talked about them afterward and hung them in his room. His answers were very insightful. Have a blessed week.
We loved our boogie board for the kiddos in church — unfortunately it only lasted a few months before it broke! Not sure if we got a dud or we just play too hard 😉
Good ideas here, we have used several of these with our four children. I wanted to share another consideration, some churches (or services, I should say) are more child friendly by design. Our service is very interactive, we stand to sing, read responsively, stand for Scripture reading, kneel to pray, walk forward for Lord’s Supper, etc. The only physically inactive time is during the sermon. Our family has grown to love this worship service, as it engages us physically and spiritually.