Bible Party Themes For Preschoolers - Fun Ways to Teach Young Children About God in Sunday School

Everyone likes to have a party! Preschoolers are no exception. You can make learning the Bible fun with some of the party themes outlined below. These are seasonal party ideas that are easy to plan and include devotions that will hopefully have a lasting impression on the little lambs in your church.

Nature Hike Party - Autumn
Purpose: To enjoy God's creation.
Activity: Go on a nature walk and collect flowers, twigs, leaves, pebbles, etc.
Craft: Provide zip-lock bags for each child. Punch a hole in each bag and tie them together with yarn to make a class nature book.
Snack: Trail mix.
Devotion: Review the Creation.

Noah's Ark Party - Autumn
Purpose: An alternative to a Halloween party.
Activity: Have each child bring in their favorite stuffed animal. Have parents donate any wagons that they have at home for the party. Decorate wagons with crepe paper streamers. Have a parade with the stuffed animals.
Game: Play a CD with animal sounds and let the children tell you what kind of animal it is.
Snack: Animal crackers and milk.
Devotion: Talk about Noah building the ark and how Noah loved and obeyed God.

Christmas Party - Winter
Purpose: Learn the Christmas story.
Activity: Make play dough cakes and decorate them with plastic candles to celebrate Jesus' birthday.
Game: Hide nativity figures around the room. Let the children find them and bring them to the stable.
Snack: Decorated cupcakes, and sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.
Devotion: Tell the children the Christmas story.

Valentine's Day Party - Winter
Purpose: Show love to family and friends.
Teacher Prep: Make cookies ahead of time. Provide children with icing, plastic knives, sprinkles, and zip-lock sandwich bags.
Activity: Bake and decorate cookies to give to others.
Snacks: Decorated cookies and milk.
Devotion: Discuss how Jesus fed 5,000 people because He loved them very much.

Kite Party - Spring
Purpose: To have fun and enjoy being outdoors.
Activity: Flying kites. Have parents bring kites that either store bought or homemade for the big event.
Snack: Rice cereal treats and fruit punch.
Devotion: Talk about how Jesus calmed a storm (windy).

Easter Party - Spring
Purpose: Celebrating Jesus' resurrection.
Craft: Make musical instruments. String jingle bells of pipe cleaners, put beans in paper towel tubes and cover the ends, plus any other great ideas you have.
Activity: Play instruments and sing Christmas songs that praise Jesus.
Snack: Fruit and crackers with juice.
Devotion: Discuss the triumphal entry of Jesus.

Mother's Day Party - Spring
Purpose: Show love to mothers.
Teacher Prep: Provide cups, dirt, and small flowering plants. Also provide stickers, small pictures of the children, Popsicle sticks, and glue.
Activity: Let children decorate their cups with stickers and plant flowers in them. Glue a picture of each child on a Popsicle stick and push into the dirt beside the plant.
Snack: Cupcakes brightly decorated and juice.
Devotion: Let the children tell you why their love their mothers.

Father's Day Party - Summer
Purpose: Show love to fathers.
Teacher Prep: Cut out tie shapes with knots from construction paper. Punch holes on each side of the knots and string yarn through so dads can wear their ties.
Activity: Let children decorate the ties that they are going to give their dads with crayons and/or stickers.
Snack: Cookies and water.
Devotion: Talk about how much Joseph loved Jesus and took care of him as he grew.

Ice Cream Party - Summer
Purpose: A time for parents, teachers, and children to have fun.
Activity: Make sundaes.
Craft: Make ice cream cones by cutting out circles from a variety of colored paper and long triangles from light brown paper for the cones. Let children glue the ice cream circles on top of the cones and decorate with glitter.
Snack: Ice cream, toppings, plastic bowls and spoons, paper towels.
Devotion: God gives us food, and boy is it yummy!

How to Teach Preschoolers to Memorize the Ten Commandments

Children need to learn the Ten Commandments. It says in Deuteronomy 6:7 "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them."

Preschoolers are very visual. They learn better by seeing things as well as being told. If you want them to memorize the Ten Commandments just saying them over and over is not going to do it effectively. You will need to create visual representations for them to remember them easier.

Flash Cards Help Teach the Ten Commandments Create some flash cards for your preschoolers. On one side put one of the Ten Commandments. On the other side put a picture representation. Teach the preschoolers the picture representation and say the commandment that goes with it.

You shall have no other gods before Me. God should be Number One. Draw a 1st place ribbon.
You shall not make yourself any graven image. Do not bow down to anything or any one but God. Draw a person kneeling before a statue.
You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain. Do not use your lips to dishonor God. Draw some goofy looking lips.
Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. Do not neglect the things of God. Draw a Bible.
Honor your Father and your Mother. Dads and moms are special people that God put in charge of you for teaching and to care for your physical and spiritual needs. Draw a picture of a mom and dad.
You shall not kill. This is wrong. Draw a cartoony bomb.
You shall not commit adultery. Adultery leaves a heart broken. Draw a heart ripped in two.
You shall not steal. Stealing is wrong. Draw a cartoon robber.
You shall not lie. Telling lies can lead to a very bad habit. Draw a "lying" number nine.
You shall not covet. Do not long for what others have, and forget the blessings that you have. Draw a fancy ring with a man reaching for it.

Singing Helps Teach the Ten Commandments Another way to teach preschoolers to memorize the Ten Commandments is to sing them. If you know the famous children's song count of "Ten Little Indians" to provide the music to the words of the Ten Commandments. This, in combination with flash cards to remember the pre-school children are the Ten Commandments in no time.

An example of a verse would be: Hon-or your Fath-er and your moth-er, Hon-or your Fath-er and your moth-er, Hon-or your Fath-er and your moth- er, this com-wonder-ment after five.

Storage of the Ten Commandments should not be boring and difficult. Make it funthe preschoolers and they will memorize them without even knowing it.

Make Learning the Ten Commandments Fun Print out some coloring pages of the Ten Commandments and have the preschoolers color them. The time they spend coloring the picture will put that picture in their heads with the commandment attached to it. It may seem simple, but works very well with this age group. Perhaps that is why there are so many places to print free coloring pages on the web, eh?

Another method uses the child's fingers:

#1 - Have no other gods (God is #1, hold up one finger)

#2 Do not worship idols (two fingers "bow down")

#3 Do not misuse God's name (three fingers over your mouth), etc.

Use your imagination. Preschoolers love finger games. This is a good way for them to memorize the Ten Commandments and in numerical order.

It is also important for preschoolers to learn the Ten Commandments and what they mean, not just memorizing them. You can put each commandment into an easy to understand format for a preschooler to understand. Have them repeat the meaning back to you. Making this into a rhyme works great, and easy for preschoolers to remember.

God gave us the Ten Commandments so we would live our lives growing closer to Him. They are an important part of knowing right from wrong. Preschoolers are at the perfect age to learn and practice right from wrong. With your role as a Sunday school teacher, you can accomplish this in a memorable and imaginative way.