How to Engage Preschoolers Who Attend Every Other Week
Providing consistency for families who are not able to steadily attend church is one of the challenges of today’s church environment. When preschoolers must split their time between two households, many of their activities are inconsistent. Church activities are often caught in the struggle of inconsistent attendance.
To encourage preschoolers and their families, Mission Friends leaders can embrace creative ideas to keep participants who attend every other week engaged and included.
Perhaps you or one of your leaders have a specific calling to connect with the preschoolers in your class who come every other week. With intentionality, leaders can invest in every other week families and have a lifelong positive impact.
Ideas to Keep Mission Friends Engaged and Included
- Be intentional with preschoolers who attend every other week or so. Plan ahead to see what they will miss. Is there an activity or note you can send home with them so they can be a part of what their friends are doing when they are absent? It’s OK for them to feel special about receiving something the other preschoolers don’t receive. Make sure to tell them you will miss them but look forward to seeing them when they return the following week.
- Be aware of preschoolers’ presence and absence. Avoid placing blame on the home situation or parents who do not attend. Make sure preschoolers know you are glad to see them and you miss them when they’re away.
- If you have contact information for the parent they are with when they’re away from Mission Friends, perhaps you and one of their preschool friends could send a short video message from an activity. Or maybe you can record and share a personal message, a part of the Group Time story, or friends singing a favorite song.
- Mail a card so the preschooler receives it during the week he would be in Mission Friends. Include a note about the missionaries or missions area. Consider including a sticker or small item indicative of the missions area you are learning about in Mission Friends.
- Copy and mail the monthly “Mission Friends at Home” to each household so preschoolers can participate in missions activities with both parents. “Mission Friends at Home” can be found in each issue of Mission Friends Leader.
- Reach out by phone to preschoolers who have missed Mission Friends, not only those who attend every other week, but anyone who has been absent. Personally talk with the preschoolers and assure them you are thinking about them.
- If there is a special activity or missions project, consider adapting it to send home for the preschooler to do at home. Perhaps you can use a gallon ziplock bag for sending an activity home for the week away. If appropriate, preschoolers can return the bag and share what they did.
- Pray! As a teaching team, be sure to pray for all preschoolers each week. Pray especially for the ones who can only attend every other week. Allow God to direct you to know how to love, include, and minister to them.
by Teri Ussery
