How to Use Helping Others Activities in Mission Friends Leader

“I want to do it!”

This exclamation is often heard from preschoolers who want to be active participants in whatever is happening around them. They want to pour their own juice. They want to help plant seeds in the garden. They want to build their own skyscraper out of blocks.

This same desire to be involved may motivate them to be actively engaged in helping others.

Mission Friends Leader, WMU’s missions discipleship curriculum for preschoolers, includes a section called “Helping Others Activities” on the “Meet the Missionaries” page for each month.

The suggestions in “Helping Others Activities” are designed to allow preschoolers to have an active role in helping others as they learn that other people have needs and that they can help meet those needs. They meet these needs by making something, giving something, or doing something for other people. It is rewarding to help preschoolers move from being self-centered to developing a giving and serving missions lifestyle. And it can be fun, too!

As a leader, you can either do the planning for a Helping Others Activity or enlist a parent to organize the project. You may want to use this suggestion or look around your community or church family for similar needs that your group could meet.

While a suggestion is given for each month, you will decide how often to have a Helping Others Activity. You can certainly plan to do one each month, but perhaps your time and resources only allow for one or two activities per quarter. Do what suits your situation.

Before you select a Helping Others Activity, you will want to take a few things into consideration. Generally, you will want to relate it in some way to the ministries of the missionary you are learning about.

For example, when you are studying about a medical missionary, you might want to reach out to a local hospital. Also, consider the financial and time resources of your church and your preschoolers’ families. Will your group be able to follow through on this project?

Be sure your preschoolers have an active role to play in the activity. Encourage parents to involve their child in selecting items for a collection or doing chores to make money for an offering. It is tempting for adults to do everything themselves, but our preschoolers want to be part of helping others, too. And, we want them to learn that they can help others.

Most importantly, will this project allow you, your preschoolers, and their families to be involved in sharing the love of Jesus?

The purpose of Helping Others Activities is to give our preschoolers opportunities to do missions and tell others about Jesus. They can do it, and so can you.

For more information on Helping Others Activities, go to wmu.com/missions-discipleship/preschool under “How to Lead Mission Friends.”