OPENING + FIRST CHOICE

You walk into church on Sunday …

Your coffee is still hot, your heart is hopeful, and your volunteer team says they’re “mostly awake.” Nothing could possibly go wrong—right?
You head to the supply closet to grab your lesson props and…
the closet is locked.
No one knows where the key is.
Not even Brenda, who “knows everything.”

What do you do?

A. Attempt to pick the lock with a bobby pin you found in the lost-and-found.
B. Decide to pivot to a no-prop lesson (Jesus used loaves and fish, but you can work with zero loaves and zero fish).
C. Ask your tallest volunteer to scale the counter and squeeze through the pass-through window.
D. Call the church office in a panic and beg for someone to bring the key immediately.

➡ If you choose A, go to Path A.
➡ If you choose B, go to Path B.
➡ If you choose C, go to Path C.
➡ If you choose D, go to Path D.

PATH A: THE BOBBY PIN GAMBLE

You kneel in front of the closet like a KidMin MacGyver.
The bobby pin bends.
You try again.
It bends again.
A small crowd of preschoolers gathers to watch. Someone starts chanting, “OPEN! OPEN! OPEN!”
Suddenly—click!
The handle turns.
You open the door just in time for a tidal wave of poorly stacked pool noodles to collapse onto you.

What now?

A1. Dig your way through and set up the props anyway.
A2. Abandon the props and use the pool noodles as today’s “object lesson.”

➡ If you choose A1, jump to Choose Your Ending.
➡ If you choose A 2, jump to Choose Your Ending

PATH B: THE NO-PROP HERO

You take a deep breath and gather the kids.
“Today,” you say confidently, “we will use THE GREATEST PROPS OF ALL—our imaginations.”
Half the kids are delighted.
The other half looks at you like you just canceled Christmas.
Mid-lesson, a toddler hands you a half-eaten cracker and whispers, “I found this.”
You decide it’s best not to ask.

What now?

B1. Turn the cracker into an impromptu parable about God using broken things.
B2. Distract with a high-energy game that requires zero supplies and 100% enthusiasm.

➡ If you choose B1, jump to Choose Your Ending.
➡ If you choose B2, jump to Choose Your Ending.

PATH C: COUNTER-SCALING CHAOS

Your tallest volunteer bravely climbs the counter.
He squeezes through the window like a reverse-birth scenario.
The kids cheer.
He finds the key!
He also finds three cardboard sets from 2018, a missing puppet, and a smell no one can explain.

What now?

C1. Use the rediscovered supplies in today’s lesson, whether they match or not.
C2. Close the closet, pretend none of that ever happened, and carry on.

If you choose C1, jump to Choose Your Ending.
If you choose C2, jump to Choose Your Ending.

PATH D: THE PHONE PANIC

You grab your phone and dial the church office like it’s an emergency hotline.
Someone answers… eventually. You explain the situation with increasing urgency.
“Uh… we’re on our way,” they say, but it’s clear they are enjoying your stress more than they should.
While you wait, the kids start turning the lobby into a jungle gym. A rogue crayon army attacks the bulletin board.

What now?

D1. Improvise with the chaos around you—use chairs as props, the bulletin board as a backdrop, and let the kids’ energy lead the lesson.
D2. Attempt to mediate the wild preschool uprising while still hoping the key arrives before the lesson officially starts.

➡ After choosing, jump to Choose Your Ending.

CHOOSE YOUR ENDING

VICTORY ENDING

Somehow—miraculously—everything comes together.
Kids engage, volunteers smile, and every child leaves quoting the memory verse with shocking accuracy.
You wonder if this is what Moses felt like coming down the mountain.

CHAOS ENDING

A mysterious family asks if they can “store something” in the gym during service.
You say yes.
It’s goats.
Several goats.
One escapes.
You question your calling—but only briefly.

REALISTIC ENDING (The KidMin Special)

Half the lesson goes great.
Half the room melts down.
A preschooler cries because someone breathed near them.
A volunteer hands you a random sock and says, “Is this important?”
You go home tired—but grateful.
Because somehow, God worked in the middle of the messy, beautiful, ordinary chaos.