Wednesday, October 16, 2024
For young children, play isn’t just a way to pass the time—it’s the primary method God designed for them to learn, grow, and engage with the world around them. In children’s ministry, play is not only essential, but it’s also our responsibility to ensure that the play is purposeful. When children play well, they build the foundation for future learning, relationships, and spiritual growth. But what does it mean to foster purposeful play in ministry? Let’s explore two important aspects of this concept: valuable play and missional play.
First, Purposeful Play is Valuable Play
All play has value, but some forms of play are more valuable and purposeful than others. For example, imagine a child with a set of wooden blocks. With these simple objects, the child can build houses, roads, towers, or walls. They might create a river path or a chair for a toy. Every time the child manipulates these blocks, they engage their brain, which is rapidly growing and adapting to new challenges. This type of play stretches the child’s creativity and problem-solving skills, making it highly valuable.
Now, picture the same child with a pretend iPad that plays nursery rhymes. The toy may capture her attention for a few minutes and teach her a little about cause and effect—pressing a button produces a sound. But after a few minutes, the learning potential is exhausted. The interaction is limited, and the child’s brain isn’t challenged in the same way as with the wooden blocks. While both activities are forms of play, one clearly provides a deeper, more enriching learning experience.
Valuable play is play that can be engaged with repeatedly, offering new lessons each time. It should be age-appropriate, interactive, and safe. For infants, valuable play could include soft blocks, rattles, or shape sorters—items that promote sensory development and motor skills. For toddlers, balls, stuffed animals, play dough, and puzzles are excellent tools for developing coordination and creativity. For preschoolers, pretend play centers, cars, plastic animals, and dolls foster imagination and social skills, while wooden blocks encourage spatial awareness and problem-solving.
It’s also important to be discerning about the types of toys we introduce in our ministries. Toys with sharp edges, batteries, magnets, or cords can pose safety risks and are less likely to encourage the kind of play we aim for. The goal is to provide toys that invite exploration and imagination—tools for building both minds and hearts.
Secondly, Purposeful Play is Missional Play
In children’s ministry, everything we do should serve the greater purpose of our mission. What’s the mission of your ministry? For most of us, it’s helping children and families know and love Jesus. With the limited time we have each week, we must ensure that even playtime aligns with this mission.
Missional play is intentional play that supports the spiritual and emotional development of the children in our care. It’s about using play to teach the skills and values that reflect the heart of our ministry. Playtime in church should not just be about keeping kids entertained—it should be seen as a vital opportunity to reinforce what we’re teaching them about God.
Here are a few examples of how missional play can look in practice:
• Play that teaches Scripture: Create a Bible story reenactment station where kids can act out the stories they’re learning. This not only solidifies their knowledge of Scripture but also engages their imagination and empathy as they step into the shoes of biblical characters.
• Play that teaches the big idea: If your lesson is about God’s love, set up a play activity where children take turns sharing or helping each other. Use dolls or action figures to demonstrate kindness and service, emphasizing that these actions reflect God’s love for us.
• Play that teaches godly social and emotional skills: Equip your play areas with activities that promote cooperation, patience, and kindness. Games that require children to take turns or work together can teach the importance of community and loving others, which are key biblical principles.
Kidmin leader, remember that play is not just a filler activity in children’s ministry. It’s a purposeful and powerful tool for teaching, growing, and discipling young hearts. By providing valuable play experiences and focusing on missional play, we can create an environment where children are not only learning life skills but also deepening their understanding of God’s love and truth. So, the next time you oversee playtime, remember that you are doing much more than just keeping kids busy—you’re helping shape their spiritual growth in profound ways.
Josh Zello has been married to his best friend, Hannah, for five years, and they have a two-year-old little girl named Avery. Early childhood proves to be a critical stage of life. Preschoolers learn an incredible amount in such a short span, presenting a prime opportunity to present the teachings of Jesus in tangible and pragmatic ways. Due to this, he has dedicated over ten years to serving in preschool ministry, lending his efforts to churches ranging in size from 17,000 attendees to as few as 250. His passion lies in crafting gospel-centered, developmentally appropriate, and thriving preschool ministries.
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