< TITLE>Make a Children's Bulletin
A.M.O.K. Visual Arts and Writing Project
Make Your Own Childrenıs Bulletin or Coloring Sheets
by Dave Weiss
How many times have you seen it, little children getting fussy in church because it is too long for them to sit quietly. They are bored and they have a way of letting everyone know it. Their parents get little or nothing out of the service because they are too busy trying to keep their child from disturbing everybody else. They need help and A.M.O.K. is uniquely equipped to help everyone get something out of the service, even the child.
How? By creating a childrenıs bulletin. Itıs easy and fun to do. Pick a story out of the Bible as the basis for the bulletin. As your writers dissect the story and brainstorm activities to place in the bulletin, have your visual artists create pictures and puzzles. Combine the two activities together on an 11 by 8.5 inch paper. Keep a half inch border around the edge of the paper so that this can be generated on a photocopier.
It is pretty easy to compile everything if you have a computer and a scanner. Depending on the skill level of your group with computers you may want to involve someone from a multimedia group or a member of your congregation to finish the assembly. If you donıt have access to this type of equipment you can also cut and paste it together manually though this requires more planning. I find that a single sheet printed on both sides works best. If you have enough time, you can create two bulletins per week, one for younger children and one for older children. You can use the same story for both but the younger children will need less reading and simpler activities.
If you plan on making this a weekly thing, I recommend you start with a brainstorming session and come up with 52 stories to use as your topics and then put everyone on these and finish at least half before you begin issuing them. Otherwise you will be on deadlines every week and get nothing else done.
If you do professional quality work, you may even be able to turn this into a fundraising opportunity by allowing other churches to ³subscribe² to the service. If you have a computer program that makes it possible to convert your bulletin into ³pdf² format you can even send them their bulletins weekly via e-mail, or send them a months worth of photocopies at a time via snail mail. You will have to figure out your costs and charge accordingly, remembering to include shipping and handling if necessary.
Regardless of whether you do this as a fundraiser or just as a service project for your congregation, it is a great way to get your A.M.O.K. team into the Word as they research the stories and come up with ideas for the bulletin activities.
If you donıt have the time to generate a weekly bulletin consider monthly bulletins or perhaps generate some coloring sheets for the nursery. Regardless of which project you choose, they are inexpensive to produce on a photocopier and a fun way to get your group into the Word.
An A.M.O.K. Resource
Arts Ministry Outreach for the Kingdom
copyright David Weiss/A.M.O.K. 2002