Since most children love word search puzzles, give them one filled with words they will find in worship that day. Include words from scripture, songs, prayers, liturgy. Challenge children just before the Call to Worship to find the words in the puzzle and to draw a circle around or draw a star by each one every time they hear, sing, pray or say it in worship today. (Encourage parents to check the word list and nudge children when the words show up.) I made this one in about 15 minutes using Sunday’s worship bulletin. The title is the sermon title. PRAISE and MERCY come from printed liturgy. SCHOOL comes from a back to school discussion with the children on the steps. TEACHERS and GIFTS come from the dedication of church school teachers. COURAGE was mentioned in that discussion and appeared again in the affirmation of faith. Finally, the not very churchy word SPARROW showed up in both a hymn and the choir’s rendition of “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.” I made this puzzle using www.puzzlefast.com. Search for free word search puzzles to find lots of such sources. If you have a favorite site for such things, do send it to the rest of us!
Each Sunday I provide a word search in our children's bulletin, using keywords from the scripture readings and keywords from the service and bulletin. On mornings where we welcome new members or install officers, I use the people's names as the words for which to search. This increases familiarity with words and phrases in the worship service and helps the children learn without them realizing it.
ReplyDeleteI like to use Discovery Education's Puzzlemaker. The site offers not only a word search generator but also other automatic puzzle creators.
http://www.discoveryeducation.com//free-puzzlemaker/index.cfm?campaign=flyout_teachers_puzzle
I especially like your adding names, had not thought of that.
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