Take a look around you. What do you see? What sounds do you hear? How does the space feel to you? Your environment helps inform and store all of the information you take in about a place. It’s why a doctor’s office feels differently than a concert venue — one feels clean and bright while the other feels dark and full of energy.
This isn’t just true for our favorite (or least favorite) places on earth, but it’s also true for our ministry spaces. On Sundays, we might think learning starts with the sermon, but, in reality, the process of learning begins the moment kids walk through our doors. So it’s probably time to be strategic about building the right environment.
In every series of Grow, we’ve crafted an engaging theme for each teaching series that complements what we’re teaching. Then, we created an environment around it. This helps tie together all of the teaching, activities, visuals and experiences your kids will experience and it complements all of the Bible stories you’re sharing.
Here’s every theme you’ll find in Grow Kids Volume 7 and how it connects with the series!
BLAST OFF
In our free series, Blast Off, we’re talking about how to “launch” your faith in Jesus to greater heights. We’ll be using the theme of rocket ships and outer space. Think space-themed activities and games, décor and graphics that use planets and stars and rocket ships, coloring pages, object lessons — all of that stuff will be outer-space-themed.
IN YOUR DREAMS
When we talk about Joseph’s life in August’s series In Your Dreams, we’ll focus on some of the spectacular dreams Joseph had. So we’ll be recreating the perfect dreamscape environment with a nighttime theme.
LEAD THE WAY
When we cover the way Moses led Israel out of Egypt during Lead the Way, we’ll use a “jungle adventure” theme, full of daring obstacles and challenges, to help us understand how to follow God’s guidance.
ARE WE THERE YET?
When we tell the story of Israel wandering through the wilderness during Are We There Yet?, we’ll place ourselves right in the middle of the story as we cross through an endless desert. So get ready for lots of desert-themed ideas!
ON THE RIGHT TRACK
For our series on Joshua, we’re taking our journey “on the road” as we race On the Right Track around obstacles to get to the promised land in this car-themed series.
CHRISTMAS VACATION
Our Christmas series, Christmas Vacation, has a Christmas theme, of course — but for this one, you’re going to want to trade in your Christmas sweater for some Christmas sunglasses and swim gear for this TROPICAL Christmas theme.
WHAT CAN I DO?
In What Can I Do?, since we’re talking about Jesus growing up and looking toward his future ministry, our theme is all about professions and grown-up careers.
WOW!
Wow!, we’ll use the theme of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to talk about the amazing miracles of Jesus!
GLOW IN THE DARK
In our Easter series, Glow in the Dark, we’ll use the theme of neon and glow-in-the-dark to help kids see Jesus is the light!
THROWBACK
Our series Throwback will bring back some nostalgia for your leaders, as we talk about how Jesus’ teachings are timeless through our theme of retro trends.
ONE SMALL STEP
In One Small Step, our series on the Early Church, we use an outer space theme to talk about how, with Jesus, “one small step” made in faith can have a huge impact for all of humanity.
RECESS
As we head back to the Old Testament for Ruth and Judges for our series Recess, we’ll use a playground-themed talk about some “judges” kids might be familiar with, like referees in their favorite playground games.
TURN IT UP
Finally, in Turn It Up, our series on David, we’ll use a music theme to help guide us through the story of David’s life as a musician, poet, and king.
That’s the plan for Volume 7 of Grow Kids! No matter which curriculum you’re using, you need a strategy for your weekly environments. A great way to make your weekly environment strategic is to give it a theme that complements what you’re teaching.
If you’re using Grow Kids Curriculum, we’ve already done this work for you. For every month of curriculum, we provide a monthly theme that complements the teaching content and includes everything you need to theme your program in our Environment Guides — decor ideas, editable graphics, music suggestions, games, funny characters and sketches, take-homes, coloring pages, and more.
In this post, here’s what we’ll cover: