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Customizing Activities
No single list of suggestions can match your needs specifically.
Be flexible when reading a suggestion and see how it can be customized to fit
your class. Do you have a large class? Just one student? Readers? Preschoolers?
A Mix? Make the ideas better to fit your needs. Pay attention to what succeeds
and what doesn't. Try something you're not good at -- the kids may be great at
it!
Large classes
Make more than one set of activities, and break the
class into teams or groups. Juniors love to compete, especially boys
against girls. Or bring more than one activity, set up stations, and
have groups rotate through them.
Small classes
Use this chance to have discussions about the lesson
and how it applies to them personally. Participate with the class
when they do arts and crafts.
Fidgety primaries
Give them plenty of chances to move. Make them stand
to answer questions. Attach activities to the wall and have them
walk up to participate. Place answers around the room and have them
stand in the corresponding spot to make their choice. Give them a
reason to move around acceptably. (e.g. for true and false
questions, make them stand in front of a "true" or "false" sign.
It's always been a hit with any age group I've tried.)
Encourage students to do their lesson homework
Use lesson book questions to encourage homework.
Allow students who have done the lesson to use their homework during
an activity. Students who have not must rely on their memory. This
is more subtle than calling on students who have not done the work
and embarrassing them. Bible
baseball was designed to be played using the questions from a
classbook.
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