Hi Kristin,

How exciting for your church and kids! And as Neil said, I'm really envious of that much time!  Neil and Amy have given you good advice. I think having the luxury of extra time will really allow you to focus on deepening relationships with your kids and leaders. That's so important and it can be neglected when time is really short. 

Our Wed. night kids don't do rotation, but for a couple of years they had journals. They stayed at church (they took them home at the end of the year). We always had a journal prompt or simple art activity that they could do in their journal if they had extra time. It took a bit of preparation on my part to get it ready, but not a huge amount. You could easily pull out a reflection question you liked from the lesson and print it on a label for them. They could discuss in pairs or small groups, then write or draw about it.

Another thing we used a LOT was Praying in Color activities. Are you familiar with Sybil MacBeth's work? The Praying in Color for Kids book (paperback) is inexpensive. We put one in each teacher's packet and let them know they could feel free to use them whenever they had extra time. Our kids LOVE this and it's a great way to add some reflection time and help kids focus on prayer in a hands on way.

Be sure to let us know how it goes and if there is anything else we can do to help, just post a question!

Blessings,

Jaymie