This is boring – when can we go play!
Ouch … There is nothing more demoralizing to a Sunday school teacher than an unmotivated student. Unless kids want to learn – your Sunday school lesson will fail. Many books have been written on the topic, “How to motivate a student?” But the whole process comes down to 3 simple steps.
How do you motivate your Sunday school class? This is one area that Sunday school curriculum often falls short. Teachers need new ideas. Too many ways to motivate rely too heavily on extrinsic rewards and incentives. Use the following ideas to help every child with motivation in Sunday school. My goal is to give you simple and effective steps to help your children learn.
3 Steps To A Motivating Sunday School Lesson
1. Get their attention. Children rarely come to Sunday school focused on the learning process. Little girls are thinking about their new shoes. Little boys are thinking about their friend’s new toy. Maybe it was a rocky morning for the family – complete with a parental shouting match over being late! As the teacher you must capture their attention. My favorite way to do this is by telling a story. Stories capture their imagination and can set up the next step.
2. Show them a need. Present a compelling problem or life situation. Demonstrate how important your lesson is before you start teaching. When children understand they have this gap in knowledge, they often become eager learners. This step answers the “Why” question.
3. Set a goal. Be very explicit about what the class will be learning. Say to the children, “Today, our goal is to find God’s answer to that problem in the Bible.” If the first three steps have worked this should be a natural transition into the lesson. This step answers the “What” question.
Relationships Make The Difference In Sunday School
Build relationships with your students. Learner motivation is largely an effect of the teacher-student relationship. The old cliché is true, “Kids don’t care what you know until they know how much you care.” There is no single technique or trick that can compensate for a poor student-teacher relationship. This is one reason why your attitude toward the children in your class is so important. You must cultivate real Christian love for every child you hope to teach. I’ve found the best way to do this is by prayer. Pray each day this week for your least motivated student. Ask God to change your attitude toward him.
Don’t Make This Mistake With Your Sunday School Lesson
Warning: Don’t prepare your lesson introduction until you are rock-solid on the main content and meaning of the Bible passage. Faithfulness must come before relevance. Study, pray and understand the passage first. Only then will you be ready to craft sure-fire introduction. Drafting your ‘hook’ first will either distort your lesson or promise more than the particular passage delivers.
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Tony, well said! Kids know whether you care or not. Don’t be afraid to show them (properly, of course). When they know you love them, the three steps work wonders. Assumed in all three steps is involving the children in the learning experience–obviously to drive the truth from God’s Word home.
I was browsing through pages and really appreciated the
3 Steps To A Motivating Sunday School Lesson. We have a new Church which has justed started in Gurgaon, India. I have started helping with the Sunday Church for kids. I have kids from the age group of 4years to 13 years. I know this would sound weird but We had to get started as the kids were get restless with the normal preaching. So I really would appreciate some free s/school material and teaching material. Thank you in Jesus name, Your sister in Christ. Prudence Berkeley.
i really need help with ss lessons i teach 10 to 14 year olds my class is really small so most of the curriculum doesn’t work well please help connie
I’ve been on line and looking through some old sunday school materials trying to get going on a lesson plan for our new church plant and came across this site. Love the 3 steps and subscribed to the newsletter. I found TOny’s words and passion very motivating. Thank you, I look forward to the newsletters.
I am a sunday school teacher in a rural village and i have a number of children interested in reading God’s word but they do not have Bibles. Could you be of any assistance to them.
God bless.
Thanks for the article. I teach 7-9 year olds and I find that they talk so much in class sometimes I don’t finish the lesson. How can I help them know the importance of learning?
I have been trying different things to help the kids get self control. One big thing is to set clear expectations. Say something like, “Learning from the Bible is the most important thing we can do in our time together. Let’s all listen together.”
Kids tend to do well with clear boundaries. I have times when it is ok to talk and times when the teachers is the only talker.
Keep us posted on your progress.
Like Nellie I would normally have my everyday SS children. However there r times when new student will come in that r very distractive. It is the times that i find it hard sometimes cause its like what u say they may come with a lot of baggage and u want 2 b sensitive 2 there needs. As well as u do not want them 2 b distractive 2 ur everyday sunday school student what 2 do in those circumstances.
Also i would like some ideas as 2 make each session excited that they will learn but yet have fun.
For the summer we want to do vbs on the ten commandments have any idea. Most of the classes that i have been doing was about moses so they already have the foundation have any idea let me know thanks.
Thank you so much for the encouragement and the articles on making your own lesson and 3 simple steps for motivating children.
I have heard ” this is boring , can we go play now ” countless times and yes it can be discouraging. I have been teaching going on 13 years. Folks this isn’t an easy job to do , especially when you are a small church with no budget at all . When God gives you a job to do He will give you the strength and the wisdom to do it . Just DO NOT FORGET TO PRAY !!!! I depend on God , the Bible , and web-sites like this one to help me with ideas and activities. I teach Sunday morning sunday school , sunday morning childrens church , sunday night childrens church, and every other wednesday night plus I am the Childrens Church director . So a big THANK YOU ! and God Bless
I really need help on how to make children love to come to school as soon as they are enrolled. I mean how could we as teachers encourage children come to school as they are very young and could not understand the value of education at this age.
Thanx
Bhakta
Hi Tony, what do i do in a situation, where some of the children are talking while you giving your lesson, or when some of them say, “o, it was abit boring, but okay”? How can I make them to come back every Sunday?
Great question. I’ve opened it up in our discussion forums. Here’s my quick answer.
Some kids will always be bored unless they have a video game in their hands, do your best to love them and be sure to maintain classroom order.
If a good portion of your group gets restless, then you need to work of being more interactive with your teaching – alternate your teaching with learning activities to keep the kids engaged in the learning experience. I’ve also found that having passion when I teach goes a long way to holding their interest.
Hi Tony, thx for the encouragement answer, I will adhere to it. My class are quit big (35 pupils -9-13 years) and about 6 of them are always restless. I really do love to be a Sunday school teacher and have a great passion for children, so i think it will go well in the future. I’ve already prepared my lesson for Valentine’s day, thankyou so much for the ideas and the lessons pertaining to valentines day. I especially love the heart shape with the scripture John 3:16. It is amazing how the Holy Spirit can lead one to obtain such powerful information out of the Word Of God!!!.
Blessings Debbie
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