Children’s church in a small church usually means one room, a mix of ages, and a volunteer who got the lesson on Saturday. This page is for that room. I’m Tony Kummer. I was a children’s pastor in a small church for ten years.
Pick a section below: an age group, a part of the Bible, a topic, or a plan for the hour. Ministry-to-Children (this site) gives lessons away free. The Sunday School Store is where we sell our full curriculum.
Try it free first. The free Kids Sample Pack has four complete lessons for ages 6 to 12. The free Preschool Sample Pack has six lessons for ages 3 to 5. Four of the Bible stories match, so a mixed room can hear one story at two levels. Both are a free checkout on our store. No payment needed, and the download link comes by email.
Kids from 4 to 11 in one room? Get both packs. Each lesson starts with its supply list, and most of it is already in your closet: paper cups, craft sticks, paper plates, crayons and tape.
On this page: Ages 3 to 5 · Ages 6 to 12 · Preteens · Old Testament · New Testament · Character and Life Skills · An Hour of Children’s Church · What to Look For · Who Writes These
Lessons by Age
Preschool (Ages 3 to 5)
Little ones need a short story, a picture to look at, and a reason to move. The preschool sample lessons start with play centers while kids arrive, tell the Bible story in simple lines they can repeat, and keep every activity simple enough for the youngest child in the room.
- Free Preschool Sample Pack (6 lessons)
- Preschool curriculum on our store
- Free preschool Bible lessons on Ministry-to-Children
Elementary (Ages 6 to 12)
Our Kids series are written for ages 6 to 12 in the same room. The Bible story is told in short lines kids can follow, then you talk it over and pray.
- Free Kids Sample Pack (4 lessons)
- Elementary curriculum on our store
- Free lessons for older kids, ages 9 to 12
Preteens
We don’t make a separate preteen curriculum. In a small church, your 11- and 12-year-olds are often in the same room as everyone else. I think mixed-age groups have to work because that’s the reality in so many churches, and there are all kinds of ways around it, like having older kids as the helper or the co-teachers.
Give your oldest kids a real job: read the Bible verse out loud, lead the game, or help a younger child with the craft.
Old Testament Stories
Three of the four lessons in the free Kids Sample Pack are Old Testament stories: Moses at Mount Sinai, Naaman and the servant girl, and Bezalel, the craftsman God gifted to build the tabernacle.
- All Stars (4 weeks): Joseph, Joshua and Caleb, Ruth and Naomi, and Samuel.
- Hero Academy (4 weeks): Deborah, Nehemiah and other brave people God used.
- Maps (4 weeks): following God’s directions, with Noah, Moses and Jonah.
- Free lessons: Genesis, Exodus, Psalms
Jesus and the New Testament
The fourth lesson in the free Kids Sample Pack is the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), when Jesus walked with two friends on the first Easter.
- Bible Beach Club (4 weeks): Jesus’ miracles by the water, like calming the storm and walking on the sea.
- Incredible (4 weeks): the book of Acts and the Holy Spirit’s power.
- Prayer Power Lab (5 weeks): the Lord’s Prayer.
- Free lessons: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and the parables
Character and Life Skills
Some weeks you need a topic more than a book of the Bible. Each of these series still teaches from Bible stories.
- Emotions (4 weeks): taking our feelings to God.
- Friend Request (4 weeks): choosing good friends, online and off, and following Jesus’ example.
- Unbreakable (4 weeks): Christian character and faith that holds up in hard times.
- The Fruit of the Spirit (9 weeks): one week for each fruit.
- Love Like Jesus (4 weeks): showing Jesus’ love through kind actions.
- Wise Up (4 weeks): asking God for wisdom and making wise choices.
See all our topical series. Teaching a holiday? Here are Thanksgiving lessons and Christmas lessons.
What an Hour of Children’s Church Looks Like
Here’s how I’d fill an hour with one lesson from the free pack, Naaman and the Servant Girl (2 Kings 5:1-14).
- Welcome and a song (10 minutes). Start singing while kids are still coming in.
- Opening game (10 minutes). Every lesson in the pack has one.
- Bible story (15 minutes). Read it right from the page and hold up the full-page picture.
- Object lesson and talk it over (10 minutes). One everyday object, then the discussion questions.
- Craft, coloring page or word search (10 minutes). Pick one, or set out all three for different ages.
- Prayer and take-home page (5 minutes). Kids leave with one line: “Kindness can change someone’s whole future.”
Only have 30 minutes? Teach the Bible story, the questions and one activity. You don’t have to do every part. Need just one lesson for one Sunday? Try our 30-minute lessons.
Honestly, if you’re in a tiny, tiny church, you probably don’t need a big curriculum. A lot of times, you could sing some songs, read from a story Bible, play a game, and you’re done.
What to Look For in a Curriculum
- Who writes it. I wish churches cared more about who was writing the curriculum and where they were coming from rather than just the packaging.
- Whether it works with mixed ages. One room, one Bible story, and older kids who can help.
- Whether you can hand it to a volunteer. When I handed things off to volunteers, I didn’t want to have to look through the whole thing to make sure it was going to work for the group.
- Whether the teacher opens the Bible. I really value churches that still open the Bible, look kids in the eye, and tell them about Jesus, and not just try to play a video.
I’m a curriculum publisher, so I’m probably not supposed to say that, but the full curriculum is probably not required for a lot of churches. More on that here: How to choose Sunday school curriculum for a small church.
Who Writes These Lessons
After my years as a children’s pastor, I served in mission work in Haiti. I studied at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I started Ministry-to-Children in 2006 to give lessons away.
In 2020, I had been sharing free lessons for about 15 years on Ministry-to-Children, and we saw that demand was never-ending. I just wanted to do more. That’s when we started the Sunday School Store. Kristin Highley writes curriculum with us. Her craft and children’s sermon videos on our YouTube channel are made for you, the teacher.
Where we come from: we believe the Bible is the inspired, trustworthy Word of God, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection for sinners, is the center of everything we teach. Our team comes from more than one church tradition. The lessons print the Berean Standard Bible. Read from your own Bible if your church uses another translation. Read more about who we are.
More Free Lessons
Looking for free lessons only? Start with Free Bible Lessons for Kids, Free Sunday School Lessons, or 5-Minute Children’s Sermons.
A Note from Tony
Praying and letting God’s Word change your own life is the most important preparation, no matter what curriculum you have, how many kids you have, or how many years you’ve been teaching.
Remember, the goal is not to check all the boxes on your curriculum, but to give each child a chance to get into the Bible, have fun, and help them experience the love of Jesus through a kind environment, through making friends, through a teacher who prays for them and knows their name.