Poster Contests for Kids Ministry

Looking for another way to get families involved in your events or ministry? Why not host a poster contest? Schools use these contests to spread awareness about a cause and bring attention to aspiring artists. You can do that too! You could make the fall festival the deadline or extend your poster contest deadline to Thanksgiving.
Parents and grandparents will line up to see their children’s posters on display in your classroom or children’s church. Before you go buy a bunch of posterboards, review these tips for the best possible poster contest.
Have a specific theme. Whether it’s a focus on prayer or a specific Bible verse, provide contestants with a theme for their artwork. Once you’ve done that, encourage creativity!
Send home contest rules. Prior to the first announcement, decide what the rules for the contest will be. No changing rules as you go. For example, you need to have a deadline, rules for how the name of the child will be displayed (on the back) and what items they can use for decoration. Should each poster have hand drawn pictures or are magazine pictures okay? Print those rules and have them ready to send home.
Provide posterboard. Encourage uniformity by giving every child the same size and shape posterboard.
Give judges guidelines. Ask them to judge the posters on creativity, on how well the kids follow the contest’s theme and the child’s interpretation of the theme. Since kids’ name will be hidden, judges can select the top three without knowing who the poster belongs to. Having secret judges is a good idea, especially in smaller churches.
Offer a cool prize. Praise and recognition are the prizes kids treasure most but a small toy or cash prize works well too. Make a big deal out of all the kids’ artwork and give everyone a ribbon or a small bag of candy. Allow all kids to show their posters in a prominent area for a week or two before you send them home.
Poster contests are an “old school” activity but it’s a good activity to use if you want to highlight a special theme, verse or idea.
Read more from Mimi by following her blog at Tools for Kids Church.