Junior Jivers

Following on from the Friday Night Youth blog, read about what's on for our preschoolers during the week below:

Every Friday at 10am a rabble of pre-schoolers, accompanied by parents, toddle into church, find their mats (allocated personally with a laminated piece of paper showing their name and a picture of their favourite toy/animal!) and sit patiently (ha!) for Lucy, Peter or Kryssie to start the session of singing and dancing.

The half hour music time is filled with songs - a combination of Christian tunes and other - sometimes pretty hilarious - songs about feelings, body parts, animals. The leaders are always hugely enthusiastic with the actions and singing, which is met with a mix of very willing participants jumping around, and some vacant stares of the more shy children sitting awkwardly on the mat (like my young boy!). There are set slots for welcoming each child (the parents are always hugely impressed with Lucy for remembering everyone's name) and 'what's in the box' during which time all the children sit totally transfixed on the toy or object being pulled out of the box. The items are linked to the theme of the session and the leader shares a short Bible message on that theme. The singing part of the session is closed with a short prayer and then there is an hour or so of free play, crafts and snacks for the children, and refreshments and cake for the adults.

A special shout out to all the lovely helpers who serve teas and coffees so faithfully each week, as well as helping with set up/set down: the group could not run without them!

I LOVE coming to Junior Jivers with my two pre-schoolers - it's a chance for me to relax and enjoy time with my children, as well as catching up with other parents. While the message is short and simple, it's lovely to come to a playgroup which is centred around the gospel and I pray that it is an opportunity for other parents to see what our church family is like and perhaps join us one Sunday. There's a lovely group of mums and dads who come along and it's wonderful to see how they have all gelled.