Free 100 Best Ideas to Turbocharged your Preschool Ministry by Group Publishing

diagnosis, it’s not our job.Rather we are to work with the parents and child and make sure all children are equally welcomed in the church.
    Here are some ideas for making sure your preschool ministry provides a welcoming environment for children with special needs.
Speak with the parents. If you’re having trouble with a child and believe you could be dealing with a learning disability, carefully address this with the parents—without bringing up your suspicion of a disability. Instead, approach this conversation from the standpoint of finding the right environment for the child. Maybe the child’s current preschool ministry room is too restrictive and he or she needs a more developmentally appropriate environment. Ask parents to help you place their child where he or she would receive the best attention and ministry. Removing a child from a room without parental permission can cause anger, and the family may leave the church.
Check for dietary restrictions. If you don’t already have a child information form in place, do so as soon as possible, and get one filled out for every preschooler. This form should include an area for diet restrictions. Children who are undergoing testing for possible learning disabilities are often on wheat- and milk-free diets. Make sure your snacks or food experiences don’t violate these diet restrictions.
Have buddies available. For children who need special attention, whether diagnosed or not, assign learning companions who’ll stay with them during your preschool ministry. Let parents know— they’re aware of their children’s challenges and welcome help.
Make sure your curriculum is developmentally appropriate. Developmental appropriateness is important for all preschool ministries. If your curriculum meets the needs of all learning styles and preferences, you won’t have to worry as much when it comes to adapting your curriculum for children with special needs.
Have special seating ready for preschoolers who need it. You’ll need to have special chairs for any child who’s developmentally delayed due to cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, or any other physical disability. There are many products on the market today that can be used to transform traditional chairs into chairs that meet children’s special needs.
—Barbara

Each week our preschoolers enter a world where the Bible comes to life.The various stage areas in our current preschool building include an aquarium, a cityscape that looks like a town in Jerusalem, and an outdoor scene—but a little more than a year ago, we didn’t have anything that resembled a preschool worship area for large group experiences.
    We were in an old building that housed our nursery and preschool ministries.We had no space.All our rooms were maxed out.We didn’t have a stage; we didn’t have worship teams; we didn’t have creative Bible teachers.When it came to multimedia, we were more no-tech than low-tech.So how did we get from where we were a year ago to where we are today?
    First, we started with the end in mind.We knew that our end goal was to teach preschoolers in a large group worship environment.We also knew that we couldn’t wait for a new building to implement our strategy.So we started a preschool large group experience long before we had a preschool large group area.We started with two volunteers, a CD player, and a rolling cart.Our “large group” team would rotate to each of our preschool ministry rooms to teach the Bible and lead the kids in worship.We didn’t let our humble circumstances keep us from our ultimate aspiration.
    Next, we cast a compelling vision of our preschool ministry’s future.We needed to build our volunteer team of creative Bible teachers, actors, and worship leaders.We knew this required recruiting people with the specific skill sets to teach preschoolers in a large group setting.To do that, we had to paint a picture of what it would be like to lead preschoolers in worship and use drama and creativity