Session: Spiritual Growth in Preschoolers

Preparation

• Write each of the following points on sentence strips: Preschoolers are learning how to trust. Preschoolers are literal minded. Preschoolers are learning how to make choices. Preschoolers are learning what behavior is acceptable and what is not.
  
  
• Ask teachers to bring their teaching guides to this session and print the articles "God Made Babies," "God Made Ones and Twos," "God Made Threes and Fours," and "God Made Kindergartners" and make copies.
  
  
• Write each of the following scenarios on an index card:
  Teacher One: Just let him cry. I don't see any tears. He just wants to be held all the time.
  Teacher Two: We are going to God's house to learn from God's Word.
  Teacher Three: Jonathan, you can pick red, green, or blue paint.
  Teacher Four: Amy, you are a bad girl. Give Stephanie the doll.

Reflect and Practice

1. As participants arrive, ask for four volunteers to read the scenarios later in the session. Open the session with fellowship and prayer.
   
   
2. Attach the first sentence strip (Preschoolers are learning how to trust.) to the wall where everyone can see it.
   
   
3. Ask Teacher One to read his or her scenario. Ask the group, "Does this statement encourage a baby to trust his teachers? What statement would better help a child learn how to trust?"
   
   
4. Attach the second sentence strip to the wall. (Preschoolers are literal minded.) Ask Teacher Two to read his or her scenario. Ask, "Is this statement understood by literal-minded preschoolers? How would you change the statement so that a preschooler could understand it?" Let the participants reflect on experiences they have had with literal-minded preschoolers.
   
   
5. Attach the third sentence strip to the wall. (Preschoolers are learning to make choices.) Ask Teacher Three to read his or her scenario. Ask, "How does this statement express understanding preschoolers? What are other choices we can give preschoolers?"
   
   
6. Attach the fourth sentence strip to the wall. (Preschoolers are learning what behavior is acceptable and what is not.) Ask Teacher Four to read his or her scenario. Ask, "What is a better way to guide Amy to learn what is acceptable behavior?"
   
   
7. Organize your group according to the age level they teach. Ask them to review the list of implications regarding the spiritual growth in the age-group articles (Babies, Ones and Twos, Threes and Fours, and Kindergarteners), then find illustrations in their teaching guides. Challenge them to make appropriate changes in their teaching procedures.
   
   
8. Close the session with a season of prayer for their own spiritual growth and that of their preschoolers. Remind your participants to read the article(s) for the next session.