Shawn from St. Paul UMC in Florence, South Carolina writes:
It may seem simple but we’ve recently seen success in our preteen ministry by removing the old couch from our preteen room and replacing it with colorful bean bag chairs. We have a super small preteen ministry of 6 kids but that is up from 2. Because of the bean bag chairs, the kids arrive early and invite friends.
What about you? Do you have any bean bag chairs in your preteen ministry?
I have seen a huge improvement with our preteens when I added some cubed boxes that were painted black and grey with blue and green canvas toppers, also made some throw pillows in fabrics that the preteens love. It made our room more inviting to them. I even have had the preteens from last year stop in and ask can they come back they love the room.
Its so amazing how these little things mean so much to them. They feel very much apart of the church, they have something they can call their own.
That’s great Brenda! It’s amazing what a big difference a seemingly small change can make.
Do you have any photos you could send our way? We would love to share them with others! (You can email them to email@fourfivesix.org.)
yES CAN U ALSO SEND ME SOME PICS OF THIS…Asking for bean bags as we speak!
Our preteen crowd is heavy on boys, this past week one of our services had a 25:8 boy:girl ratio I believe. Is this a thing that helps to draw more girls in, or is it so awesome that it works equally as well with both? (And of course this is just one step in helping that ratio.)
We have different colored bean bags and the kids love them! We use a shared space for our midweek program so it was a great way to add some character that isn’t permanent.
We had couches in the new 6th graders room for 8 months and they caused nothing but crammed up chaos for the boys. We started confirmation at the beginning of the year and have sense removed them and replaced them with 2 round tables and chairs. We have yet to have a problem. Bean bag chairs are at the top of the list for the new 5/6 ministry that is starting up. This post just reaffirmed my decision. Thanks!