{"id":31617,"date":"2020-08-18T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thinkorange.com\/3-ways-to-help-preschoolers-understand-god\/"},"modified":"2020-08-18T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T16:00:00","slug":"3-ways-to-help-preschoolers-understand-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkorange.com\/blog\/3-ways-to-help-preschoolers-understand-god\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Ways to Help Preschoolers Understand God"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are three drives that are hardwired in every kid:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Wonder<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Discovery<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\">Passion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>If you think about those drives as dials you turn to help a kid understand God, then what if you turn those dials to different volumes for different phases?<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s just like finding the right mix for a love song.\u00a0<i>Wonder<\/i>\u00a0is like the melody.\u00a0<i>Discovery<\/i>\u00a0is the harmony.\u00a0<i>Passion<\/i>\u00a0is the rhythm. When you get the mix just right, something magical happens; and the song connects with the heart of the listener.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Knowing what you now know about the phases, which dial do you think you should turn up the loudest for a preschooler? You will turn all three dials at every phase, but the volumes may change in order to create the right mix. <a href=\"https:\/\/orangekidmin.com\/how-to-read-your-little-artists-mind\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Preschoolers who think like artists<\/a> blend the stories they hear with the stories they live in a way that makes the loaves and two fish just as memorable as yesterday\u2019s pizza. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They understand an invisible God they can imagine\u2014the One who designed the animals and created the flowers. The One who made them and knows everything about them. Who keeps them safe. Who loves them. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you embrace their physical needs, you help a preschooler know God\u2019s love and meet God\u2019s family.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The way God proved His love to humanity through time is similar to the way a child grows up and relates to God throughout the phases. It\u2019s as if there is a pattern for spiritual growth working throughout the events of history the same way it works throughout our lives. Your goal is to show up in the lives of kids and teenagers, over time, to love them and help them mature in their ability to relate to God at every phase. The best way to help a kid mature in their relationship with God at every phase is to help them relate to God in their present phase.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>3 Ideas to Help Preschoolers Understand God<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>1. Ignite their imagination<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Don\u2019t fight it<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.) When it comes to the Bible, preschoolers might miss a few details, add some embellishments, or confuse the chronology. Just remember, they aren\u2019t overthinking it. They are imagining it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes, it\u2019s just better to let them put a monkey in the manger scene and spend your hour talking about the wonder of Jesus being born, rather than correcting their historical, geographical understanding of Bethlehem.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>2. Activate their senses<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Artists learn through their senses; so, if you really want to help them relate: sing songs (the more rhyming, the better), tell stories with hand motions, make crafts, show videos, use pictures, eat snacks. (Don\u2019t worry about creating new smells; there are already enough of those).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>3. Structure their experience<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Artists may have a reputation for being free spirits, but creativity sometimes flourishes with a little structure. In the same way, preschoolers will feel safe enough to imagine and wonder about their Creator when they know what to expect. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, prepare ahead of time. Recruit consistent leaders. Keep the environment clean. Have a set schedule for your experience. Oh, and one more thing as you set that schedule, remember the attention span of the average three-year-old is about eight minutes. So, plan your time accordingly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to leading the next generation, spiritual growth means helping kids mature in their ability to understand God. In order to grow up and know God at every phase, kids need adults to help them rediscover how to relate to God in every phase. You create a unique mix of wonder, discovery, and passion for each phase. Remember that every kid will always need all three\u2014just maybe at different volumes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This content was contributed by Phase. Discover all the resources available for your preschoolers in <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/store.thinkorange.com\/preschool\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>the Phase store<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to the Bible, preschoolers might miss a few details. Just remember, they aren\u2019t overthinking it. They are imagining it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[90,75,82],"tags":[91,92,97,147,109,148],"authors":[1815],"life-stage":[64],"class_list":["post-31617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-child-development","category-parents","category-volunteers","tag-3-year-old","tag-4-year-old","tag-childrens-ministry","tag-preschooler","tag-toddler","tag-understand-god","authors-think-orange-team","life-stage-kids-ministry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.8 (Yoast SEO v24.8.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>3 Ways to Help Preschoolers Understand God | Think Orange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Preschoolers learn through imagination &amp; discovery. 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