Busy children’s ministry leaders and teachers can struggle to pull together an awesome lesson every week. It’s nice to find a Sunday school curriculum that helps teachers pull off a fun lesson with a limited amount of work—and Discipleship Jr. is such a curriculum.
Created for kids in grades one through four, Discipleship Jr. focuses on important Bible truths without scrimping on the essential elements of community building with other children. It’s full of interactive stories, Scripture memory, themed snack ideas, and activities—the kind of content that keeps elementary-aged kids engaged and enthusiastic.
(By the way, if you are looking at this review because you’re trying to choose your next Sunday school curriculum, you might want to check out my complete guide to making that decision.)
What makes Discipleship Jr. great
Kids actively participate in the lessons
Each Discipleship Jr. class contains a “Climb In” section, where kids examine a specific Bible story tied to the lesson. In this section, kids don’t just hear the Bible story told or watch it presented in a video. Instead they’re invited to actively participate in the story by acting elements out or engaging in activities that bring the story to life. The way this is handled in the lessons gives kids a chance to do more than hear or see the story—they get to enter into the story. This definitely helps children internalize each lesson’s main points.
The way the lessons are laid out gives teachers the tools they need to really involve the kids without having to do a bunch of extra preparation.
It’s great for kids with special needs
Discipleship Jr. marketing suggested that this curriculum was ideal for including kids with special needs. Being an area of particular interest for me, I was interested to see how ideal it was.
A lot of curriculum that seeks to include kids with special needs includes alternative activities and worksheets. I was excited to see that this wasn’t the case with Discipleship Jr. The activities themselves are simple enough that they can be adapted to kids with specific needs—while still including them with the rest of the class. In my mind, this is perfect. The more inclusive an activity is and the more kids can learn to work with each other, the better it is for everyone.
Take home material keeps families involved
The curriculum includes ZipLine, reproducible take-home pages that help parents stay involved with where kids are. These include activities, prayers, memory verses, and more. If you want to make sure that kids are doing these home activities, there’s even a place for parents to check off each activity and send it back.
What you need to know
Discipleship Jr. is best for:
Age range: 6–9
Denomination: Non
Bible translation: NIV
Publisher: David C Cook
Format and media:
Class format: Large group/small group
Material format: Disciplr
Includes video? No
Timeframes:
Scope and sequence duration: 2 years
Average lesson time: 1 hour
Follows ISSL? No
Mid-Week/Supplemental? No
Want more? Check out free sample lessons for Discipleship Jr. on Disciplr.
