After ministering to kids for over 20 years in Southwest Michigan, Richard and Tori Pilger decided to create a Sunday school curriculum that didn’t suffer from some of the weaknesses they’d experienced from past resources. Their experience culminated in Kidamazoo Studios, a customizable curriculum that fits any size church, is easy to use, and impacts families while empowering volunteers.
(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 it great
The format is ingenious
As its name suggests, Kidamazoo is set up as a television studio that features three shows:
- Outta the Box: About a private detective that operates out of a pizzeria
- Beached: A Gilligan’s Island-like sitcom
- Logan & Lily: A family sitcom
Each week you can watched the pre-filmed video segments for the shows, or you can use the enclosed scripts to act out the drama using kids and volunteers.
The scripts are funny and smart and, as fun as the videos are, I think being able to act out these dramas every week would be a super fun and inspiring process that everyone would look forward to week after week.
Perfect praise suggestions
Quite a few kidmin leaders will love that every lesson offers suggestions for appropriate praise songs to kick things off with. The proposed songs include more kid-oriented songs like selections from Hillsong Kids, and also suggestions for songs that parents might be singing in the adult service.
Suggesting these thematically appropriate songs for worship symbolizes the thought that goes into every element of this curriculum. You can tell how committed Kidamazoo Studios is to creating not just a fun Sunday school experience for kids, but one that honors God, too.
Well-orchestrated discussions
Kidamazoo Studios curriculum doesn’t just give you a list of questions to ask your students. They give the leaders a roadmap for facilitating a remarkable discussion with the kids. Throughout the discussion time you’re given questions to ask, facts to share, and suggestions like “Share a personal story about . . .”
Over time children’s ministry leaders learn how to intuitively lead a discussion with kids, but it generally doesn’t happen without some trial and error. I love Kidamazoo’s approach because it helps to teach the process of leading a discussion that has a clear lesson destination.
What you need to know
Kidamazoo Studios is best for:
Age range: Elementary
Denomination: Non
Bible translation: NLT
Format and media:
Class format: Children’s church
Material format: Disciplr
Includes video? Yes
Timeframes:
Average lesson time: 70 minutes
Follows ISSL? No
Mid-Week/Supplemental? No
Want more? Browse and sample Kidamazoo Studios curriculum on Disciplr.
