Sitting with children in church can be frustrating, distracting, and downright patience exhausting! But the value of teaching your child to value being in church and learn to be respectful and reverent takes time and practice. Many churches have a nursery or children’s church that is specific for the younger kids in church. But many churches do not or you may choose to keep your children with you in church. Thus, you may need one or two hefty busy bags to keep your child occupied so everyone can listen.
I remember sitting in the pew with my two little girls hoping we would make it through the sermon. My husband was busy up front and our girls were 18 months and 4 years old. I was in the pew trying to occupy busy minds and hands and keep them quiet. My weeks of actually hearing a full sermon were on hold for who knew how long while I tried to occupy these two precious little busy daughters!
Fortunately, I had a very good role model when I was a child and my mom was an excellent teacher to my brothers and me. Our dad was a pastor so every week my mom got to sit with three little children in church, by herself. My mom was great at stocking the busy bag full of quiet toys for church.
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Busy Bags for Church
You may be wondering why in the world you would even take your child to the church service. They are loud, have no attention span, and you wouldn’t get anything out of the service while your wrangling your kids to keep them in the pew. If this is you, this is the exactly where you need to be! There is hope and it will get easier. I promise. But, you need some tools to help you train your children. That’s exactly where your new favorite church bag comes in. Your busy bag for church!
This isn’t just any old bag of toys. This is a special bag of quiet toys for church that is only used once a week. The treasures in this quiet bag are especially selected for your children in church! You’ve got this! Keep reading!
5 Reasons Why You Should Take Your Children to Church
- The first and foremost reason you should take your kids to church is to learn about Jesus and His amazing love for them. If you are looking for a church, look for a church that follows the Bible. I know this may sound silly, but there are churches that pick and choose what they teach and not all of it goes along with the Bible. You want your children (and you) to be surrounded by people who are committed to following God and the Bible.
- Your children will learn through hearing and experiencing church. Very young children and toddlers are learning and growing and by introducing them to church and Sabbath School or Sunday School, they are learning songs, Bible verses, Bible stories, as well as learning to follow directions and sit quietly.
- Your children need to see your example of going to church. When children grow up, at some point they begin to make their own choices about what they are going to do about being a part of a church community. When you lead by example, you are building a foundation for your children to follow.
- When you and your children go to church regularly, you will likely make friends who have similar interests. These friendships may not be the same age, as you or your children, but making friends with people who have similar interests, no matter their age, can bring a wealth of support and nurture to your family. Other children in church can become great friends to your children and help them to have Christian friends.
- Create a family habit of going to church. When you take your kids to church from a young age, your children are learning that church is what you do every week. This helps them to see that church and God are a central focus in your life.
RELATED: Family Worship Ideas with Kids
What Do I Do with Young Children in Church?
If you have spent any time sitting with young children anywhere for very long you probably have some questions about how in the world you would keep your wiggly kids engaged and listening in church. Perhaps you’ve wondered how to keep your kids quiet, or how to get your child to behave in church. Sitting with children in church can be daunting, but remember you are teaching them in the process.
Help! I’m out of ideas! How can I help my child sit quietly in church?
The secret to having your kids in church at a young age is having a well-stocked busy bag full of quiet toys for church and an extra amount of patience. In our family, we called this bag full of activities our “quiet bag” or rather quiet bags since we had two different busy bags that we rotated every few weeks. Before you feel overwhelmed with the thought of more than one busy bag full of quiet toys for church, just start with one! Here are some of the all-time favorites for a well-stocked busy bag for toddlers and young children in church.
Busy Bag Quiet Toys for Church
When you are thinking about what quiet toys to take to church to keep your kids busy and quiet, first of all, you want to think about activities that are quiet to play with. One of our very favorite quiet toys for church in our quiet bags are Lauri crepe rubber puzzles. These puzzles are the greatest things to keep little fingers quiet and occupied. They are soft and colorful. The company also stands behind their products and if you lose a piece, they will replace the piece for you! The puzzles in my church busy bags have lasted for nearly 20 years and still get used often by my little friends who currently sit with me each week.
Soft, quiet, crepe rubber puzzles fit perfectly in a zip top bag to keep the parts and pieces together between play time. Help your child learn to count and associate shapes with spaces as they put these little counting puzzles together.
Another great activity for your quiet bag is lacing or stringing toys. These toys are great for very young children to learn hand-eye coordination as well as learning how to sort by colors, shapes, and sizes. You can purchase “sewing cards” or lacing shapes with colorful shoe laces. And you can also get large, fat buttons and pipe cleaners (chenille stems). Put the buttons in a small purse, zippered makeup pouch, or bag for great busy bag ideas for 2 year olds or older. Encourage your child in church to poke the pipe cleaner through the center of the button and put the buttons on in a pattern of colors, shapes or just stack them on.
Lacing shapes are great busy bag ideas for 2 year olds or toddlers. They are quiet toys for church and encourage children to work on their hand-eye coordination while listening quietly.
The well stocked quiet bag or busy bag always has room for a collection of small animals or figurines to play with on the pew. Look for little zippered purses or pouches at yard sales to store these little collections of buttons, animals, and other small items. This makes it easy to keep these smaller items contained when not in use and it also makes it easier for children to play with one thing at a time and then put it away.
Animals to Play with on the Pew
Choose a few of your child’s plastic animals as quiet toys for church and put them into a small bag in your quiet bag to help your kids play quietly.
Felt quiet books are great for encouraging your child to create quiet stories while learning to listen. Some of these books include flaps, and other interactive features. Some sets require some cutting and assembly to get them ready for your bag. Keep them tucked into a large zip top plastic bag to keep the loose pieces of felt from getting lost in the bottom of the bag and also to help keep the felt books clean and in good repair. These felt books and felt sets can provide hours of quiet play for your children in church. Individual felt pieces can be used to create a scene on the back of the pew, or in the felt book.
Felt sets are very quiet and take up little space in your quiet busy bag! This set happens to be pre-cut, so it is ready to play with immediately. You may need to teach your child how to create a scene or story, but they will enjoy playing with felts over and over again!
Magnetic and paper doll-type toys can also be a lot of fun for children in church. The key to choosing the activities to put in your quiet bag is to choose things that are small and compact so you don’t have to haul a suitcase to church, and items that allow for imaginative, quiet play. Magnetic pictures or paper dolls can provide hours of fun while your child is repositioning the little figures to create different scenes.
These types of puzzles are great busy bag ideas for 2 year olds and toddlers. Very young children will enjoy doing these puzzles with you if they aren’t able to do them on their own quite yet. These wooden puzzles are not as quiet as a felt set, but this provides the opportunity for young children in church to learn skills such as playing quietly.
Magnetic story sets are great in any busy bag for toddlers because they are typically flat like a book and the pieces stay together easily. The background story board is easy to play with on your lap or your child can kneel on the floor and place the story board on the seat of the pew and create their stories and pictures.
The sturdy playboard background provides the backdrop for all sorts of scenes and adventures with these cute magnetic animals. Store in a large zip top bag to keep all the little parts contained.
A couple more favorite items that don’t take up much space but provide hours of fun are these tricky magnetic dogs and pipe cleaners. I remember playing with these little dogs when I was a child. A bulletin was a perfect landing place for the top dog and then the other dog would connect through the bulletin underneath. These tiny dogs will easily fit in your purse or pocket and can entertain children in church for quite some time.
These timeless little toys will provide hours of quiet observation and play. These are small, so make sure you are supervising your young child in church.
You can slide the dogs around and around on the bulletin and then try to make the dogs connect the other direction which would result in the push of the magnet. They fit perfectly in a breath mint container or another small container so they won’t get lost in the bottom of your bag.
Pipe cleaners are another inexpensive, fun item and they provide a quiet way to build or create shapes or objects. Use them over and over again. You can also use the chenille stems for threading large buttons. This is especially great for kids learning eye/hand coordination and much easier than a button with string. Encourage your child to string the buttons in patterns by color or shape. You may need to take a little time to help your child create a creature or shape with the pipe cleaners, but once they get the hang of it, they will love creating shapes. When the service is over, you or your child can straighten the stems and use them again next week.
Chenille Stems and Endless Possibilities!
No matter the age of your child, pipe cleaners are fun to play with and they take up very little space in your busy bag for church!
Books are always a great way to capture a child’s attention. The key to having great books in your quiet bag is to rotate the books often so your kids don’t get bored or lose interest. If your child loves horses, then put some horse books in the bag. If they love farm animals, then put in some books with farm animals.
When you are preparing for your children in church, think about the content of the books as well. Choose books that will help your child to think about Jesus or nature rather than movie characters or things that will distract them from learning more about Jesus.
As your child gets a bit older, they may also enjoy drawing. I absolutely LOVE these books for helping kids learn to draw. They are step by step instructions for drawing many different things. If you follow the instructions, you will end up with realistic-looking pictures. They are simple but excellent!
This series of learning to draw books has easy to follow instructions and simple pictures that a child can easily follow. Another great addition to your busy bag if you have children who like to draw.
Preparing Your Busy Bag Activities for Your Children in Church
You know your child and what their interests are so you can use that knowledge to pack your bag. The key is to pack things that are new and different from everyday toys. Once you’ve chosen the things that you will put in your quiet bag, put the busy bag away and use it only for church. This will keep the toys and activities fresh and exciting for your children in church. It also provides something special for them that they only get to play with at church.
When my daughters were little, I actually had two quiet bags packed and we alternated every other week. Each busy bag for church had similar types of items but the actual items were different. This really helped the girls stay interested in what was in the bag and be able to be busy and entertained during the church service. If you buy a huge package of chenille stems, split them into two different bags so you have a set for each bag.
One trick that works well is to save the bag until the church service actually starts. In our church, we sing, pick up the offering and the kids collect an offering and then there is a children’s story. Only after those things were done, were my daughters able to open the bag. This helps them to learn patience as well as pay attention for a short amount of time when there is more activity going on in the church.
It can be very discouraging to try to sit through church with kids but don’t lose heart and give up. It’s amazing how many things children hear during the sermon even though you didn’t think they were paying attention. Consistency is the key. If you keep going to church and teaching your children to be quiet in church, it will help them learn to be disciplined in church while also providing you the opportunity to listen to the sermon.
Pack Your Busy Bag and Take Your Kids to Church!
Go find a bag and start packing! Remember, it doesn’t have to be fancy and you may not have all of these things in your quiet bag yet, but start. Every week that your children are in church it will get easier as they get used to the expectations and the programming. Before long, you may even hear them asking questions about the sermon or humming the songs from church.
Remember that your kids are individuals. What might be very entertaining and keep one child busy, may not work for the next child. Swap out the things that they lose interest in and put in fresh activities every so often to keep the quiet bag engaging and helpful. As your children get older, they won’t need as much “entertainment” in church. But for now, embrace it and know that you are bringing your children to church to learn more about Jesus and there is nothing more important than that!
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These are really great tips! I love those lacing toys for kids, they are awesome.
These are fun toys but they also really help a child develop eye/hand coordination as well.
Oh I like the puzzle, it looks like the soft kind of material.
Yes, these puzzles are made out of crepe rubber. It’s a little bumpy on the front side. Flexible, washable and durable. The company also replaces pieces!
What a great idea. These would work on the airplane and restaurant and road trips too. I am always looking for things to help my little ones when they need to be quiet. Thankfully, my toddler loves music and likes clapping and singing during praise and worship.
You are absolutely right that these ideas are very versatile. I always kept a different bag for church so it would be something new and not the same old things that they got to play with at every appointment or meeting.
Wonderful ideas! I tried coloring books with mine but there’s nothing louder than a dropped crayon rolling to the front row. ?
Oh yes! I remember that sound!
These are all great ideas! Our youngest son is still able to go to the church nursery for a couple more months, so he’s taken care of… my oldest, however, needs to be occupied. He’s 6, and I’m up front in the choir/praise team and Daddy is up in the balcony doing the sound board! We do have a children’s church program, but it’s not every week and it’s only during the service. Now that my oldest can read, it’s easy just having him bring a book to read or a workbook for him to practice his math or writing. He also is allowed to bring a coloring book or a drawing pad and his colored pencils or crayons (NO MARKERS please as we had an incident…). He can also bring a small box of LEGOs if he promises to be quiet with them or he can bring a handful of Hotwheels cars. Rotation is key though, and we have a special bag that is ONLY brought to church, so they get excited about it.
Yes, I agree that rotation is the key. I had two different bags packed all the time and we would rotate them until they were bored and then I’d change out parts of pieces of the bag and it was like new again.
wish I read this a few days ago. puzzles! My daughter loves them but I didn’t think of that. thanks
Now you can plan ahead for the next week! 🙂
Great suggestions! It’s so important to always have the future generation in the church. I love the quiet book suggestions.
What great ideas! It’s so hard to keep a toddler calm and quiet at the same time. I could see these helping my daughter in church as well.
I’m glad the ideas are helpful! As your child grows and gets used to sitting in the church, it will get easier!
We didn’t allow toys to be brought to church. Quiet books, drawing, coloring. They also had to learn to sit and listen as well.
My bag changed as my children grew older. It was always amazing how much those little minds absorb while playing quietly!
Oh my goodness I need this? My two littles are three months apart and one in particular is such a wiggle worm. Thanks for all the amazing ideas! I am going to start compiling my own bag full of tricks…I think I’ll call mine our Busy Bag???
Yes, they truly are busy bags! Keep those kids busy and you’ll be amazed at what they hear and learn as well!
We have a special church bag for our children. We haven’t used it as much in recent weeks, but I now have it stocked and ready to go with new items. The Lauri rubber puzzles are super cute! We have used the lacing activities too. In fact, the first time I introduced them to my children, they weren’t super interested, but when their grandmother called them “sewing” they thought they were the best thing ever! 🙂
Funny how a change in perspective can make something more interesting! I grew up with “sewing cards” too! 🙂
I haven’t had to think about this in a while, but now that I have a 3 year old granddaughter who sometimes comes to church with us, these ideas will be a big help!
I’m sure your granddaughter will love your “new” things!
These are great tips! Thank you for sharing, will definitely be on my list!
Littles are tough in church, for sure. Once they come out of the nursery, I tried to be an example to my sons to listen and take notes. I would let them take their own notes during the service – either by picture or words considering the age – and we would talk about our notes after the service.
I love this idea! Our kids definitely watch our example!
What a great idea! Definitely need to have books in the bag! My nephew LOVES books!
I love changing out the books every so often too so they don’t lose interest!
I cannot tell you how much I LOVE this post. I am not opposed to children in church, but I am opposed to LOUD children in church. I’m not opposed to wiggly kids or busy kids or fidgety kids…it’s just the LOUD kids that make me want to break out my “mom glare” {I don’t but I want to!} All of your suggestions are quiet, which I think is the perfect solution to kids in church!
Thanks so much Katie! I agree. Loud kids can interrrupt lots of things but teaching kids to be quiet at the appropriate times helps them down the road in so many situations!
So many good ideas. I feel like a lot of these could be used in so many situations where you need to keep little ones occupied.
That’s the great part about having a well-stocked quiet bag – it’s portable and you can take it lots of places!
these are good tips, I thought most churches have nurseries for the kids
I’ve never attended a church with a nursery so I don’t know about most churches 🙂 I wanted my children to be in church with me anyway, so I’m not sure I would have used the nursery.
Aw I love the soft puzzles and might have to get my toddler some!
My kids loved the Lauri puzzles. The ones we have are 20 + years old and they are still in great shape!
Nice list of activities and products. I don’t have littles anymore but wish all parents would be as thoughtful for their kids. Thanks.
I think sometimes parents just don’t really know what they should be doing to help their kids. I’ve enjoying mentoring young moms and their little ones to help them learn how to teach their kids to be busy but quiet. Whispering is definitely a learned skill! 🙂
Great tips! Little minds and bodies definitely need to be occupied, and you really do have some great tricks!
Thank you Patricia!
I’ll have to send this to my friend who is almost at that stage. Great advice
Thanks so much for sharing with your friend! 🙂
SO many great options for a mama to keep in her bag.
I have a Lauri Puzzle and some lacing toys but have never thought of bringing them to the church service with us. Great ideas! I also LOVE The Beginners Bible! Such a great kids bible. Thank you Karen!
The great thing about the Lauri Puzzles is that they are so quiet! I keep mine in a large ziploc bag (1 1/2 gallon size) so that the pieces don’t get lost or fall out in the bag.
More parents need to read this lol and apply it to MANY public outings!
These are all great ideas!! My toddler loves those magnetic puzzles that are like paper dolls. He has so much fun dressing them in different costumes.