100 Best Ideas to Turbocharged your Preschool Ministry by Group Publishing Page A

“sniffer,” and enhance your preschool ministry environment with one of the many fragrance options available.Have fun and keep parents and children coming back for more.
—Barbara

Every preschool ministry needs labels.As a matter of fact, I think labels should be as commonplace in your ministry as the preschoolers you serve.Think about it, labels help you know what you’re dealing with.They allow you to create groupings in your ministry.Labels help your volunteers stay one step ahead of the kids in their classrooms.I’m not talking about the kinds of labels we sometimes put on kids—I’m talking about the kind we create with a label maker.
    In our preschool ministry we label everything.We use labels to keep us organized.They take the guesswork out of finding resources.Labels make replenishing supplies a breeze.Our volunteers love them, and I’m convinced our preschool director couldn’t live without them.
We use labels to organize our resource room. Our resource room serves as supply central for our preschool volunteers. Everything we need from crepe paper and cleaning supplies to string and Silly Putty is located in our resource room. And here’s the key...it all has a home. Everything (and I mean everything) is placed in a bin, labeled, and alphabetized.
We use labels in our classrooms. Our volunteers know where to find what they need when they need it because scissors are always in the bin labeled “scissors” and glue is always located in the bin labeled “glue.” Even our toy bins and bookshelves are labeled with words and pictures showing where things belong. This is extremely helpful when it’s time to clean up our toys and get ready for crafts or story time because our kids can help us clean up. Not only does this help the next group that uses the room, but our kids also enjoy matching the toys to the correct bins.
We use labels to help us set up on Sundays. Each week we have a volunteer team that comes in and gets everything ready for our preschool ministry. They pull all the needed craft supplies, resources, and snacks for our upcoming lesson. Everything’s labeled, so they don’t waste their time searching for supplies; they can tell us what needs to be ordered, and they can ensure everything is ready to go on Sunday morning.
    I know this seems simple, and it is.Every preschool director needs a label maker.As a matter of fact, a label maker will become one of your best friends in ministry.Labels will turn you into an organization guru and eliminate the stress of looking for what you need on Sunday morning.They’ll also free up your volunteers to spend their time serving preschoolers, not searching for scissors.
    So get busy making labels as commonplace as kids in your preschool ministry.
—Eric

If we surveyed 100 parents and asked them the #1 thing they look for in a preschool ministry, it’s safe to say their greatest concern would be the safety of their children.
    This absolutely can’t be compromised.Parents must be able to trust caregivers.Only when there’s trust will parents feel confident about bringing their children.I’ve seen families leave churches because of one incident where a child wasn’t properly taken care of.Kids will be kids and accidents will happen.But we can take these steps to ensure that our preschool ministries are safe, sound, and ready for preschoolers.
    Create a manual of written policies.The more clearly and concisely you can state your policies, the better.No one wants to read a 150-page policy manual.Hit the most important policies, and communicate them effectively in written form.Get input from a team of parents and volunteers to help create your policies.
    Communicate safety policies to all volunteers.Hold a meeting with all first-time volunteers, and make sure they clearly understand all safety rules and regulations.
    Communicate safety policies to your leaders regularly.Every time you connect with your leaders via email or newsletter, highlight a safety