Children in worship - "I spy" Sanctuary game

This is the cover of the booklet we made.

The church where I worked made a dedicated Sunday school hour for a few months.  Unfortunately, it didn't last.  But to welcome the kids in worship and to make a huge/formal space inviting to children, we put together a variety of things - worship bags, a prayground, and this - an "I spy" game to put in the pews.  I concentrated on those three things - a kid-friendly place where they could sit during the Scripture and sermon (our "prayground"), a note to the parents and our congregation that explains our feelings about kids in worship, and a little (educational...shhh;) I spy game to put in the pews to help them familiarize themselves with the sanctuary.  Have you ever noticed everything in your sanctuary?  There are a LOT of things in there...things that have names that most children don't know.  So, I wanted to make a game that 1. kept them occupied (in a good way) 2. was fun; and, 3. helped them learn about their surroundings by looking around.

The game is geared towards beginner readers.  The descriptions are more complex and kindergarten and first graders would probably need help from adults around them to read them - but they are written in language they would understand.  You can download my descriptions from my teachers pay teachers store for free - but my pictures aren't going to match your pictures - although I've included a few here so you can see some examples :)  Here is an example of a description (I also included a hint for each one!):  I put the "hint" right side up on the back of the pic, and then the answer/description upside down. 

Hint: Look on the small table in front of the pulpit…and think food!

Description:  The bread is part of the Lord’s Supper – or Communion.  We take it the first Sunday of every month.  The bread represents Jesus’ body and the wine/juice represents Jesus’ blood – when he died for us on the cross.

I asked a professional photographer at our church if she wouldn't mind walking around the sanctuary and taking close up pictures (very close up) of 15-20 common items in the sanctuary.  She agreed :)  And she did an awesome job.  These are the things we picked out (they are pictures of pictures so the glares are because of that...not because of her pictures!):

part of the pulpit (she did the mic) (see cover pic above)
"fake" bread on our communion table (see cover pic)
candles
plant in the back corner of our sanctuary
organ pipe (see cover pic)
seat cushion

little communion cup holders
flag (see cover pic)
bible
hymnal

piano/piano bench
stained glass

communion table (bread - see cover pic above)
music stand

cross on the door
baptismal font

friendship pad

there may be things in your sanctuary that are unique and you could include, that others couldn't.  

Once we had the pics, she ordered about 10-15 of each picture because I wanted to make around 50 booklets with 5 pics in each.  Each booklet contained different pics so that if they sat in different places the booklets would be different.  I also tried to rotate the booklets every 3-4 weeks so that if they sat in the same spot (and most people do lol), the booklet would change.

We laminated the pics and punched a hole in the corner for a ring (you can see the ring in some of the pics.  I made a cover (which you can also download) and we laminated that as well.  They turned out really well and I hope our kids (and adults;) enjoyed them...and learned something!

Maybe this will inspire you to do something similar in your church!