This has been around for a couple of years, but I still think it's a neat idea :) I did it one year at my last church. Basically, it's a pizza box filled with fun activities that your kids can do over the summer. It is especially meant for road trips! When your church families are traveling (or when your own family is traveling), it's great to still give them a connection to their home church! Let them know they are being thought of, even if they are hundreds of miles away. Since most church services can now be found online, this can also be an enhancement to those services - if they are being watched while at the beach, on road trips, etc. While parents are watching the online service, the children can be there with them, using these materials :) Win-win for everyone!
Assuming you're on a budget and you don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on these, here are some ideas to help you cut the cost, but still provide fun and meaningful materials!
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First off, the box. You can buy them in bulk online, or you can ask around at different pizza places and ask for donations. I got small ones for us thinking we wouldn't need anything large...but if you don't get ones big enough for 8 1/2 by 11 papers, you're going to be doing a lot of folding. Since most restaurants have their names on the box, many will be more than happy to donate 10-15 for the cause. You may need to hit 2-3 restaurants if you have a lot of families. I gave out one per child, but you could also do one per family.
You also want to include any summer bulletins/newsletters, etc that you have for your specific church. Include a piece of paper (or glue it to the inside of the lid) with the website and social media info so they can watch online.
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Now for the Fun stuff -
I went to oriental trading and bought 3 things that I knew my kids loved.
Scratch offs! My kids love these, and I loved the idea of giving them a postcard that they could create and write on while they were on a trip somewhere! You could even write the church address on it and put the stamp on it to encourage them to send it while they're gone! You could display them somewhere in your church :)
Sticker scenes to do on long car rides...OR, you could get religious ones to do during their at-home worship services! There are tons to choose from. If you'd like to get a religious one that goes along with the lessons that I am including in my bundle, there is a good one for the story of Joseph.
Lastly, you can get fidgets or little logic puzzles that would fit nicely in the box.
Other items...
You could also put deflated beach balls in the box and write conversation starters on the ball so they could play a game together as a family :)
Other things to include - glow sticks, crayons, colored pencils, and stickers to decorate their box :)
I also found a finger labyrinth printable online that I included. I've discovered that tracing them can be calming for kids.
Jokes are also fun! Search "free printable jokes for kids" and include some of those :)
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I have also created some fun things that you can include in your box! There are 7 things total and you can get them all for $4 - and make enough copies for all your kids! This is what I'm offering in the bundle (some are free and you can get them all separately or together).
1. 5 Bible Story lessons to do at home. I actually have ten available for free in my store (5 OT and 5 NT), but that is too much to include in your pizza box. So, I picked out 5 that are well suited for trips away from home or at home. Those five are a "bonus" item in the bundle.
2. Religious Car Trip Bingo - God's Creation. - (.50) this is a little printable you can print out on cardstock or laminate and include in the pizza box. There are 48 things on there for them to find on a car trip and they are all God's creations! :)
3. Would you Rather questions! ($2) This is a fun game you can play at the dinner table, in the car, wherever! Play this with any age. You can print them in color or black and white. You can let them cut them up, or you can do it for them. Rubber band them together and there ya go!
4. Lego stem tasks ($1) - Any age can play this. most families have either small or large legos at home and they could play this game. However, if you want to make sure they have some, Target sometimes has the knock off brands in their dollar bins! They actually work pretty well - I've used them! Include them in their boxes. This set has 21 cards. If you don't want to give all 21 to each child, you can print out a few sets and give each child 5 cards.
5. ABC Wordsearches (.50 each) - This is just for readers. These wordsearches are special :) I give them the starting letter of the word (A-Z) and how many letters are in the word - and they have to figure out the words in the puzzle. Click this link to see a free sample for Holy Week. In this bundle, I'm including the Joseph wordsearch (because that story is in the Bible lessons) and a generic "Bible character" wordsearch.
6. Joseph dice game (.50) - Preschoolers - elementary can play this. I have around 5 dice games, but I'm including Joseph since he's in the Bible lesson :) They only need one die for this. You can provide it or just let them get one at home. (Dollar Tree has a pack of dice for $1).
7. Lastly, I created a religious summer bucket list that you can print out and give to your families. This is free, but I've included it in the bundle as well so you don't have to download twice :) This comes in a one page printout like you see above, or you can print it in black and white, cute up the ideas, and then draw them out of a hat one at a time :)
Total cost of all the materials is $5 but the bundle is only $4 :)
If you decide to make a box, let us know below what you put in it that is different from what I've suggested! We would love to get more ideas!
Thanks and God bless you and your ministry and family :) 🧡
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