Child development experts understand the value in repeating a concept. “The deepest aha's spring from an encounter and then a return. Repeating the encounter fuses it into one's awareness. One of the biggest mistakes a teacher can make is to forego the return or repetition.” – Robert F. Bruner, University of Virginia
In the best-case scenario, an elementary school child will be in your children's ministry for six years (K-5th), though some will be there for fewer. KidzLife’s 3-year cycle is intended to be repeated, allowing the child to go through each curriculum twice.
The second time through a series, the child will be three years older. His or her life will have changed a great deal, as well as his or her ability to contextualize the material. Small group discussions are question-based, so their answers and applications are very different, and much deeper. If you choose to use our journals with your kids, the child will move up into the older version of the journal for his second time through. These journals go a bit deeper too, with questions pertinent to his age, a longer portion of the passage to memorize, and additional passages for them to read from other parts of the Bible to broaden their understanding.
As an added benefit, the series can be repeated indefinitely. That means your ministry doesn’t have to repurchase the digital teaching materials. Invest once, and use forever.
BigKidz works the same way. Toddlers will be in the 3- and 4-year-old class for two years. You simply alternate between the two series we offer, without repurchasing. Each year of BigKidz lays a solid foundation by covering God's big plan of redemption, from Creation through resurrection, though we highlight some different stories each year.
Your sweet Kiddoz are only 2-years-old once, so there's only one year of Kiddoz material.
You'll be amazed at the depth your kids can grasp, and retain! At KidzLife we never, ever water down the Truth. But we present it in fun, memorable, kid-friendly language with real-life applications.