Sunday School Curriculum for Multiage Classrooms
In many churches, we’re seeing less children in Sunday school. Adapting to decreased attendance may mean reevaluating how children are grouped and going to a multigraded or one room curriculum. Publishers are responding to these changes and there are now a number of choices available.
Celebrate Wonder All Ages comes from Cokesbury, the United Methodist publisher. It is for ages 3-12. We can expect the Fall 2024 curriculum to be available sometime in August. Cokesbury also offers the Deep Blue Small Group Large Group option for elementary age children.
Sparkhouse, the ecumenical branch of the ELCA publisher, has two options for multigraded Sunday school classes: Spark All Kids and Whirl All Kids, a video-based curriculum. They are both for a classroom with children ages 5-12 and follow a two-year cycle.
For Presbyterian (PCUSA) churches, Follow Me offers a multiage component for ages 6-10 as part of their Follow Me curriculum
If you’d like to use a multiage curriculum based on the lectionary, there are a few options. Feasting on the Word is an ecumenical curriculum from the PCUSA publisher which offers a multiage component for children in grades K-6.
Samples of all curriculums mentioned are available on the publishers’ websites. As Sunday school attendance continues to diminish, we can expect to see more options available for one room or multigraded classes.
For congregations with limited time for faith formation, who have no available teachers, and who want to use materials already in their supply closets, consider Snapshots, PRC’s new multigenerational faith formation curriculum. There are plans for two centers, following the RCL passages for that day, and multigenerational activities to support understanding and application of themes from the passages. You’ll find samples here.
Samples of all curriculums mentioned are available on the publishers’ websites. As Sunday school attendance continues to diminish, we can expect to see more options available for one room or multigraded classes.
