Help your club members record and share their favorite memories of this year’s club and recall all they’ve learned about Jesus.

Photo Book/Slideshow Activity

Help kids use the layout below to take pictures for a photo book or slideshow that recaps their Pioneer Clubs year. Bring in digital or printed pictures that you’ve already taken of club. These can be incorporated with the new ones you take at this party.

If you decide to make a photo book, 20 pages are the average length, so the layout below lists 20 pages. If multiple photos are suggested, simply put them all on the same page. Keep an eye out for photo book companies running specials and order enough copies so that each child receives a book. These would make great gifts for leaders as well!

If you’re doing a slideshow, spread the suggestions of multiple photos out to multiple slides. Invite parents next week and put on a show.

If you want to go low-tech, print out the captions and photos and put them in 3-ring binders for all the kids.

Layout

page 1

  • text—2022-2023 Pioneer Clubs Memories at (name of your church).
  • graphic—Pioneer Clubs logo

page 2

  • text—In Pioneer Clubs we made new friends. In our group there were
  • graphic—head shot of each kid with his or her name

page 3

  • text—Sometimes we were silly
  • graphic—silly group shot

page 4

  • text—and sometimes we were serious.
  • graphic—friendly, calm group shot

page 5

  • text—Together we played wacky games like ________________.
  • graphic—freeze frame of a game being played

page 6

  • text—Our skit about _____________ was ready for prime time!
  • graphic—freeze frame of a skit, with costumes if you used them

page 7

  • text—During Bible Explorations we learned about Jesus.
  • graphic—closeup of 1-2 kids reading Bibles

page 8

  • text—Did you know that (something you learned about Jesus)?
  • graphic—kid looking thoughtful

page 9

  • text—We had fun doing these activity awards: ________________________
  • graphic—closeups of projects done for awards or freeze frames of activities you did for them, plus award badges

page 10

  • text—We did these Bible awards: __________________________
  • graphic—closeup of kid writing in handbook, plus award badges

page 11

  • text— (Recipients) benefited from the service project we did.
  • graphic—freeze frame of several kids acting out the activity you did

page 12

  • text—We sang songs about Jesus. ______________ is our favorite.
  • graphic—closeup of 3 kids singing

page 13

  • text—We got to know each other better by praying for each other.
  • graphic—kids praying in circle

page 14

  • text—God made a great big world that we enjoyed when we ___________________.
  • graphic—kids outdoors, such as running, hiking, looking at a flower with a magnifying glass, etc.

page 15

  • text—One of our Bible memory verses was ______________.
  • graphic—on kid talking while concentrating hard, with second kid checking in Bible

page 16

  • text—Of course, snacks were always a hit.
  • graphic—kids eating

page 17

  • text—Some of us thought _____________ was the favorite thing we did.
  • graphic—favorite thing or kids acting out favorite thing

page 18

  • text—Others kids liked ___________________ the best.
  • graphic—favorite thing or kids acting out favorite thing

page 19

  • text—Our leaders (name) and (name) helped us have all this learning and fun. We think they’re (adjective),  (adjective), and (adjective).
  • graphic—leaders interacting with kids

page 20

  • text—And that was our (adjective) Pioneer Clubs year!
  • graphic—group waving

Award Ceremony

(optional) Hand out awards earned in the last unit. As kids come up for their awards, let them choose a balloon and write their name on it with a Sharpie. Before they sit back down, let them hand the balloons off to another adult who will hold them while they dry (and keep them out of mischief during the Devotional).

Now let’s congratulate each other. The game is to see how many people you can congratulate in 20 seconds—but not say or do the same thing twice. For instance, if you give someone a high five, you can’t give anyone else one. Go!

Good job! You’re good encouragers. Now let’s take a look at an encourager in the Bible.

(Option: Invite parents next week if you’re going to show the slideshow, and hand out awards then.)

Devotional

Look at the awards you’ve just received. (Or show an award display—banner, sash, etc.) Our next game is for you to come up with one thing you learned while working on each award this year. Name awards one by one and see if kids can remember one thing. Be ready to name the Bible stories learned about for the Bible awards, too, in case they can’t remember based on the name of the award alone.

You’ve learned an awful lot of stuff. You remind me of a young man in the Bible named Timothy. His mom and grandmother taught him about God and all there was to know about living a life that pleases God. Timothy was like a son to the Apostle Paul. When Paul was in prison, he wrote to Timothy. At that time, Christians were being treated badly by the king. Paul wanted to encourage Timothy. Read 2 Timothy 3:14-15.

Paul encouraged Timothy by asking him to remember what he’d learned from the Bible. Timothy would need to know those things in difficult times.

  • What stands out in your mind that you learned this year about Jesus or how He wants you to live? Let kids respond.
  • How can you continue in what you learned, as the verses say? (Practice, keep learning more, keep believing it even if a friend disagrees.)

Reread verse 15. Just like Timothy, one thing you’ve learned this year is how to have faith in Jesus to rescue you from your sins, the wrong things you do.  We’ve been talking about believing that Jesus is God’s Son who died on the cross to pay the penalty for the wrong things we do that keep us away from God. We’ve talked about how He came back to life and made the way for God to forgive us and make us His children. Maybe you’ve decided to accept Jesus’ offer of forgiveness. Maybe you haven’t yet. If this is a step you’d like to take, you can pray silently along with me.

Say that you will pray a prayer asking Jesus to forgive you and make you God’s child. Ask kids to listen once and then repeat it after you the second time if it says what they want to say. Ask kids to tell you before the end of the day if they prayed the prayer or want to know more.

Jesus, / I believe You’re God’s Son. / I know I’ve done wrong things / that deserve punishment. / I believe You died and came back to life / to make the way to save me from my sins. Thank You for loving me so much! / Please forgive me. / Please come into my life / and give me a new start. / Thank You for saving me! / Amen.

Games

Make sure the Sharpie is dry on the balloons.

Balloon Bat. See how many balloons kids can keep up in the air at the same time. Start with just a couple and keep adding more one at a time.

Balloon Relay. Pairs of kids run the relay holding a balloon between their hips (or their backs). Have extras on hand in case any pop, so each kid can still go home with a balloon.

Snacks

Logo Cake. Get the Pioneer Clubs logo put on a cake.

Breakfast Banana Split. Slit half a banana lengthwise. Add dollops of yogurt, granola, berries, chocolate syrup, and whipped topping.