God’s Unfolding Story for Older Preschoolers Is Changing!
Many churches are using God’s Unfolding Story for Older Preschoolers. We first published this curriculum in 2012 and have been pleased with the number of churches using the resource and the many positive comments we have received from teachers and church leaders over the years. Even though the curriculum is absolutely free, we often receive comments that it is the best curriculum they have used. After almost 10 years, however, we have determined it is time to repackage the curriculum and make some important changes.
Why Are We Changing God’s Unfolding Story for Older Preschoolers?
Fresh Design. Any publication can become dated in its graphic design and we simply feel it’s time to “freshen up” God’s Unfolding Story for Older Preschoolers. Actually, you’ll find the new format isn’t highly designed. It is much simpler in its graphic presentation which we hope will give it a longer “graphic life.” Because we make the curriculum available for free, we have to watch our costs and, frankly, this design is much more cost-effective.
More Streamlined. God’s Unfolding Story for Older Preschoolers is available for free, but churches must download the needed files and print the lesson plans. The new design will require only three pages to print each lesson plan (rather than four). Printing the Resources and Supplies page (page 4) is optional and is there for the convenience of the leader responsible for gathering needed supplies and equipment. We hope churches will appreciate this more streamlined design.
Expanding Age Group Offerings. It has always been our plan to expand and create curriculum for other age groups. But, we still have to pay people to write the content and create the needed activities and resources to do that. This new design will make it easier, and less expensive, to expand our age group offerings.
Revised Bible Truths. Many of the original Bible Truths are being revised in order to better reflect the content of the story rather than a behavioral application. We believe this is most appropriate for younger children. You can learn more about why we think this is an important change.
Stronger Connection to Sunday School Zone. Sunday School Zone has always been a strong supplement to God’s Unfolding Story for Older Preschoolers. That connection, however, has not always been apparent in the curriculum itself. The newly repackaged curriculum should make it easier for teachers to find additional activities and enhanced content for each lesson by being able to click on hyper links within the lesson PDF itself.
Appropriate Advertising. Just like the resources on Sunday School Zone, God’s Unfolding Story for Older Preschoolers is free. All future age group offerings will be free as well. In order to make this curriculum available for free, we have to include advertising on the site and will begin to include a minimal amount of appropriate advertising (one small ad) in each lesson. When you see the new design we think you’ll agree that the one ad block is NOT invasive and will be relevant to our users.
What’s Changing?
Portrait Orientation. The new design will have a portrait orientation rather than the current landscape orientation. This should make it a little easier for those churches and leaders that want to place lessons in a binder for future use.
Hyper Links to Supplemental Resources. Lessons will still be delivered by PDF. When being viewed on a computer, however, there will be working hyper links within the PDF that will take the user directly to additional relevant content on Sunday School Zone. This should make it easy to access additional content.
Revised Graphic Icons. Certain graphic elements are being revised to reflect a more up-to-date feel and help lay the foundation for adding other age groups. The primary logo icon, for instance, will be changing as will the icons for each of the story elements.
The Sixth Story Element. We were very thoughtful when we created the six story elements that we’ve been using for almost 10 years. However, after further reflection and study, we’ve determined that the verbiage of the sixth (final) story element needs to change from Jesus is preparing heaven for us to
Other helpful articles about God’s Unfolding Story for Older Preschoolers (2020) can also be found on the site.
