Are Sunday school decorations important? Yes
Are they necessary? No
What? Why would you say that? Especially on a decorating blog…
Anyone who has worked with children knows that to teach a child anything, getting their attention is tantamount. Themed décor in a classroom can be a way to initially grab their attention. I am not under any illusion that it keeps their attention throughout an entire lesson, but it initially draws them in and makes them interested. This is valuable. Fortunately, if there is any reason that a you cannot decorate your Sunday school class, you can still have an amazing Sunday school class. The important part is to keep their attention through various other methods as you impart the word of God to them, so if you miss the initial grab that decorations give, you are still okay. The décor is just the initial hook; it is setting the stage. It adds a little extra something.
Decorations do not make or break a room. They can be a wonderful tool, but if for some reason, decorations cannot be put up, that’s okay too; not everybody has that option. When I first started teaching, my church rented out a middle school on the weekends for church and Sunday school. The Sunday school department was given a handful of classrooms that were used for regular school during the week to use for our Sunday school classes. We only had access to these rooms starting one hour before Sunday School began. If we wanted to do any decorating, we had to do it an hour before Sunday school started, then pull them down the instant Sunday school dismissed. This was quite a challenge for me as I really wanted to decorate. I remember one quarter I had a stuffed animal zoo. Because of the necessity for simplicity, an hour was sufficient to set up, but at 10:30 AM when Sunday school ended, I was always rushing to rip down all my posters and cram all the stuffed animals into a borrowed pet carrier while escorting a half-dozen kindergarteners back to the auditorium in time for church.
Fortunately, after a few years of renting out the school, my church purchased a building, giving all the Sunday school teachers the opportunity to decorate. Our main focus in Sunday school was not on decorating of course, but it certainly is a fun aspect of kids’ ministry; we all get just as much out of a fun theme as the kids do.
Decorating is so effective partly because the children already have imagination to begin with. What child has not used a cardboard box to create an imaginary hideout? A train? A house? A car? Children’s imaginations are wonderful and creative. However, despite this amazing imagination, a Sunday school teacher cannot set a plain cardboard box in the middle of a Sunday school room and consider setting the stage done. If you were to do so and let your students decide what it was, one could decide that it was a pirate ship, another could decide that it is a prison (I have some students that would claim that), and another could decide that it is a kitchen. As Sunday school teachers, we are responsible to divert that imagination to the right place to prime them for learning (as well as keep them on the same page). This doesn’t mean that the decorations should be dull. Just the opposite! The decorations should be fun, engaging, and exciting! If we have the ability, the resources, time, and permission to decorate, we should grab onto that tool and run with it!
VBS
I think decorating for VBS carries a lot more importance than decorating for Sunday school. VBS is more likely to attract guests than our normal weekly Sunday school classes. In Sunday school, the decorations may hook the children into the lesson, but it doesn’t necessarily draw them to church as they could not have seen the decorations before they arrived. It is a bit different with VBS. There are more guests in VBS. Most parents are now conditioned to expect VBS to come with an elaborate theme. Although most parents don’t tend to decide whether to send their children to VBS based on a preview of that year’s theme and decorations, they do expect there to be a certain emphasis on it. This expectation is not necessarily there for Sunday school, but it is for VBS. Don’t underestimate a well- decorated room for VBS for the parent’s sake as well as the kids. A well put together theme says “we care about the quality of our program” when people walk through the door. Of course, it has to be followed by a well put together set of lessons, games, and crafts program as well. A successful VBS is a team effort, but every part is important, including decorations!