How to Make Sure Kids Get Answers

By Claire Koenig

Almost every teacher can attest to their love for questions; however, when questions take over the class time, the Sunday school schedule becomes a bit hectic. Kids can ask a lot of questions!

In a video on YouTube, three sets of parents attached GoPros to their child’s bike helmets, put the helmets on them in the morning, and recorded them from the moment they were awake until they went to bed that evening. The goal of the experiment was to find out the average number of questions these three kids asked in a day. The prediction given in the video was 288. However, the result of their tally was a staggering 312! Imagine that many questions being bombarded at a teacher all at once! It can be incredibly overwhelming for an individual to handle.

Try these effective tactics to help you manage your class time, even when your students have paralyzing amounts of questions.

Ask students to save their questions for the end of the lesson.

After the Bible lesson is over, have a set amount of time to answer the questions the kids have. Make sure children know they can count on this time and plan appropriately so you don’t neglect it. This method works well for a Sunday school class with fewer kids. The only downside is that kids may occasionally forget what they wanted to ask.

Ask the children to save their questions for their small group leaders.

Although children may forget their original question, you can be sure that they’ll have plenty of others, and that they will probably remember their original question later on during small group! Be sure to set a specific amount of time for kids to ask, especially if you’re taking questions in small group time.

Have a “Question Can”.

Tell the kids that if they have a question during the lesson, they can stand up, go to the question can in the back of the room, write down their question, and put it in the can. Take time to answer these questions with the students individually or as a class at the beginning of Sunday school the next week! In the situation that your students are too young to write, have a small group leader sit in the back with the question can to write down their questions for them. This method is perfect for some groups, but it can be distracting for others.

Designate other leaders and teachers in your Sunday school class to take questions for you during the lesson.

If having the Question Can is too distracting for your particular kids and your Sunday school ministry has enough staff, try designating other leaders and teachers in your Sunday school class to take questions for you during the lesson. They can sit among the kids, stand at the end of each row, or be at the back of the room, whatever works best for your Sunday school class. Telling the kids that if they have a question they can talk to a small group leader in the back allows you to continue teaching your lesson, without having to worry about whether or not the kids are just getting up to move, because your staff is available to monitor the situation.

Answer questions as you teach the lesson.

Questions can be used to emphasize a point, relate the Bible characters to the kids, or even transition into the next part of the story. Ask the students questions such as, “Do you think Peter asked that question too?” or “Do you think Paul wondered the same thing? Probably! Let’s see what happens to him next!” These phrases are effective ways to jump from answering a child’s question back into your lesson by using the questions they ask as a transition. This method can be time-consuming if there are too many questions and usually works better in smaller classroom settings.

You may find that you need a combination of these tactics to suit your Sunday school ministry needs, which is perfectly normal. Every group of kids is extraordinarily different and may need a distinctive routine for getting their questions answered.

Do you have any unique tricks up your sleeve? What other creative ways can you come up with to answer kid’s questions in Sunday school?  If you know of any methods not mentioned in this article, add them in the comments below!