Pre-Teen (11-12 Year Olds)

Each of the 172 Bible Lessons on this website provide a selection of activities for children of various ages.  When choosing activities for eleven and twelve year olds keep the following in mind:

Eleven and twelve year olds are able to participate in a wide variety of activities.  Competitions and games are a great way to learn.

Most comprehend repentance and some are ready to make a commitment to Christ.

More About Understanding Age Groups  

What 11-12 Year Olds are Like

• They usually like and respect their parents.
• Hero worship is common.
• They have a deepening sense of justice and wrongdoing.
• Their conscience is becoming more tender and they understand repentance.
• They have excellent memory skills.
• They are developing relational thinking skill.
• Friends are very important and they may have a best friend
• Sexual differences are becoming more obvious and they have increased interest in the opposite sex.
• They enjoy interacting within groups in a variety of ways such as:
  • Talking
  • Group and club activities
  • Competitions
  • Joking and humour
• They enjoy expressing themselves by:
  • Writing stories and letters
  • Spending time on a phone or computer

Learning Activities 11-12 Year Olds Enjoy

• Painting and art
• Writing encouragement notes to others
• Drawing cartoons and captions
• Interactive activities relating to what happens in their world or home, school and community
• Expressing themselves in writing in activities such as Inductive Bible Study.

Teaching Tips

• Plan activities and social events outside of class where children can be together.
• Help children connect with other church members so they can become active in church ministries.  Children this age are often eager to go along on visits to elderly members, help in benevolence works, pray, read scripture or lead songs when others gather.
• Assign memory verses to learn.  Once committed to memory these Scriptures will often be applied throughout their lives.
• Use their love for group games and competition to involve them in learning the Bible and reviewing facts from the story.
• Help them to distinguish between heroes they should and shouldn’t admire.
• Help them see how to put God first in their decisions regarding priorities and loyalties.
• Encourage children in their growing relationship with God but do not pressure them to act beyond where they are in their own personal stage of development.

Relating to the Bible at This Age

• By the pre-teen years children can usually read a set of verses or a Bible story of reasonable length from the Bible.
• A teacher can challenge them to read a verse or set of verses and then:
  • Outline what they have read
  • Point out the most important words and/or
  • Name the characters and describe them based on what they have read.
• Also guide them to read a verse, group of verses or a Bible story and then describe:
  • What this reading reveals about God
  • How the pre-teen’s thoughts and feelings are affected by what they have read, and/or
  • What actions they might take based on what they have just read.

Mission Bible Class Resources to Help You Teach

• How to Plan a Bible Class
• Songs Children Enjoy
• Teaching Ideas
• Quick List of Bible Stories and Suggested Themes

References and Other Helpful Online Resources

• The ABC’s of Spiritual Growth
• Power Point Slides about Age Characteristics
• Collection of Child Development Articles
• Child Development Information
• Play and Developmental Stages

Help for Teaching Children of Various Ages