Preparing for Harvest

Use harvest season decorations to give your church a new, inviting look for fall. Add borders such as this Autumn in Clay Border around doorways and windows as well for traditional bulletin board trims.

Choose creative church members to select ideas from the following suggestions. They also may have some creative ideas of their own, using items available in your community. The helpers can do the decorations themselves or form a decorating committee. Have your Sunday school classes, Bible clubs, mom's groups and others meeting at your church make harvest decorations to spruce up your church.

Cut leaf shapes in various colors and sizes to use as wall decorations and name tags for your harvest events. (Or, if you prefer not to have to cut out leaves yourself, pick up a few Falling Leaves Designer Cutouts instead. They come in a package of 36.)

Make pumpkin garlands from orange construction paper. Use the garlands along with orange, green, and brown crepe paper around doorways, windows, hung from the ceiling, and as runners across table tops. Decorate your bulletin boards with Pumpkin Borders (35 feet of trim).

Ask families to bring in harvest items from home to decorate hallways, windowsills, shelves, and table tops: pumpkins, gourds, miniature bales of hay, colorful leaves, nuts, apples, squash, dried corn husks, scarecrows, baskets, bushel barrels, cornucopias, colorful rocks, pussy willows, fall flowers, etc. Make a large banner for one or more walls that reads, "The Harvest Is the Lord's." Post a similar banner at the children's eye level for your young students to decorate with crayons or markers.

Have children draw pictures of people for whom they are thankful. Hang the pictures on the walls after they are signed by their artists. Hang Harvest Attendance Charts in your classrooms. These come with 1400 matching stickers.

Draw harvest fruits and vegetables onto construction paper. Cut them out and hang them from drinking straws or dowel rods to make mobiles. Hang extra shapes from ceilings, windows, and in doorways.

Collect canned food to give to a local homeless shelter or food pantry. Let your students decorate large collection boxes to place around your church campus. Have bundles of dried corn stalks standing nearby. Arrange pumpkins, squash, and dried gourds around the base. Use these as collection spots for your food drive.

For more harvest decorating and outreach ideas, take a look at A Church Family Harvest Celebration program book with CD-ROM from Christian Ed Warehouse.

If your church holds a harvest festival or other fall event, invite your community to join your congregation. Then invite the visitors to return for worship, Sunday school, and Bible clubs!

Follow Up VBS with a Harvest Outreach Program

VBS may be just around the corner, but it's not too soon to start planning for a follow-up program. Get new families to come back to your church with a fun, faith-building fall festival or Halloween alternative. On the last day of your VBS program, hand out invitations to your fall festival. (Reproducible bulletin inserts, posters, and flyers are included on the CD-ROM.)

This flexible program can also be used for a Thanksgiving service of Psalms, an easy-to-do pageant about the story of Ruth, an optional puppet skit, ice-breakers, service projects, and more! 

If you're looking for harvest ideas, a Thanksgiving program, fall festival games, crafts, and outreach ideas, take a look at the Church Family Harvest Celebration outreach program with lots of reproducibles on CD-ROM. (Including the coloring pages shown below.)

This easy-to-use instruction guide tells you all you need to know—whether you've been planning church events for 25 years or this is your first time! Includes promotion and programming ideas, recipes for refreshments, games, craft instruction sheets, recipes, and lots more. Take a look at the contents and view sample pages from the Church Family Harvest Celebration.

Here are just a few of the ways you can use this flexible program:

• Perfect for Back-to-School, Thanksgiving, or Halloween alternative
• Step-by-step instructions for planning and set-up
• Reproducible instruction sheets and patterns
• Christ-centered games and crafts
• Quick and easy decorations and centerpieces
• Missions project ideas

Try out these coloring pages from the Church Family Harvest Celebration. There are two separate coloring pages in this file. Each coloring page has a memory verse. There is a coloring page in the file for the New International Version and a separate page for the King James Version. If you use a different Bible version than the ones given, feel free to cut off or white out the verse and replace it with the version you prefer.

You can make as many copies of these coloring pages as you need for your children's program. Click on either image below to download the harvest coloring pages. Visit our Sunday school downloads store for more coloring pages, crafts, and puzzle downloads—many as low as $1.99 each! We even have coloring pages and crafts designed especially for your VBS program. Visit our VBS downloads store  for more downloads especially for vacation Bible school. May God bless you as you prepare to teach children (and their families) about the harvest season and how much God loves them.

Decorating for Harvest

Use harvest season decorations to give your church a new, inviting look for fall. Choose creative church members to select ideas from the following suggestions. They also may have some creative ideas of their own, using items available in your community. The helpers can do the decorations themselves or form a decorating committee. Have your Sunday school classes, Bible clubs, mom's groups and others meeting at your church make harvest decorations to spruce up your church.

Cut leaf shapes in various colors and sizes to use as wall decorations and name tags for your harvest events. Make pumpkin garlands from orange construction paper. Use the garlands along with orange, green, and brown crepe paper around doorways, windows, hung from the ceiling, and as runners across table tops.

Ask families to bring in harvest items from home to decorate hallways, windowsills, shelves, and table tops: pumpkins, gourds, miniature bales of hay, colorful leaves, nuts, apples, squash, dried corn husks, scarecrows, baskets, bushel barrels, cornucopias, colorful rocks, pussy willows, fall flowers, etc. Make a large banner for one or more walls that reads, "The Harvest Is the Lord's." Post a similar banner at the children's eye level for your young students to decorate with crayons or markers.

Have children draw pictures of people for whom they are thankful. Hang the pictures on the walls after they are signed by their artists.

Draw harvest fruits and vegetables onto construction paper. Cut them out and hang them from drinking straws or dowel rods to make mobiles. Hang extra shapes from ceilings, windows, and in doorways.

Collect canned food to give to a local homeless shelter or food pantry. Let your students decorate large collection boxes to place around your church campus. Have bundles of dried corn stalks standing nearby. Arrange pumpkins, squash, and dried gourds around the base. Use these as collection spots for your food drive.

For more harvest decorating and outreach ideas, take a look at A Church Family Harvest Celebration program book with CD-ROM from Christian Ed Warehouse.

If your church holds a harvest festival or other fall event, invite your community to join your congregation. Then invite the visitors to return for worship, Sunday school, and Bible clubs!