A Weekly Meeting Run Through…
Time spent in the weekly meetings builds friendships between dads and their preschool
children, as well as between the dads themselves. The length of the weekly meeting depends
largely on your circumstances. If you are meeting at night a shorter meeting will work
better with young children. If the meeting time is on a weekend, longer meeting times may
be desirable.
TADPOLES MEETING SCHEDULE
6:40 Tadpoles Activity Centers
7:00 Tadpoles Starter
7:05 Tadpoles Action
7:20 Tadpoles Snack
7:30 Tadpoles Story
7:40 Dads Time
6:40 TADPOLES ACTIVITY CENTERS
(20-30 minutes)
As dads and children arrive, they enter a time of unstructured activity oriented around
several interest and learning centers. A father will be stationed at each center to help
children do the activity. Children can move from one activity to another as they choose.
The number of centers will be determined by the size of the group; the Tadpoles program
manual will suggest different centers for each meeting. On some occasions, there will be
only one interest or learning center and will involve all the dads and children e.g.,
making pizza. The centers will begin as soon as people arrive and can continue until all
are present and children have tried all the projects.
7:00 TADPOLES STARTER (5-10 minutes)
The opening ceremony of a Tadpole meeting includes the Tadpoles Cheer, words of
greeting to each child and dad, prayer, and announcements. The entire group sits on the
floor in a circle.
Tadpoles, Tadpoles, gather near,
Time for fun and time for cheer,
Tadpoles, Tadpoles, need not fear,
Wiggle, jiggle time is here.
7:05 TADPOLES ACTION (10-15 minutes)
Physical exercise is the special feature of this part of the meeting. Children and dads
will start with warm-up exercises, then try a fitness test or two, and then play several
games. Depending on the ages of the children, a group may divide between younger (ages
2-3) and older (ages 4-5) for these exercises. All the exercise and games will be designed
to encourage muscle growth as well as father/child cooperation.
7:20 TADPOLES SNACK (10-20 minutes)
Preschoolers use up energy quickly. Refreshments help to keep them going. This is also
a good occasion to visit the washroom. If one of the learning or interest centers involved
a drama, play or art work, this is the time for a performance or demonstration.
7:30 TADPOLES STORY (10-20 minutes)
Fathers take turns reading or telling a Bible story to the children. They can read an
illustrated children’s book, or a selection from a Bible story book, or play a tape
with a story being told. After the story, dads can sit down with their children to learn
and discuss the theme Bible verse of the meeting and pray with their children. The meeting
then concludes.
7:40 DADS TIME (5-10 minutes)
If the time and conditions are suitable, dads huddle for a brief discussion on a
parenting topic. The children play nearby so they can be watched at all times. Perhaps one
dad supervises the children while the other dads talk. Questions are provided in the
Tadpoles manual.
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Steps to Organizing a Tadpoles Group in Your Church
Tadpoles is a Christian Service Brigade program for fathers and their preschool
children (ages 2-5). Like all CSB programs, Tadpoles is "owned and operated" by
a local church. The men of the church provide the leadership. However, these men should be
responsible to a Christian Education committee, the pastor or one of the church staff.
1. Find a man to lead the Tadpoles group.
This person is the Tadpoles Coordinator who will usually be one of the fathers as well.
His job is to recruit fathers, meet with them to plan the program and guide the meetings.
He should not run the program by himself, however. Rather he should assign tasks to
various dads prior to every meeting. The Coordinator is also the individual who reports to
the church board or staff who oversees children’s programs.
In churches with an existing Brigade program, a Brigade chairman often handles
administrative duties, such as recruitment, promotion and registration. The Brigade
chairman will recruit the Tadpoles Coordinator and assist him in starting Tadpoles.
The Tadpoles Coordinator should investigate possible meeting locations. If the group
will meet at the church, be sure to check with the Christian Education staff about
equipment and supplies.
2. Recruit other dads to participate.
Send a letter or call all the dads who have children between the ages of 2 and 5 in
your church. If there are too many to contact personally, make an announcement in the
bulletin or on Sunday morning. Give interested men a copy of the Tadpoles brochure, which
explains the program.
3. Meet with interested dads to plan the program.
Arrange to meet with all the dads who expressed an interest in Tadpoles. Review the
objectives of Tadpoles and the parts of the meeting. Show the dads this manual. Then
discuss and decide on the following matters:
• where the group will meet
• when the group will meet (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly)
• how long the meetings will last (60 or 90 minutes)
• how you will handle children whose fathers cannot attend
4. Order materials and check equipment needs.
Each father should have his own copy of this manual. Order a quantity from the CSB
office or online. Obtain a copy of My Bible Story Book. You may wish to use another Bible
storybook that you already own. Be sure the stories are short, easy to understand and
accompanied by colorful illustrations.
If you’d like the children and dads to wear Tadpoles T-shirts, use the design in
the Tadpoles manual. Take it to a silk-screening shop in your area and make as many shirts
as you need. The official Tadpoles color is yellow.
Finally, check your meeting location to be sure you have adequate supplies of paper,
crayons, scissors, glue, tape, balls, toys, blocks, etc.
5. Get your dads and leaders registered.
If your church has an existing Brigade program,
register your dads with the other leaders being registered with head
office. Send your registration form at the same time. Indicate which dad
is the coordinator and all others as Tadpole dads. If you are only
running Tadpoles, send your Working Agreement Application to our office
at 1000 Stormont Street, Ottawa, ON K2C 0M9 with a cheque for
the ministry fee. You can register the leader’s names via email, by
sending a list of your leaders to hbcsb@sympatico.ca
6. Announce the first meeting.
Make sure you begin with a well-planned, exciting meeting. The Coordinator is
responsible for assigning dads to lead various learning activity centers, games and the
Bible story. Let men know a week ahead of time what their responsibility will be.
Announce the beginning of Tadpoles meetings in your church. Also send an announcement
to the local newspaper or radio station.
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Tadpoles FAQ
1. Why should we start a Tadpoles group?
Because men need help learning to be fathers. The best time to begin is when their
children are very young. Tadpoles will give dads a positive experience and build their
confidence. It will show them how to teach their children the stories and truths of the
Bible.
2. How much will this program cost?
Very little. Every dad should have a copy of this book. He should register with
Christian Service Brigade so he can receive a men’s magazine geared to fathers. Any
other expenses are for materials and snacks at the meetings. Some groups may wish to
produce their own T-shirts.
3. What about fathers who cannot or won’t participate?
Expect this to happen. There are children in almost every church whose fathers are
absent from the home. There are also dads who work night shifts or Saturdays as well as
dads who have other responsibilities in the church and are not able to join a Tadpoles
group.
Decide at the beginning what approach you will take. You have several options:
• Insist that fathers attend with their children. There is merit to this
rule. After all, Tadpoles is for dads. To give them the option of not attending violates
the primary goal of the program. Furthermore, because of the age of the children, plenty
of adult involvement is needed.
• Assign children without attending fathers to various dads in the group. A
dad should supervise every child. Some dads can handle two or three children.
• Recruit other men in the church to be adult partners for those children
whose dads cannot be there. College students or grandfathers are good choices, too.
Work hard to get at least a core group of dads involved in Tadpoles. Encourage them to
include some children from single-parent homes. Always keep the door open for every dad to
participate.
4. How do we involve fathers who are not from our church?
Make them feel comfortable in the group and give them specific assignments as they
indicate their willingness to help. Do this with the learning activity centers and games.
The dads of the church as a rule should do the Bible story.
Invite dads and preschoolers from the community to attend. Tadpoles is an outreach
program of the church as well as a ministry to fathers.
5. Where is the best place to conduct Tadpoles meetings?
The best location is a preschool meeting room in a church (or home) which is equipped
with toys, tables and chairs, books and materials for craft projects (crayons, scissors,
paper, glue, clay, etc.). Large play areas with carpeted floors are important.
Preschool rooms should have adequate lighting and heating, fire protection, toilets,
sinks and wash basins. First-aid equipment must be available.
To use a church or day-care facility for Tadpoles will require coordination with other
groups using that room. You may need to check on liability insurance to cover your
group’s use of the room and equipment. Don’t presume on others in your church.
Check everything out so you don’t create hard feelings.
If a preschool room is not available to you, find a play area in a home which has all
or most of the above items. For the sake of the children, try to meet in the same place
all the time so they become familiar and comfortable.
6. How long should a Tadpole meeting last?
The meeting plans in this manual suggest a minimum of 60 minutes and a maximum of 90
minutes. The length of time you choose depends on the circumstances.
If your Tadpoles group meets on a weeknight, the shorter time is preferable. Most
preschoolers are not able to stay up very late. If your group meets on a Saturday morning,
a longer meeting time is possible. The best way to decide this is to meet several times
and see what works best for the children.
7. Should we separate boys and girls?
There is no reason to do so. Children at this age level get along well with each other.
It’s more important to separate older preschoolers from the younger ones for games
and more advanced learning activities.
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From: Tadpoles Volume 1 Pages 2-5
