Good Links for Programming Ideas

I'm starting this blog as an outlet for preteen ministry ideas. I'm the programming team director for the Underground, the preteen ministry (5th & 6th graders) at our church. We're always looking for ideas, as well as a permanent, accessible storage place for our curriculum, so here it is. I'll be moving things here from my other blog as I have time, so that it will all be here as we need it.
To start off, I'm going to add some links to some of the sites I already use regularly.

The Source for Youth Ministry We use this regularly. There are great games and ideas for video clips. The only problem I've found is that a lot of it is just too mature for preteens. The video clips must be chosen very carefully because they are intended for older teens. But a fantastic resource I recommend highly.

Kids Sunday School Place There are some good lesson ideas here. Unfortunately, you have to pay to get most of them. If you want video clips, etc., I don't think they are suggested, but I don't know for certain, I've only used their free lessons for inspiration. I'm frugal; that's why I'm starting this free blog. :)

Fools 4 Christ This is a site all about Christian dramas. They are not specifically for preteens, but a good resource. They have their own free dramas, and they have links to many, many other sites that have dramas. The links aren't all free sites, and the list is hard to weed through, but if you have time, look around.

Christian Book Distributors This is a good resource for books, videos, etc., at discount prices. I could spend hours in a book store, and the same can almost be said of online book stores, so this is a dangerous usurper of my time. But if you are looking for something specific, chances are you can get it here for less money.

Last year, we tried to write our own curriculum. It was a challenge, but I learned a lot. However, this year, we are buying one. It was just too much. One day I hope to take all the work we did last year and put it into a usable format, just so all that time won't have been for nothing. But for now, we have purchased Group Publishing's Grapple curriculum. Unlike most of the stuff we look at, it is designed for this age group, and it takes their interests to heart. Part of the curriculum is access to a closed, online community. The kids can get on the site during the week and keep in touch with each other, learn more about next week's lesson, play games, etc. We are just getting started, so I can't speak with authority yet. But I'll keep this updated with our thoughts on the new curriculum. (If you are interested, you can download a sample from www.group.com.)