Here are some ideas from a church that has done the Heroes module:

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would share something that we did on the last night of our Heroes series. We called it "Hero Night". The kids dressed up as their favorite hero. For the most part, we did the activities as usual, but I invited a local fireman (who attends our church). He did a 10-min presentation on fire safety and he put all of his gear on for the kids. Then, I asked him to give examples of how he has had to apply the 4 Bible points in his life. The last one (true heroes trust God for protection) was especially good. He talked about when he took his test to become a fireman. He was afraid of heights, and was required to go up about 6 stories. He spoke about having to trust God to protect him in that situation.

The kids made a "thank you" poster, which they all signed. We gave it to him that night. Also...we substituted "Hero Sandwiches" for the "Lions Face Off" activity in the small groups. We provided small party buns, deli meat and cheese. Small group leaders brought a bag of chips for their kids. They were a hit!

One of the highlights of that night was when a girl came up to me and asked if I could guess who she was dressed up as. I couldn't guess, but with a beaming face, she said, "You!" How affirming that was for me!

I'm doing Heores for November and I have a question about lesson 1's Bible presentation, which we will do this Sunday, 11/5.

Nowhere does it say that the balloons should be helium balloons, but I get the feeling that that is the intent. OK on that.

My big question is that it says the children should "bop" the balloons. I take that to mean bat about like a volleyball, and I know if I do that, it will be a free-for-all, and no learning will take place. I also don't think passing them from one child to another is a good idea. It would be too distracting from the story. I intend to have them "bob" (raise and lower) the balloon that is given them, that they keep throughout the story. I think the younger kids will be the Red Sea, because that is a simple, one-instruction task. I also plan to have one older kid carry a balloon of a different color than all the rest, to be Moses, and lead his people through the Sea.

What were your experiences with this activity?

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We are doing this lesson this weekend as well.  We did a similar activity at the Avalanche Ranch field test last year and while it was tons of fun, there were balloons going everywhere.  Granted....it was a larger number of kids than we will have this weekend but we have decided to adapt and use colored paper plates instead.  Maybe not as big of an impact but we think it could still be fun and get the message across.  I would do the balloons if we had a small group.

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We used air-filled balloons and they were easier to control than helium-filled.  Still, anytime we use balloons (and that's pretty often with this curriculum), the kids get very chaotic and it's hard to get them under control again.  I like the paper plate idea submitted here . . . maybe we'll try that next time!

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We used air-filled balloons as well.  The kids (and adults) held the balloons and waved them around for the activity.  Immediately after the activity was done I had several large trash bags to collect the balloons so they would not get tossed around the room for the rest of the evening.  We skipped drawing faces on them so the kids wouldn't get ink on their hands.

If you have room to save them you will need them for an activty later in the Heroes unit.

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Well, we did the lesson with helium balloons, but limited the activity to bobbing them up and down when the character was mentioned, and no drawing on them. When the groups were supposed to be plotting, we just had them do a pretend huddle. No "chasing." When the "Egyptians" went into the "Red Sea", we had them sit on the floor and bring their balloons down, while the those with the red balloons held theirs over them. And the "Israelites" on the other side bobbed their balloons and cheered because they were safe. It all worked quite well, and no real problems with the activity getting out of hand. And they all remembered the details of what God did, which was, of course, the reason for doing it in the first place!

We also had capes for all of our instructors.

Our group is already small (10-15) so we don't have to break into small groups but I do have to choose the activities carefully to encompass grades K-5.  We used the balloon skit with helium balloons and everyone was excited to take one home in the end.  We did the marker activity and I used the pre-K take home activity of the Thanks Ball.  All ages enjoyed kicking the ball to one another and no one was bashful since even the adults were in the circle.

The kids left happy and even the adults told me what fun they had!