Little Hearts, Big Moments: What Our Young Ones Learn at the Convention

For grown-ups, the regional convention is packed with rich spiritual instruction, emotional encouragement, and thoughtful application. But what about for a 4-year-old? What does a regional convention look like through their eyes?

For some, it might be the excitement of wearing a button-up shirt or sparkly sandals. For others, it might be the thrill of sitting next to their cousin and sharing quiet crayons. And for many, it's a long stretch of time that feels... well, long. 🥺 Yet even in the wiggles, whispers, and snack breaks, these little hearts are absorbing more than we might think.

🍼 Real talk: Some of our little ones may remember only one name or one scene—but that one moment might stick for a lifetime.

What Makes an Impression on a Child?

Young children may not be taking structured notes, but they’re learning. When they hear a name like “Elijah” or “Jesus” that they’ve colored in before, their eyes light up. When a talk mentions something as simple as being kind, they often lean in.

Sometimes, what they remember is not the full explanation of a Bible account, but the feeling: that the convention is a special place where everyone is paying attention to Jehovah—and that includes them too.

“Powerful By Faith” Convention Activity Books for kids and youths - 2 months in the making!

Secular “ready-made” Bible activities will invariably have unscriptural details. By contrast, the 2021 “Powerful by Faith” activity workbooks by Ministry Ideaz were designed from the ground up. And with 53 talks and parts on the convention program, making a variety of activities and puzzles for a variety of age groups was a monumental task. 

Before we even started with the graphics work, nearly 200 hours of brainstorming, research and planning were done using tools that included the Insight books and JW Library app. The final product is the result of 11 helpers from 3 continents to come up with scripturally accurate activities that are in line with each talk being given. With the COVID-19 pandemic and ‘shelter in places’ orders in place, this entire concept and planning phase was done collaboratively using tools such as ‘Zoom’ and ‘realtime Google Document Collaboration.’ Eventually, we had 128 pages in rough text of how the activities will be. 

After the research, concept and planning were finished, it took another 200+ hours to do the graphics design work and 30+ hours to proofread everything for accuracy. Real live parents and kids fielded the product before it was finally approved for printing.