Kids in Big Church

Our church has AMAZING, FANTASTIC children's ministries (if I do say so myself!).  But once a month, the church hosts an evening service where children age 5 and up are encouraged to attend with their families.

Question: how do you keep your kids engaged in the "Big Church" message on these occasions?

The kids love the worship part, and are fascinated by the communion part (although our family policy is to save participation in communion until baptism, which is of course in turn saved until they are able to express their understanding and acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  If you are not sure what that means, check this post for a simple explanation).  The part that is the hardest for them to sit through is the "talking" part.

Although I admittedly regularly abuse technology to keep my kids busy, I did not want to establish screen-time as a way for my kids to "get through" the service.  My solution so far: old school entertainment...pen and paper.  But with a twist.  I am trying to use the pen and paper as a tool to help my kids engage in the message.  During the prayer time, I encouraged my kids to write or draw their prayer to God.  Isaac wrote this:

"Dear Lord. Can you please help me not be scared of ghosts.  And can you make it go to normal."  Yes, he has had a few anxious nights lately since the girls at school have been teasing about ghosts.  But I thought it was great that he thought to pray for it.

During the message, I encouraged the kids to listen to the speaker's words and draw or write what it made them think of.  Abby did great on this assignment:

She also wrote out the Fruit of the Spirit, which is what we are currently teaching in the children's ministry (proving how AMAZING and FANTASTIC our children's ministry actually is):

As a momma who loves Jesus, it makes my heart melt to see their little hearts grow in Him as they express it in words and pictures.  I'm not saying this method makes for a stress-free, relaxing service for me, as I spend a great deal of whispers and energy in redirecting them back to the pen and paper, but the reward of helping them engage in the message is worth the effort.