Aligning Preschool with Elementary — Yay or Nay?

I love healthy debate! Especially when it’s about how to most effectively reach kids with the gospel of Jesus.

With that in mind, I present to you another “This or That!”

It’s a blog series where I debate with myself on both sides of a hot-button topic in children’s ministry. (The great thing about debating yourself is that one way or another, you’re always right 😁.)

My hope is that regardless of where you land on a topic, you’ll be able to better understand and communicate why you think what you do. 

And who knows…maybe one of me will even change your mind!

Why you should align your preschool and elementary curriculum…

Aligning your preschool and elementary lessons is a no-brainer. Why wouldn’t you want every child in your ministry learning the same story at the same time?

Think about it—if a family has multiple kids in different age groups, you’re setting parents up for spiritual success. They can continue the conversation at home with just one Bible story instead of two or three. Easier for parents = better engagement at home, right?

Here are a few good reasons to align your lessons:

• Family Discipleship Gets Easier: Parents don’t have to juggle different topics—they can ask, “What did you learn about Joseph today?” and every kid can jump in.
• Unified Messaging: The entire church (including adults, in some models) can be centered around the same biblical theme, creating alignment across age groups.
• Simplified Planning for Family Events: When you align lessons, things like take-home devotionals, family nights, and holiday events are much easier to plan.
• Reinforces the Message: When everyone is hearing the same story at age-appropriate levels, the message has more chances to stick.

Aligned learning makes things easier for families and reinforces your ministry’s message…case closed!

Why you SHOULDN’T align your preschool and elementary curriculum…

Not so fast buddy! 😁

Here’s the thing: while aligned learning sounds great in theory, it can do more harm than good — especially for your youngest learners.

Let me explain.

Preschoolers and elementary kids are in completely different developmental stages. You wouldn’t teach them math the same way. You wouldn’t read them the same books. So why would we expect them to process the Bible the same way?

Here’s what happens when you align them:

• Preschoolers Get Left Behind: Most curriculums use elementary as the baseline, meaning preschoolers are forced to “keep up.” Moreover, metaphorical stories like parables or topics like the armor of God go way over their heads.
• You Sacrifice Repetition: Little ones need lots of repetition to retain truth. When you change big ideas and Bible verses every week to match older kids, you rob preschoolers of the chance to remember what they learn.
• It’s Age-Inappropriate: Stories like Cain and Abel or David and Bathsheba? Not exactly preschool-friendly. But if you’re aligning, those stories are on the menu—ready or not.
• You’re Helping a Few While Hurting Many: Only a small percentage of families have kids in both preschool and elementary. So why structure your entire preschool ministry around a small subset of people? 

Yes, family ministry matters — but not at the expense of preschoolers’ spiritual development. Besides, there are ways to support family discipleship that don’t come at the expense of preschoolers.

We don’t ask toddlers to read chapter books just because their siblings can. We don’t give them algebra homework just to keep the family discussion consistent. So let’s not do that with the Bible either.

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And if you haven’t done so already, join me for a GO! Curriculum demo and find out how GO! lessons bring fun and Biblical depth together.