Vacation Bible School

Earlier this month our family helped at our church’s annual Vacation Bible School. It’s always a highlight of our year; in fact, I don’t know who has more fun, the staff or the kids attending! J

The theme this year was “The Adventurers” after the movie “The Avengers.” Our church auditorium was decorated to look like New York City. Here, Ben and his buddy J wait for the bus. J

At the opening each night, the kids would play some kind of game. Here they are trying to arrange themselves according to their age. It was a challenge and required good organizational skills!

They would also do a penny drive each night. The team that wins the penny drive (donates the most pennies) wins points and earns prizes at the end of the week. All of the money from the penny drive—which usually amounts to somewhere near $300—will go towards our missions team to pay the travel costs for several suitcases filled with toys to take to the children in Haiti.

The kids also had the opportunity to say their memory verses on stage. Some of the younger ones were a bit shy! J

Then they would sing several songs. Some of the songs are still playing through my mind after singing them every night. J

After the opening, the kids split up into groups to go to the different stations. One station was the Bible lesson. Each night there was some kind of skit leading into the Bible story for the night. In the above photo, Jack Lumber was telling the kids about facing giants. They then discussed the story of David and Goliath and facing our own giants every day.

Another night they had a shadow skit about the story of Baalam. It was quite comical, and the kids learned about controlling their anger.

Another station was craft and snack. The kids made lots of simple crafts related to the story of that evening.

The favorite snack of the week was ice cream night! We were very thankful for good weather all week, though it was a bit warm some days.

The games station was another favorite. Ben worked out here all week with some of the other young men in the church. One night they had a relay race that involved kicking a soccer ball through a bunch of cones.

Another fun game was tug-of-war. Despite lots of rope burn, this is a game that comes back year after year.

The preschool group had their own outdoor games in a fenced-in area. Roma and Rubia had a blast serving as shepherds for this group.

They had even set up a mini bounce-house for the kids to use throughout the week.

Friday night was “Dress like your favorite Super Hero” night. We had lots of Captain America’s (above), Black Widows, Batmans, and other heroes.

On Sunday morning, the kids had a big finale for their parents in church. They sang some of the songs they had learned during the week, had another penny drive, and recited their memory verses.

After church, everyone was rewarded with a picnic! It was a nice celebration to end a very busy week.

A couple in our church own a bounce house and set it up for the kids to use during the picnic. They really enjoyed it

Photo Credit: Roma.

And that was our week! We look forward to next year!