2016 VBS team at Bethel, AK Our third year of DIY VBS, was a special year as we expanded our VBS vision to include two locations: Bethel, AK and Ketchikan, AK.
This year's theme was born out of inspiration from a program that our youth group, On Fire for Him, did at Easter time.
This included stories of lost and found sheep, coins, and people. We had a lot of fun expanding our time to include rotations between craft and a new activity time this year.
We hope you enjoy and get the chance to make your own Lost and Found VBS!
This year's theme was born out of inspiration from a program that our youth group, On Fire for Him, did at Easter time.
This included stories of lost and found sheep, coins, and people. We had a lot of fun expanding our time to include rotations between craft and a new activity time this year.
We hope you enjoy and get the chance to make your own Lost and Found VBS!
Lesson Inspiration
Luke Chapter 19 - The Parable of the Lost Sheep, Coin, and Son
Then we used parts of Jesus' story to explain how he came to find the lost (us!)
Then we used parts of Jesus' story to explain how he came to find the lost (us!)
Schedule- 5-6 day VBS
1. Games- 10 min
2. Music – 10-15 min
3. Lost and Found Story time-5-10
4. Arts and crafts-10 min
5. Lost and found treasure hunt- 10 min
6. Lesson 10-15 min
7. Memory Verse- 5 min
8. Snack- 5 min (as leaving)
2. Music – 10-15 min
3. Lost and Found Story time-5-10
4. Arts and crafts-10 min
5. Lost and found treasure hunt- 10 min
6. Lesson 10-15 min
7. Memory Verse- 5 min
8. Snack- 5 min (as leaving)
Lessons
For this year's lessons we decided on using a narrator and acting out the stories. The narrator read the story exactly as it is in the Bible with pauses at spots for characters to ad-lib something to the story. For example the Lost Coin is a short story in the narrative but with the narrator pausing the lady can talk about her coins. Surprisingly this was one of the favorites with the kids as our lady had them help her count the coins and then look for her lost coin. Some times it's the simple things that do the best.
| Day #1: Topic: Jesus as baby Emphasis: Magi’s search for Jesus Matt 2: 1-12 Characters for reading: Narrator, 2 Magi, Herod, Mary Day #3: Topic: The Lost Coin Luke 15: 8-10 Characters for reading: Narrator, Lady Day #5: Topic: Jesus' Life and Death Emphasis: Peter’s Denial and Reinstatement (God searches for people) Matt: 26: 31-35, Matt: 26: 69-75, John 21:15-19 Characters for reading: Narrator, Peter, Jesus, 3 accusers Memory VerseLuke 19:10- "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."- NIV Just when we thought that the memory verses were too hard or that kids didn't memorize things anymore this year was the first rush of kids learned the memory verse. Of course prizes never hurt! Lost and Found Treasure Hunt Searching for items This year one of the rotations was this activity: Lost and Found Treasure hunt. Materials: Objects to hide related to the story of the night List of objects to look for How it works: Kids are given time to go around the room and look for the hidden objects. Readers can do it by a list and little ones can either have a buddy or be given verbal instructions. | Day #2: Topic : The Lost Sheep Luke 15:1-7 Characters for reading: Narrator, Shepherd, Sheep Day #4: Topic: The Lost Son Luke 15: 11- 32 Characters for reading: Narrator, Son, Dad, Brother, Wild Friends Optional Lesson: Topic: Jesus’ Life Emphasis: The Good Samaritan Luke 10:25- 37 Characters for reading: Narrator, Samaritian, Priest, Levite, Jew, Robbers, InnKeeper This optional lesson came about in part because of the timing of our trip which this year we did five nights of VBS, a Sabbath School, and a church service. So we used this for our Sabbath School time. Free feel to use or not use depending on your needs. Tagline: We say: THE LOST ARE.... Kids say: FOUND! A note on costuming: As you can see, because we are a traveling VBS our costuming is simple and easy to pack up and reusable throughout the nights. Think hats and simple props. Our most elaborate and space taking props was those sheep, yep we made those ourselves! Registration Registration time (Hint: Always use name tags!) To make it more fun this year we had a booklet of the theme that the kids got to take home at the end of the VBS. Below is the link to the documents. Free feel to print and use. (Tip: Print all four pages)
Lost and Found Story TimeAdditional activity was a time where our pastor told a quick story related to the theme of the day. | ||||||||||||
Crafts
| Day 1: Handprint Camels Supplies: Construction paper, crayons Day 2: Sheep rolls Supplies: Sheep cut outs, toilet paper rolls, glue, crayons Day 3: Coin mobile Supplies: Cardboard circles of all kinds, glue, glitter, paper plates, string, popsicle sticks Day 4: Father's Arms Supplies: Cutout hands and person, glue, crayons, memory verse, googly eyes Day 5: Binoculars Supplies: 2 toilet paper rolls, string, stickers, crayons, stapler, hole punch Optional: Good Samaritan Supplies: Construction paper, people cutouts, googly eyes, felt bandaids, glue, crayons | |
Music
| Theme song: Seek Ye First Hint: Also a great one to make up signs to. The kids liked learning it to sing up front and we had them sing with us on sabbath during church. And if you want to know more about the songs used by On Fire for Him (OFFH): click here | |
Games
| We played games at the other VBS' before just to kill some time. This year we had specific theme games. We found that letting the kids play at the beginning what they chose while we wait for others to come helped get other kids interested in coming. It gets the wiggles out. Then we'd introduce the theme game. This worked well at Bethel because they had outdoor space. It was a little harder to do at Ketchikan, so we modified the games to play indoors. Day 1: Maze How to: Create a maze with ropes or chairs and lead kids through blind folded. |  Guiding through the maze Day 2: Ocean Stormy How to: Kids lines up on a line and a person in the middle calls a color and those with that color run to the other side. Game continues as such. | Day 3: Coin search How to: Coins are hiding in an area and kids are given a time limit to find as many as they can. Day 4: Hide and Go Seek How to: Have the kids hide and then go seek them. Day 5: Balloon game How to: Like volleyball but with a balloon Optional: Bandage the wounded How to: Have plenty of gauze and a volunteer (usually a VBS team member). Then time kids or teams of kids to see who can wrap the wound the fast. A leg or an arm is the best and easiest thing for kids to wrap up. |
Goodies and Snacks
Team taking a break from filling goodie bags Goodie bags: This year we carried on the brown paper bag tradition. We found that we could use up goodies from previous years or "leftovers" with the new stuff as we go. Anything on the small side goes (with exception of bags for the little ones). Coloring pages, bouncy balls, and glow sticks were some of the goods this time.
Prize box: Also we had a prize box for those who answer questions at the end of the lesson and also those who memorized the memory verse. These goodies were things that didn't go into the regular bags: think bubbles, bigger balls, small games, etc.
Snacks: Cookies! Cookies! Cookies! We know healthy might be better, but these always go over well and we do mix it up with some fruit.
Prize box: Also we had a prize box for those who answer questions at the end of the lesson and also those who memorized the memory verse. These goodies were things that didn't go into the regular bags: think bubbles, bigger balls, small games, etc.
Snacks: Cookies! Cookies! Cookies! We know healthy might be better, but these always go over well and we do mix it up with some fruit.
Decoration
This year's decoration inspiration was lost and found beach, but as you will notice we didn't carry that all the way through. We ended up making our main room about Jesus and pointed the kids to that Jesus is looking for the lost people. In the hallway, we did our beach with found items that the kids could see while they passed by. In the craft room, we had colored pictures of the different stories. As usual with luggage space being an issue, we used streamers and deco balloons to round it all out. The exception was Ketchikan where they were nice enough to decorate a beach scene for us so we didn't have to bring materials.
Ta-Dah! A Lost and Found VBS
We hope this has inspired you to try your own Lost and Found DIY Vacation Bible School. As always feel free to copy what you see here and make it your own.
| lost_and_found_vbs_format.pdf |
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