VBS team for Bethel 2024 Our 10th year of VBS! Hard to believe we have been doing this a decade with our friends at the Bethel, AK Church. We came early this year because one of our missionary friends was going to be moving. They invited us to come for an extra weekend with hopes of going to another village. Unfortunately, that didn't pan out however we were able to do an extra weekend of kids programming. Which you will get as bonus material at the end.
The theme this year was Good Shepherd. We were inspired by reading through the parables of Jesus, yes similar to last year. This is the first year we had "repeat" stories (check here for another variation on the theme: Lost and Found.) It was one of our smallest teams yet with some of the biggest kid crowds we had seen. We were blessed to see God providing for us each day as our Good Shepherd.
The theme this year was Good Shepherd. We were inspired by reading through the parables of Jesus, yes similar to last year. This is the first year we had "repeat" stories (check here for another variation on the theme: Lost and Found.) It was one of our smallest teams yet with some of the biggest kid crowds we had seen. We were blessed to see God providing for us each day as our Good Shepherd.
Lesson
The Good Shepherd was our VBS theme. It came about from reading through the book Christ Object Lessons and the corresponding parables of Jesus for Friday night Bible Study. The obvious stories where the Lost Sheep and the Good Shepherd from John 10. When it came to picking the other parables it was harder but made sense that we'd do the Good Samaritan and the Unmerciful Servant both of which answered the question "If Jesus is our Good Shepherd than how should we treat others?" And finally we threw in Psalms 23 on Sabbath as the classic example of God as our shepherd in scripture.
Due to the small number of team members, we decided to once again invite the children to be in the story. We utilized stick puppets for this purpose. First we'd read the story so the kids could know what to expect and then we'd give them a character from the story and re-read it with them playing the parts. This went so well that we ran through each story twice. That way s every kid could have a turn.
Due to the small number of team members, we decided to once again invite the children to be in the story. We utilized stick puppets for this purpose. First we'd read the story so the kids could know what to expect and then we'd give them a character from the story and re-read it with them playing the parts. This went so well that we ran through each story twice. That way s every kid could have a turn.
| Day 1: Good Shepherd (John 10:1-18) Day 2: The Lost Sheep (Luke 15:1-7) Day 3: The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) Day 4: The Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18: 21-35) Day 5: Lord is My Shepherd (Psalms 23) | For the puppets following the link in the video below. And here's our master list of what we made. Feel free to add whatever else you want. A pro tip, you can double on characters as long as they aren't in the same story. For example, Peter could also be the "Injured man" from another story. Story Time Puppets Supplies- cutouts, crayons, scissors, popsicle sticks, glue Good shepherd -Jesus, Sheep, Robber, Stranger, Hired Hand Lost Sheep- Jesus, Shepherd, Sheep Good Samaritan-Jesus, Injured Man, Samaritan, Levite, Priest, Inn Keeper Unmerciful Servant- Jesus, Peter, King, 2 Main Servants, Other Servants Psalms 23- David, Sheep, Shepherd |
Schedule | Memory Verse/Catch Phrase |
| Prayer- 5 min Songs- 10 min Memory Verse Practice- 5 min Story Time- 15 min Craft- 15 min Games- 15 min Movie- 15 min Q&A- 5 min Prizes/snacks as they leave Total: 1. 5 hours |  Catch Phrase: We say: God is... Kids say: My Shepherd Memory Verse- Psalms 23:1 The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Depending on your kids and ages this could be a very easy memory verse. Many of the kids already knew this verse from Sabbath School. However there were some others that needed the prompts. We gave out special prizes each night for those who did memory verse. The most memorable was a bunch of frames that we had put animal pictures in. |
Registration | Music |
 Registration help in Bethel We handed the taking down information over to the Bethel church since they do all the follow up. However here are a couple things that we do that make it smoother in general plus a bonus. 1) Name tags out and ready with markers handy 2) Colored dots on name tags if you think you are going to split activities. 3) Give away book. If you are going to give out a special book this a great place to hand them out from so that each kid gets one. We gave out "God Said It"- Book 12 4) Bonus activity: the Prayer Tree. We had cardboard circles (with ribbons attached) at the registration table and when kids came in they could write down a prayer request or praise. Then they'd place it on the tree. We would pray for those during the beginning of VBS. | Theme Song: I Just Wanna Be a Sheep This was probably one of the most enthusiast theme songs we've ever done. The kids loved it! As for the rest of the songs, for once we kept it simple with a rotating 15 songs total. We had other songs regarding sheep, emphasizing the theme, or actions songs to keeping them moving. |
Crafts
Day 1: Shepherd Wind Sock*
Instructions here: https://www.daniellesplace.com/html/bible-crafts-jesus-calms-the-storm.html
*We borrowed a cut out from another project for the shepherd, but not sure of the original source. However we think you can figure out how to make it work from there.
Day 2: Sheep
Instructions here: https://onelittleproject.com/sheep-craft/
Day 3: Walkie Talkie Craft
Instructions here: www.handmadecharlotte.com/80590/
Day 4: Grateful Spinners
Instructions here: https://makeandtakes.com/thankful-wind-spinners
Day 5: Puppets*
Instructions here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkMPxS0sj9Q&t=1s
* Yep, the same as the puppets for the story time. Helpful hint is to pick only one character to make and you'll want to have things pre cut to make it go faster. We made a shepherd puppet.
Instructions here: https://www.daniellesplace.com/html/bible-crafts-jesus-calms-the-storm.html
*We borrowed a cut out from another project for the shepherd, but not sure of the original source. However we think you can figure out how to make it work from there.
Day 2: Sheep
Instructions here: https://onelittleproject.com/sheep-craft/
Day 3: Walkie Talkie Craft
Instructions here: www.handmadecharlotte.com/80590/
Day 4: Grateful Spinners
Instructions here: https://makeandtakes.com/thankful-wind-spinners
Day 5: Puppets*
Instructions here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkMPxS0sj9Q&t=1s
* Yep, the same as the puppets for the story time. Helpful hint is to pick only one character to make and you'll want to have things pre cut to make it go faster. We made a shepherd puppet.
Games
Day 1: Beach Ball Towel Toss
Instructions here: https://birthdaypartyideas4kids.com/beach-ball-games.html#google_vignette
Application ideas: The game is about listening to each other and working together. Just like we listen and work with the Good Shepherd.
Day 2: Lost Sheep Ring Toss
Instructions here: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/95279348359220174/
Application ideas: We are searching for the lost sheep just like the shepherd did.
Day 3: Shepherd's Relay Race
Instructions here: www.daniellesplace.com/html/psalm234sample.html
Application ideas: The Good Shepherd looks after the sheep and is ready to get them across the line. We are helping our sheep like the Good Samaritan helped the injured man.
Day 4: Bowling
Instructions here: https://kansasdiscovery.org/diy-bowling-discovery-at-home/
Application ideas: We are bowling to pay back our debt. Knock down as many pins as you can to see if you can pay your debt back unlike the man in the story.
Day 5: No game (due to timing during sabbath school)
Instructions here: https://birthdaypartyideas4kids.com/beach-ball-games.html#google_vignette
Application ideas: The game is about listening to each other and working together. Just like we listen and work with the Good Shepherd.
Day 2: Lost Sheep Ring Toss
Instructions here: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/95279348359220174/
Application ideas: We are searching for the lost sheep just like the shepherd did.
Day 3: Shepherd's Relay Race
Instructions here: www.daniellesplace.com/html/psalm234sample.html
Application ideas: The Good Shepherd looks after the sheep and is ready to get them across the line. We are helping our sheep like the Good Samaritan helped the injured man.
Day 4: Bowling
Instructions here: https://kansasdiscovery.org/diy-bowling-discovery-at-home/
Application ideas: We are bowling to pay back our debt. Knock down as many pins as you can to see if you can pay your debt back unlike the man in the story.
Day 5: No game (due to timing during sabbath school)
 Watching the movies at VBS Movie |  Preparing for game time |
Day 1 and 2- The Lost is Found
https://nestlearning.com/products/the-lost-is-found-video-on-interactive-dvd?_pos=5&_sid=19b7b137d&_ss=r
Day 3 and 4- Forgive Us Our Debts
https://nestlearning.com/products/forgive-us-our-debts-video-on-interactive-dvd?_pos=2&_sid=699e7420c&_ss=r
https://nestlearning.com/products/the-lost-is-found-video-on-interactive-dvd?_pos=5&_sid=19b7b137d&_ss=r
Day 3 and 4- Forgive Us Our Debts
https://nestlearning.com/products/forgive-us-our-debts-video-on-interactive-dvd?_pos=2&_sid=699e7420c&_ss=r
Goodie Bags and Q&A
| Per usual, we put everything in brown paper sacks. We had a variety of items to give away including stickers, coloring pages, guides, small toys, chapsticks, and other trinkets. We also put in lollipops and fruits snack alternating nights. Prize box: Each night we had three kids answer questions about the story. Instead of our usual prize box, we chose 4 special prizes for the kids to pick from. That varied from more picture framed animals to a coloring book kit. Limiting the prize options made the picking faster. | |
Decorations
This year's decorations was all about the sheep! We had sheep everywhere! In the sanctuary where the main program was we had a scene of a shepherd with sheep around them. Above that we put the theme "Good Shepherd." We repeated this scene in the hallway and the craft room. Elsewhere, we had the memory verse hanging up and sheep between it. We also put up streamers, of course, our favorite lightweight travel decoration. Mostly we wanted it to be simple because we had a small team of helpers and not alot of time between travel and start of VBS.
Ta-Dah! A Good Shepherd VBS
We hope this has inspired you to make your own Good Shepherd DIY Vacation Bible School. We enjoyed it and know you will too!
| good_shepherd_vbs_list.pdf |
Bonus Material- Pearl of Great Price
| Some of us arrived a weekend earlier to help with a village outreach, but since that did not materialize we instead ran this for Sabbath at the church. Sabbath School: Prayer- 5 min Songs- 10 min Story Time- 15 min- Pearl of Great Price (Matt 13:45,46)- materials here: https://ministryspark.com/pearl-great-price-parable-elementary-lesson/ Craft- 15 min- Pearl Mobile (general idea here but substitute with "coins" and glitter www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt20z6z5gPo) Games- 15 min-Pearl Collecting (Instruction: Place objects of various sizes, with scores on them, on the floor. The kids then have to thrown coins in them to see how many "pearls" they can collect) Goodie bag(see above) Total: 1. 0 hours Movie Night: Popcorn provided at intermission. Nest Videos: Prodigal Son- https://nestlearning.com/products/the-prodigal-son-video-on-interactive-dvd Miracles of Jesus-https://nestlearning.com/products/the-miracles-of-jesus-dvd?_pos=1&_sid=73fcaa64c&_ss=r | See you next year in 2025! |
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