VBS team in Bethel Right to Left: Joy, Jackie, Eilert, Brooke It's year 11 for VBS to Bethel. This year, we took a small team once again. This had it pluses and minuses. The plus side much easier to cook for and plan sleeping arrangements. The minus side it's alot of kids to manage with fewer people on deck. All in all, though, we had a great crew that stepped up and gave their energy to the cause. And we were blessed to share once again with the Bethel church family.
The theme this year was Nehemiah, Building God's Kingdom. As per usual this was inspired by a Bible study on Nehemiah last year. This year, we also had our first "food booth" activity, which we will tell you more about below. We could relate to the adversity Nehemiah went through as he was going about God's work. We had some challenges, but God saw us through all the way through. .
The theme this year was Nehemiah, Building God's Kingdom. As per usual this was inspired by a Bible study on Nehemiah last year. This year, we also had our first "food booth" activity, which we will tell you more about below. We could relate to the adversity Nehemiah went through as he was going about God's work. We had some challenges, but God saw us through all the way through. .
Lesson
| With Nehemiah for inspiration, we broke the story into 5 parts for the week. Having studied the book prior helped alot with the flow. We decided this year to do something similar to last year's presentation by using hand puppets, which we had on hand. We narrated the story while the kids acted out each part. We did not create a script because the narrator knew the story well enough to just tell it while adding a few personal touches to the story to get the kids thinking. We have provided suggested characters for each story, but you can get creative and add or take out puppets as needed. Day 1: Nehemiah’s Sadness (Nehemiah 1-2:10) Puppets needed: Nehemiah, King, brother who came from Israel Day 2: Nehemiah’s Inspection (Nehemiah 2:11-20) Puppets needed: Nehemiah, friends Day 3: Nehemiah Rebuilds the Walls (Nehemiah 3) Puppets needed: Nehemiah, workers Day 4: Nehemiah’s Opposition (Nehemiah 4) Puppets needed: Nehemiah, Sanballat, Tobiah, Israelites Day 5: Nehemiah Helps the Poor (Nehemiah 5) Puppets needed: Nehemiah, poor folks, rich folks, priests | Prayer Wall/Service ProjectAn add on this year, the prayer wall was a place the kids could write, or have an adult write up, what they wanted prayers for. We also took 5 minutes each night, as part of the service project, to have the kids make cards to be delivered to the local elders home. |
Memory Verse/Catch Phrase Memory verse in the hallway Memory verse-I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, Nehemiah 2:20a We had a special gift for each kid that learned their memory verse. It was something a little bigger and different then the goodie bags. Catch Phrase- Build Him Up, Build Others Up (We meant to use one but didn't end up doing so.)  VBS team leading out in music | ScheduleNehemiah’s FoodBooth- 15 min Service Project- 5 min Prayer/Songs- 15 min Story Time- 15 min Craft- 15 min Nature Zone- 15 min Q&A- 5 min Prize bag as they leave Total: 1. 5 hours Registration Registration table The last several years we have been leaving most of this to the Bethel church to take care of, since they do the follow up. However here are a few helpful tips that we like to use to make everything easier. 1) Name tags- While the kids sometimes groan about it. We love it so that it is easier to learn their names. 2) Color dots- We put these on every name tag so that when it comes to group split time it is easier. We use sticker dots but doing this with a marker is good too. |
Music
We made it work with a guitar and a singer. Each year is different. However, we learned our lesson last about making the song list set small. And then to use it on repeat so the kids will learn the songs faster.
The theme song this year was made by Brooke Reynolds with lyric assistance by Claude AI. We have the chord sheet below and an audio clip if you want to learn the song.
The theme song this year was made by Brooke Reynolds with lyric assistance by Claude AI. We have the chord sheet below and an audio clip if you want to learn the song.
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Nehemiah's Food Booth
This new activity was a big hit with the kids. We've always done a snack in some form, including giving them it at the end of the program to dropping something in their bags during post Covid. This year we wanted to encourage healthier eating habits and fun, so we started the VBS with the kids in the kitchen. These recipe ideas are from a book called: Fun with Kids in the Kitchen Cookbook by Judi Rogers. We'll give you a brief rundown of what we did. *Quick note: Make sure to replace the peanut butter with another spread if you have a kid with a peanut allergy.
We introduced the topic by talking about how Nehemiah needed fuel to keep his body going. And how God has made the best fuel of all, fruits and veggies. Each day, we'd shared a little bit about fruits and vegetables, especially getting the kids involved in how they like to eat them.
Day 1: Fruit Kebabs
Ingredients: Bananas, Apples, small carton of mixed fruits
Instructions: Cut everything into bite size shapes. Have kids put them on a skewer and eat.
Day 2: Rocket Banana Pops
Ingredients: Bananas, Peanut butter, homemade granola (store-bought works too)
Instructions: Freeze bananas overnight. Next day put bananas on a skewer, let kids spread peanut butter on them, and then roll in granola. This was the kids' favorite of the week.
Day 3: Vegetable Robots
Ingredients: Cucumbers, Carrots, Bell Pepper, Lettuce, Tomato, Olives
Instructions: Have toothpicks handy and let the kids' imagination roam as they put the fruit together in the style of a robot.
Day 4: Smiling Apples
Ingredients: Apples, peanut butter, raisins
Instructions: Cut the apples into wedges, let the kids spread on peanut butter, and then add raisins for teeth. When they put it in their mouth and hold it in their teeth for a moment to look like a smile!
Day 5: Leftovers! We had a bunch of random fruit and veggie leftovers, so we went ahead and cut those up to share on the last day.
We introduced the topic by talking about how Nehemiah needed fuel to keep his body going. And how God has made the best fuel of all, fruits and veggies. Each day, we'd shared a little bit about fruits and vegetables, especially getting the kids involved in how they like to eat them.
Day 1: Fruit Kebabs
Ingredients: Bananas, Apples, small carton of mixed fruits
Instructions: Cut everything into bite size shapes. Have kids put them on a skewer and eat.
Day 2: Rocket Banana Pops
Ingredients: Bananas, Peanut butter, homemade granola (store-bought works too)
Instructions: Freeze bananas overnight. Next day put bananas on a skewer, let kids spread peanut butter on them, and then roll in granola. This was the kids' favorite of the week.
Day 3: Vegetable Robots
Ingredients: Cucumbers, Carrots, Bell Pepper, Lettuce, Tomato, Olives
Instructions: Have toothpicks handy and let the kids' imagination roam as they put the fruit together in the style of a robot.
Day 4: Smiling Apples
Ingredients: Apples, peanut butter, raisins
Instructions: Cut the apples into wedges, let the kids spread on peanut butter, and then add raisins for teeth. When they put it in their mouth and hold it in their teeth for a moment to look like a smile!
Day 5: Leftovers! We had a bunch of random fruit and veggie leftovers, so we went ahead and cut those up to share on the last day.
Crafts
| We utilized the help of Claude AI this year to set up crafts and supplies. Please see the list below for full details. Day 1: Scroll work Day 2: Shield Day 3: Wall Building Mosiac Day 4: Toolbelt Day 5: Prayer Journal
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Nature Activity
| We opted for a nature activity outside instead of games this year. The kids still got outside and could move around, but we had them a little more focused. We also had Claude AI to make a list for the activity. We will add the list below. Day 1: Weather and God's Power Day 2: Seeds and Faith Day 3: Water Purification Day 4: Rock vs. Sand Day 5: Interconnected Ecosystem |
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Goodie Bags and Q&A
| | If you have read any of our other VBS DIY blogs you know we always have goodie bags. We did our usual variety of items, which included this year Guides, small lollipops, stickers, coloring pages or activity pages, and other trinkets. During our Q&A, where kids answered questions about that night's story, we'd hand out a little bigger prize. This year we had, once again, some framed pictures of animals (which went well last year) and some other items like a ball to give out. We show them the item and tell them if they answer correctly, this is what they get. It works well. We suggest finding a way to track who you gave items to throughout the week so that everyone gets a chance. |
Decorations
This year's decorations were all about the walls. We ended up doing progressive decoration too. The first day we only had a part of the wall up and then each day it went up higher. We also had white ribbons dangling from the ceiling in the sanctuary for the first few nights to show how the city was in ruins. Then we put up these awesome streamers, see pattern here. They took some time, but well worth the effort. Elsewhere in the church, we had the memory verse hanging up for easy reading. We had pictures of foodstuffs in the kitchen for Nehemiah's Food Booth. We kept it light and simple so that the small crew could accomplish the setup in time for VBS to begin each night.
Ta-Dah! A Nehemiah, Building God's Kingdom VBS
We hope this has inspired you to make your own Nehemiah, Building God's Kingdom DIY Vacation Bible School. We always enjoy the planning and executing of it all, especially when we know that we will get to share this with others. Enjoy!
| nehemiah_vbs_list.pdf |
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