Blog Posts

God's Creation Theme

5/1/2014

Our first year of making our DIY VBS, we decided on creation. Below is information on how we did it.

2014 VBS team at Bethel, AK

Lesson Inspiration

Genesis 1- 2:3

Schedule- 5 day VBS

Music – 15 min
Arts and crafts-20-30 min
Music- 5 min/Nature Nugget*
Lesson- 30 min
Snack- 5 min (as leaving)

Total Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

*Nature Nugget was a short segment in which we shared about something God created on that day of creation, for example a lion on the day when we talked about animals.

Lessons

Day #1: Creation Day 1 &2- Light & Darkness/Water (Genesis 1:1-8)
Day #2: Creation Day 3- Plants/Land (Genesis 1:9-13)
Day #3: Creation Day 4- Moon & Stars (Genesis 1:14-18)
Day #4: Creation Day 5&6- Birds& Fish/ Animals & Man (Genesis 1:20-31)
Day #5: Creation Day 7- Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3)

We presented these straight from the bible text and explained what God created each day. After that we had the kids come up front and add a decoration for that. More that in decorations section below.

Memory Verse

Genesis 1:1
"In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth." NIV

Registration

Registration Table

We kept it real simple this year at registration. We had name tags to give out. We took down names and emergency contact information. In later VBS' we added a better contact form.

Crafts

Day #1: Coloring Activity Plate wheel/representing light and darkness

We used supplies we had on hand from our children's department at church, with some exceptions like the popsicle stick animals.

These are just suggestion, creative minds will come up with endless possibilities to use.

It goes to show you that even with basic crafts the kids still have lots of fun.

Day #3- Moon plate cutouts

Day #2- Cotton ball flowers

Day #4- Popsicle stick animals or paper bag animals

Day #5- Bookmarks

Music

Song Service

Theme song: This the day

As you can see here, this particular year all we had was a mandolin player and one person to help with singing. But it was still fun!

Tip: Make up hand motions for the kids to the theme song.

Goodie bags and snacks

We found out the first year how helpful having a goodie bag can be. One of things we like to do at the end of our time at night is to ask questions about the lesson and any kid that answers gets a prize. Well, as you can imagine we sometimes have more kids than prizes and giving goodies bags is one way everyone goes home with something.

The bags themselves aren't anything fancy, just paper bags sometimes decorated (in the picture we happened to have a fancy bag). We add in little things like pencils, erasers, small toys, and a kids reading activity.

Snacks:
For snacks this year we used fish shaped and bear shaped crackers.

Sorting out trinkets for goodie bags

Decoration

We did progressive decoration this year. It was a lot more work than any of the other decoration we've done since. While not as extensive in decorating, it did require us to add decorations every night. This meant that we had to have decorations to represent each day of creation ready to be put up each evening for example: stars and planets for creation day 4. The progressive decoration gave a nice effect in the end so that the kids could see the earth void at the beginning and after of our 7 creation days now full of life. We had the kids help us each night after the lesson put up something.

Day #1 Prior to kids adding decoration

Creation Day 1 &2: Light & Darkness/ Water

Creation Day 3- Plants/Land

Creation Day 4- Moon & Stars

Creation Day 7

Decoration for Creation day 7

Day #1- We used a black sheet to represent the empty earth. Then we added at the end of the night "water"
Day #2- We added land and plants to the backdrop, note we did have the kids who wanted to share their craft cottonball flowers for decoration add them to the background
Day #3- We added planets to the background
Day #4- We had several cut out animals for the kids to put up
Day #5- We had mini crosses that went up to represent the Sabbath

Ta-Dah! A DIY Creation Themed VBS!

We hope this has inspired you to try your own version of a DIY Creation themed VBS. We had a lot fun and learned much about new things to try in other themes. Feel free to copy what you see here if you like and enjoy!

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The Format

4/1/2014

One of the most important elements of creating your our VBS is knowing the format. In other words what are you going to be doing with the kids. A theme is a helpful start but you need to know how long things are going to take and also what elements you'd like to include.

Here's some basic suggestions based off of a VBS that will take 1 hour and 30 minutes total:

Activity - Consider some other activities outside of crafts or games, such as a small group question and answer time or teaching the kids any thing that works with your lesson such as a nature nugget. We have varied our use of this time but anywhere from 5-10 minutes seems to work.
Crafts- Consider crafts and art activities that go with the theme or lesson for the day. We have done crafts over the years that took anywhere from 20 minutes to as little as 10 minutes. A lot depends on the kids we have, for example at some of the locations we've been to there has been less interested in crafts. Another helpful tip is changing up the types of crafts that you do, such as making things that kids can take home and use and not just coloring pages.
Games- Consider making games that are active and easy for all ages groups to participate. We typically will on location allow the kids who come early some free play and then when it is time to start we will teach them the theme game of the day. We usually use do our games at the beginning because we have found it helps to get some of the wiggles out, but you can put it wherever you want in the program. We usually reserve 10 minutes for this.
Lesson- Consider picking lessons from something that you might have already studied for example, we often get inspiration from what we are studying as a church in our Bible Study groups. One year we did the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph based off of our study of Genesis that previous fall. We reserve 20-30 minutes for lesson time. Also important there are multiple ways to present the lesson. We have presented in a large group at the end of evening by reading the story from the bible. We've also done a combination of skits of the story in a large group after the kids have been in a small group where the lesson was read to them. There really isn't a limit on how you present or when you present it.
Memory Verse- Consider choosing a verse that isn’t too hard for your age group to memorize. Also a prize for memorizing never hurts. We have found that posting the memory verse around your building helps kids who can read memorize it for themselves. We usually spend 5 minutes or less in the program teaching the verse and sometimes individual groups will repeat it, such as craft might use it in the activity for the day.
Music- Consider picking music that is around your theme and upbeat. For example, one year our theme was creation and we used a song called "This is the Day." We typically spend 10-15 minutes in music. That usually allows us to play 5-6 songs. And sometimes if we have leftover time we will play a song or two at the end per kid's request.
Registration- Consider more than the basics, such as getting name, number, allergies, but also what fun things can be shared to get the kids excited for the evening. We always use name tags for both us and the kids and some years we have added extra color or stamps to the tags so that we could easily split the group later. Also we try to each year give the kids something to take home at the end of the week, such a book or a key chain of important lessons. Each night at registration they would get the next piece of the book or chain and take it home at the end of the evening.
Snacks/ Goodie bags- Consider having a snack time after the program. It's a great way to get to know the kids personally. Serve whatever makes sense, we’ve done everything from cupcakes to fruit. Also we have started doing a goodie bag in which all the kids get a prize for being there. We have found that it encourages to the kids to return the next night and also levels the playing field for those who might not win a prize somewhere else in the evening, such as for answering a question or memorizing the memory verse. We reserve about 5 minutes at the end.

The Schedule

So now for some scheduling formats for an 1 hour and 30 minutes VBS:

Option 1: (Used in our first year of VBS, basic and easy formatting. All the kids stay together. Good for smaller groups)

Music – 15 min
Arts and crafts-20-30 min
Music- 5 min
Lesson- 30 min
Snack- 5 min (as leaving)

Option 2: (Great for adding another activity time. Also good for splitting a longer lesson up)

Music – 15 min
Memory Verse- 5 min
Arts and crafts-20 min
Lesson part 1- 10-15 min
Activity- 10 min
Lesson part 2-10-15 min
Snack- 5 min (as leaving)

Option 3: (Additions include game time, moving the memory verse to later, and an added activity time)

Games- 10 min
Music – 10-15 min
Lesson time-5-10
Arts and crafts-10 min
Activity - 10 min
Lesson 10-15 min
Memory Verse- 5 min
Snack- 5 min (as leaving)

The options are limitless on how you can format and schedule. Be inspired to mix and match according to your themes, kids interests, and time factors.

Option 4: (Good option for a larger group, rotations for crafts and activity. Then bring kids back together for the lesson. Small group time was used for teaching memory verse and asking questions about the theme of the day)

Games- 10-15 min
Songs- 10-15 min
Small group time & Memory Verse- 5- 10 min
Craft- 15 min (rotate between crafts and activity for larger groups)
Activity-15 min
Lesson- 20 min
Q&A- 5 min
Snack time/Prize bag- 5 min

Option 5: (Another great options for a larger group. Has rotations built in during activity time, but can be used to walk a smaller group through each activity.)

Games- 10-15 min
Music- 10 min
Special Music
Prayer Requests- 5 min
Lesson intro- 5 min
Activity Time: (30 min) (includes crafts, story time, activity below)
Craft
Lesson w/ Memory Verse Review
Activity
Skit Time- 15 min
Q&A- 5 min
Snack time/Prize bag- 5 min

Forward>>

DIY
Vacation Bible School

In 2014 the Wrangell VBS team was formed. What began as a mission trip to a remote location on a recommendation of a friend, has become a yearly event. We have done a VBS in the following locations in Alaska: Bethel, Craig, Ketchikan, and Wrangell.

This blog is intended to share some of the things that we have learned in creating our own VBS themes over the years. #1 it doesn't require a fancy package. #2 it is not a hard as you think #3 it can be a lot of fun.

So we hope you enjoy our themes. You might even be inspired to DIY your own VBS. Feel free to use the materials/themes here to create you own VBS program.

Brooke, Wrangell VBS Team Leader.

God's Creation Theme

Lesson Inspiration

Schedule- 5 day VBS

Lessons

Memory Verse

Registration

Crafts

Music

Goodie bags and snacks

Decoration

Ta-Dah! A DIY Creation Themed VBS!

The Format

The Schedule

DIY
Vacation Bible School

Archives

Categories

God's Creation Theme

Lesson Inspiration

Schedule- 5 day VBS

Lessons

Memory Verse

Registration

Crafts

Music

Goodie bags and snacks

Decoration

Ta-Dah! A DIY Creation Themed VBS!

The Format

The Schedule

DIY​Vacation Bible School

Archives

Categories

DIY
Vacation Bible School