Vacation Bible School
My passion is knowing Jesus and making Him known. Vacation Bible School is one of my favorite weeks, because I get to pour God's love and God's Word in the lives and hearts of many kids while we all have tons of fun. I will post my ideas and resources here.
My church is using Lifeway's Destination Dig curriculum. I have used some of Lifeway's clipart in my materials to help them fit the theme. My ideas and materials are not made or sponsored by Lifeway.
Here is a link to Lifeway's website in case you want to check out their resources.
vbs.lifeway.com
My church is using Lifeway's Destination Dig curriculum. I have used some of Lifeway's clipart in my materials to help them fit the theme. My ideas and materials are not made or sponsored by Lifeway.
Here is a link to Lifeway's website in case you want to check out their resources.
vbs.lifeway.com
Back-Up Activities
I like to keep a couple simple activities on hand in case I end up with a few extra minutes or a few kids who arrive early or leave late.
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This file is just for fun. It is a Hidden Words (word search) page. I will keep these on hand just in case I need an extra-early-arrival or late pick-up activity. This is also good for the first day if kids need something extra to do while kids are still being registered and coming in.
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Destination Dig BINGO
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Click here for the Destination Dig BINGO game.
The file includes cards to call and 30 Bingo Boards. This is a fun game to play whenever you have extra time. Be creative with your board markers. You can use dry cereal, small squares of paper, foam pieces, etc. to cover the squares. Or you can laminate the boards and mark off squares with a dry erase marker. When you call an item that you have already taught, see if kids can guess the answer. When you call an item that you haven't taught yet, go ahead and tell the kids the answer. |
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This BINGO game is great for players who can read and write well. Print off enough copies for each player. Players make their own boards by writing one word or phrase in each box. The caller randomly picks words/phrases off the list, calls them out, and marks them off the list. Players mark off the boxes that have the words/phrases called. The first player to get 5 in a row wins!
For a variation, play with other goals for winning, such as four corners, black out (cover the board), the letter L, etc. | ||
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Allow kids to share about themselves and make decor for your room with this simple activity. Just print one copy for each kid. They follow the directions to decorate their pots. (Beginning readers will need help with directions.) Then display them around your room. Don't forget to send them home on the last day.
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This game is designed for kids 8+. One person stands in the front of the group and selects a card. That person may speak, act, draw, or any combination of them in order to get the rest of the group to guess the sentence on the card, but none of the words can be said.
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Pass the iPod (or iPhone)
If you end up with a couple minutes in a hallway waiting on a rotation, you can play Pass the iPod.
- Ahead of time, make a PowerPoint with one word of the memory verse on each slide. Save the PowerPoint slides as jpgs and sync them to an iPod.
- During a waiting time, hand the iPod to the first child in the line. The child reads the word, and passes the iPod to the next person in the line. That child swipes to the next word, reads it, and passes it. Continue until the verse has been read.
- You can time this activity with the stopwatch on your phone and challenge kids to beat their time. (A time penalty could be given if kids are too loud, in order to help keep the noise down in the hallway.)
If you end up with a couple minutes in a hallway waiting on a rotation, you can play Pass the iPod.
- Ahead of time, make a PowerPoint with one word of the memory verse on each slide. Save the PowerPoint slides as jpgs and sync them to an iPod.
- During a waiting time, hand the iPod to the first child in the line. The child reads the word, and passes the iPod to the next person in the line. That child swipes to the next word, reads it, and passes it. Continue until the verse has been read.
- You can time this activity with the stopwatch on your phone and challenge kids to beat their time. (A time penalty could be given if kids are too loud, in order to help keep the noise down in the hallway.)
Here are activity pages that go along with the Bible passage for each day.
| matthew_1_announce_to_joseph.pdf |
| john_9_blind_since_birth.pdf |
| john_18-19.16_betrayed_and_tried.pdf |
| john_19_and_20_crucifixion_and_resurrection.pdf |
| acts_8_philip_and_the_ethiopian.pdf |
Modifications/Resources for First Grade
Here are some of the files I made to go along with the lessons I'm teaching.
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My LifeWay curriculum called for wrapping Pringles cans to look like columns. I printed this out on cream colored paper to wrap the cans.
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The Muddy Messages activity for Tuesday was too easy to read through the wipe-off marker. I printed this and laminated it. If I cover it with black wipe-off marker, the words are harder to see. It still isn't perfect, but it is better.
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Day 2 (it might be in the kids booklet) has an activity to look up different Bible passages. I printed off the passages to save time, since my age kids often need a lot of time to look up passages. You can show kids the passages in your own Bible to reinforce that those words are from the Bible.
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Day 3 covers a lot of events. I made these cards (cut each paper in half) for the kids to put the events in order and tell a summary of what happened. You could do this as a whole group or print enough copies for small groups to work on it together.
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As we discuss new or churchy words I will add them to our Words to Treasure wall. Print multiple copies of the blank coin so you can make word coins for any words the kids don't know and add them to your wall.
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Teaching Tips
Here are some tips for teaching kids Biblical content. If you attended my training session, these are the notes from that session.
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