G-Force VBS 2015

Happy Monday! (Is that a thing?) I feel like last week was a huge blur for me, but mostly in a good way. I volunteered with VBS from 8-12 and then went straight to work afterwards until 5. Needless to say, I was a bit exhausted by the end of the week.

But there's a reason that I do it every year: I LOVE IT!! If you've been around here long enough, you'll remember that I used to be the Youth Minister at my church. I've also been a catechist for the preschoolers for the past 8 years. I enjoy teaching and working with children, but that's not the whole reason that I do what I do.

This year I was the craft coordinator for VBS. Using the outlines from the handbook as well as Pinterest and my imagination, I came up with a different craft for each day. I like for the crafts to have some sort of meaning and not be clutter that will go home and get forgotten about. I also try to tie in the projects with the theme for each day of VBS.

Our theme was G-Force from Cokesbury. It's all about God moving in our lives. It was full of action words and movement. Each day had a different word associated with it that helped me plan the projects.

Monday: Move

It was great getting to meet all the kids and volunteers for the first day of VBS. We made prayer wheels with paper plates and popsicle sticks. Each child was encouraged to think of people they would like to pray for to add to the spokes of their wheels. This can also be thought of as a steering wheel and asking God to keep us pointed in the right direction!

Tuesday: Act

Every year we make t-shirts as part of VBS, and since the word was "act" this seemed like the perfect day for it. I cut out stencils for many of the group names as well as some G-Force specific stencils. We used fabric spray paint to paint our shirts, as well as my feet and hands, and the grass in the courtyard! Wearing these t-shirts should remind us to always act as followers of Christ.

Wednesday:Give

On Wednesday we planted flower seeds. We created a biodegradable pot out of a coffee filter and a paper towel tube. The kids decorated the tubes and then added dirt and seeds. I asked them to give the flowers to someone they loved.

Thursday: Follow

Today was one of my favorite crafts! Since we were talking about following Christ, we made traffic lights. I pre-cut the circles and the kids glued them on a white sheet of paper. Each color in the traffic light had special meaning for VBS: Red means stop and help, yellow means pause and pray, and green means GO tell the Good News. The kids also got to glue a picture of their VBS group to the bottom of the page, so it serves as a remembrance of their experience.

Friday: Share

Friday was messy, but not as messy as I had anticipated. We used shaving cream and food coloring to make marbled bookmarks. Each child got to make two bookmarks: one to keep and one to share with a friend of family member. I also instructed them to share something fun about VBS when they shared their bookmarks.

Each day before explaining the project, I told the kids how it tied into the lesson of the day. I love hearing their take on how things tie in and seeing the ways that they personalize their creations. One day I was asking the kids to tell a friend about VBS and they asked if they could tell someone who was at VBS with them. Some of the kids thought it would be silly to share it with someone who already knew about VBS, but I told them that would be great.

And it touches on the main reason I love being a catechist. The more often I say something or explain something, the better I understand it myself. I love VBS and Children's Church because it gives me an opportunity to really internalize my faith and get a deeper understanding of it. It wears me out, but it renews me as well. I love to see my own kids and kids I've taught enjoying themselves year after year. This year I even got to see some of my "babies" (I've been teaching them since they were 3!) as leaders of the younger kids. Frances and a friend were in charge of the Kindergarten group and she has a wonderful time helping the little ones move around the each station. I was so proud of her, and she was proud of herself!

VBS: Shake It Up Cafe

I got to help with Vacation Bible School again this year and I am so glad I did!  Our theme was Shake It Up Cafe, so we had a kitchen/cooking type theme.

Our group was the "carrots" and we hung around with the "lemons" for most of the stations.  Each day we had a "Secret Ingredient" that we learned about. They were:

• Monday--Be Ready for God
• Tuesday--Give Happily to God
• Wednesday--Believe Fully in Jesus
• Thursday--Remember Jesus Often
• Friday--Celebrate God Forever

Each day started out in Chef Basil's kitchen and then we were dismissed to our stations.  Each station had a project or activity that used the secret ingredient.

We got to go to science and do some fun cooking experiments, like a blindfolded, nose-plugged taste test.

And there were games inside and outside. Frances didn't last long in the water balloon toss. I wonder why??

She loved getting wet in the cup relay, though!

They had a cute cut-out by the front door for the kids to pose with.  I only took about 16 shots here and this is the best I could get! (Henry was downstairs in the pre-school session, so I didn't get many pictures of him.

Snack was fun. One of the sub-themes this year was about celebrations in the Bible and we talked a lot about unleavened bread.  Snack one day was tortilla faces. It seemed like an odd combination, but it was pretty good.

We had music every day and sang some really great songs.

During Bible time we learned about the different Jewish festivals that Jesus would have celebrated growing up.  The kids sorted pictures of the different items at each festival to display on posters around the room.

And the kids had arts & crafts time where they illustrated these cool chef hats, painted t-shirts, penned some evangelical fortune cookies, made coin banks to collect money for the poor, and decorated paper crosses.

One of the biggest hits of the week was Chef Basil.  We started and ended each day in his kitchen along with his sous chef, Scraps the Squirrel.  He led games for the kids, introduced the secret ingredient for each day, and led us in prayer. The kids loved him!

This is our favorite song from Bible School this year. I recorded the practice, so I could get out of the way when we recorded the second performance, but I think it turned out really well anyway!

All in all, it was a great week at VBS.  And the kids really had fun learning how to SHAKE IT UP!

Where has the time gone?!

I haven't been able to blog for a few days. I feel so behind!! Last weekend, we went to Newport News for a DYC meeting. We finished up and polished our plans for this year's Convention!! We spent the weekend at a convent on the campus of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel church. We got to Newport News a little early, so we took the kids to the beach. Henry loved it! He tried to eat all the rocks and crawl right out into the water. Frances loved getting in the water and jumping up and down.

This week at Day Care, the kids are going to Bible School. They LOVE it! It is "Power Lab." The church we go to does an awesome job of putting it all together. It is great to hear all these kids come home talking about scripture and Jesus' teachings. Some of them don't hear it much otherwise.