Getting ready for VBS

Between Sunday and Monday, I spent several long hours setting up the room for VBS. I enjoy painting and creating things for teaching young children. 

This year's program is called, "Cross training-focus on the finish." The theme verse and song is from II Timothy 4:7a which says, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." This curriculum which has a racing theme, also weaves in Bible stories on the life of Paul, as well as modern-day missionaries. Q found this program on-line for a minimal fee through Quality Speech Materials. Check it out if you're looking for a great detailed program for four and five-year-olds.

I used paint to create this mural that serves as the back ground for our stage area. I placed strips of construction paper all around it, using Olympic colors. The race track is an interactive thing we've already started using. Each child colored  their very own "racer" and we've placed them at the starting line. Every night, I'll move the "racers" (backed with sticky tack) up the race track. On the last night, we'll reach the finish line!

Besides doing some general cleaning in the room, I set up a few rows of chairs, divided by an aisle. The yellow chairs are for the girls, and the blue chairs are for the boys. When the children first come into the room after they check in, they get to go to centers. I placed two tables in an "L" shape for these centers. Centers A and B share a table, while Center C is by itself. Center A is a book corner (books on countries and the Olympics). Center B is a play doh center, where I've placed cookie cutters for them to use. Center C is the coloring table, where they color their "racers" and coloring sheets on countries of the world and sports. The tables are also used for our craft time.

Center D is this missionary corner. I've placed items from around the world for the children to look at and/or touch. Do you remember that cloth world map that I found a couple months ago? It's tacked onto cardboard. Around it, I placed missionary cards.

The children may go to the missionary corner with a leader to do some activities. Each one was printed and laminated.  I came up with three activities that I'd like to share with you.

Activity #1: Look at the missionary cards one at a time. Have your leader tell you who the missionaries are, what they do, and where they are telling people about Jesus. Then, see if you can find their country on the globe. Pick one card and pray for that missionary family. Pray that God will keep them safe as they tell others about God.

Activity #2: These things are from different countries around the world. Your leader will ask you where you think the object is from. They will give you a few choices to choose from, so listen carefully. (Leaders: the correct answer is in all CAPS.) I then listed the items on the table, and wrote out three choices. The correct one is printed in all caps.

Activity #3: All of the objects on the table come from places around the world. You may look at all of them, but you may only touch these things:

Try on the silly hats! Look at yourself in the mirror.

Look at the Spanish books. Do the letters look the same as our alphabet?

With your leader, you may play with the nesting dolls. Be careful! These come all the way from Russia, and Mrs. Johnson doesn't want anything to happen to them.

You may hold the money and sea shells in your hand. Aren't they neat looking? What things do you see on the coins? 

If there is a box of rice on the table, you may play with it using the cups and spoons. Try not to spill! The people of China and Burma eat lots of rice. Do you like to eat it?

Here's that box full of rice. I placed measuring cups, spoons and a scoop for the children to enjoy while at the missionary corner.

It's going to be lots of fun....next post--Day one of our VBS!