...Our younger kids had already been to a one week V.B.S. back in June...it's a collaboration with other Lutheran Churches and Counselors are provided by one of the local Bible Camps...it's great fun...but ends at Grade 6...
...so we planned another One Day Bible School that would include all of our youth...preschool through High School...
...the plan was to have a campout sleepover on the church lawn...and show a movie (Soul Surfer) on a sheet on the side of the shed...
...but it was really really stormy and raining...so we set up the tents in the Narthex...
...and that was fun too!...
...and since we weren't getting the Bouncy House (because of the weather)...we had extra crafts...Our Director of Education had bought lots of extras to make up for all the 1/2 hours that we had scheduled for bouncing...
...so we made some stained glass wind chimes...
...Scout made a pink/purple one for me...and a green/yellow one for his papa...
...we played some games too...this one was really popular - you put a card into a HeadBandz on your forhead and ask yes/no questions until you figure out what you are...
...I played with the little girls and they were hilarious...they did not try to deduce what they were by asking a logical sequence of questions...but simply started with 'Am I a brownie...Am I cake...Am I candy...Am I a lollipop?...it was too funny...
...there was also a rousing game of Trouble...
...and an even more rousing game of LIFE!...so much fun!
...there was an adorable 'Hiker Hal' skit that wove it's way throughout the entire evening...Hal and his sidekick would keep coming in for a short part of the play...it really kept the kids involved...
...then it was time to decorate our shirts...a lot of these activities had been planned for outside...so we were a little bit hesitant to do them over the new carpet...but we asked the kids to be extra careful...and we only had a couple of spots to clean...whew!...
...there were lots of stencils to choose from...
...and our DOE had cut out some that said 'Camping with AlTitude' with a Cricut to make things easier...
...all of the shirts were unique...and some will last their wearer quite a few years...
...then there was a fingernail painting session...it was originally planned as an 'in tent' activity for the girl's tent...
...and yes that's Scout getting his nails painted bright pink...it was so funny...in a wierd sort of way...
...right at dark-thirty...I taught the Bible lesson...on Job...and I had illustrated the lesson by giving each child a marshmallow then as I read the lesson...one by one I took them away...
...so I was really glad that the weather cleared up just enough for us to make s'mores as that was the 'gift' that I gave them back at the end of the story...a plate with cookies chocolate and marshmallows...
...vegan s'mores...a little too brown (black really)...
...but still oh so good...and several kids wanted to try the vegan marshmallows...and they all liked them...I had to answer several unpleasant questions about what's in marshmallows...eeeeuwww...no wonder they wanted to try the vegan ones...
...then everyone (getting pretty tired now) settled down to watch the movie...they voted to watch Marley and Me instead of Soul Surfer...I don't know why...but that's what we did...
...then finally about midnight...everyone got settled in their tents...
...except I'm pretty sure that these teenagers stayed up all night...this is what I saw when I got up at 6 AM...
...at least they were the first ones in line for breakfast...
...then we took down the tents and got everything packed away...
...and played a hula-hoop game while we waited for the parents to arrive...
...and this game where you find the names of books of the Bible hidden in the text...this 'easy' one was really hard...or maybe just hard on 1 1/2 hours of sleep...
...now I'll show you our shirts...Scout definitely went the minimalist route with this black and white one...
...I of course took the opposite approach with my shirt...
...and decorated every square inch...
...as colourful-ly as possible...
...Everyone signed the back...and I love it!...
...we got home about 10:30 AM...and I think Scout fell asleep immediately and slept until about 2:30 PM...
How do y'all do V.B.S.?...I love to hear new ideas...especially how you involve your teenagers?...
I have fond memories of V.B.S as a child. Mine certainly didn't have vegan s'mores though! Very cool! I like your decorated shirt, it reminds me of the band DC Talk. :-)
ReplyDeleteGlad to see Jack joined in on the sleeping!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you keep your children children until they become older teenagers - the right time to grow up.
Not so easy.