7 Steps to a Successful VBS

1. Pray

This is a big job, so meet with your Christian Education Director, Children’s Pastor, or Sunday School Superintendent. Begin with prayer, asking the Lord to direct you and give you wisdom as you plan for your vacation Bible school. You may want to organize a prayer team who will continue to pray for your program before, during, and after your VBS dates.

2. Plan

Once you have a budget, order several VBS starter kits to determine which one(s) will work best with your church and community. Return the kits you won’t need or keep an extra kit to use as an outreach program over spring break—or any time you need a special program. Your kids will enjoy the fun VBS crafts and gifts anytime. Visit Shop VBS to see a VBS Comparison Chart and print out a VBS Planning Guide and Timeline for organizing your VBS preparation.

3. Recruit

Ask the Lord to direct you to the people whom He wants to teach your precious children. Ask Him to prepare the hearts of these people to be receptive to becoming VBS leaders or helpers. Then make a list of qualified people who might be interested, and make an appointment to visit them in their homes. Explain the VBS program and the responsibilities of a VBS leader or helper. Ask him or her to pray about the decision, and if desired, leave a specific job description with him or her. To ensure your children the very best experiences in your VBS program, look for leaders and teachers with the following qualifications:

ü     Are dedicated Christians who seek to live for Christ daily, who study God’s Word, and who know the plan of salvation

ü     Are tuned in to kids, and able to build upon their natural interests

ü     Enjoy sharing in the children’s joy of discovery

ü     Are warm, outgoing, and have a genuine love and sensitivity for children

ü     Appreciate and seek to follow God’s command to teach children

ü     Have a basic understanding of children in terms of their physical, mental, and emotional development, and their spiritual needs

ü     Are reliable and disciplined to prepare for each meeting

ü     Are suitable role models for children

4. Prepare

Before you begin signing up children for VBS, print registration cards onto heavy stock. You can download free VBS Registration Cards. Design your own for VBS or use these. Give the cards to parents when they register their children. Have parents fill out a registration card for each child attending your program. The card should contain emergency information and a place to list allergies and other medical conditions of your students. For any child with allergies, create a special, brightly colored name badge with the allergies listed so all leaders and helpers are aware of the allergies and don’t inadvertently give the child something that might cause an allergic reaction.

5. Be Creative!

Creativity may not be your strong suit, but no doubt your church is full of creative talent just waiting to be put to good use. Someone who can paint backdrops, another person who can concoct inexpensive yet healthy snack options, a seamstress who can design skit costumes or theme decorations, a crafty mom who can modify the suggested VBS crafts into easy-to-prepare keepsakes made from household supplies—all of these people can play a role in kicking your VBS program up a notch. The key is to tap into their talents without giving them overwhelming responsibilities.

6. Pray (Continually!)

Each day during your VBS program, have volunteers arrive 15-20 minutes early for announcements and a time of prayer. You may want to provide coffee and juice each morning, with donuts or bagels and fruit the first day. Or provide dinner in the evening and invite your VBS families to come (have your volunteers arrive 15-20 minutes before dinner). Use your VBS theme for a brief devotion, then make announcements, share prayer requests and praises, and conclude with a time of prayer (for each other, for the children, and for God’s wisdom and discernment). Each day, let volunteers share stories of how God is working during VBS. Then take time to thank Him for the ways He is using each person to spread His Word and change lives.

7. Consider Including Preschoolers in Your VBS

VBS is a great way to introduce young families to your church. Consider including 2- to 5-year-olds in your VBS program. You may want to run a separate preschool program for your little ones. The hours can be the same as for your elementary program, but younger children can have their own learning centers, games, and age-appropriate crafts. The preschoolers can join the other children for your VBS opening and then go their own preschool rooms for the rest of the morning. If your VBS begins with everyone together for an opening song time, be prepared to have one or two helpers take younger children to your preschool classroom for free play if the large group setting becomes overwhelming. Read other blog articles for more ideas on including preschoolers in your VBS (See the article, "How to Have a Preschool-Friendly VBS"). Visit Shop VBS to take a look at Jesus in Nazareth for Preschoolers and the Preschool Summer All-in-One Kit, VBS curriculum written especially for your two- to five-year-olds.

And Finally…Evaluate!

Before your VBS ends, have thank-you notes and evaluation forms ready for your helpers. Gather feedback about what worked and what didn’t so you can make changes for next year. Make notes so if you are not involved, you can pass them on to your successor. Thank God for the ways He worked to change lives during VBS. Be sure to let your volunteers know how much they were appreciated. While they’re still excited about the great things that happened during VBS, ask if they would be willing to consider being a part of the team next year. (Just to get an idea, not for a firm commitment.) Then follow up around March or April (or just as soon as you set the next date) to have them start praying about volunteering for your next VBS program.

Visit Shop VBS for a PDF of this article to share with your coworkers (7 Steps to a Successful VBS).

Celebrate Jesus! Preschool Christmas Lessons

Use this new Celebrate Jesus! Preschool Download from Christian Ed. Publishers to teach your preschoolers about Jesus' birth. Written especially for 2- to 5-year-olds, this five-week series of preschool lessons includes Bible stories, snacks, crafts, and games with reproducible student sheets and colorful visuals—all as a download. Begin with the story of Adam and Eve, the sin problem, and God's plan to send His Son, Jesus. Then your little ones can travel to Bethlehem as they enjoy the stories of Jesus' birth, the wise men's visit, and the family's escape to Egypt written at their own level. Crafts and games in the Preschool Leader’s Guide are preschool-friendly and give lots of opportunities for your students to explore the Bible stories using all of their senses.

This preschool Advent and Christmas series is completely flexible and makes a wonderful supplement to any elementary program. Celebrate Jesus! Preschool Lessons are a great way to include your younger children with Christmas lessons, Bible stories, and activities written just for them.

The Celebrate Jesus! Leader’s Guide includes five complete lessons, a course overview, reproducible activity sheets and crafts with KJV and NIV memory verses, “How to Lead a Child to Christ,” colorful visuals, creative teaching ideas, Bible background information, and lots more.

Preview samples and take a look at the contents and lesson overview of this Christmas series written especially for preschoolers. Celebrate Jesus! includes a reproducible Preschool Leader’s Guide plus student sheets and visuals for five lessons...all for only $19.95! This is a download version so you can order it today and use it tomorrow. Once you place your order, you will receive an email with download instructions. 

Bring the sights and sounds of that first Christmas to your preschoolers this Christmas season. Help your little ones understand that God loves and cares for them so much He sent His only Son, Jesus, to be born as a baby in Bethlehem. 

May God bless you as you begin your Christmas celebration and teach children the real meaning of Jesus' birth!

Discipline Basics

Discipline tells a child that you care enough about a child and want him to behave in a manner that you know to be right. Be sure your youngsters know what kind of behavior is acceptable, and set limits and boundaries for them while they are with you. It’s unfair to punish them for breaking rules they didn’t know existed.

Here are five guidelines for maintaining good discipline:

1. Establish the necessary standards and limits at your very first meeting, and make sure everyone knows what they are. Keep the list short!

2. Consistently enforce the standards. If they’re not worth enforcing always, for everyone, they’re probably not worth having.

3. Be reasonable in your expectations. “No talking” is not reasonable. “No talking during prayer time or when someone else is speaking” is a reasonable rule and should be enforced. Simply stop talking until the offender realizes he’s the cause of the problem. Your silence should be sufficient. The second time it might be necessary to say, “Ricky, you’re interrupting our story. Please stop talking so I can continue.” If it happens a third time you might say, “Ricky, the next time I have to stop this story because you’re talking, you’ll have to leave the group.” Then be sure he’s removed (quietly) if it does happen again.

4. State your expectations before transitioning to a new activity. Let children who attend regularly repeat the expectations for visitors to hear and as a reminder to everyone else. Be sure to restate the expectations each week and before each activity. Don’t expect children to automatically remember to raise their hands before talking if you haven’t reminded them.

5. Be logical about punishment that must be administered. Don’t make a federal case out of a minor infraction, or you’ll have to send a major offender to jail! If a child smears glue in another child’s hair during craft time, separate the offender from the glue for the evening, or have him work alone at a table. Children do bizarre things at times on impulse — usually to get attention!

Once you’ve established your standards and enforced them firmly and fairly for awhile, the best rule to follow is to assume that each child can be trusted to handle his own behavior until he proves otherwise. Let the youngsters know that this is what you expect now. Then, when a child misbehaves, you can let him know that you’re disappointed that he isn’t ready to be in charge of himself in the group, and that you’ll have to help decide where he should sit, and whether or not he can work with others. Make it clear it’s the behavior you’re disappointed with — not the child. When the child and you determine that he’s ready to try to be in charge of his own behavior again, emphasize how much you want him to be successful this time.

Children who have serious problems at home will test you to see if you really care about them. Some will try your patience to the limit before they’re convinced you really like them. You can usually spot such children during your first meetings. They’ll be doing everything possible to get you to notice them.

Love and discipline are inseparable. Love wants what’s best for the loved one. The product of no discipline during a child’s early years is irresponsibility, which leads to lack of self-respect, and can mean unhappy, unproductive adult life.

Find some strength or asset in each child that you can commend him for. If you’re sincere they’ll know it — and your efforts will be rewarded. Make a point of emphasizing the positive qualities of every child, no matter how hard you have to look to find them sometimes! Reward the positive behavior and try to overlook the negative as much as possible.

One primary goal of your time with the children is to provide opportunities for leadership training, but you can’t develop leaders out of children who don’t believe they have worth, or who have a poor self-image.

While these basics will not solve every discipline problem you may encounter in your class, they will go a long way to making sure your classroom is a happy, fun environment where the children can effectively learn about their heavenly Father.

More Tips for Teaching Twos and Threes

Here are some hints and tips we've put together for teachers of two- and three-year-olds. However, some of these tips will work well with your preschoolers of all ages. Visit our website, ChristianEdWarehouse.com for more hints and tips.

One Eye + One Ear = Two Learning Opportunities
Everyone knows that twos and threes learn through sensory experiences. But do you know which senses provide the best learning experience? Studies have shown that children learn 1% by taste, 1.5% by touch, 3.5% by smell, 11% by sound, and 83% by sight! The more senses a child uses, the more learning that takes place. Your little ones will remember best when all their senses—sight, touch, hearing, smelling, and even taste—are involved in learning. In your Bible lessons, you will want to include activities that use a variety of senses. Check out Honeybees for Jesus Bible curriculum for lots of sensory experiences and activities for teaching the Bible to two- and three-year-olds. For classroom decorations and bulletin board sets, visit our Classroom Decoration Store.
Hard at Play
Are your toddlers playing or learning?
If they're playing, they're also learning! According to psychologist Gary R. Collins, playing performs four important activities:
(1) it provides a release of energy,
(2) it stimulates thinking,
(3) it develops motor skills, and
(4) it encourages the child to act out role models for future reference.

And you thought they were just having fun!
Clean Finger Paint
Mix 1 cup powdered soap or detergent with 1/3 cup of liquid starch (or 1/4 cup of water). Beat with an egg beater until fluffy. Use this mixture as paint on brightly colored (or black) construction paper. The contrast between the paint and the paper will provide a delightful experience for your children. As the children work, talk about how God gave us eyes to see many colors. Explain that God gave us hands for touching many textures. Thank God for giving us all five senses and for creating a beautiful world for us to enjoy.

Hints and Tips for Teaching Twos and Threes

Teaching twos and threes can be a challenge. They can be cute as a button one minute and strong-willed and defiant the next. Some days can be simply exhausting trying to get them to focus their attention on God and His Word. But the next minute, your little ones can come up with the most insightful prayer or comment about God. What a huge blessing! Here are some hints and tips to help you face those challenges and to equip you to watch for the blessings. More hints and tips for teaching this age group are on our website, ChristianEdWarehouse.com.

Spiritual Building Blocks
Twos and threes are laying a foundation for future spiritual development. One basic foundation block for every child is learning the difference between right and wrong. Teach them that some things are always right and some things are always wrong. But remember when correcting a child, two-year-olds (and younger threes) respond better to distraction than to reasoning. Be sure to get the child's attention before speaking. Adults often waste breath, saying things when no one is listening. For instance, shouting across the room to a child simply results in confusion rather than communication.

Say the most important words first. Begin with the child's name, then state briefly what action you want the child to do. Finally, add a reason why: "[Timmy], you can feed the birds now. I think they are hungry." Phrase suggestions, directives, and corrections in positive terms: "[Janna], blocks are for building, not for throwing."

Use specific words. General terms leave a child confused. Rather than, "Put the toys away," say, "[Evan], your red truck needs to go here on the shelf." Make a clear distinction between when a child has a choice and when he does not. Ask a question wen you are willing to let the child have a choice: "[Molly], would you rather look at a book or do a puzzle?" Use questions that focus the child's attention on the situation but leave him free to determine the action: "[Elliott], it is time for our snack. What do you need to do with your ball?" 

When his obedience is necessary, make a direct statement (do not ask a question), assuming cooperation. A statement such as, "[Elliott], you need to put away your truck," lets Elliott know you mean business. Be alert and sensitive to each child. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.