Editor's Note: This discussion was originally posted in our Help forum.
Our church is planning on doing a 1-day VBS in December.
It would run for 3 hours. We would focus on the Christmas story. It is intended as an outreach to the community--drop your kids off and then get some of your Christmas shopping done! Therefore, the kids we get may very well not be that familiar with the "real" Christmas story. So, here are some of my questions:
- Has anyone done something like this before and would be willing to share their ideas?
- We are thinking of doing 5 workshops of 25 minutes. That will leave some "passing time" as well as a little time at the beginning and end to get kids sorted out. I've looked through the forums and have found a few ideas for stations (workshops), but could always use more
- Does anyone know of a good video of the Christmas story that lasts 20". I saw a reference to a claymation one here, but have never heard of it and don't know if it is any good.
- And ideas on getting across the idea to the kids of WHY we needed a Savior to be born at Christmas.
- If this actually works and we get alot of kids from the neighborhood, then it will be alot of kids and parents that we don't recognize. We want to be safe and not hand the kids off to the wrong adults! I was thinking of using wristbands to match them up--any other ideas?
- Any other words of wisdom?
Thanks
Cathy
See Cathy's reply of what they ended up doing, posted below, link.