The theme of our Catholic Vacation Bible School this week was a "Circus of Stars". The parish bought a program put out by K4J ( Kids for Jesus) and I was asked to volunteer my time as a Station leader to help teach the Faith.
I was intimidated and a little overwhelmed until a fellow worker reassured me that the kids just want to have fun!
I started working on it the week beforehand. It required three afternoons of planning and creating props for my portion and three evenings of helping out at church to do the same thing there.
The kids helped me at home and at church.We helped to paint the Circus train that was later filled with stuffed animals and used to decorate the stage.
VBS met each day from 9am-12noon with 115 kids participating. Each morning the kids congregated in front of the Big Top to learn a couple of songs and the very fun and expressive dance moves that accompanied it. A Scripture verse was taught and repeated three times. The Holy Hero (a saint) of the day was introduced. All of this was done in a Circus show style with our lovely and talented M.C.'s announcing: "Ladies and Gentlemen and Children of all ages, Step right up to the greatest show on earth!"
The subtheme of our program was "Spotlight on the Father". The kids above are shining spotlights on the Bible verse.We emphasized that we all reflect God's Glory and that our mission is to use our talents to serve Him and each other. We must BALANCE our day to do the Will of the Father. Each day we should work, play, rest and pray.The song lyrics talked about all these things and throughout the week there were many activities that kept bringing this idea out.
The children were in their age groups of Kindergarten, First, Second, Third, with Fourth and Fifth Graders together.There were five groups of children and five stations. The stations were Music,Crafts, Faith,Snack and Games. The " teachers" stayed in their classrooms with the children led in with their groups to spend twenty minutes in each station. Each day the kids entered my station while balancing something as they walked along a "tightrope" of masking tape on the floor in time to the lively music of the program.They really enjoyed this, especially the consistency of it with each day a different "prop" used to "balance".These packing "peanuts" worked well as a substitute for sticky orange "circus" peanuts suggested in the program.
The kids would then sit down in a circle while I introduced the topic and /or the activity.On Monday I read about St. John Bosco who did tightrope acts to entertain townspeople and then preached and prayed with them. Meg took each child's picture and they decorated a star with glitter glue.On Tuesday I taught about St. Catherine of Sienna using a book of the Saints. As I read the passage I was able to talk about the Pope, Rome, nuns and many other things. I tried to engage the kids by asking them questions. They did participate well.On Wednesday we went on a "field trip" to visit the church sanctuary. I taught them about Holy Water which they were all fascinated with , The Stations of the Cross and showed them the inside of the Confessional.
On Thursday, I brought in thirty random "'props" from home that represented our talents given to us by God. These things included a life jacket, wallet, stethoscope, blaze orange hat, sunglasses, a babydoll, canteen, a keyboard, and anything else I could grab around the house.As the kids entered the room that day, they were handed a "talent" (prop) that they balanced. They broke into small groups and with the help of our helping teens and brainstormed a skit in which they worked together sharing their talents to help the group. Then each group performed their short skit for the rest of the class.This worked very well and each small group was able to pull off an imaginative and often funny skit.
On Friday we met early to attend the 8:30 Mass all together. The children sang after communion and did their hand motions to a sweet song. Then we had a circus carnival with games and prizes in each station. My classtime was face painting and a beanbag toss. We also said a decade of the rosary with each child holding a rosary. The entire week was like this- very spiritual but also a lot of fun.A covered dish luncheon with all the parents and families ended the day.
I was very blessed to have my daughter helping me each day in the classroom.There was also a large group of teen-agers who helped. I can honestly say that they were a BIG help (there were about twenty of them). They had a wonderful time interacting with each other in a faith-filled environment.They did all the dance moves and sang and were great role models for the younger kids.The director of VBS took great care of them, too. Each day she had snacks for them and ice cold sodas at the end of the day. She was incredibly appreciative and very lavish in her praise of them. She depended on them and expected great things from them and they delivered! Many of the teens were there for their third or fourth year. I learned a lot from watching her excellent people skills.
Here are the teen helpers who were needed to shepherd the kids around and help with activities.They also did decorating, clean up and everything else needed.Each day there was a short meeting to discuss how it was all going and to talk about the plans for the next day.
At the Snack Station, the kids put together a circus themed snack and ate it with juice.This carousel is made out of a rice cake, Fluff and animal crackers.
Slapstick comedy by these young gentlemen entertained the kids daily at the Big Top wrap up. One or the other usually got a pie in the face or confetti poured on him.
For one of the crafts, each child decorated, with indelible markers, a pillow case with a Bible verse ironed onto it. It should be noted that the charge for this whole week was only 5 dollars per child to make it completely affordable for every family.
I thoroughly enjoyed this week and appreciate having been asked to help. I got a lot out of it spiritually and loved the fellowship. It will be fun to know many of the kids' names when I see them in church. The teens gave me great hope because they are the future of our church and they had as much fun as the rest of us did!!!!!!Imagine that!!!!! Circus of Stars, shine on!
