PandaMania VBS Snacks

Here are some fun snacks you can make for your PandaMania VBS. 

The Bible Point for Day 3 of PandaMania VBS is "God watches over you." The Bible story is about Jonah trying to run from God. Prepare your snack in clear plastic cups. Use blue gelatin and fill the cup about half way. Let the gelatin sit for 10-20 minutes. Then add gummy fish and cover with the rest of the gelatin. After the gelatin sets, serve the snacks. You may want to add a few goldfish crackers on top. Add a dollop of whipped cream on top for any children who would like their snack to look like the stormy waves in the water before Jonah was tossed overboard. Talk about the story of Jonah and the big fish as the children enjoy their snack.

For another fun snack, make your favorite cupcakes. Use green muffin liners, if you have them. Let the cupcakes cool completely. Then decorate them with green frosting. Place the frosting in a plastic bag, snip off the end, let out most of the air, and seal (or almost seal) the bag. Pipe onto the cupcake, lifting straight up to form grass-like strands of frosting. To make a Panda face, place a large marshmallow on top of the cupcake. Use white frosting to add two chocolate chips (upside down) for eyes and two pieces of a chocolate cookie for ears. Combine this sweet snack with pretzel sticks or fruit. 

SonSurf VBS Ideas

The large SonSurf Coloring Mural is a great way to involve all your kids in your beach bash! Let your students color the large 77" x 44" mural before VBS to introduce them to the theme (and to help decorate your hallways). Or you can hang the mural during VBS and have children color it as they arrive each day. Place some old boogie boards or subskates near the mural for kids to stand on while they color.

Tape one mural to the wall in your preschool room (at the children's eye level) and let your little ones add SonSurf Stickers (pack of 10) and color the mural during their free play times.

Nazareth VBS Ideas

Bible Memory Makers are a great way to help reinforce the memory verse each day during your Nazareth VBS. Every child receives one memory maker each day. The memory verse is included on the colorful Bible Memory Maker—giving the children a Scripture reminder of what it means to follow Jesus. During the home-town huddle, the tribe leader presents the daily Bible Memory Maker to each child who makes an attempt to say the memory verse. The memory makers can be tied together with a chenille stem half (pipe cleaner) so they can be taken home as a keepsake at the end of your VBS week.

Reinforce good behavior with this tip: Use the shekels as rewards for kind, helpful behavior during each day of your VBS. Explain to the children that those who are caught being helpful each day will receive an extra coin for that day. Then encourage tribe leaders and shopkeepers to reward thoughtful behavior with a shekel (one extra coin for each child each day). Shekels can be used in the marketplace—children give each shopkeeper a shekel as they enter the shop. Have shopkeepers recycle the coins back to tribe leaders (or to the designated Nazareth Tax Collector) at the end of each day so the tribes have plenty for the next day.

Let each child decorate a coin pouch with fabric paint and markers during your first day of VBS. (Or have a few crafty church members sew a small pouch for each child). Make sure the child puts his name on the pouch (you may also want him to add his tribe name or give each tribe a different color coin pouch). Once the pouch dries, let the child carry his shekels in his pouch each day. But have the children leave their pouches in a designated place at the end of each day so the pouches aren't forgotten at home. The final day of your Nazareth VBS the children can take home their pouches along with the crafts they've made during the week.

Preschool Jesus in Nazareth VBS

Use this new Jesus in Nazareth Preschool VBS from Christian Ed. Publishers to supplement your elementary  Hometown Nazareth VBS program this summer. Written especially for 2- to 5-year-olds, this five-day preschool VBS program from Christian Ed Publishers includes Bible stories, snacks, crafts, and games with reproducible student sheets and colorful visuals on CD-ROM. Your little ones can travel to the Marketplace before the older children but can also enjoy the stories of Jesus (from birth to resurrection) written at their own level. Crafts and games in the Preschool Leader’s Guide are preschool-friendly.

The preschool VBS program is completely flexible and makes a wonderful supplement to your elementary program. So if you want to have your preschoolers play some of the “Pyramid Playground” games planned for the elementary children, they can! (The Fun and Games Leader Manual and the Shopkeeper Leader Manual for the Marketplace are sold separately.) Jesus in Nazareth Preschool VBS is a great way to include your younger children with activities written just for them.

The Preschool VBS Leader’s Guide includes decorating ideas, tips for working with preschoolers, a suggested rotation schedule, and a reproducible preschool sign-in sheet. The CD-ROM contains separate job descriptions for your Snack Leader, Bible Story Leader, Games Leader, and Crafts Leader. You can print instructions for the leaders each day of your VBS so they can collect any needed supplies and decide which options to use. The CD-ROM also includes registration cards, safety tips, a course overview, coloring pages with NLT, NIV and KJV memory verses, “How to Lead a Child to Christ,” storytelling tips, recruiting ideas, and lots more.

Preview samples and take a look at the contents of this VBS written especially for preschoolers. Jesus in Nazareth Preschool VBS from Christian Ed. Publishers includes a Preschool Leader’s Guide plus CD-ROM...all for only $29.95! Bring the feel of ancient Nazareth to your preschool VBS this summer, and help your little ones understand that God sent His Son to live and die and come alive again for them. May God bless you as you begin your VBS adventure in Nazareth and teach children (and families) about God's Son, Jesus!

Main Street Coloring Pages

Here are some coloring pages we’ve created for Main Street VBS. There is a coloring page for each day—a total of five plus a cover page. The coloring pages have the daily memory verse portion and the lesson focus. Each day we've added a few more words to the verses so by Day 5 both verses, Psalm 25:4-5, are shown in their entirety.


There is a set of coloring pages for the New International Version and a separate set for the King James Version. If you use a different Bible version than the ones given, feel free to cut off or white out the verse and replace it with the version you prefer. Each coloring page shows a picture of the Bible story being taught that day or Jesus teaching that Bible point. There are five coloring pages plus a cover page—all for just $4.99 per set. Best of all, you can make as many copies of these pages as you need!

You may want to make a coloring booklet for each child with coloring pages for each day stapled together. At the end of your VBS week, your students will have a booklet with the entire VBS Bible stories and memory verses—a fun keepsake reminder of their week at your Main Street Vacation Bible School.

Check back each week for additional coloring pages—we’re working on a set for the other 2011 VBS programs, too. (Hometown Nazareth coloring pages were posted October 11, SonSurf Beach Bash coloring pages were posted October 19, and coloring pages for PandaMania were posted November 9.) If you have another VBS program for which you’d like coloring pages, just leave a comment.

If you’d like to take a look at any of these VBS Starter Kits, visit Shop VBS for more information and to order your Starter Kits.

You can make as many copies of these coloring pages as you need for your VBS program. May God bless you as you prepare to teach children (and their families) about Jesus' love for them!

(Click on the images above to download the pages—KJV is on the left and NIV is on the right)