Weird Animals – 2014

Day five of our Weird Animals Vacation Bible Camp (VBC) at FUMC…

Where Jesus’ Love is One-Of-a-Kind!

Thank you all for being an integral part of a wonderful week of VBC, and for spreading God’s love in your own-one-of-a-kind way!

 
Here’s what your kids did today…

At our Sing & Play Stampede opening, we sang more songs, of course, and met our last Bible Buddy, Iggy! Iggy is a frilled lizard, who looks pretty normal until he’s scared, then his frill freaks out!  We all get scared sometimes, but Iggy help us remember today’s Bible Point. Today we learned that….

Even when you’re 
afraid…. Jesus loves you!

 

Dr. Paws was back and nervously tried to get another weird animal to the zoo.

Today’s Bible verse is…

“Don’t be 
afraid…Take courage. 
I am here!” 
Matthew 14:27

Our hint about today’s Bible Adventure was that we would learn about someone named Ananias who was very afraid, yet he was brave! Read about it in Acts 9:1-19.

The preschoolers went off to their special rooms in Ozzy’s Preschool Park and did the following…

• Games – We played fun games like Find a Friend and Fearless Friends.
• Bible Adventures & Missions – Today, we learned more about Liberia and talked about what it’s like to be sick. We led a blind-folded friend around the room to see how Ananias helped Saul.
• KidVid Cinema – Amara shows how God provided a special four-legged friend who comforted her when she was afraid to go to kindergarten.
• Craft & Play – Today’s project was to make our own photo frames to take home. Each of us got a photo of our own crew to put in it!

Meanwhile, elementary kids visited the following stations…

• One-Of-a-Kind Bible Adventures – We hid from Saul as we searched for Ananias, and met Saul and celebrated Jesus’ love for us!

• Untamed Games – We played games! Including: Fear Bingo, Swamp Thing, and Reverse Tag.
• KidVid Cinema & Missions – Amara shows how God provided a special four-legged friend who comforted her when she was afraid to go to kindergarten.
• Imagination Station – Today’s project was to make our own photo frames to take home. Each of us got a photo of our own crew to put in it!

Today our Grad Group delivered a second load of cereal to the Bryant Community Center, and then finished their day with some fun games at Burns Park.
 
In Critter Café today we had “fright bites.”  Jiggly (trembling with fright) jello with whipped cream!

 
At the very end of our day, we all come together once again for the Tail End Finale. We sang some more of the cool Weird Animals songs and reviewed the week with a suspenseful science experiment.

 
Hope to see you on Sunday, July 13th at 9:30 am for our VBC Celebration!
~~ The VBC Team
 

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Continue the learning at home!

Here are a couple of questions to talk about around the family dinner table:

• Why was Ananias afraid to do what God had asked him to do? (See here for some reasons why Ananias was afraid.)
• When is a time that you have been afraid? What happened?
• What is something that you can do to help you remember that Jesus loves you, even when you are afraid?

 

Photo credits:
Bible Buddy image used by permission of Group Publishing.
Rest of photos courtesy of various volunteers at VBC!

Day four of our Weird Animals Vacation Bible Camp (VBC) at FUMC…

Where Jesus’ Love is One-Of-a-Kind!

Lots and lots of kids brought in donations today for our three VBC mission projects.  So far, we have collected over $300 for our Liberian clean water/sanitation mission, 69 boxes of cereal for Bryant Community Center, and boxes and boxes of toys and books for Alpha House.  WOW!

Here’s what your kids did today…

In addition to singing our hearts out at our opening Sing & Play Stampede, we met the Bible Buddy, Shred! Shred’s tenrec quills are sharp and can hurt. People don’t have sharp quills, but sometimes they hurt each other. Shred helps us remember our Bible Point from today…

Even though you do wrong… Jesus loves you!

Dr. Paws was back.  He broke a zoo rule – no candy for the hyenas.  Ask your kids how that worked out…

We also got a sneak peek at today’s Bible Adventure, where we would learn today’s Bible story about Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Read about it in Luke 22:47–24:12

Today’s Bible verse is…

“God…loved us 
and sent his Son as a sacrifice 
to take away our sins.” 1 John 4:10

The preschoolers went off to their special rooms in Ozzy’s Preschool Park and did the following…

• Games – We played fun games like Rescue Mission, Washed Clean, and Hit the Mark.
• Bible Adventures & Missions – We learned more about Liberia and also used preschool-friendly items to explore how Jesus died and came back to life to show his love for them.
• KidVid Cinema – Sarah discovers she was being a bully, but Jesus helps her do the right thing.
• Craft & Play – We were splashy servants (which involved toys and soapy water) and mended broken hearts.

Meanwhile, elementary kids visited the following stations…

• One-Of-a-Kind Bible Adventures – We learned that Jesus was willing to die on the cross to take on the burden of our sins.   We wrote our names on a cross to remember that Jesus loves us all, and viewed the empty tomb.
• Untamed Games – We played games! Including:  Feet fishing (for ice cubes in a wading pool!), Hit the mark, and Get Rid of It!
• KidVid Cinema & Missions – Sarah discovers she was being a bully, but Jesus helps her do the right thing.
• Imagination Station – We made crafty paper airplanes today and then flew them through various obstacles.  Sometimes they flew in the wrong direction or not the way we wanted them to, but it helped us remember that “even though you do wrong…Jesus loves you!”.

Today our Grad Group went off-site today to the Bryant Community Center to hand out fresh produce, bread, and boxes of cereal (collected this week at VBC!) to local folks in need.

In Critter Café today we had a wonderful snack called the “Wonderous Cross” (it was cheese in the shape of a cross and some crackers).

At the end of our day together, we all came back to the Sanctuary for the Tail End Finale to sing some more, review our day, and witness Jesus removing the darkness of sin to show the light of his love.

See you tomorrow!

~~ The VBC Team

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Continue the learning at home!

Here are a couple of questions to talk about around the family dinner table:

• What is sin? (Sin is anything we do that pushes God or other people, away.)
• Why does it matter that Jesus died for us? (It means that God showed us that he would not hold our sins against us. God’s love is more powerful than anything and is still there, even when we sin.)
• Why did Jesus have to die? (Sin creates separation from God. To bridge this separation Jesus died so that all of our sins could be forgiven. As a result of Jesus’ death, we can have a restored, close relationship with God!)
• Wasn’t there some other way; did Jesus have to die on the cross? (Jesus had a choice! He could have run away from his oppressors. God sent Jesus into the world not to die, but to love. It is all part of God’s movement to restore relationship; pouring out his divine love over us!)

Photo credits: Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email).
Bible Buddy image used by permission of Group Publishing.
Rest of photos courtesy of various volunteers at VBC!

Weird Animals Vacation Bible Camp (VBC) at FUMC…

Where Jesus’ Love is One-Of-a-Kind!

First an important note for your calendar…

This Sunday, July 13th — A Special Sunday Morning VBC Celebration:
All kids, volunteers and their families are invited! Put on your VBC t-shirt, bring along your singing voice, and join us at FUMC’s 9:30 worship service this Sunday morning to showcase a few songs and Bible points that we’ve learned this past week.
Kids ages 3 and up are also invited to participate in Sunday’s Cool immediate following the VBC performance. Nursery care available for kids 0-2 years. In July, preschoolers are learning about Offering (click here for more info) and elementary school kids are enjoying a summer movie series called, Buck Denver’s What’s in the Bible? Click here for more info.

Here’s what your kids did at VBC today…

We started off our morning at Sing & Play Stampede, and we rocked the jungle!

We sang more Weird Animals VBC songs (of course!), learned the Day 3 Bible Point and key verse, and met the daily Bible Buddy, Milton!  We also watched as that crazy Dr. Paws tried to understand why the Laughing Lion venom was stuck in the bottle.

For today’s Bible Point we learned that…

Even when you don’t understand…Jesus loves you!

This means that even when stuff happens that you don’t understand…Jesus loves you! The one thing we can always understand and depend on is Jesus’ love.

Bible Buddy, Milton.  Milton has a cool star on his nose that helps him when he is in the dark. He helps us understand that when life seems dark and hard to understand, it makes us very glad that Jesus loves us! (A reminder: with Bible Buddies we’re sending scripture home! And there is a free app for your smart phone or tablet that can continue the fun with your Bible Buddies. Check it out on iTunes or Google Play.)

We also got a sneak peek at today’s Bible Adventure, where we would learn today’s Bible story: Jesus washes the disciples feet. Read about it in John 13:1-17.

Today’s Bible verse is something that is also known as the “golden rule”:

“Do to others as you 
would like them to do to you.” Luke 6:31

We wondered how that verse would apply to our Bible story?

 

The preschoolers went off to their special rooms in Ozzy’s Preschool Park and did the following…

• Games – Today we played Who Are You?, Toe Tag, and Do To Others.
• Bible Adventures & Missions – Today, we learned about how some children don’t have clean water to wash their hands or to cook and especially to drink. We also had a snack (pita chips) and had our feet washed (!) by our crew leaders, just like Jesus did for his disciples.
• KidVid Cinema – In today’s segment, Von shared his experience with leukemia and how Jesus helped him through a difficult sickness.
• Craft & Play – We did a craft today called, Spread the Love! with coffee filters, eye droppers, and food coloring. We also were able to do a cool experiment called Bubblin’ Over (yes, bubbles were involved).

 

Meanwhile, elementary kids visited the following stations…

• One-Of-a-Kind Bible Adventures – Not only, did we put on Bible Bands that show we are friends of Jesus, we also shared Bible-times bread with friends, AND, much to our surprise, had our feet washed by our crew leaders.
• Untamed Games – Including: What’s That Noise?, Gone Batty, and What Do We Do?.
• KidVid Cinema & Missions – In today’s segment, Von shared his experience with leukemia and how Jesus helped him through a difficult sickness.
• Imagination Station – Today we put water drops onto a penny. In most cases, it was a lot more than we thought – another thing we don’t understand! We also wrote down other things we didn’t understand on a giant question mark.

Today’s snack at Critter Café featured “People Paws,” which were very popular. Hmmmm…ask your kids about it. (Here’s a picture of a crew of kids enjoying their snack and talking about their God Sightings.)

Our oldest elementary kids in our Grad Group went on a mission today to Alpha House. They delivered toys and books that have been collected this week at VBC, heard a presentation about what Alpha House does and then went to work.  The Grad Group tackled two big projects:  inventoried fifteen tubs of donated school supplies (so that needed supplies could be identified) and completely cleaned and organized the entire lower-level play room.
At the very end of our day, we all come together for the Tail End Finale to sing some more songs, review our day, and used the giant paper question mark (that we made in the Imagination Station — filled with the things we didn’t understand) as a surprising reminder of Jesus’ love! (We put two question marks together to make a heart, another reminder that “Even when you don’t understand… Jesus Loves You”.)  The questions kids had were amazing – here are just a few examples:

• Why do we have two eyes?
• Is God in heaven or is he past heaven?
• Why is food called food?
• What does heaven look like?
• How did life start?
• Why are people mean?
• Where did God come from?

 

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Continue the learning at home!

Here are a couple of questions to talk about around the family dinner table:

• Name the worst clean-up task that you can imagine. (Perhaps cleaning up after a sick puppy or washing the kitchen floor after a mishap involving a dozen raw eggs?)
• Why do you suppose the disciples feet needed washing? (Hint: think about their footwear and the roads in those days.)
• Why do you suppose Peter didn’t want Jesus to wash his feet? Would you want your teacher at school to wash your feet? Name someone whom you’d never want to wash your feet.
• How is washing someone’s feet an act of service? What do you suppose Jesus meant by saying that his disciples should wash other people’s feet? Did he mean literally??
• Get out a small basin, some soap and a towel. Put some warm water into the basin and wash each others feet. What are you thinking as your feet are bathed?

See you tomorrow!
~~ The VBC Team

Welcome back for day two of Weird Animals Vacation Bible Camp (VBC) at FUMC…

Where Jesus’ Love is One-Of-a-Kind!

We are so glad that your kids are with us – we are having SO much fun!  Here’s what we did today…

Sing & Play Stampede.  At our opening, we sang more wonderful Weird Animals VBC songs.

We also learned the Day 2 Bible Point:

Even though you’re 
different….Jesus loves you!

 
Then, we met the Bible Buddy, Fern.  Fern is a leafy sea dragon, but she looks like seaweed, very different from other sea creatures.  Fern helps us remember our Bible Point too!
 
We also got a sneak peek at today’s Bible Adventure, where we would learn how Jesus helped a woman who was considered “different.” Read about it in John 4:1-30.  We also learned today’s Bible verse…

“For we are God’s 
masterpiece. He has created us 
anew in Christ Jesus.”Ephesians 2:10

 

The preschoolers went off to their special rooms in Ozzy’s Preschool Park and did the following…

• Games – played fun inside games like Switch It Up!, Masterpiece Makers, and Feelin’ Blue.  And… kids boogied to VBC tunes while “freeze dancing”!
• Bible Adventures & Missions – We saw dirty water, and thought about how kids in Liberia who might have to drink water like that. Then, we gathered at a “well” for a cool drink of water, and learned how Jesus showed love to someone who felt sad.
• KidVid Cinema – Today’s segment features Patrick. Patrick explained how autism makes him different from other people around him.
• Craft & Play – We made strings of rings necklaces and did a cool “Uniquely You!” experiment with ink pads and magnifying glasses.

Meanwhile, elementary kids visited the following stations…

• One-Of-a-Kind Bible Adventures – We met a Samaritan woman by a well and learned of her amazing encounter with Jesus. We also received Bible Bands that serve as reminders that Jesus’ love never ends. Have you seen these yet? – they are covered with cool stuff!
• Untamed Games – We played games! Including:  Pterodactyl, Weird Animal Tag, and Fill-Up Time.
• KidVid Cinema & Missions – Today’s segment features Patrick. Patrick explained how autism makes him different from other people around him.
• Imagination Station – We made a new BFF for ourselves!  Rolling dice determined which facial features would be part of BFF’s face, which turned out a little “different”, for sure!  We also got to take home a High Flyer whirly-do, which flies in all different directions, another reminder that “Even though you’re different…Jesus Loves You!”

Our oldest elementary kids in our Grad Group are working every day this week on various mission projects – both local and global! Today, the Grad Group made trail mix snack bags for the Bryant Community Center, played a Wagon Wheel conversation game, watched a KidVid Cinema segment, and served as managers (counting and caring for donations) and spokespeople (updating the group at the finale) for the overall VBC mission projects, which are:

• Collecting Boxes of cereal for Ann Arbor’s own Bryant Community Center
• Collecting Monetary donations that will fund clean water and/or other sanitation projects that our church is connected to in Liberia
• Collecting Gently used children’s books and toys for Alpha House.  A great opportunity for kids to be involved in a hands-on way.  With parent’s help, they can select items from their own shelves to pass on to someone else to use and enjoy!

 
 
Every day we gather in the Critter Café for a delicious snack; today we had Masterpiece Munchies, delicious frosted sugar cookies, each with a different face . We also spent time getting to know our crews a bit better and recorded some of our “God Sightings.”
 
 
At the very end of our day, we all come together for the Tail End Finale. We sang some more of the cool Weird Animals songs, reviewed our day and discovered how each of us is the perfect “ingredient” even though we are all very different.  Ask your kids about the Tail End Leader’s “recipe”!

 
See you tomorrow!
~~ The VBC Team
 

Continue the learning at home!

Here are links to some questions to talk about around the family dinner table:

• Jesus had asked the Samaritan woman for a drink. This seems like an ordinary request. Then why the incredulous response from the woman? Read more here.
• Play a silly game called “What’s inside her head?” Read more here.
• “I am God’s masterpiece.” How saying this can change you. Read more here.

 

This week it’s Vacation Bible Camp (VBC) at FUMC…

Where Jesus’ Love is One-Of-a-Kind!

First some important stuff for adults…

Each year we choose a VBC mission for kids to support. This year we have three projects:

1. Collecting boxes of cereal for Ann Arbor’s own Bryant Community Center.

2. Collecting monetary donations that will fund the John Dean Health Project, which will provide 18 remote villages in Liberia with a well, a latrine, mosquito nets and a traditional birth attendant.

3. And new this year, collecting gently used children’s books and toys for Alpha House. A great opportunity for kids to be involved in a hands-on way. With parent’s help, they can select items from their own shelves to pass on to someone else to use and enjoy!

All offerings can be turned in at the start of VBC each day at the front of the Sanctuary. Thanks!

Now, here’s what your kids did today…

First, we all gathered in the jungle-inspired, wonderfully decorated Sanctuary at Sing & Play Stampede.

We learned our wild, fun theme song, “All Around the World.” (Click on the song title to go to YouTube to watch a short bit of the song.) We had fun learning other new songs, with cool motions to go along with them.

Because the Bible is God’s very own word to us, and we learn so many things from the Bible, each day we’ll learn a special Bible Point. Today we learned that….

Even when you’re left out…Jesus loves you!

We said that a lot today! I bet your kids remember it.

We also met a couple of very interesting characters: Dr. Paws and Axl, the Axolotls. Dr. Paws is our world-famous zookeeper and know-it-all about the world’s weirdest animals. He will be visiting with his weird animals all week long! Who is Axl? Axl is one weird animal! Axl is our Bible Memory Buddy for the day. All week long, we’ll get to know cool – and kind of weird – Bible Memory Buddies who will help us remember our Bible verses. Today’s Bible verse is…

“I am with you always, even to the end of the age” Matthew 28:20

See, each Bible Memory Buddy has the verse printed on it!

With Bible Buddies we’re sending scripture home!

And there is a free app for your smart phone or tablet that can continue the fun with your Bible Buddies. Check it out on iTunes or Google Play.

We also found out that each day we would get to experience an exciting story from the Bible when we visited the drama station (which is called “Bible Adventures”). In today’s Bible Adventure, we learned how Jesus helped people who were left out. Read about it in Luke 17:11-19

The preschoolers went off to their special rooms in Ozzy’s Preschool Park and did the following…

• Games – the wet playground did not slow us down today, we played fun games inside like Send a Friend, Balloon buddies, and Moo-sical Chairs.
• Bible Adventures & Missions – got “spots” to see what it was like for lepers to be sick and left out, and hugged each other to experience the love Jesus showed the lepers when he healed them.
• KidVid Cinema – Chadder the Chipmunk, a VBC cinema tradition retires, ushering in a new era of learning and exploration. All week, we will learn about kids who have a situation to overcome. Today, we learned about a boy named Satish who finds an unexpected, nontraditional family when he moves to a children’s home.
• Craft & Play – Did a fun crafty experiment involving Kool-Aid drink mix and spray bottles (ask them about it!) and were magnet miners – mined for magnets in playground sand.

Meanwhile, elementary kids visited the following stations…

• One-Of-a-Kind Bible Adventures – In this station, kids get to hear our Bible story in an awesome, interactive way. Today, they missed out on fun and food as they pretended to be lepers, were affirmed by crew leaders that Jesus loves them, and were given Bible bands to wear to remember that they’re never left out with Jesus.
• Untamed Games – The wet weather kept us inside, but didn’t slow us down.  We played: Chain Relay, Shrinking Islands, and Zoo Crew Tag.
• KidVid Cinema – Chadder the Chipmunk, a VBC cinema tradition retires, ushering in a new era of learning and exploration. All week, we will learn about kids who have a situation to overcome. Today, we learned about a boy named Satish who finds an unexpected, nontraditional family when he moves to a children’s home.
• Imagination Station – We had some great discussion (“sinking feelings” and ways we have felt left out) and did a cool construction project:  boats using tin foil, foam, qtips, and tape, made to represent God’s love.  We then tested the boats in water and added pennies (representing “sinking feelings”).

Our oldest elementary kids in our Grad Group are working every day this week on various mission projects – both local and global! Today, they got to know each through ice breakers, learned about our Liberia mission project, played some fun games on the Wesley lawn, did some work to organize the week’s mission projects, and spoke to everyone (at our Tail End finale) about mission projects. A great first day!

We get hungry in the jungle, so at 10:20 each day, we gather in the Critter Café for a delicious snack; today we had One-derful parfaits (made from yogurt and fruit cocktail). We also spent time getting to know our crews a bit better and recorded some of our “God Sightings.”

At the very end of our day, we all come together for the Tail End Finale. We sang some more of the cool Weird Animals songs and watched an experiment that shows how Jesus’ powerful love helps us when we feel alone. It involved disappearing ink…

Continue the learning at home!

Here are a couple of questions to talk about around the family dinner table:

• Have everyone share a story of when they were “left out.” (Carol remembers the summer she had a “cold” and couldn’t go out to play. Later it turned out to be allergies!)
• Lepers had a skin disease. In Bible times the laws said that people who had leprosy couldn’t be anywhere near other people. But Jesus changed that! Ask your child(ten) to retell our Bible story.
• Being left out can make us feel alone. This is something that happens to everyone now and then. What sort of clues can help us to be aware that someone is feeling left out?
• What can we do to help someone who is left out?

See you tomorrow!
~~ The VBC Team