Summer is Vacation Bible School (VBS) season for many churches, including mine. Our VBS coordinator begins recruiting volunteers starting in spring. I always tell her that she can count on me to volunteer, but please don’t give me curriculum yet. (I need at least a week’s reprieve between Sunday school curriculum and VBS preparation.) Once I start reading the VBS curriculum, though, I get very involved in VBS prep. This year we used Tropical Trek 2026 from Concordia Publishing House, with the theme of “Jesus Comes to Seek and Save.” I had fun reading, working through, and prepping this excellent curriculum. No way could I teach this content as well without the depth and creativity that Concordia Publishing House developed.
Curriculum Overview
What a blessing to have Christ-centered, Bible-based curriculum created by child development and theological experts! The daily lesson sheets offered many teaching strategies: object lessons, unique presentation styles, question/answer sessions, and poems with hand motions. My goal for young children is to present kinesthetic styles of learning, not just get them to listen. I appreciate activities designed to involve the five senses. Getting kids to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch reinforces the concepts they learn. I am thankful for a curriculum that gave me many options for each day. My lesson rotation times were only 20 minutes each, but the curriculum provided enough daily materials for an hour-long class.
VBS Prep
Laid out on the coffee table, these were the VBS props needed for object lessons, costumes, and games. Some of the basic props I found at home, but I didn’t have kid’s stuff. I borrowed some props from our coordinator: stuffed angel, small cross, and baby doll that doubled as Moses and Obed. A raid of our church’s Christmas bins yielded Magi items (crown and treasure box), plus kid-sized shepherd costumes. (Nothing is more flexible for Bible costumes than the Christmas shepherd’s robes!)
My costuming supplies included a mustache made with black marker on masking tape, which I thought might help my presentation. (Yes, I added some of my own ideas to the lesson activities. Hard to convince kids I was Peter, though, when they noticed my real name tag sticking out of the costume.) VBS may be amateur-time for us craft-impaired, non-actor volunteers, but I am thankful that God uses willing hearts. And that He provides excellent curriculum.
Set up a treasure hunt in a room, said the lesson. Thankfully, I had a big room. And I loved the end result. Inside the box, the kids found that day’s memory verse: a reminder that God’s Word and His love are treasures. I love how this curriculum kept a Christ-centered and Bible-based focus throughout.
My son saw me drawing a treasure map and offered to use AI for a realistic version. After uploading my photos of the handmade map and silly poem, he gave AI verbal directions. The AI version looked vintage in color and had three dimensional details, but AI fell short. AI was unable to replicate my paths around the room. The repeated AI error printed out only part of the poem. I think I will stick to my homemade VBS props.
Overall Perspective
I am grateful for this year’s excellent Concordia Publishing House curriculum. Nowhere in the VBS paperwork are the authors, illustrators, or contributors cited. What humility, to work for the spread of the Gospel without credit or bylines. We are blessed to have the publishing team’s talents help us share Christ with our VBS kids.
Lord God, thank you for Concordia Publishing House and other VBS publishers who stay true to your Word. Please guide and encourage their Bible study, Christ-centered focus, and publication plans. Lord, let their hard work, creativity, and dedication bring many children—and adults—to know and love Jesus. In His name. Amen.
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