VBS Ideas

Many of these suggestions are from churches who have used ideas for their Sunday School or Vacation Bible Study and have told of about their children's involvement with Rainbow Network.

Opening Worship

o  Learn a Spanish song - Check hymn books for Spanish songs such as "We are Walking in the Light of God" or look on the internet for songs. (http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/songs2.htm has "Jesus Loves Me" and several other songs in Spanish.)

o  Use several scriptures which deal with God's love and especially his love for the poor and concentrate on a word or two of Spanish (for example James 2:15-16. James in Spanish is Santiago)

o  Do you know a Hispanic minister or friend who could provide a devotional or Bible study for your opening.

Learning about Missions

o  Give children Spanish names for the week - find translations on www.behindthename.com/translate.php

o  Print small copies of individual pictures of Nicaraguan children from photos from a CD from Rainbow Network. Let the children each choose a picture to be their "friend". They could choose a name for their child from a list of Spanish names.

o  Learn some Spanish words - see a Spanish Bible, invite someone who speaks Spanish to teach some simple words and phrases.

o  Find out about the missionaries to Nicaragua from your denomination . You can learn about David and Laura Parajon. (http://www.internationalministries.org/newsletters/journal.asp?journalID=705&id=613)

o  Show the video about Rainbow Network and make a list of the different things they do to show God's love to the Nicaraguan people.

o  In websites about Nicaragua see what ways people worship. Many in Nicaragua are not able to go to a church because they are too far away. How could you worship and learn about God if you could not come to church?

o  Learn about Nicaragua: there are books in the public library about Nicaragua, look in encyclopedias. Included in the children's section are often Spanish books and perhaps books about Nicaragua, Latin America or Central America. Check these website (or have older children bring information they find on line from home) www.centralamerica.com/nicaragua and www.nicaragua.com

o  Plan some activities around Nicaragua.

o  Make a map of Nicaragua and another of Central America and the US. (Perhaps some of the children have been to Mexico or Florida) Little ones might color the maps. What about using two old sheets and use markers or paints to sketch two giant maps for the walls.

o  Look at some of the customs - Can you find a person who plays a guitar and perhaps even sings in Spanish, use a CD or tape of Spanish music.

o  What kind of foods do they eat? What kind of animals live there? Are there mountains (volcanoes), lakes, beaches? How big is it? How about a scavenger hunt for information for older kids and items for the younger kids?

o  With photos (available from Rainbow Network) can they tell how the children in rural Nicaragua live different or alike compared to the children in their class.

o  Look at the specific programs of Rainbow Network. Perhaps one each day. See the literature for details about each. How do the children fit into each?

o       Housing

o       Healthcare

§         Doctor at a clinic,

§         Public health - vaccinations, medicine for internal parasites (worms), shampoo for lice (careful what you say, they may have had them). Building sanitary latrines, treating their water barrel with chlorine

§         Feeding program for children (about 10,000 each day)

o       Economic development - small (micro) loans for families to start businesses

o       Education - afternoon schools close to their house. Public schools meet in the morning.

Games

o  Several games that are played in Nicaragua are baseball, soccer, and "Red Rover".

o  Make a board game where players (families) choose a card that sends them forward or backward.  "Earthquake hits Nicaragua and part of your house falls down, go back 3 squares."  "You and your brothers and sisters will be able to eat at the Rainbow Network center this month, go forward 5 squares."

Crafts

o  Make bracelets with colored beads (sample given in Spanish)

o  Make a quilt having them write their Spanish names on squares. Place something reminiscent of Rainbow Network or Nicaragua in the middle. An adult can sew them together on a machine then the children can knot heavy thread through to hold the layers together. Hang it on the wall.

o  Make (or purchase) a piñata (instructions given). For the last day fill it with candy and break it open. (Warning: be very careful to keep the children back well away from the swinging stick.)

o  Make a wall hanging of several pieces of felt on which children place children, animals, trees, houses, ox carts, etc. to make a scene from Nicaragua. The pieces placed on the fabric can be of scraps of colored fabric. Determine ahead the appropriate size of different objects, larger for smaller children. Details might be added with markers.

o  Use alphabet pasta to decorate some object or paper with a Spanish phrase like Jesus loves ....... (their Spanish name).

Snack time

o  Plan a snack of rice and beans which the children of Nicaragua eat for breakfast, lunch and supper (if they have 3 meals).   You might even serve the children different portions based on the country they represent and how many calories the children have to eat each day.

o  Plan a snack of some of the fruit of Nicaragua - watermelon, papaya, mango, avocado, cantaloupe, bananas, and plantain. Be sure to keep one uncut so they can see what the original look like. You might try cooking something like sautéing plantain in butter with a little brown sugar.

o  Have a vegetable vender come by while they eat their usual snacks with fruits and vegetables typical of tropical climates.

o  Use a small tortilla to hold their snack and let them eat it. (They are often used as spoons for rice and beans by those who do not have spoons in Nicaragua.)

• Gallo Pinto recipe - the very small red beans found in Nicaragua are not available in the US, but there is a similar black bean called Goya black turtle beans.  If you buy them dry they should be cooked in salted water for about two hours.  It is easier to buy the cooked black beans in a can.  First cook the rice by stir frying it quickly with onions in oil.  Then adding water to finish cooking the rice until tender.  Then add the drained beans and stir fry it again until all is done and flavors are blended.

 

Offering

o  "Nickels for Nicaragua" is popular. Two nickels will provide a child a hot, nutritious meal in our feeding centers.

o       "Each one feed one" - Challenge each child to feed one child.  Choose an amount appropriate to your children but also allow others to aim higher.  $2.60 feed a child for one month (that is 26 meals, 6 days a week).   Could you set a goal of $7.80 per child; that would feed a child for the summer (3 months).

o       "Feeding center goal" - Challenge your kids to set a goal to feed an entire Rainbow Network feeding center  (125 children).  One month would be a donation of $325.   If you had 100 children in your VBS that would only be $3.25 each.  Perhaps your Sunday School would consider it for the other two months of the summer or maybe the adult Sunday School classes would match what you raise.

o  Some children's groups have chosen other challenges. One Sunday School provided the cost of surgery for a little boy. Older children have held sales or picked up walnuts to provide the cost of a well, or land for a house.

o  Older students have sometimes sponsored a student in high school.

o  Parents may be interested in helping through a separate offering such as on the last day.

Items Available from Rainbow Network

___ Rainbow Network video (or DVD)

___ CD of photos

___ Directions: Piñatas, Bead Bracelets

___ Brochures or newsletters about Rainbow Network

___ Scripture list regarding the poor