Summer Fun for Kids: A Taste of Hawaiian Vacation Bible School

Summer is coming fast, and no time is better than now to start planning for your children's summer activities. Camps can come with a high price tag, and many parents are trying to conserve with the growing prices of everything from food to gas. Vacation Bible school is the perfect choice for just about every family. Most churches do not charge a fee to attend and some even run buses or vans to pick up the children.

Vacation Bible school is a very entertaining, learning experience for children from 3 years of age to 6th grade. This year's theme for our church, as well as for many others, will be a Hawaiian theme - The Unshakable Truth. Lifeway carries all of the materials, if you're interested in this theme for your church as well.

Several adults from our church, including myself, attended the seminar explaining the daily activities and lessons for that week. Each night will begin with a meal for the children. After the meal, they will begin learning songs, games, and will have lessons using an Hawaiian theme to get the points across and to make for a most enjoyable week.

At the end of the evening, the children will have a fun snack that they can make using that nights approved ingredients. Snacks include making turtles out of an oatmeal cream cookie as the body, pretzel stick legs and m&m eyes. Sandals made of Nutter Butter cookies (or some similar shaped cookie), straps of red licorice whips and designs with m& m's- all held on with a little icing.

Some exciting drinks include a shake made of vanilla ice cream and Hawaiian Punch or a slush of orange juice, sprite and ice. Imagine how much fun the kids will have having the drinks and snacks served from an Hawaiian snack shack.

For a more enjoyable week, volunteer to help at your church for vacation Bible school. There is much to do. For example, if your church decides on the Hawaiian theme, somebody needs to build the snack shack in advance. Teachers, decorators, and assistants are all needed as well as somebody to register the children and several people to cook the meals and serve the snacks.

If your not a member of a church, please think about letting your children attend. There is nothing else during the summer that can be as rewarding and have such a positive life changing experience as vacation Bible school.

If you live in the east Texas area around Kilgore, please join us a Hickory Grove Baptist Church. We are planning such an exciting week.