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Panda mania reigns at Methodist church VBS
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Children attending the Canfield United Methodist Church Vacation Bible School made their best monkey faces for the camera.
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Children attending the Canfield United Methodist Church VBS posed with Fez, an animated bird in a cast of characters of PandaMania, while playing games on the Green.
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Kayla Troxil’s (center) crew at the Canfield United Methodist Church Vacation Bible School had a blast “decorating” her at the game station Aug. 5.
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Attendees of the Canfield United Methodist Church Vacation Bible School spent about an hour of music-making each day.
By ABBY SLANKER
It was pandemonium the week of Aug. 1-5 as the Canfield United Methodist Church hosted its annual Vacation Bible School with the theme PandaMania — Where God is wild about you!
The approximately 100 children in attendance enjoyed a week full of activities, including story telling, crafts/missions, games and Chadders Theatre/snack.
Each day focused on a Bible point along with a key verse.
The cast of animated jungle characters who helped the children learn included Fez, a golden pheasant; Amanda, a red panda; Pogo, a leopard; Lulu, a golden snub-nosed monkey and, of course, Boomer, a panda.
The children were divided into small groups, called crews, and were led by adult or teenage volunteers using the multi-age approach, with a family feel. The crews consisted of elementary kids who had finished kindergarten through fifth grade.
This approach provided the children the opportunity to make new friends and interact with a new group of children, while the older crew members were given the chance to help and guide the younger crew members.
“This is my favorite week of the entire summer,” said Vacation Bible School Director and Coordinator of Discipleship Formation Ministries Jody Malsch. “It takes a lot of hard work, planning and organizing and I love it. We couldn’t do it without the crew leaders and adult volunteers.”
Approximately 35 youth of the church served as crew leaders and were responsible for leading four to seven children from station to station.
The stations were run by approximately 30 adult volunteer station leaders and were assisted by a youth member of the church. The crews visited each station each day.
At the crafts/missions station, the children decorated backpacks and bookmarks that will be donated to a local women’s shelter. Chadders Theatre consisted of viewing a portion of a video that told a continuous story throughout the week.
The week also focused a lot on music, with the children learning songs during opening and closing sessions. Janet Williams, Canfield United Methodist Church director of music and music teacher at C.H. Campbell Elementary School, and Shirley Merritt, a church member volunteer, guided the children in learning and singing the songs.
According to Williams, the children spent about an hour of music-making during each day of Bible school.
“Songs in the curriculum have helped express the themes and feeling of joy, comfort and praise related to Bible stories central to this experience,” Williams said.
Children made music on many hand drums, engaging singers in the beat and rhythm of the songs. Williams and Merritt invited children to take turns playing drums while others followed motions and sang as demonstrated in the curriculum’s DVD.
The children were shown a video of the day’s activities at each day’s closing session.
The children received a special treat on the last day. Dean Rapp, church member and owner of the North Lima Dairy Queen, donated ice cream for all participants, as he does each year.
At the end of the last day, the church sponsored an indoor picnic for all the children and their families, with hot dogs, pasta salad, chips and cookies being served, which was donated by the adult church member volunteers.
As a special treat to end the successful week, the church invited all attendees and their families to come back to the church the evening of Aug. 5 for a movie night. The movie for the evening was, appropriately, “Kung Fu Panda.”
The Canfield United Methodist Church will hold its Rally Day Sept. 11, during which the children will sing their Vacation Bible School songs for the congregation. An early service will be held at 8:15 a.m. and at 9:15 a.m., attendees will meet in the sanctuary to introduce all the Sunday School opportunities for children, youth and adults. A family worship service will be held at 10:30 a.m.