Superheroes - "Mighty Men of God!"

Hello and Welcome!

Noah, Sampson, and David 

What can all these men have in common? 

One year they were portrayed as 

Superheroes - "Mighty Men of God" 

in our Vacation Bible School! 

It was a 3 day VBS from 9 to Noon, 

beginning on Monday and ending with 

our open house on Wednesday evening.

Noah 

Was definitely a superhero, a great man of faith;
Hebrews 11.

Sampson 

He was a superhero in the sense that God used his strength along with his "short fuse" to fight the Philistines, the enemy of the Israelites;
Judges 16:23-31

David 

Because of his great faith that God would fight his battle against Goliath, 

he showed that faith by his courage, David was also a superhero! 

1 Samuel 17:37

Room Décor'

Keeping a list of basic things I like to develop each year for VBS is a great help!
My list covers such things as:

Large theme letters!

The computer does such a beautiful job of giving us large letters on 11x17 inch paper, that only once in a while do I find myself drawing them out because I want letters larger than what the computer offers. When students are in the room and others visit they will have no problem knowing what is the theme of our studies.

Eye Catching Grade/Age Sign!

Make your students feel special with an eye catching sign just for them! 

Staying with the superhero theme, we were the Fantastic 3rd & 4th graders!! 

Our #1 Arch Enemy is the Devil!!

We fight against him daily!

Ephesians 6:12

I used an old box for the grade sign, covered it with blue bulletin board paper, designed and printed off the large orange letters/numbers from the computer. Then added who our #1 arch enemy is.

Using the Ceiling!

Just for fun, We cut large stars hanging from the ceiling to match our "superhero" theme.

Featuring the Main Bible People!

I decided to feature each Bible hero in the same way. Each lesson had a "shooting star" showing which Bible person we were going to focus on that particular day, highlighted by a picture and name of this person on the tail of the shooting star.

There was enough room on the tail of the star to add:

1. Bible verse of the day
2. Lesson number
3. Lesson sub. theme 
4. Scripture reference of where our lesson was found. 
5. Other tid-bits

With each day following the same pattern, it was easy for my students to find the lesson reference  plus follow the focus of our lessons. The way our room was set up, we moved the chairs each day to face the particular lesson we were giving that day.

This shooting star highlights Noah!

This shooting star highlights Samson!

This Shooting Star highlights David! 

The Rainbow

When teaching about Noah, most everyone has a version of God's awe inspiring rainbow that showed and still shows God's mercy.

Bible verses on display are highly appropriate 

especially if they fit the lesson at hand. I put one of my verses on the rainbow, and 

The verse on the rainbow is 

Ephesians 6:10 

"Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."

If you will notice we have folding walls in the rooms we use for VBS. 

This has always been a challenge with our wall visual aids. 

Here is a  Tip of the Day,  to see how I hung my teaching aids. 

The poster directly below the rainbow is the scripture where God made the covenant 

with Noah and all the earth.
Genesis 9:8-17

Defining Words!

Defining Bible words is so important even in VBS.

Again because of time sake I like to have my words displayed to where I can refer to them.

The bright red sign under the poster defines the word covenant. 

This wall décor is more than just decorative. 

It's helping to teach and highlight the Word of God.

I can refer to verses and words on the wall 

and the students can see and read what I am actually talking about. 

To talk about Mighty men of faith, we must first 

describe what faith is, 

Hebrews 11:1

 and 

how important it is to have this faith. 

Hebrews 11:6  

Without faith it is impossible to please Him. 

For he who comes to God must believe that He is 

and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

On this poster I used different versions of  Hebrews 11:1 plus a couple definitions of faith so my students could compare versions showing how the same words are translated differently. 

I also thought it may be easier for them to understand the verse.

To see how I explained Noah's faith to my students by using the visual aids below, click here. 

Bible Person and Books of the Bible Facts!

 Facts about Noah are displayed here

and the book of Genesis, where our lesson is found! 

These are teacher helps as well as student helps!

These are facts about Samson, and the book of Judges!

These are facts about David and Goliath! 

Facts about the book of 1 Samuel were hanging on the tail of the shooting star.

Maps!

I love Bible geography! It helps the students realize that real things happened in a real place!! 

This map shows the table of nations for the lesson on Noah, and was enlarged from my Bible.

All of these maps wee colored with chalk pastels.

This map is for the lesson on Sampson.

This map is for the lesson on David and Goliath.

Costumes!

Here, me and my helper have our Armor of God on because we need to be ready for our arch enemy at all times!!

The armor was made of paper but did the job! 

It had wrinkles in it to show that we had been in a few battles.

A couple other costumes.

Props!

For Noah we made an altar and set it in the corner.

It was made of a box with paper "rocks" taped to it.

For Sampson I had a real jawbone in plastic.

Also for Sampson we made the pillars in Dagon's Temple.

Later, my co-teacher, who was behind the green cloth,

 knocked the pillars over when it came to that part of the lesson. 

Sheep, 5 smooth stones and sling for David.

The long red string above, showed how tall Goliath was!

I thought this was a great illustration!

The "X" marks the spot where the stone hit Goliath. 

(Sharing this idea from one of our other teachers,)

I thought the band-aid was a nice touch!

Each Lesson Set-Up in the Room!

We used the a soldier wearing the labeled armor of God and moved him around each day for our different lessons, reminding them that in order to fight our arch enemy we could not forget our shield of faith!

⭐Noah⭐

⭐Sampson⭐

⭐David⭐

We moved the chairs and Bibles around each day to focus on the lesson at hand.

The rest of my list has to do with developing the actual lesson. 

It all takes time, so I like to have the featured Bible people and theme at least 3 months in advance.

Bible

Nice sized visual aids 

Storyline

Hands on if possible (sheep hair, smooth stones, etc..)

Application

Reinforcing activity

Memory Verse

Take Home item

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment!

Faith - Hebrews 11:1

Hello and welcome!

Describing Faith

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is substance of things hoped for, 

the evidence of things not seen. 

Faith is not always the easiest thing to describe 

and even more complex with youth.

I want to share a method that seemed to help 

bring the idea across. 

On this poster I used different versions of Hebrews 11:1 so my students could compare versions showing how the same words are translated differently. I also thought it may be easier for them to understand the verse by adding a couple definitions of faith. 

First off faith is based on things we know. 

Things our brain logs in from our senses.

Here are a few visual aids that helped me explain what faith is to my students.

I began by placing the word "faith" on the board. 

Faith is NOT wishful thinking. 

(Add - NOT wishful thinking!)

Faith is substance, assurance or confidence, 

(Add - substance, assurance, confidence.)

It's what we hope for/believe in but cannot see.

(Add - of what we hope for/believe in but cannot see,) 

What we hope for/believe in is something REAL/something that is GOING to happen.  

What did Noah hope for?

(Add - Safety in the ark.)

Noah's faith was built on a foundation.

(Add - the foundation) - 

(I drew little blocks all around the outside of the paper to make a foundation, with no lines in the middle so I could write in what Noah's faith was built upon.)*

This is a foundation of evidence. 

Add - green page under the foundation

(It says - Evidence/proof of, what we hope for/have confidence in, but cannot see.)

Evidence of what we know and understand, 

making what we cannot see, REAL.

Noah had faith/assurance that what he hoped for (safety in the ark) was real.

The foundation or evidence, Noah had confidence in or based his faith/belief on were the words God told him.

(Write  - The words God spoke to Noah - on the foundation paper.)

The words God told Noah, were the evidence or proof that what God was talking about 

(even though Noah couldn't see it) WAS REAL! 

Noah believed God would keep His word and send a flood because of the wickedness of the world. 

He believed God would save him if he obeyed what God was asking him to do. 

"Build the ark."

Noah and his family would have safety in the ark!

How do we know Noah had faith in what God said?

⭐Noah showed his faith by what he did!! ⭐

He built the ark!! 

Hebrews 11:7

This is called living faith!! 

James 2:17

Challenges!!

(Add -  the boxing picture.) 

Talk about different challenges that may have weakened Noah's faith. 

(Hard work, hot sun, not much help, not any encouragement from those who were not following God, etc..)

What made Noah want to obey God? 

#1 Noah's love for God! (Noah was a righteous man who walked faithfully with God.)

#2 The consequences of NOT obeying/building the ark. 

Genesis 6:9

* If you laminate this foundation paper you will be able to wipe it off with finger nail polish remover and use it again and again with different Bible people even on a personal note with ourselves. 

What do we have confidence in/hope for that we cannot see? 

A home in heaven?

What is the foundation of our faith/hope?
What is it built on? 

What God says in His word? 

How do we show our faith? 

What challenges do we have? 

How can God help us with these challenges? 

  A "Gold Star" Just for you! 

Find a power point lesson defining faith by clicking the gold star.

Click on the singing girl to listen!

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment!

Tip of The Day - Tracing!

Hello! And welcome!

Today’s tip has to do with 

TRACING!

I am somewhat of a paper saver. It comes in pretty handy when I am in project mode.
White, tissue gift paper is something that I have grabbed up many times for pattern making.

While working on a Bible verse puzzle poster at the churches building, I realized, that in order to make this poster  available to other teachers, I was going to need a pattern.

I had no tracing paper on hand, my supply of tissue paper was lacking and my poster board was too dark to just put up to a window to trace the picture onto an overlaid poster.

So what to do?

Have you ever noticed how, 

when it’s time to change the film on a laminator, 

there is always a little laminating film left on the roll?

Necessity is the mother of invention,
so I looked around the room 

searching for something transparent enough to use for tracing,
my eyes fell upon a small stash of leftover laminating film! 

PERFECT! 

It was certainly clear enough and won’t rip like tissue paper.

I was ever so thankful to the person who decided to save this stuff!!

I laid it out over my poster, got my black marker, and began to trace. 

It worked perfectly! 

So think again before throwing out that leftover laminate!!

Sorry, there was a bit of a glare. 

There you have it, a perfect pattern! 

Tape pattern to a window 

and lay white or light colored poster board 

over pattern to trace!

Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment!