St. Anthony of Padua’s Faith Formation in Cortland had a great time putting on its annual Vacation Bible School (VBS) this year.
The “Heroes of the Old Testament” theme set the stage for all kinds of adventurous and fun activities. First, the Biblical personages were introduced with short children’s cartoons and discussions. Since children learn best by doing, the children learned more through crafts, games, puppet shows, and acting out original skits including “Moses Parts the Red Sea”, “Jonah and the Whale”, and “Daniel and the Lions’ Den.” Children also manipulated the puppets for “Joseph and the Many Colored Coat”.
The young participants enjoyed acting out scenes like Moses separating the two-part Red Sea they had made, Jonah speaking from inside an eight-foot pretend whale, and the lions roaring at Daniel in the den. For an extra treat, after the Jonah skit, all children were allowed to go inside the whale to retrieve “treasures” it had “swallowed.”
Children also learned about David and Goliath, Queen Esther, and the prophet Malachi through crafts and activities. A nine-foot Goliath drawn by one of the Faith Formation teachers provided lots of fun in a contest to knock him over. As in the Bible, the one to knock him over was the smallest one there. A 5-year-old hit Goliath between the eyes with a bean bag more times than any of the older kids.
