Some Friendly Competition

Our 2019 Answers VBS, The Incredible Race, involves racing around the world, completing challenges. We’ve woven in multiple contests and challenges to capture the excitement of a racing competition.

In our test churches, the kids really loved the contest and challenges portion of the VBS, so choose the ones that will fit best into your schedule. The contests come as a four-tiered system: individuals, teams, grade levels, and all VBS. You can use one tier, two tiers, three tiers, or all the tiers if you’re up for it!

• Individual challenges. This is a take-home activity that helps kids grow in the knowledge of the world’s nations, so they can, by God’s grace, grow in their love for those around the world. You can download the individual challenge sheets on our Incredible Race Resource page.
• Team challenges. These challenges are designed to help children hide God’s Word in their hearts through Scripture memorization. Children can also complete the “Go and Do” section of the student guide (if you are using that with your VBS). Points are awarded for completing various challenges, and the team with the most points per child on that team wins.
• Grade-level challenge. This challenge adds to the excitement and friendly competition and rivalry. At the end of your VBS, during your final assembly or ceremony, the team with the most points per child (based on the average per child you figured out each day) in each grade level wins!
• All VBS. This is the most important challenge. Throughout the day, at each rotation spot, teams will face clues and challenges given to them via video, the challenge box, or a teacher or other leader. These are fun and tie directly into the teaching of The Incredible Race. At the end of the week, announce what the whole VBS accomplished together and, as a prize, make a gift to a mission-oriented ministry (we provide fun examples of how to make this interactive for the kids in the Director’s Guide under “Cool Contests”).

We also feature daily cool contests such as Gummy Bear Guessing Game, Dress-Up Day, and Mission Money Mania.

Together, these challenges draw the kids in, increase participation, help them have a wonderful time at VBS, help them learn memory verses, encourage them to think about others around the world, and much more. We hope you have as much fun with them as we did!

Learn more about all these challenges under “Cool Contests” in your Director’s Guide. And learn more about The Incredible Race at AnswersVBS.com.