Answers VBS FAQ

You’ll want to begin your vacation Bible school planning with a Starter Kit or a Super Starter Kit (if you want teaching posters, the Music Leader Download, sample promotional items, and samples of the various “extras” we offer, go with the Super Starter Kit). After you receive your kit, read through the Director Guide, which will walk you through the decisions you’ll need to make and help you decide what else you’ll need to order.

• How many of each site do you need? How many staffers do you want to have at each station? (This will determine the number of extra leader guides you’ll need to order.)
• How much do you want to publicize your vacation Bible school? (This will determine how many publicity items you’ll need to order.)
• How much do you want to give to the kids who attend—T-shirts, music CDs, bookmarks, trinkets?

The cost for your vacation Bible school depends on a variety of factors: how much you want to publicize, how many leaders and students you have, how much is donated toward your craft and snack times, how many “extras” you want to purchase, etc. With that in mind, we have found that the cost per child runs between $10–15 (this total doesn’t include T-shirts and student music CDs). Again, however, this will depend on how elaborate you would like your vacation Bible school to be.

We endeavor to put together a vacation Bible school that even the most budget-conscious church can afford. For example, the craft, game, and snack ideas are all comprised of relatively common, inexpensive materials (i.e., there are no elaborate craft kits that you’ll need to purchase); and the Resource Download contains clip art and logos for making and printing your own promotional materials.

Five days? Three days? Morning? Evening? At home? At church? There are a variety of options to consider when planning your VBS. The Director Guide provides instructions for formatting the program to fit your needs. Answers VBS programs are designed for a three-hour, five-day experience, but it can be easily adapted to a variety of situations. Suggested schedules are given in the Director Guide and online customizable schedules are available with Digital Pro.

Yes! We have heard from churches with 10 kids and churches with 1,000 kids and any number in between.

For smaller churches, we suggest that you begin by ordering either a Starter Kit or a Super Starter Kit (if you want teaching posters, the Music Leader Download, sample promotional items, and samples of the various “extras” we offer, go with the Super Starter Kit). For churches with fewer than 100 kids, the Super Starter contains most of what you’ll need to efficiently run your vacation Bible school without having to purchase many extra items—you’ll have one of every leader guide, plus access to the Music Leader Download!

We offer memory verse posters in ESV and KJV, memory verse songs in ESV and KJV, and any student materials that feature verses are available in ESV or KJV. The leader guides have verses printed in ESV but are easily adaptable to other versions. The daily devotions given in the teacher guides and helper handbook are ESV; a set of daily devotions with KJV can be found in the resource download.

Yes, the Assembly Guide offers scripts for daily skits. We suggest performing your skit during the daily Closing Assembly; however the skits can also be used during your opening assembly. Each day's skit continues the storyline from the previous day.

Yes! The Music Leader Download, which comes with the purchase of a Super Starter Kit or Digital Pro, provides lyric videos and hand motion videos of the songs. A drama download is also available to purchase and is included with the purchase of Digital Pro.

Answers VBS curriculum features age-appropriate teaching material for four age groups: Toddlers (ages 2-4); Pre-Primary (ages 4-6); Primary (ages 6-9); Junior (ages 9-12). We also offer a Special Needs Supplement for those working with children with disabilities in either self-contained or integrated classrooms. In addition, we offer a Teen-Adult Guide.

Each Teacher Guide is filled with age-appropriate information that enables your kids to connect the Bible to the real world. While the information presented to each age is basically the same, the Teacher Guides differ in presentation and activities geared toward reaching the target age.

If you choose to teach all ages together, we suggest using the Primary Teacher Guide.

Puppet scripts are featured in the Teacher Guides for the younger age groups—there are several days that the Teacher Guides suggest using a puppet to help tell the lesson during the Bible lesson time.