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Vacation Bible School and its many forms is a great way for our churches to pour biblical truths into the children around us. While VBS has traditionally been held at churches, sometimes there are practical and strategic reasons to explore moving your church’s VBS from your facility to a local park.
Benefits For VBS At The Park
- Neutral location for those who don’t normally come to church
- Familiar place for kids who don’t normally come to church (and a different setting for your church kids!)
- A park within walking distance is convenient for those who don’t have reliable transportation
- Less time spent setting up/disrupting/cleaning up your church building
Take Your VBS Program To A Park
Follow these steps to help transition your existing VBS program from a building to a park.
1. Cast Your Vision To The Church
Ensure church leadership and your core group (you know who they are) are on board with the move to a park. Do this several months in advance so together you can navigate any concerns.
2. Find Your New VBS Location
Generally, you want to hold your VBS at a well-maintained park that is accessible to surrounding neighborhoods. If there are several areas you are considering, spend time in prayer walking these areas to better choose the site.
3. Determine The Park’s Resources For Your VBS
Once you have chosen your location, create a rough map highlighting what the park offers. This helps you as you plan the event later. Identify the resources available to you. Look for any water fountain/spigot, bathroom facilities, electrical outlets, shade, tables, playground equipment, athletic spaces, open fields, parking, fencing, and trash cans. Similarly, note the things that could become a hazard –– open water sources, insect nests, uneven ground or ditches, and nearness to cars or streets.
4. Work Out Any Resource Issues
You pack in and out anything the park does not provide. Here are some common problems with feasible solutions:
No shade
Provide a pop-up canopy; it is definitely possible to go without any shade, but your volunteers will thank you for the respite.
No electricity
Use batteries and make sure your equipment is charged each night, or ditch electronics altogether.
No water fountain/spigot
Bring all water necessary for both drinks and activities and utilize multiple-gallon containers for different uses if necessary.
No bathroom
Depending on the park’s owner, you may be able to rent a portable toilet, or you may have to concede there is no bathroom. If you have no access to a bathroom, let parents know you will contact them early if their child needs to use the restroom.
No picnic tables
Either bring in tables or plan to work on a concrete pad.
No fencing
Plan your activities away from spaces where kids can run outside of the defined playground. Also, plan to have a designated volunteer whose goal is to ensure kids stay in defined areas.
No open, flat areas
Plan games that do not require a lot of room to run around
No trash cans
Bring your own!
No parking or limited parking
Ask volunteers to carpool and park down the block to provide parents with available parking spots.
There are always workarounds!
5. Reserve The Space & Promote Your VBS
Block out the days, reserve the space, and get the word out.
Once you determined what you can and can’t do with the space, set your schedule. For example, if there is no bathroom available, you probably want to cap your meeting time to 1-1.5 hours. Similarly, if there is no natural shade, you may not want to have your VBS during the hottest time of the day. Check out the Weekend VBS idea in 5 Ways Your Small Church Can Save Time And Money On VBS.
Communicate with the park’s owner about reserving the space, and discuss any requirements/guidelines for the reservation.
Advertise your VBS like you would normally! These Better Church Announcements Plus 7 Creative Twists give fresh ideas and work great for VBS announcements.
6. Consider These Things & Make A Plan
Heat
The best solution for heat is shade and time to cool down between active programming. Ask parents to send a water bottle with their children, or simply plan to have water breaks after times of high activity.
The Sun
On your registration form, invite parents to send their kids to VBS with sun protection: sunscreen, a hat, etc.
Wind
Realize you may be fighting the wind for your VBS supplies. Stay away from paper puzzles or match games. If you still would like to use paper, bring objects that can serve to weigh items down — rocks or canned goods do the trick.
- At snack time, distribute napkins at the very end.
- Instead of using a poster by itself for a story picture, secure it to something more durable that does not billow if the wind hits it.
Rain
Always have a rain plan and let parents know ahead of time how this information is communicated to them.
Worksheets/Writing
At the park, kids don’t have a smooth flat surface to write on. You can remedy this by either eliminating those types of activities from your VBS or providing each child with a 12×16 piece of coated cardboard or posterboard (or individual placemats you can make during craft time on Day 1).
Messy Crafts
If you have a craft with wet glue or paint, try to do this craft early on in your VBS time for that day so the kids can take it home with them. If it is still wet, consider placing it in a freezer bag or wrapping it in wax paper to send home.
Messes
Determine how to clean up messes (anticipated or accidental), and bring what is required.
Wet Grass/Playground Equipment
Be aware, dew and/or rain from the previous day leaves grass and equipment wet; bring towels to dry surfaces.
First Aid
Always have a stocked first aid kit available.
Nursery Care
Some of your volunteers have young children who are not able to participate in VBS. As a courtesy, offer childcare offsite for these workers — either at the church or in someone’s home.
7. Stage Your VBS
Using the map you created, designate zones for each activity. For example, a shelter house may serve as an area for craft time, an athletic court may become a place for story time, etc. If you have an open field, which needs to serve as two areas, create a boundary using a plastic tablecloth staked into the ground. Creating zones helps kids identify what they are going to do and when, as well as helps leaders plan their activities with the resources in their given area.
Designate an area solely for registration/pickup, and provide clear signage so parents know how to and within what timeframe they are expected to check kids in and out of your care. Ensure volunteers supervise kids before and after the VBS program; as long as children are in your care, they must be directly supervised. Create a “zone” exclusively for free play before/after your VBS. This can be the playground itself or just a space with assorted yard games, bubbles, and sidewalk chalk. (Make sure this area does not interfere with any setup/teardown for the day!)
How To Supervise VBS At The Park
An easy way for volunteers to communicate whether or not a child is in your church’s care is to use a combination of rosters and nametags. The volunteers at registration maintain the first roster, which is the official sign-in/out form for parents, and the second roster (if you separate children into age groups, a second roster for each group) serves to help your hands-on volunteers know which children are present.
One way this works is after a child is checked in on the roster at registration by Volunteer A, he is escorted from registration by Volunteer B to Volunteer C, who is responsible for supervising the child. Volunteer C then gives the child a nametag and marks the child present on the second roster.
As VBS progresses, the second roster and any remaining name tags are handed to whoever is responsible for that group of kids at that time –– it may change or stay the same depending on your program.
At pickup, a parent signs the child out on the registration roster with Volunteer A; Volunteer B retrieves the child from Volunteer C, who removes the child’s name tag for the day and indicates the child has been picked up on the roster.
Please note this is just one way to logistically handle this issue, but the important thing is there is never a doubt about who is in your church’s care and which volunteer is responsible for which child.
Create Zoned Areas For Your Children
An easy way to help kids know where to sit in a given zone is to have something for each child to sit on. This can be a towel brought from home or a craft made on the first day of VBS. This gives each child a designated spot (and the ability to play games where you normally use chairs), helps protect clothes from stains, and protects skin from becoming irritated. If you do not want to go in that direction, gather a few durable plastic tablecloths and stake them to the ground for group seating.
VBS at the park, for the most part, is portable. Each day prior to your VBS time, separate your supplies by blocked activity. (Traditional activities are story time, recreation, craft, snack, and music. Change these to meet your needs!)
Plan out how things should be stored to be unpacked at the park. For example, if craft time is last, do not store it on top. You can use traditional storage totes, but coolers are more durable and can serve as seating for an activity’s leader. If you’re able, designate a tote or cooler for each activity and store all activities’ supplies in that cooler for that day.
8. Close It Out
Many churches have a family night to close out their VBS program. If you want to try and connect your VBS families to your church building, host the event at your church. If you want to engage more of the community, host a block party at the park. Feature the kids and what they learned. Either option is a great opportunity to encourage these kids and let families know your church cares for them. Check out this idea for a Summer Outreach: Block Party BBQ. You can easily use this for a Close It Out Celebration!
With the steps above, you should be able to navigate most of the changes required in moving your VBS from a church building to a park. May the Lord be glorified as we teach children biblical truth and strive to reach our communities for Jesus, whether this takes place in homes, churches, or the local playground.
Looking for a step-by-step guide to starting or restarting your children’s ministry?
Check out the Children’s Ministry Bundle For Small Churches!
Read More:
A “Thank You” That Your VBS Volunteers Will Treasure
Alternative VBS Ideas Perfect For Small Churches
Cassandra Frost loves serving in her local church’s children’s ministry, women’s ministry, and prayer ministry. She has a passion for providing resources to others to help them in their spiritual walk and to grow their respective ministries. Cassandra obtained her Bachelor’s degree at Boyce College, served on the mission field in Southeast Asia (and still has a huge heart for the nations and missions education), and currently works full-time as an analyst. She is married and has a wonderful daughter, two disobedient dogs, and a mischievous cat.
