24 WildWood Forest VBs | Director’s Guide

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Quick tip!Plan on having one Explorer or Scout for every six to eight children in younger grades, and one for every eight to ten children in older grades.

Be assured that you can run the Wildwood Forest Vacation Bible School at your church simply and effectively. This Director’s Guide will take you

through VBS from beginning to end without a hitch. For planning, recruiting, the opening day, the final adventure, and the post-VBS follow-up, you will be guided step-by-step through Wildwood Forest and what needs to be done in each area. This information is also contained within the Wildwood Forest Elementary Leader’s Guide—so feel free to hand that guide off to another volunteer and put him or her in charge of this Wildwood Forest elementary program. The Wild-wood Forest Elementary Leader’s Guide is located in the Program Resources portfolio (part II of your Digital Kit).

Goals of Wildwood Forest VBSSet goals for running Wildwood Forest VBS and pray about them. These are the goals that this curriculum will help you accomplish:

Change children from the inside out as their hearts are transformed by the security they discover in the heart of God.Develop in children an understanding of the relationship God wants to have with them, through engaging Bible stories.

Develop meaningful relationships between leaders and children in an inter-active, Christian environment.

Build a bridge between church and home as families are encouraged and challenged by the VBS ministry.

Don’t forget to make fun a goal too, as you lead the children to explore God’s untamable and loving nature. Use this space to write down your priority goals or add goals that are tailored to your church. Revisit this list frequently to pray over it.

Key PlayersA team of volunteers will make your Wildwood Forest VBS a reality! Staffing needs are explained in detail beginning on page 59, but keep these key players in mind as you learn about running Wildwood Forest.

Sample from Director's Guide

Quick tip!Wildwood Forest VBS is easy to staff! You need five leaders—one per Discovery Site. We recommend a helper for each Discovery Site as well. Then, recruit five more helpers to lead the five groups of children through the forest. Leaders and helpers can double up in many places—for example, taking roles in the opening or closing assembly.

Discovery Site Leaders: Plan on one adult leader to organize and run each Discovery Site.

Explorers and Scouts: Plan on at least one Explorer or one Scout for each color-coded group of children. These are adults or teens who want to help with-out any preparation. You may also want to assign an Explorer or Scout to each Discovery Site to assist with preparation and help everything run smoothly.

Actors: For the opening assemblies, you’ll need one person to serve as the emcee, Ranger Riley, and three adults or teens to serve as actors. For Great Oak Theater, you will need a variety of male and female actors.

Rotational ModelWildwood Forest VBS is built on a rotational model. This means the Adventur-ers will be divided into groups, and each group will rotate to—or visit—every activity at Wildwood Forest every day. All the children start together at the opening assembly. Then they divide into five groups and rotate through five activities: Bible drama, Bible memory and music, crafts, games, and lab. Each group visits all five Discovery Sites each day, but in a different order. With each group beginning at a different starting point, the groups rotate through the Dis-covery Sites. All the groups take a break and visit Harvest Grove together for refreshments halfway through. In a rotational model, the children move and the teachers stay put. Picture a circle with groups arranged around the rim. As the circle turns, the groups move until they have been all the way around. (For site-based instructions, see page 87.)

Grouping Your Children For Wildwood Forest VBS to be most effective, plan to divide the children into five main groups. You can do this in different ways. Here are some ideas to cus-tomize this VBS to your church.

Often, more younger children attend VBS than older children. In order to have five groups, you might have groups consisting of Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, and a combined Grades 4 and 5.

Wildwood Forest offers the option of running a separate, age-appropriate program for Grades 4 and 5 called Wildwood Forest: Backcountry Trek. In this program, older Adventurers will venture deep into the mysteries of Wildwood Forest with challenges and experiences appropriate to preteens. See the separate Wildwood Forest: Backcountry Trek Upper Elementary Leader’s Guide for more information. This guide is located in the Program Resources

WildWood Forest VBs | Director’s Guide 25

|dea 1Orange Aspens .............Grade 1Yellow Maples ..............Grade 2Green Elms .....................Grade 3Silver Pines ....................Grade 4Red Cedars ....................Grade 5

|dea 2Orange Aspens ............Grade KYellow Maples ..............Grade 1Green Elms .....................Grade 2Silver Pines ..................Grades 3Red Cedars .............Grades 4–5

Sample From Director's Guide

WildWood Forest VBs | Director’s Guide 27

Sample Wildwood Forest VBS Schedule(to be used every day of VBS)

9:00–9:20

9:25–9:45

treetop art studio

(Crafts)

Vineland adventure

course (Games)

great oak theater

(Bible Drama)

glow rock hideaway

(Laboratory)

the heights(Bible Memory

and Music)

9:50–10:10

the heights(Bible Memory

and Music)

treetop art studio

(Crafts)

Vineland adventure

course (Games)

great oak theater

(Bible Drama)

glow rock hideaway

(Laboratory)

10:15–10:35

glow rock hideaway

(Laboratory)

the heights(Bible Memory

and Music)

treetop art studio

(Crafts)

Vineland adventure

course (Games)

great oak theater

(Bible Drama)

10:40–11:00

11:05–11:25

great oak theater

(Bible Drama)

glow rock hideaway

(Laboratory)

the heights(Bible Memory

and Music)

treetop art studio

(Crafts)

Vineland adventure

course (Games)

11:30–11:50

Vineland adventure

course (Games)

great oak theater

(Bible Drama)

glow rock hideaway

(Laboratory)

the heights(Bible Memory

and Music)

treetop art studio

(Crafts)

11:50–12:00

tiMe

group 1 group 2 group 3 group 4 group 5 ORANGE ASPENS YELLOW MAPLES GREEN ELMS SILVER PINES RED CEDARS

Misty Meadow (Opening Assembly)—large-group gathering

harvest grove (Snacks)—large-group gathering

Misty Meadow (Closing Assembly)—large-group gathering

Sample from Director's Guide

WildWood Forest VBs | Elementary Leader’s Guide 13

Welcome to Wildwood Forest Vacation Bible School! In Wildwood Forest, chil-dren discover the untamed nature of God. As they encounter His undefeatable, unmatchable, uncontainable, unpredictable, and unforgettable character, their lives can be transformed. This book will guide you through creating a memo-rable VBS experience for elementary-aged children.

Begin by looking through the digital Wildwood Forest Director’s Guide to get an overall picture of the entire Wildwood Forest program. Then, use this guide to help you oversee your portion of Wildwood Forest. Here, you’ll find information on the opening and closing assemblies, an overview of how the el-ementary program works, and simple instructions on getting volunteers started on the various Discovery Sites are included. So with this guide in hand, get ready to set off on an adventure!

Organizing and Running Wildwood Forest VBSYou’ll find you can run the Wildwood Forest elementary program simply and ef-fectively. This guide provides the resources you’ll require to oversee the elemen-tary program as a whole and to organize the opening and closing assemblies. You’ll also need the six site guides included in the Wildwood Forest VBS Digital Kit. These site guides can be found in the Program Resources portfolio (part II of your Digital Kit) and contain complete information on running each Discovery Site in Wildwood Forest (such as crafts or snacks). Simply print and give these resources to your volunteers and let them take it from here.

The six guides are: Harvest Grove Snack Guide, Treetop Art Studio Craft Guide, Glow Rock Hideaway Lab Guide, Great Oak Theater Drama Guide, The Heights Bible Memory and Music Guide,and VineLand Adventure Course Games Guide.

You may have been asked to oversee the registration and logistical organi-zation of the Wildwood Forest elementary program. If so, the Wildwood For-est Director’s Guide provides further information on planning, recruiting, and post-VBS follow-up. It will also guide you step-by-step, offering ways to group children, move them from Discovery Site to Discovery Site, and arrange the ac-tivities within your church’s physical space.

sample from Elementary Leader's Guide

Key PlayersA team of volunteers will make your Wildwood Forest VBS a reality! Staffing needs are explained in detail in the Wildwood Forest Director’s Guide beginning on page 59, but keep these key players in mind as you learn about running Wild-wood Forest.

Discovery Site Leaders: Plan on one adult leader to organize and run each Discovery Site.

Explorers and Scouts: Plan on at least one Explorer or one Scout for each color-coded group of children. These are adults or teens who want to help with-out any preparation. You may also want to assign an Explorer or Scout to each Discovery Site to assist with preparation and help everything run smoothly.

Actors: For the opening assemblies, you’ll need one person to serve as the emcee, who we’re calling Ranger Riley, and three adults or teens to serve as actors.

Rotational ModelWildwood Forest VBS is built on a rotational model. This means the Adventurers will be divided into groups, and each group will rotate to—or visit—every activity at Wildwood Forest every day. All the children start together at the opening as-sembly. Then they divide into five groups and rotate through five activities: Bible drama, Bible memory and music, crafts, games, and lab. Each group visits all five Discovery Sites each day, but in a different order. With each group beginning at a different starting point, the groups rotate through the Discovery Sites. All the groups take a break and visit Harvest Grove together for refreshments halfway through. In a rotational model, the children move and the teachers stay put. Pic-ture a circle with groups arranged around the rim. As the circle turns, the groups move until they have been all the way around. For more information on grouping children, see page 25 in the Wildwood Forest Director’s Guide.

Moving Children around Wildwood Forest VBSMoving your Adventurers around your church’s Wildwood Forest VBS is

easy to do. You or the VBS Director will assign every Adventurer to a color-coded group, and give each a bandanna of the assigned color (labeled with each child’s name). Have Explorers and Scouts wear T-shirt colors that match their group. Be sure that Explorers and Scouts get to know their assigned children.

Explorers and Scouts will lead their groups to every Discovery Site. There they stay close by (not watching from the sidelines!) and participate in the activi-ties. While moving their assigned groups between Discovery Sites, they should keep the children in line and on task. The Adventurers don’t even have to know their way around; the Explorers and Scouts will take them safely to the next site.

14 WildWood Forest VBs | Elementary Leader’s Guide

QuiCK tip!Plan on having one Explorer or Scout for every six to eight children in younger grades, and one for every eight to ten children in older grades.

QuiCK tip!For site-based instructions, see page 87 in the Wildwood Forest Director’s Guide.

QuiCK tip!Wildwood Forest VBS is easy to staff! You need five leaders—one per Discovery Site. We recommend a helper for each Discovery Site as well. Then, recruit five more helpers to lead the five groups of children through the forest. Leaders and helpers can double up in many places—for example, taking roles in the opening or closing assembly.

Sample from Elementary Leader's Guide

Keeping It All TogetherEvery day Adventurers will have “stuff” to carry around with them, such as

backpacks, purses, or a sweater for a chilly morning. As the day moves along, Adventurers will naturally shed these things and be reluctant to carry them around. In addition, each child will have a craft and a student book that will travel with them through Wildwood Forest.

To keep all these things together, give Explorers and Scouts laundry baskets (matching their group’s color, if possible), a tote, or a box to carry with them as they lead their group around Wildwood Forest VBS. Adventurers can store their items in the basket to keep from getting loaded down or losing things. Everything will then be conveniently on hand if someone needs something. You’ll also want to provide each leader with markers to identify individuals’ student books and craft items.

You’ll be glad you made the investment in several inexpensive laundry bas-kets or bins when you come to the end of each day and all the children have their things—without stress!

Options, Options, Options…You will find numerous options throughout Wildwood Forest VBS, from vari-ous craft, snack, and game choices to optional mission project ideas to dozens of Climb Higher opportunities. You and your staff have the freedom to create a VBS experience that fits the unique needs of your children, church, and com-munity. As you read through the guides, remember that you each may or may not choose to implement every idea and suggestion given. And rather than be overwhelmed by the variety of options presented, be flexible; do what works for your program, and remember to have fun!

Handy ResourcesAs you and your volunteers plan the details of each Discovery Site for your VBS, keep these resources in mind.

Music and music video: “Wild and Wonderful God” is this year’s theme song. At wildwoodforestvbs.com, you’ll find downloadable MP3s and music videos—complete with on-screen lyrics—for all ten praise songs and hymns. Choose either way to open each day’s program. Use this music as you choose—in your opening each day, as background music for any Discovery Site, or in your closing assembly. Music and lyrics for all ten Wildwood Forest songs can be found in the Program Resources portfolio (part II of your Digital Kit). Go to the Discovery Sites folder and click on The Heights Bible Memory & Music Guide. Then click on the Additional Music Resources folder..Reproducible artwork: Clip art is available in the Promotional Materials & Extras portfolio (part III of your Digital Kit) in the Logos & Art folder. You

WildWood Forest VBs | Elementary Leader’s Guide 15

QuiCK tip!Give every Explorer or Scout an index card with the names of his group members to carry along to help keep track of Adventurers. You might also give each vol-unteer an index card listing the order of the Discovery Sites each group will visit. Consider using colored index cards that match the group’s assigned color and slip-ping them into clear plastic sleeves secured to a lanyard that volunteers can wear around their necks.

Sample from elementary Leader's Guide

16 WildWood Forest VBs | Elementary Leader’s Guide

can use this artwork to create a mysterious forest, including signs, decora-tions, backgrounds, and details.

Don’t go it alone: You may want to involve your whole church in creating Wildwood Forest! Invite youth, Bible study groups, senior citizens, and oth-ers to help create the Discovery Sites and the overall theme.Detailed instructions: Everything you need to know to set up each Discovery Site is explained more thoroughly in each site guide.

Climb Higher: The guides for each individual Discovery Site give you sev-eral options for creating a detailed and imaginative forest! Encourage your Discovery Site Leaders to read through the decorating ideas in their guides and use their imagination to create their sites.

Wildwood Forest Discovery SitesEvery Discovery Site is carefully thought out to make it the most effective in helping children discover our untamable God. Find complete information on running each Discovery Site in the individual guides. Simply print and give the appropriate guide to the Discovery Site Leader and he or she has all they need for success. A complete leader’s guide is provided for each site except Trailhead and Misty Meadow. The following information outlines each site in Wildwood Forest and offers suggestions for set-up.

TrailheadThis is the spot where the children line up in their groups each day before head-ing to the Wildwood Forest large-group assembly area, Misty Meadow. Many churches find it convenient to invite the children to arrive 15 minutes early. This gives them a chance to greet friends, find where they belong, and get into the spirit of VBS. It gives newcomers time to get placed in a group without missing any of the fun.

Your Trailhead time will run much more smoothly if you have a registration table set up every day in a prominent place where parents can bring their chil-dren and find out which color group they are in. This table will be busiest on the first day, but visitors and forgetful children will need it on subsequent days.

Be sure to take attendance during this Trailhead time. Depending on your time and space here and in Misty Meadow, you might also choose to use this time to make announcements, lead the Pledge of Allegiance, take offerings, and recognize birthdays. If you don’t have a portable audio system for making announcements at Trailhead, you may want to save these items for the actual opening assembly.

Explorers, Scouts, and any other leaders who are free can use this time to introduce themselves and get to know the children.

Sample from elementary Leader's guide

WILDWOOD FOREST VBS | Glow Rock Hideaway Lab Guide 7

Forget about stuffy science labs and cold supplycabinets. The laboratory of Wildwood Forest—

or Glow Rock Hideaway—is a cozy, secret cave withfabulous treasures waiting inside. Inside its bound-aries are exciting discoveries about God’s world andhis limitless creativity.

As you consider some of the suggestions forcreating mood and atmosphere, just remember thatthe Hideaway should evoke adventure and excite-ment—never fear or mysticism. Each child shouldlook forward to visiting a place full of wonder anddiscovery, but the environment should always feelsafe and warm.

As you’re decorating, don’t limit your imagina-tion to the four walls of your classroom. Lighting,furniture, textures, and sounds can add dimensionto your boundaries. Remember—you want to chal-lenge some of the familiarity of their everydaychurch atmosphere by transforming routine spacesinto brand-new, ready-to-explore territory.

The Secret EntranceTo create the pathway to a secret cave, you mightwant to consider a trailleading to the door of yourclassroom made of fauxstones. Mismatched cobble-stone shapes can be easilysponge-painted on brownvinyl or even simple craftpaper in earthy colors.

You can create a high-interest entry by coveringyour classroom door withbrown butcher paperpainted to resemble awooden, castle-style gate.Another option might be tocover the entry with fakeleaves and vines out of

twisted craft paper or cardboard—leaving only asmaller entrance at the bottom for kids to crawlthrough. Who doesn’t love to come in through a se-cret entrance?

Props and Lab EquipmentUnlike traditional science laboratories, the Hide-away should resemble more of a cave where kidscan examine treasures from the earth—much likean archaeologist. Old wooden crates or boxes withvines strewn across them can give your space a rus-tic feel. Consider crafting vines out of twistedbutcher paper in green, gray, and brown and sus-pending them from the ceiling. Fake rocks andboulders are a great touch as well. To create these,simply stuff black trash bags with newspaper andspray paint them brown or grey. You can also spraypaint large chunks of foam to look like boulders.

Add a little more science to your space bybringing in microscopes, test tubes, and other labequipment. You can buy these at school supplystores or ask church members to loan these itemsfor the week of VBS. Be sure to mark everything

that you’ll need to return.Since several experiments

require tables, try coveringthem with brown butcherpaper. Not only will it add tothe natural colors of your envi-ronment, but it will also keepyour furniture clean.

If your room contains per-manent furniture that can’t bemoved, draping it with muted,natural-colored blankets orsheets can add to the forest at-mosphere. You can also drapesheets on the walls to create acave-like atmosphere.

Sample from lab guide

8 WILDWOOD FOREST VBS | Glow Rock Hideaway Lab Guide

Set the StageDuring every day’s labdemonstration, you’llwant to make sure thateach Adventurer can seewhat’s going on. Set up ahead table at the front ofthe room for the initial lab

demonstrations at the beginning of the session.Adventurers can either sit on the floor in front ofthe demonstration table, turn and watch from theirown tables, or, if you have small enough groups,stand around the demonstration table when theyenter Glow Rock Hideaway.

After the demonstration, Adventurers cangather around their individual tables in groups toconduct their own experiments. Just be sure toarrange the tables so everyone can see the demon-stration and have an Explorer or Scout present ateach table.

If tables aren’t a good option for you, try set-ting aside a large open space where groups willre-create the experiments. Just be sure to coverthe floor with tarps, plastic drop cloths, or trashbags for the messier experiments, or leave themon the floor for the entire week.

Fun in the ShadowsYour Adventurers will be excited to climb into theirvery own cool cave—especially when the hot sum-

mer sun is just outside. You can create light andshadows with different colored bulbs and ordinarydesk lamps positioned at strategic spots around theroom. Since one of the experiments requires com-plete darkness, you’ll want to seal out as much nat-ural light as possible.

Drape walls with natural-colored bed sheets orlinens and shine images of colored rocks or gemsover them, using projectors. You can always hidethe equipment by camouflaging it within yourother props and blankets.

Ears and NoseDon’t neglect two powerful senses: hearing andsmelling. Many alarm clocks and sound machinesfor babies feature outdoor noises with crickets,streams, and twittering birds, and these would pro-vide a simple soundtrack during the first few min-utes when Adventurers arrive. Many departmentstores also display CD kiosks featuring naturesoundtracks, or you can download nature soundsfrom the Internet. Check around the house for left-over spray cans of Christmas scents such as pineor evergreen. A quick spray before the Adventurersarrive can be a cool way to bring the outdoors in.Just be aware of any scent allergies the children (oryour helpers!) may have.

QUICK TIP!If you choose to haveseparate tables forthe Adventurers,you’ll want to waitto set them up untilDay 2 since Day 1’sexperiment requiresopen space.

Sample from lab guide

Today’s Story…God’s people, the Israelites, were goingto battle against the evil Midianites, whohad a huge army—much bigger thanIsrael’s army of 32,000 soldiers. God hadchosen a man named Gideon to lead theIsraelites, and he gave Gideon somestrange instructions before the battle.

God said, “The Israelite army is toobig. I don’t want anyone to think thatIsrael won this battle by themselves—Iam the one who will win for them. If thereare any soldiers who are afraid, send themhome.”

Gideon was confused, but he did as Godtold him and sent home 22,000 men. Nowonly 10,000 soldiers were left.

But God said, “The army is still too big.Take all the men to the river to get a drink.Send home all the soldiers who put theirfaces to the water to drink.”

Gideon had to say good-bye tothousands more men! There were only 300soldiers left to fight the Midianites. But

Gideon and his army trusted God.That night, the Israelites sneaked up on

the Midianites, carrying trumpets andtorches hidden inside empty jars. WhenGideon gave the signal, the Israelite armybroke the jars and blew the trumpets.

The Midianites panicked. They thought ahuge army had surrounded them. They gotconfused and started fighting each other—then they ran away. The Israelites didn’thave to fight at all! Even though there wereonly 300 Israelites, God helped them winthe battle with his undefeatable power.

Bible StoryGideon’s Fight(Judges 7:1–8,16–22)

Key VerseIt is not by swordor spear that theLORD saves; for thebattle is the LORD’s.(1 Samuel 17:47)

Live lt!God isundefeatable.

3

sample from elementary student field guide

4

Directions1. Use a pencil to draw a big Israelite army with Gideon, ready for the fight.2. When you’re done, use your eraser to erasemost of the soldiers you’ve drawn. This is a

bit like what God did—he reduced the army to a tiny, small, weak force. They weretotally outnumbered!

3. But God showed his power that day! He is undefeatable!Draw scared, frightened faceson the Midianite army to show how terrified they were of Gideon’s forces—and God’spower!

sample from elementary student field guide

1. Think of a word that has something todo with WIND. Write it here:

___________________________

2. What are some things that seemundefeatable (like a brick wall)?Write or draw a picture of one.

Lab Time

5

Stunt BirdYOU’LL NEED:� 1 balloon� 1 plastic straw� 1 clothespin� 1 wooden shish-kebab skewer� 1 marker� Tape� Scissors

Today’s experiment at Glow Rock Hideawaywas a fantastic, stunt-performing bird!Follow these directions at home wheneveryou want a reminder of God’s undefeatablepower. It’s easiest to make when you have afriend, sibling, or parent to help you!

Always ask your parentsfor permissionwhen you

do any experiments at home!

Step 1: Cut the straw into a three-inchpiece. If the skewer has sharp ends, askan adult to help you cut or sand them off.

Step 2: Inflate the balloon andtwist the end once. Clip itshut with the clothespin.

Step 3: Tape the straw on the top of theballoon.

Step 4: Use the marker to draw a bird’sface on the front of the balloon and awing on each side.

Step 5: Thread the straw onto the skewer,or “launcher,” with the bird facing awayfrom you. Be sure to hold the launcherevenly, not tilting up or down.

Step 6: Unclip the clothespin and watchyour stunt bird shoot off the launcher andflip and spin!

Sample from elementary student field guide