Last summer our school district changed the the schedule for summer school (ESY), and as a result, many kids who had previously qualified for both sessions (in June and July) didn’t qualify for the session in July. We decided it was the perfect opportunity to try something new to serve and support the families affected, so we hosted a disability-focused VBS! Here are all the details:
The schedule: We scheduled the VBS from 9:00-noon on Wednesdays in July. We thought doing it once a week throughout the month instead of on consecutive days would give the families something to look forward to all month long. We planned to start the second Wednesday of the month (after July 4th week), but we had a hurricane in our area (outside of Houston, TX), so we had to cancel the first week. Thankfully we still had two weeks and then our sensory-friendly movie end of summer celebration.
The decorations and curriculum: Our children’s ministry VBS was in June, so we were able to save some of the decorations from that and use them for our VBS! Since our VBS was once a week, we didn’t do as many decorations as the kid min’s VBS. Plus, we didn’t want it to be overwhelming for those with sensory sensitivities. We used Lifeway’s Special Friends curriculum and adapted the craft ideas for younger classes so they would be easy for our participants to complete. Here are the curriculum options I recommend:
- Lifeway’s Magnified Special Friends Leader Guide
- Curriculum supplement for Magnified from Awe & Wonder
- Curriculum supplement for the life of Joseph from Awe & Wonder (if your church is using Group’s curriculum)
- The Adapted Word Bible resources
- The Greatest Party Ever from Ability Ministry
The rotations: We had four classes based on ages. Check in was from 9:00-9:30, and then the classes did a rotation that included having lesson time in their rooms, going to the playground, having snack time, doing rec, having craft time, and then parents could pick up between 11:30-noon.
The parent hang out area: Since some of the parents were driving in from other towns, we wanted to offer a place for them to hang out if they wanted to stay on campus. We worked with our women’s ministry to create a parent lounge with snacks, and church members were available to chat or pray with the parents. We always appreciate how our women’s ministry supports our disability ministry events!
The end of summer celebration: On the last Wednesday of the month, teachers from our district had to head back for inservice days. Since they were a big part of our volunteer team, we decided to host a sensory friendly movie at our local theater on the last Wednesday of the month. We only needed a couple of volunteers for it since families attended together. We advertised it as a separate event as well, so families that didn’t come to VBS could still come to the movie!
