Christian Education chair/board chair Beth-Ann Weppler presented Experiments in Faith at Vacation Bible School (VBS) held Aug. 13 to 17 at Knox United Church in Clifford.
Each day began with singing and games before introducing the theme, and experimenting with science. Creating foaming elephant toothpaste had children clamouring to create their own exploding geyser. Outdoors they learned the effects of soda pop and Mentos. They learned the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 and experimented with baking. They measured, mixed, decorated, baked, and ate their own tea biscuits. They used shaving cream to paint paper loaves of bread, and cut patterns to create paper fish to hook with their homemade fishing poles.
On Tuesday, Helen Newman told the creation story and helped the children create bubbling lava lamps with a little help from water, oil, food colouring, and broken Alka-Seltzer tablets. They chose 10 items and soothing colours of rice to fill their calming eye spy jars. Their beach relay was positively exhilarating as teamwork led the race.
Jennifer Devlin demonstrated the power of magnetism with magnetic slime. With a set of cups, an elastic, and four coloured strings, a teamwork game showed how Jesus loves the little children one and all.
On Thursday, the children created a snack following the Bible verses from Mark of Jesus healing a blind man read by Bonnie Whitehead. They headed outdoors and experimented with exploding lunch bags testing the endurance of no name and brand name bags. They tried on different strengths of eyeglasses, walked with a white cane for the blind, and played blindfold guessing games.
Friday, Carman Weppler let the children help him wire up 10 potatoes. The energy created measured six volts.
The children learned that even though they are little, Jesus gives them the power to do great things. The potato people they created were ingenious and tasty. By 11:15 a.m., families started to arrive to enjoy a luncheon of hot dogs, watermelon and donuts.
The leaders were happy to see 20 children participate every day. They were thankful Sharon Prieb and Audrey Garrett looked after registration and preparing snacks in the kitchen. They were grateful for the support of helpers Leigh McIntosh, Kathryn Rehorst, Anne Matthews, Shelley McIntosh, Elaine Field, Braden Newman, Nathan Giles, Addison Garrett-Winn, and Jana Kreager, and delighted to see Theodore Rehorst bring joy. They accepted a number of supplies donated by members of the congregations. Each day the children took home activity pages and the experiments to try at home.
On Aug. 19, Leigh McIntosh and Jennifer Devlin prepared the worship service at Knox. They shared the experiments in faith and lessons learned with help from Kathryn Rehorst, Helen Newman and Braden Newman.
