Week 1: Zero Hunger
Focus Prayer: "Give us today our daily bread"
Bible Story: The feeding of the 5,000 (Matthew 14:13-21)
Focus Prayer: "Give us today our daily bread"
Bible Story: The feeding of the 5,000 (Matthew 14:13-21)
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STORY ACTIVITIES
VBS Day-1 Skit Video - ELCA World Hunger
Story Day 1 - Video about Mexico BIBLE STORY & JOURNAL TIME When we pray, “Give us today our daily bread,” we are asking God to provide for all our needs — food, shelter, love, friends, family, clothing and more! In today’s Bible story, we will hear about how Jesus helped meet the needs of people who had come to listen to him. Opening Activity For the opening activity today, read together the Lord’s Prayer (use the translation on the Lord’s Prayer cards or the translation preferred by your family or congregation – additional examples on the church website: https://www.wllc.org/vacation-bible-school-2020.htm). Questions for Conversation (all ages): • What do you think it means to pray? • What kinds of things do we pray for? • What do you think we mean by “Give us today our daily bread”? What kinds of things do we need every day? (Examples: shelter, clothes, food, family, friends, love, etc.) Journal Activity: I Can Share In this activity, invite children to say their name and something they can share that starts with the same letter. For example, “My name is Sarah, and I can share string cheese.” In your journal, help children write their full first name down the long edge of a sheet of paper and, for each letter, one thing they can share. Younger children can also draw pictures of things they can share. Bible Reading As you read the story today, listen for what the people need. How did Jesus help them? Read together Matthew 14:15-21. (For younger children, use an accessible translation, such as the Sparkhouse Spark Bible.) Questions for Conversation (all ages): • What did the people need? • What did Jesus tell the disciples to do? • How would you have felt if you were a disciple and Jesus told you to feed the crowd with the five loaves and two fish? • How do you think the disciples felt when they fed the whole crowd? Prayer Dear God, thank you for giving us everything we need and friends to share with. Help us this week, if we need help, to be able to ask and, if we have something to share, to be able to share it with each other. Amen. |
CRAFT
CRAFT: Amate (a-MAHT-ay) Painting
Craft Connection: Amate is a traditional type of paper made from tree bark. The paper has been made since the first century. Nahua artists in Guerrero, Mexico, have revived this ancient practice by using the paper for a traditional style of painting also called amate. Materials needed: • Brown paper bags cut into rectangles • Paint • Paint brushes • Black markers Directions: 1) Start by showing some real amate paintings. A quick internet search will give you lots of options. Notice some of the common images in the paintings, such as birds, flowers and landscapes. Note how the paintings use bright colors within thick black lines and often lack any background color. 2) Crush up and smooth the paper-bag rectangles several times to get a softened, broken-down appearance similar to that of amate paper. Note: Younger kids can skip this step and paint on the flat bag, but crushing the bag is pretty fun. 3) Using a black marker, draw flowers, birds, animals or landscapes on the bag. Note: For younger kids, an adult can either pre-draw images or help kids draw. 4) Use brightly colored paint to fill in the drawings. Consider displaying the paintings in a window to brighten the day of people passing by. Or send as a gift to neighbors or friends! |
GAMES
The games here can easily be played with a small family or group. You can also use this time for other board games, outdoor activities or puzzles that can reinforce the theme of "daily bread" and team-building.
NOODLE RELAY Materials needed: • One pool noodle (small pool noodles can be used for younger children) • Paper plates or flying discs labeled with the following items (use words or drawings): sun, water, wheat, open hands, folded hands, rolling pin, eggs, heart, cross, bible, books, pencil, dirt, gardening tools, family, community, and church building • Tape Directions: The goal of this game is for everyone to collect the plates or flying discs, using the pool noodles to carry the items back to their team. Before playing the game, attach each printed icon to a paper plate or flying disc. Place the plates or flying discs on the ground, with the icon up, at one end of the space. Invite the children to line up at the opposite end of the space. To start the game, ask the children to gather the things they need to complete a task. For example, if the leader asks the group to make bread, they may gather the plates or flying discs with wheat, water and a rolling pin. To make the game more challenging, set a time limit or a minimum number of plates or flying discs they must collect. The first player in line will run with the pool noodle to the space with the plates or flying discs, choose one item, balance it on top of the pool noodle and attempt to run back to the line without dropping the item. If they drop it, they must start over from the area near the plates and flying discs. Once they return to their team, the next player takes the pool noodle and pursues a different item. Continue this relay until each player has had a turn or time runs out. Once everyone is finished, invite each team member to explain the items they chose. Suggestions for Tasks: • Make bread. • Pray. • Make a church. • Grow food. • Make a school. Suggested Questions for Younger Children: • What other things can we make from the items? [Affirm all responses.] • What is the most important item for [each task]? • What task needed the most items? • How did you help your team? How did your team help you? Suggested Questions for Older Children: • What other things can we make from the items? (Affirm all responses.) • If we were to complete these tasks (making bread, making a church, growing food, etc.) in real life, whose help might we need? (Consider: farmers to grow crops, builders to make buildings, writers to write books for a school, etc.) • What items does God provide us with? • How does God help us work together to make food, to learn at school or to make a church? Debrief: Invite the children to think of what is included when we pray for God to provide us with “daily bread.” In this part of the prayer, we ask God for literal “bread,” but we also ask God for all the other things we need: shelter, clothing, good weather, education, etc. The prayer reminds us that everything we have comes from God and that God cares about our whole lives — our spirit and our body. POOL NOODLE BALLOON BONANZA Materials needed: • 5-10 latex-free balloons • Bucket or basket • Pool noodles (for younger children, smaller pool noodles can be used) Each version of this game involves a lot of movement, so be sure to have enough space for the children and the pool noodles. You may want to set some ground rules with the children before getting started. Version 1: This is a very simple activity to get everyone started using the pool noodles and working together. Give each player a pool noodle and invite them to stand in a circle. The circle should be large enough that a normal-size pool noodle will just barely reach all the way across the circle. Toss a balloon into the center of the circle and direct the children to keep it in the air as long as possible. As they get used to one balloon, add more. To make it a bit more challenging, take turns, so that after the first person taps the balloon with the noodle, only the person to their left can tap it next, and so on, around the circle. Version 2: This activity involves the balloons. Everyone is invited to use their bodies — but not their hands! — to move balloons from one end of the space to another. Begin by setting up the balloons at one end of your space. About five balloons per team should be a good number. Inflate the balloons to different sizes to add to the challenge. Gather at the other end of the space and explain that the players will race each other to see which team can gather the most balloons and bring them back to their starting point. They cannot use their hands to pick up, hold or carry the balloons. If a balloon touches a hand, the person must put the balloon back and start over. Use cones, string, tape, etc. to set up a curvy path or create obstacles to make the game more challenging. For example, using tape or string, create a hopscotch pattern on the path so that the children must hop together without dropping the balloon. Debrief: You can use the questions below to discuss the games with children. The goal of each game is to uncover the ways that, by working together, we can do things that might seem very difficult to do on our own. Part of our “daily bread” is the community that supports us and works with us to meet all our needs. Suggested Questions for Younger Children: • Was it easier to play each game with a partner? • What other things are easier — or more fun — with a partner? • How did you work together to move them across the space? Suggested Questions for Older Children: • Was it easy to work together at first? Why or why not? • Have you ever worked with a partner at school, church, etc.? How did working on a team or with a partner make things easier? How might working with other people make some tasks harder? |
SERVICE PROJECT
Feeding America: "Map the Meal Gap"
Learn more about: + West Linn Food Pantry + H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People Eat) Visit ELCA World Hunger, the ELCA's response to hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world. If anyone's birthday is coming up, consider shopping at the ELCA Good Gifts catalog for donations of farm animals, school supplies, and many more useful items for families around the world! |
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SNACK TIME CONVERSATION STARTERS
If you could eat only one food for a week, what would it be and why? What is one special meal you remember? What made it special? 
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More about Mexico
In Mexico, our church is working with an organization called Amextra, which is helping some of the people in Illano de las Pierdas get the things they need to grow their own food.
This is Ignacio. Through Amextra and ELCA World Hunger, he received seeds, fencing and a watering hose to build a vegetable garden in his own backyard. What vegetables is he holding? In his garden, he raises radishes, potatoes, beets and cabbage. His family eats the vegetables and sells any extra at the market. This way, they have food to help them stay healthy and money to buy other things they need. Amextra also helped him learn how to keep his garden healthy by weeding and watering. 
Children need lots of vegetables to grow
healthy and strong. But they also need protein that comes from nuts, eggs, milk, yogurt and, often, meat. This picture is of Imelda and her sister Esmeralda. They live in the community too. Their mother works hard to get them the food they need, but they often did not have enough protein for their bones and muscles to grow. By working with Amextra and ELCA World Hunger, though, Imelda, Esmeralda and their mother, Marcelina, received six chickens and materials to build a chicken coop for the animals to live in. Amextra also helped them learn how to raise chickens. Now, they can have eggs anytime, and they even have enough left over to sell. That way, like Ignacio, they can have money to buy other things they need. When we have enough good food to eat, we can grow up healthy and strong. And when we work together as church, we can make sure our neighbors have enough good food to eat too. This is one way God helps provide our daily bread: through the gifts of soil, seeds, sun, plants and animals, and through people such as Ignacio, Marcelina, Imelda, Esmeralda — and you! |