Journeys of St. Paul
We learned all about St. Paul’s journeys during our Vacation Church School program this summer. This could also be used at a summer camp, modified to fit the needs of a weekend retreat, or used at home within your family.
Our Week
We spent the first four days of our vacation church school focused on learning about St. Paul’s Journeys. On Friday, we started in the church for our morning prayers, then gathered in our hall to assemble our donations for our IOCC Emergency Kits, and finally enjoyed the rest of the day in field activities together
outside. Our children started at the passport check-in where they received their boarding pass and a stamp in their passport. Then they boarded their flight for each day’s journey in St. Paul’s footsteps. They received an in-flight snack both to and from their daily destination.
Schedule
This schedule was for Monday – Thursday. The times were approximate and it was more about a sequence of events than sticking strictly to the time slots. We extended outdoor or music time, as needed.
See above for Friday’s routine.
9:oo a.m. – Passport Check-in
9:10 a.m. – Inflight Snack (while waiting for everyone to arrive)
9:20 a.m. – Morning Prayers in the Church
9:30 a.m. – Learn About Our Church
Monday (Narthex), Tuesday (Nave), Wednesday (Altar), Thursday (Review – Our staff and parents were given a small group of children and the children gave the adults a church tour!)
10:00 a.m. – Storytime with Our Puppet, Fr. Abraham, about St. Paul’s Journeys
10:30 a.m. – Themed Crafts relating to St. Paul
11:00 a.m. – Outside Play Time (Get the Wiggles Out)
11:25 a.m. – Water Break
11:30 a.m. – Music: Learn “O Holy Apostles”
11:55 a.m. – Flight Home with In-flight Snack
12:00 p.m. – Parents Pick Up Crafts & Their Children at Baggage Claim
Airport Sign
We used an airport theme for our week as we traveled in the footsteps of St. Paul. I bought this editable sign on Etsy.
Passport & Ticketing Counter
This was used as our parent check-in point. If a parent did not stay, we got their cell phone number so we could contact them, if needed. Each of the kids also received their passport and boarding pass here before boarding their flight each morning.
Our Airplane
We used the airplane as our snack spot in the morning as we waited for everyone to arrive. We also used the airplane as a snack spot in the afternoon and to give any end of day instructions to the kids. I got the flight deck poster from my husband, who is a pilot. I bought a pdf of the airplane windows, printed them out, and taped them to the wall. The “outside wall” of the plane was built with white plastic disposable table cloths and pvc pipes. We used a trolley from our parish kitchen for our in-flight snack service.
Storytime & Music
We set up chairs in front our hall projection screen. I included some icons and maps to go along with our daily story about St. Paul from our puppet, Fr. Abraham. I summarized each journey into a story for the kids using Paul Apostle to the Nations.
Music
Later in the day, we used the storytime area as our music area. Our music teacher used a dry erase board as she taught the kids the Byzantine scale and “O Holy Apostles.” (June 30th; Divine Liturgy; Apolytikion)
Crafts
Monday: St. Paul Escapes Damascus in a Basket
Tuesday: St. Lydia, Seller of Purple, was the first person St. Paul baptized in Europe
Wednesday: St. Paul got bit by a snake (I found snake slap bracelets on Amazon and they were a huge hit with the kids.)
Thursday: St. Paul was imprisoned many times
Mon – Thurs: Big Kids Project
Arrivals / Departures Signs
I bought an editable file for the signs and then had it printed / laminated at FedEx Printing.
Baggage Claim
We set up a baggage claim area with several child height tables covered with black and silver plastic table cloths. Each day, the kids were instructed to put their crafts in the baggage claim area for their parents to pick up when they also came to pick them up. This, of course, went along with our overall travel theme but I was also hoping that this would eliminate left behind crafts each day – and it worked!!
T-shirts
We had t-shirts printed for all the kids and staff through Custom Ink. You have the option of purchasing all the t-shirts yourself or setting it up for each family to pay for their own part of the group order.
It took 3 weeks for the t-shirts to arrive without having to pay for faster shipping. We passed them out to the kids on Wednesday and then had our group photo taken on Thursday.
Crafts
Each day had a themed craft coordinating with that day’s story
Day 1
St. Paul’s First Journey
I summarized St. Paul’s first journey from Paul Apostle to the Nations. One of the chanters in our parish read the story for the kids. Craft: (Little Kids) St. Paul escapes Damascus in a basket & (Big Kids) St. Paul Lapbook Project
Day 2
St. Paul’s Second Journey
I summarized St. Paul’s second journey from Paul Apostle to the Nations. One of the chanters in our parish read the story for the kids. Craft: (Little Kids) St. Lydia, Seller of Purple, was the first person St. Paul baptized in Europe (Big Kids) Continued with St. Paul Lapbook Project
For the little kids’ craft, I printed out an icon of St. Lydia, bought purple bags, and sea shells. (Part of their lesson was learning about how the color purple was made from sea snails.)
The design for our staff t-shirt was inspired by St. Lydia’s hands depicted in one of her icons.
Day 3
St. Paul’s Third Journey
I summarized St. Paul’s third journey from Paul Apostle to the Nations. One of the chanters in our parish read the story for the kids. Craft: (Little Kids) St. Paul was bit by a snake & (Big Kids) continued to work on their St. Paul Lapbook Project.
I found the snake slap bracelets on Amazon. Give the snakes to the kids after they color / decorate their campfire because they will be too distracted playing with their snakes after they get one.
Day 4
St. Paul’s Fourth Journey & Martyrdom
I summarized St. Paul’s fourth journey and martyrdom from Paul Apostle to the Nations. One of the chanters in our parish read the story for the kids. Craft: (Little Kids) St. Paul was imprisoned many times & (Big Kids) finished their St. Paul Lapbook Project.
For the little kids’ craft, you’ll need construction paper, crayons, scissors, and glue. We traced each child’s hands on a sheet of construction paper. They would color the hands in while they waited for adults to come around and help them with the chains for their drawn hands. The chains were pre-cut and each child needed 5 strips of paper for their chains. An adult cut slits on both sides of each hand on the construction paper and one chain was slipped around each drawn wrist and glued on the back side. The adults also helped the kids connect the other three chains as well.
Day 5
Field Day
We found a bunch of field day activities on Pinterest and the kids had a blast! Most of our games involved water balloons because it was hot and we wanted to keep the kids cooled off. We bought the water balloons in bulk at Costco.
