What are Expedition Sites?

You’ll set up Expedition Sites to teach and help kids explore. You may use the sites as centers within each teacher’s classroom, as stations set up throughout your facility to which the children move, or as a combination of classroom and outside stations. Make the most of your facility’s space.

Classroom sites allow teachers to designate and set up areas within their rooms for specific activities such as crafts; facility sites require a separate room and coordinator for the specific activities. Many churches use a combination of stations. For example, classroom teachers may direct crafts and music, and separate coordinators may organize snacks and recreation. You may even wish to have site coordinators travel from room to room using an audio-visual cart. Again, adapt the Expedition Sites to your facility and schedule.

How do they work?

As children arrive at registration, they are assigned to a Guide (teacher) and a permanent, age-appropriate group. Throughout the day, the Guide will direct the group to the various Expedition Sites within the classroom or throughout the facility. (Note: We recommend that one Coach consistently be with the same group of children in order to establish a relationship that is so vital to discipling and sharing the gospel with children.)

The sites:

• Fueling Site: Children will fuel-up for a boost of additional energy with healthy, fun-to-make-and-eat snacks.
• Music Site: Here they have a great time praising the Lord through songs!
• Craft Site: The teacher or craft coordinator helps children create keepsakes of their experiences at VBS.
• Recreation Site: Here the daily lessons are reinforced through games and supervised physical activity.

Children need variety (and so do teachers)!

Studies have shown that children retain information best when it is presented in a variety of ways. With Expedition Sites in your classrooms or throughout your facility, you are giving students varied activities which reinforce each day’s lesson. By having the children move around, you provide the opportunity for them to make new friends and to have teachers get to know them in different settings.

Expedition Sites also provide more opportunities for volunteers. Many people feel intimidated about teaching every activity to a group, but would love to help in the area that interests them the most. For example, you may find enough craft coordinators for each class to have one or to have many helpers for a central crafts site. The possibilities are endless!