VBS Director Series: 2 Hour (Evening) VBS Schedule

One of the most common questions I see online is how to make Group VBS work with an evening/shortened schedule.  Our VBS has always (for as long as I can remember) been held in the evenings for 2-3 hours each night.  The exact time & length has fluctuated a little over the years.  Our current schedule is 2 hour VBS, from 6:30-8:30pm each evening Monday through Friday.  I’m going to share our 2 hour (evening) VBS schedule with you and would love to hear how you amend the curriculum to fit a shortened schedule!

Welcome to the VBS Director Series!  This is a series of blogs where I’ll share tips and resources for VBS directors & organizers.

Group writes their VBS curriculum for a 3 hour schedule, but with a little modification you can plan a 2 hour evening program or a full-day program depending on your church preference and volunteer availability.  Most of our volunteers work during the day, so evening VBS is our only option.

To make the program fit in a 2 hour schedule, we obviously have to cut/modify some stations.  The rotations we use for evening VBS are:

-GAMES: Two years ago, we cut out games.  Honestly, I haven’t heard a single kid mention missing it.  Our VBS is pretty high-energy to begin with, so we burn plenty of energy in the other stations!

-MUSIC: We have an AWESOME VBS music team and this is a favorite of our kids!  We have music as a rotation.  We often hear kids and parents talk about how much they enjoy the music (and that the kids are still singing it months later).

-BIBLE DISCOVERY: We split bible discovery into two stations: bible story and memory verse.  The bible content is the most important part of VBS, so we want the kids to spend a good bit of time focused on this.

-IMAGINATION STATION: We don’t use the Group gizmos, but we do related crafts/activities.

-SNACK/KIDVID: We do snack as one group in the middle of the evening.  This makes setup and cleanup easier for the snack crew because they only have to setup/cleanup once each evening.  The schedule has KidVid here, but we don’t always show the KidVid.  It is nice to have the equipment set up in the snack area in case we want/need a time filler here.

I have two VBS schedules, the schedule by kids crew and schedule by station.  They have the exact same information, but the information is arranged differently.

-STATION SCHEDULE: I hang this schedule right inside the door in each of the stations with that station’s information highlighted.

-KIDS CREW SCHEDULE: I put this schedule on a clipboard for each crew guide with that crew’s information highlighted.  The clipboard travels with the guide in their crew bag.

Again, these are just two versions of the same schedule.  You could just use one if you wanted.

Below is our VBS schedule, both in PDF and Excel format (so you can make changes as necessary).  I always add the station location to the schedule – I’ve simplified it for the download here, though.

You’ll see I don’t have anything for preschool on this schedule.  Our preschoolers come to opening and closing with the “big kids”, but then spend the middle of their evening in a separate area.  They do similar rotations to the older kids in their own building.  The preschool schedule is more flexible since there aren’t other groups relying on them to move through the stations on a tight schedule.

VBS Schedule (PDF)

2 Hour Evening VBS Schedule – by station

2 Hour Evening VBS Schedule – by kids crew

VBS Schedule (editable Excel document)

2 Hour Evening VBS Schedule

The most important thing to remember is that the schedule is just a guide!  Things will come up and the schedule will always be adjusted slightly!  Last year, we had an urgent prayer request come through from our church family (a health emergency of a church member).  We got the call right before snack time.  During snack, the station leaders all went to the sanctuary to pray, while the snack team and I kept the kids under control.  The KidVid was a godsend that night – after the kids finished snack, I showed the KidVid to take up a few minutes while the leadership team finished praying.

How do you edit the Group VBS curriculum to fit your church needs?

I am a long-time Vacation Bible School lover.  I’ve lead in several capacities throughout the VBS world and am currently our church’s VBS director.  It is a joy for me to be able to share VBS ideas and resources with others!  I will continue to share VBS ideas here as we prepare for VBS.  Follow the blog to see more of our ideas and planning!  Please let me know if there are any specific VBS items or ideas you need help with!