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Is Galactic Blast the right VBS for your church? Read my review to learn some pros and cons of the 2010 Vacation Bible School from Cokesbury. The tagline for Galactic Blast is “A Cosmic Adventure in Praising God.” Each day is about a characteristic of God and how we can respond with worship. The theme Bible verse is Psalm 150:6 which says, “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!”
This is the first year I’ve covered the VBS curriculum from Cokesbury. I want to thank Michael Auliso for sending me a starter kit to review here on the website. My first impressions of Galactic Blast VBS were very positive. They did a great job revealing the theme last summer with a series of teaser videos. So, I was excited to spend a few hours taking a closer look.
My Video Review
2010 Galactic Blast Preview Video
Galactic Blast Daily Content
- Mission 1: Creation of the Universe, Genesis 1:1-2:4
Our God is wonderful! Praise God! - Mission 2: Elijah at Mt. Horeb, 1 Kings 19:4-18
Our God is incredible! Praise God! - Mission 3: The Woman at the Well, John 4:1-42
Our God is amazing! Praise God! - Mission 4: A Blind Beggar in Jericho, Luke 18:35-43
Our God is magnificent! Praise God! - Mission 5: Two Disciples in Emmaus, Luke 24:13-32
Our God is awesome! Praise God!
My Review of Galactic Blast Vacation Bible School
First, check out the preview video above. You will get a feel for how this VBS program will work out in real life. Cokesbury was kind enough to send me a review copy of the Galactic Blast curriculum. Here are the notes I took when looking it over.
Space Theme: The first standout feature of this VBS is how well the space theme is integrated into the curriculum. Most of the booklets in their material have real photographs of astronauts, space shuttles, or planets. They made it easy to imagine this theme in my church.
Excellent Directors Manual: Most of all, I was impressed with the clarity of their director’s booklet. At 144 pages, it seemed to cover every detail without overloading the director. The layout is easy to read with clear visual clues about important content. I love the tear-out page format and pre-punched holes for my organizer. Inside, you will find excellent planning tips, directions for VBS leader training, parent letters, job descriptions, checklists, and planning forms. It has every feature I could image and then some. This Vacation Bible School manual is a valuable resource. I would feel very comfortable handing it over to a volunteer leader to organize our VBS.
Science Content: I was also pleased with the way Cokesbury has included science content into their VBS program. Each hands on science activity concludes by praising God for the physical universe he has made. This is a great way to help children integrate science with their belief in God. They also have environmental tips and geography elements included in the opening assembly time.
Going Green Tips: According to the description, cadets will “gain a new perspective on our planet Earth, and learn easy “green” earth tips they can practice at home.” This is the first “going green” elements that I’ve seen from a major VBS publisher. Global warming, climate change and environmental awareness are issues many denominations are still ignoring. But caring for the creation is a value with good support in traditional Christian theology. These going green tips are only a small component of the theme and are relegated to the opening assembly.
You Get Options: I liked the way this theme offers several options for VBS directors to choose. This comes out in the snacks, rotation schedule, Bible lesson presentations, and games. For example, each day’s science activity gives you three difference options.
Music: This theme includes 8 original songs and 2 familiar worship songs. The musical arrangement will appeal to kids. You can hear samples on the official Galactic blast website. To get the most out of the music you will want to purchase the Mega Media Pack, which is not included in the basic starter kits.
Missions: In this VBS, missions is taught using stories of real kids who saw a need and chose to make a difference in the world. These are very inspiring and will motivate kids to make a difference in their own worlds. Here are some samples on the Cokesbury website.
Concerns: My major concern with this VBS relates to the Gospel. In almost every way Galactic Blast is a God-centered curriculum. Each lesson highlights an aspect of God’s character and praise Him for it. Despite this, I could find only one mention of the cross and very little emphasis on our personal need for salvation.
The cross matters because this is where we can clearly see the intersection of God’s attributes. Both God’s love and justice are on display when Jesus died in our place. The atonement gives us the deepest insight into God’s character and the best reason to praise Him. Without the cross, we would still be God’s enemies. Understanding the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection is the ultimate motive for us to lay down our lives in service to others. Leaving out these elements is my one disappointment in an otherwise excellent VBS program. If you share this concern, be ready to add extra Gospel content to your teaching time.
Resources for Cokesbury’s Galactic Blast VBS
In this section, I’ll add links to resources that will help churches who are using Cokesbury’s Galactic Blast. If you know of more resources, leave a note in the comment section below.
- Visit the official website from Cokesbury VBS. They will have decorating ideas, and other suggestions as VBS 2010 gets closer. You can also sign up for their email newsletter.
- Follow Cokesbury VBS on Twitter
- Read my interview with Michael Auliso from Cokesbury / Abington Press
Related posts:
- 2010 Cokesbury VBS: Going Green VBS Theme
- Group’s 2010 VBS Theme Teaser!
- Group’s High Sea Expedition VBS Theme for 2010
- Egypt Joseph’s Journey – Group’s 2010 Holy Land Adventure
- Inside Cokesbury VBS: An Interview With Michael Aulisio
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Hi
My name is Roy Grant. I am the children’s director for Potential Church in Cooper City Florida. We will be doing a VBS style camp on August 1st-5th and would love to get some more info from you guys. We typically came up with a theme which involves a time machine but can’t seem to locate a curriculum that has any mention of time machine. I just watched your Space Travel curriculum and was quite intrigued. Any Additional information you could provide would be such a huge blessing. I will continue to review your website in the meantime. Thanks
In Him,
Roy Grant
Hi, Does Cokesbury have the lesson plan or teachers book for each class such as the preschool,elementary,middler..and so forth? Or is it just one leader’s guide for all?
the songs are fun and energetic and easy to learn.
the children enjoy singing them, listening in their car or at home, and watching the kids on the video dance.
power point slides may help some people, but not everyone has that capability. but if we could use them, please make each song on its own separate file if possible. please make the lyrics available on posters or charts or that we can print. thanks
why are the songs never on the dvd/cd the same order as they are used during the week.
Hi. My son will be attending this with his friend at his friend’s church. I wonder if the “science” of this means evolution at all? (Even God-directed evolution). . . Thanks.
Not that I could see from the curriculum. More space and environment stuff.
The science discovery center with Galactic Blast are activities to teach children some fun facts about outer space and tie it back to the Bible lesson for the day. For example, there is teaching about how God is always with you just like the moon is always near the earth (even when you can’t see it). Then in science the children participate in some activities about the moon. Evolution is never discussed in this curriculum.
I agree the crafts provided are expensive when on a tight budget and I’ve been trying to come up with some ideas. I’ve been collecting 2 liter bottles from our wonderful congregation and will be making space ships from them. Probably decorate them with newspaper /paste maiche and lots of seqins and glitter (yes it is messy but fun) for the children to add after it dries. A large slit on the side will turn this into a bank. Will probably make one as an example and use it during the week for our Mission donations.
This is be a 2 day project at least.
I found glow in the dark tape on line and will use that to put on the banks also.
I’ve been saving some large boxes to make into space ships for the children to sit in during story time. Silver spray paint and decorations including glow in the dark tape will add some fun to our story time.
Any craft ideas would be welcomed.
Thanks a bunch,
Diane
I need crafts for all ages. The older ladies that are in charge of crafts are lost.
Greetings! We are using this VBS curriculum this year and are very excited about the space theme. Last year, we used Cokesbury, and the kids LOVED the music video DVD format. We set up a projector and screen to show the music dvd and taught all the moves and music with it, with fantastic results from the children. You could also use a large TV screen if you don’t have a video projector.
So..this year, I showed several children the music videos as a previewl. They were very excited and are looking forward to VBS.
To Tony’s review comment: “I could find only one mention of the cross and very little emphasis on our personal need for salvation.” As a United Methodist DCE, I really appreciate the theme-related stories and lessons rather than the “cross/plan of salvation/cram-the-entire-life-of-Jesus-into-one-week” emphasis that permeates VBS curriculum from other publishers. Our VBS is for preschool and elementary aged children, and I want to grow them in faith with age-appropriate lessons.
We have used Cokesbury’s VBS materials for many years. I have seen them change and adapt to meet the needs of churches both large and small. There is a form in the back of the Director’s Manuel that allows all of the leaders to give feedback to Cokesbury. They really listen! Please put your concern about the posters on that form and they might bring them back. I would love to see overhead transparencies of the songs for those of us that don’t have Power Point projectors.
As far as decorating, we’ve used it all and rarely have any extra expense. The kids love it no matter what we do. This year for the space theme we’re planning on stringing white Christmas lights along the halls with some of those inexpensive glow-in-the dark stars added in. We have even talked about using black plastic trash bags framed with white or silver poster board strips to make “windows” along the hall so that the children can look out of our “spaceship” and see outer space as we travel along. Just use your imagination and some creativity. You’ll come up with something great!
I am helping to run an ecumenical (three churches) VBS this summer and so far love what I see with this package. One thing we *thought* we saw mentioned was Cokesbury’s offering of an online registration tool – can anyone expound on that for me? I’m having a little trouble navigating to more info on the subject on the website.
Hi!
My church is doing This VBS this summer, and I was assigned music director. I was wondering how good the music was, and are the moves to the songs easy for kids to learn.
Magan :)
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