Catholic Vacation Bible School… At Home! (Summer With The Sacred Heart!)

Did your kids have some of their favorite activities canceled this year? Yeah. Mine, too. As a mother, have you been looking for some fun and safe activities you can enjoy as a family this summer? Me too! So why not have an at-home VBS program with your kids this year?! I put this Catholic vacation bible school program together for Catholic kids during this quarantine, and I sincerely hope it blesses your family this year! Let me show you what is included in this Catholic vacation bible school program for the home. 

Never has Catholic Icing come out with something so all inclusive and organized for moms! This is a whole week of packed fun for kids for just $10. I am so excited to bring this to you today, and I really think you’re going to love it!!! 

This Catholic VBS program has all the plans you need to have a fun and memorable week with your kids in your own back yard! Lessons, crafts, fun snacks, swag bag, decorations, games, songs, and activities are all included in this one downloadable pack! 

This is designed to be as easy on mom as possible. In fact… it’s just a 3 day program! Because as a mom… I feel like maybe 3 days is just all the VBS at home that I can handle in one week. I have outlined this entire program to have easy alternatives throughout. You can do this! And I want to help you. 🙂

“Summer With The Sacred Heart” VBS Program

The Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary are a perfect choice for the Summer for the following reasons:

  • The month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with a feast day 19 days after Pentecost.
  • The month of August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
  • The Sacred and Immaculate heart images lend themselves to all kinds of colorful fun for children!

VBS At Home Encouragement For Mom

Don’t get discouraged thinking that this has to be really perfect or over the top! You could just choose a few activities and spread them over a few days. If something feels overwhelming to you, skip that thing! Doing it is better than not doing it, and making memories with your children while teaching them a little something is the goal. So just take on what you can handle. We are all in an unprecedented situation here. Cut yourself slack. 

Throughout the VBS plan, you will see this “Easy Button”.

This will give you an alternate activity that is easier to accomplish at home. I hope these options make at home vacation bible school available for even more families!

There are printable EASY alternatives throughout this entire program, and things that will appeal to all ages of kids and also the moms! 

At Home VBS Schedule

As a mother, I thought it sounded less exhausting to do just 3 days of Vacation Bible School. There are several ways you could organize your VBS at home, but I am suggesting a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule. With the alternatives I give throughout, it could easily be stretched into a 5 day program if that’s what you want. This is only a proposed schedule. The program simply organized by day 1, day 2, and day 3. 

Teenage Craft Alternatives Included

I want this VBS program to get the whole family involved, so alternative ideas for crafting with teens are included! When I told Lydia (current age 14) that I was including special crafts for teens, she gave me a skeptical eye and wanted to know what they were. When I told her day one she was like, “ok, not bad”. When I told her day 2 she said “I want to do that!” and when I told her day 3 she nodded, smiled, and said “Ok. Fair enough. You did it.” Pretty good “reviews” from a teenager. 😉 

Here she is coloring the recommended Sacred Heart adult coloring pages for teens. She colored alone and with earbuds in, but she loved it!

I guarantee you- your teens are going to enjoy the snack ideas and some of the games as well! When you find good quality activities, they can be enjoyed by any age. There are a lot of crafts and activities in this pack that are brand new- never seen before!

Printable Decorations For Your Home

These easy printables just make the house seem more festive and ready for vacation bible school! There are posters, a banner, and more! Just print and tape them up. 

Printable “Swag Bag” For Kids

When my kids come home from VBS, they always have little trinkets, toys, prizes, and all kinds of fun stuff! So I decided to make a printable swag bag for the kids. All of the swag bag items are Sacred and Immaculate Heart themed for kids. They are going to love it! 

The printable swag bag includes:

Post continues after this brief information about the Catholic Icing Monthly Membership


Monthly Liturgical Membership

Catholic Liturgical Monthly Membership

Perfect for families! Each month you gain access to printable activity pages, crafts, home altar pieces, and more.
 
Never has living the liturgical year been so easy and affordable!
 

  • pencil toppers
  • finger puppets
  • a spinning top
  • bookmarks
  • prayer cards
  • bracelets
  • pinwheel 

 

How Many Kids Do You Need For This VBS Program?

The quick answer… just 1! All of the games included can be played with just 2 people- mom and kid- or more kids if you have a larger family! This program could be used for large or small groups. 

VBS Snack Activities

The snacks for each day are designed to be also an activity for parent and child to enjoy preparing together. So it’s not about mom spending a lot of time to make something complicated and preparing it with a perfect presentation to the kids. It’s a snack-tivity! So you make it side by side. 

There are also “easy button” snack alternatives for easy snacking all week!

Outside VBS Activities

Each day also has a suggestion for having an outside activity in your yard, weather allowing. 

Included In This Backyard VBS Program

All the days have the following resources for you and your kids, ready to go without any guess work!

  • A video lesson
  • Outdoor fun
  • Game
  • Snack-tivity
  • Song
  • Craft
  • Teen activity
  • “Easy Button” alternatives to any crafts, snacks, or activities with more involved materials

Bonus Items:

  • Printable decorations
  • Swag bag prizes for kids
  • Coloring pages
  • Extra resources list
  • Week at a glance schedule
  • Empty schedule for filling in with your own selected activities

VBS Freebies Included!!!

When you purchase this pack, you’re going to get my printable Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart peg dolls! They are from my printable peg doll set, and your kids are going to love them!

You’re also going to get a coupon code for a FREE copy of my Saint puppet ebook for kids. This is normally a $3 download!

 

Buy Your Program Now!

This is a whole week of packed fun for kids for just $10. You’re going to love it. They’re going to love it. Have some fun with your kids this summer, and let me take the work out of if for you. There is also a large group file available for parishes to purchase and send out to their congregation. Grab your VBS pack now! 

Video Preview Of Sacred Heart VBS At Home

Still not convinced? This video has an intro to the VBS program, and a sampling of a craft, snack, a game, and even some prayers! You can watch part of the Catholic VBS video here.

 

 

Comments

  1. Lizzie Ater says

    I would like to know more about the teen activities. I watched the video and know neither of my 12-year-olds would be very interested in the puppets. Are the teen activities just advanced coloring sheets?

    • Yes- my oldest is 14 and it has been many a day since paper bag puppets impressed her as well. The teen projects are more involved than puppets, and it’s not just coloring pages. None of the teen projects are featured in the video.

  2. Jennifer Spexarth says

    The sounds amazing! If I have five kids, do I need to download it five times, or can I just print five copies off of one download?

    • Hi Jennifer –

      You would just buy a family use copy of it and then download it and save it to your computer or device. Then you could just print five copies of any of the pages that were for the kids to use. You wouldn’t print five copies of the whole thing, as not all of the pages are for kids to use. I hope that helps!

      Angie, Catholic Icing Project Manager

      • Jennifer Spexarth says

        Thank you! We had an absolute blast with this VBS!! The kids loved the crafts and snacks, and they’re still singing the songs! This was so perfect for this crazy summer; thank you again!!

  3. Thanks for sharing your ideas and creative activities. I recently discovered your videos on YouTube and did one with my students. Surprisingly, they noticed that one of the symbols of the sacred heart was missing: the wound. You did such a good job explaining. Was that intentional?

  4. These ideas look great! I’m going to talk with my kids and see when we can do this. They were so bummed to hear our VBS was cancelled this summer. Even my older kids really look forward to being counselors at our VBS so it would be great to get them involved too. Appreciate all you do!

  5. Jennifer Quezada says

    What is an estimate of the cost apart from the download? What supplies/food/etc will we need? Thanks!

    • It will vary based on what you have available, and which crafts or snacks you choose, however there are not any outrageously priced supplies needed. I think the most “expensive” things would be plain white t shirts. If you choose to do so, you could do nearly all printable activities and spend hardly any more money at all, plus the pack itself is a great value 🙂

  6. Thank you, Lacy!!! We just purchased the VBS kit. It looks amazing. The crafts are perfect for my children…..ages 15 to 10. Thank you for taking the time to create this VBS program.

  7. Hi Lacey, totally looking forward to VBS at home. I enjoy your website. Thank you for all of your effort and imagination.

  8. Some activity questions: will this work with light gray t-shirts, or just white? And should I pre-wash the shirts? For hanging the heart from the tree, what did you use? Fishing string? Thanks!

    • I would definitely use white shirts, yes, wash them first, and we hung the heart from the tree with yarn. 🙂

  9. Amy Chen says

    We enjoy a lot of the crafts and activities that you send out and sell on your site!! And this has been amazing! I am surprised bc the crafts and activities were intimidating when I saw them but walking through they were actually quite easy and fun!! 🙂 thank you for helping kids and adults 😉 grow in faith and understanding of our religion.

  10. I really like a lot of the printables, and I think the price for individual family/home use is fair for the crafts. I just don’t think there is enough substance to the songs, activities and games though to call this a complete VBS program.

    Using a lot of the printables but making my own curriculum to go along with it. Nothing on the Immaculate Heart of Mary, even though the image is used through the program. Tic tac toe and a small board game are the activities provided…given it is a VBS program was hoping for more outdoor or active, activities and games.

    In short, this is a good starting point for inspiration to make a backyard VBS program. Love the crafts! Thank you!

  11. Hi Lacy, my name is Sister Mary Fatima. I’m a Religious Sister from the Diocese of Manchester, NH. We love your bundle, but are only interested in the puppet templates for the Sacred and Immaculate Heart. Is there a way to just receive that template?
    Thank you so much!
    Sr. Mary Fatima, DMML
    Daughters of Mary, Mother of Healing Love