Lifting Up the King VBS: King Josiah

Our VBS for 2016 is Lifting Up the King. We studied great kings of the Bible. Day 3 was Josiah: Faithful to God and was taken from 2 Kings 23:25. The theme was his obedient actions.

I decorated each wall for a different person. I planned to make each wall a throne room, but as I worked on them, I changed my mind. Josiah needed to be outside by the pillars of the temple. (2 Kings 23:1-3). You can download the basic temple outline here.

Click here to download the kings graphics.

http://www.biblefunforkids.com/2016/04/lifting-up-king-vbs-banners.html

I made 2 different banners for each person. These are close-ups before they were attached to the dowel rods. I used poster board, but you can use felt, fabric, bulletin board paper, etc. I painted the designs, but you could use markers, chalk, etc. Then I added jewels for sparkle for VBS.
Click here to see more with the free templates (plain and mine).

http://www.biblefunforkids.com/2016/05/lifting-up-king-vbs-throne.html

There is so much for the decorating this year, I tried to add something different to each day's post. This is the corner tent area. I wanted this to look like a throne area. I covered it with bulletin board paper and added these purple plastic table covers to look like curtains. You can find the directions and more for the throne here.

I added this banner and wood chair. I added a scepter and crown to complete the look.

For Josiah, I decided to use this super easy to understand chart to explain the kings from Solomon to Josiah. I began the lesson with a general review about David and Solomon, then used this chart. I mentioned Solomon's son as the next king, but issues created a Divided Kingdom. So, where Saul, David and Solomon were the first kings of Israel, Josiah was a king of Judah 15 kings later, with one of those being a queen. Click here to download this chart.

For our VBS lessons, I taught a brief overview of each king's life. Some of the facts are to help students remember (or learn) some of the basics of their life, and part of the discussion is to learn why they were great kings. Since there isn't too much about Josiah, we discussed him becoming a king and how he felt when the scroll was found. We completed the lesson with why Josiah was a great king.

Is it in the Bible Application Game: For this lesson, Paulette decided to do a Bible review. Since Josiah was upset when they found the scroll and they were not obeying God's laws, she used the above Bible box (see how to make one here). Or, you can certainly use a box or basket.

She had pieces of paper inside that either had things that are in the Bible (scriptures) or not in the Bible. The kids read the strip they picked out of the box and told us if it was found in the Bible or not. Click here to print the strips that Paulette used.

I used these Magnetic Board Visuals for VBS. I wanted something different and they hold the student's interest. To use these, print (on cardstock if possible), cut out, laminate and add magnets on the back. As you are teaching the lesson, you just add the numbered graphic. Click here to download these visuals.

Click here to download the lesson to use with these visuals. This lesson has the corresponding numbers to use with these visuals and is the same lesson as below.