Teaching materials have to be more dramatic to compete with a generation of video game playing, TV-watching children, said Kasinger, who is a teacher at Jefferson Middle School. The seventh-grader said the game show and other activities keep her coming back. Nancy Zelisko, who leads VBS classes at Grace Lutheran Church, said Hollywood has accustomed children to being entertained instead of encouraging them to think. The trend has permeated churches as well, she noticed, when she saw a Hollywood TV show set as one of the themes for VBS classes. Elaborate themes can be costly for churches to incorporate and altogether impossible for smaller churches with limited resources such as Zelisko's.
Food is also more sophisticated than the juice and cookies of years past.
Zelisko's church will be using Noah's Ark theme-oriented cookies in animal shapes and cupcakes with legs. Ginger Bumguardner, childhood education minister at First Baptist Church, said VBS material is geared more toward skits and entertainment than in the past. Her church moved VBS classes, now called Backyard Bible Clubs, out of the building three years ago and into backyards to appeal more to children. It's real relaxed and the kids love it. Children play games, make crafts and sing during the church's neighborhood VBS classes that take place throughout the summer.