Point of stories

Our stories must be kept simple and to the point. We are teaching children, with short attention spans, communicating in a story context which can and must add "clutter" to the message, aiming for no longer than 10-15 minutes!
The point should be summarized in one simple sentence. As I have told my son "A good preacher tells you what he is going to say, says it, then tells you what he said - and that is the sermon."

We retain only a tiny portion of that we hear, a little bit more what we read, and most of all that which we memorize. The VBS lesson is actually a combination of the story, the class lesson in their books, and their memory work. I suspect we would be rather humbled at how little they actually "catch" of the messages we aim at them.

VBS Bible lessons have depth and strong biblical content to aid you in your preparation, usually more than you will need for the actual story. But you must boil them down as you study the lesson till your focus is clear and precise. Develop sub-concepts only with strong reasons and make sure they remain subservient to the main message. Much as we wish children would catch the whole story, we must be realistic.

If you feel the prepared material covers too much, or misses the point then please adapt it. It's your lesson. Do however be sure that you look at what the children will be doing in their class workbooks when you are making your preparation. If the story departs too far from the lesson, they may become lost in the workbooks