About five years ago I decided to take a break from Veggie Tales on Sunday mornings. Don’t get me wrong, I never played Veggie Tales week after week, but occasionally would show one for something different. One day I decided that the kids had seen enough Veggie Tales in Kids Church. Maybe it was me that had seen enough Veggie Tales in Kids Church. I figured they all have the videos at home and I wanted them to have something different at church.
Last week I had a few minutes to kill (waiting for a haircut) and stopped at the local Christian bookstore. I saw a POP display with the new Veggie Tale’s movie, “The Wizard of Ha’s”. I decided to buy the DVD and add it to the library in the resource room at church. Without going into the details, I decided to show a video yesterday morning in our second service Kids Church. I decided to show my new Veggie Tales DVD.
Boy was I surprised. Here’s why.
In the second service, we had around 100 bus kids and 40 drive-in kids. When we started the video, the kids started cracking up. It wasn’t even the featured movie they were laughing at. It was the theme song, “If you like to talk to tomatoes, if a squash can make you smile…” The kids thought Bob and Larry were hilarious.
I immediately did a fast walk to the media booth where Evan (contributor to this blog) was sitting. I said, “Did you hear that? They’re laughing!” I was shocked. Then the thought hit me. Most of these kids are probably watching Veggie Tales for the very first time. They were captivated by Veggie Tales.
If you haven’t seen “The Wizard of Ha’s” you ought to. It’s pretty funny. You’ll meet Darby, the son of a Kansas dental floss farmer who just wants to have fun! When he learns about the Wonderful Land of Ha’s where you can do whatever you want to do, Darby is determined to go - even against his father’s wishes. Bob and Larry even talk about Shipshewana, Indiana, in the intro. I’m proud to tell you that Shipshewana is pretty close to home!
Here are a few thoughts to ponder.
1. If you put something on the shelf years ago, get it back out. You might be surprised how the kids (and you) respond.
2. Don’t assume because it’s ho-hum to you that it’s going to be ho-hum to the kids.
3. Remember that videos are a good teaching tool. Beware of Veggie Tales every week, but don’t be afraid to use them to achieve variety.
i thought it was pretty great. i didnt really notice the kids laughing because i was in stitches myself:)
I think one of the great lessons for many to remember is that “the old can be the new.” Just look at clothes.
We did the church premiere thing with this video. The church was packed (with out of church families also)as we played games, snacked, and watch the Wizard of Ha’s. And…everyone sang along to the theme song!!
That old saying “what comes around goes around” could apply.
We had an end of summer event - a pajama party - on a Sunday morning. Huge success - the kids loved it! We showed a “Secret Adventures” video (from Broadman & Holman Publishers) - they came out in the early 90’s. The kids were glued to it. It occured to me that most of them had probably never seen this series. So I had the same thought - pull out an “oldie” from time to time.
Hey talk about pulling old things out. I pulled out a slide projector and put the slides in from some old kids church curriculum and my kids thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. It is kind of like flannel graphs. Kids think they are great now.