By Steve Powell

spowell@marysvilleglobe.com

If you are looking for things for your kids to do this summer, don’t forget about Vacation Bible School.

Many churches in Marysville and Arlington offer them for free. They are spread out throughout the summer when it comes to time, date and place, so kids could even go to more than one.

One of the first ones this summer was this week at the Word of Life Church in Marysville. Called “Barnyard Roundup, Jesus Gathers Us Together,” the church was decorated in a farm theme, led by Amy Change, director of ministry.

For the first time, the church is offering VBS in the evening, rather than during the day. Change said that is because they wanted it to be more of a family event, rather than just kids. The event starts out each night with a family dinner at 5 p.m. Change said about 100 people partake, with 60 of them kids going to VBS. She said a majority of the kids don’t normally attend the church on Sundays. They were able to find out about the VBS through word of mouth, social media like Facebook and postcards mailed to church neighborhoods.

On Tuesday, some of the kids were singing next to a large barn scene in the sanctuary, while others were listening to a story in a side room with pigs and hay decorations.

But they were having the most fun in the interactive market where they made wind chimes out of tin cans, decorated photo frames, painted birdhouses at Papa’s Woodshop, made Suncatchers, crafted in the Savior Sewing Shop, made jewelry at Bessie’s Udderly Cool Beads and ate treats such as “Cow Pie” cookies in the Feed Store.