Pitfalls of VBS

I get a sales booklet from "Oriental Trading" company, which the latest one was based on VBS. They have all sorts of various props: panda bears, a New York theme and so on. It occurred to me as I am looking at this flier that VBS with all of these cutesy type, secular based themes only serves to ultimately dilute the true reason for VBS. I am not saying they can't be useful, but we do have to remember that the human brain is a great pattern matcher- it even finds ones that are not there. (Remember those 3-D via pattern images years ago?) When you link a Bible story to something secular, like a baseball game or a New York City sky scape, the risk is there that the student remembers "New York" and not the instruction. This risk exists for any combination of secular themes. Why not make VBS an extension of Catechisis? The lessons could involve things much less mundane than rote reading (that only would work for certain ages for a time) and would work to expand on what they have learned up till VBS. Activities would be necessary, but based on the age of the child, that should be a surmountable challenge without a theme (outside of the theme of Christ). Appropriate materials can be procured or made as necessary, but require taking time to do it. That is why there is such a proliferation of "themed" materials to take "the load off" the VBS teachers. Would it be challenging to eschew these things? Of course. But we must take into account setting up VBS and its ultimate goals as it is quite clear now that the modern American Church has serious doctrinal issues. If these challenges are to be anywhere near surmounted, then we need to change how we do things, preferably to the ways that have worked before. Christianity is fairly dull in that regard- everything has been done before, or nearly so. It is also robust in we know how to do it, and a thousand ways of how not to do it. (paraphrase of Edison) Teaching new and innovative things or ways is a fast way to find a heresy. And that is certainly not what you want to teach your kids at VBS...