BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It’s a wonder vacation Bible school made it out of the 1960s.

Back then, churches offered kids lemonade, cookies and flannel-board stories about Jesus, all set to a clanging piano. Children sat in short wooden chairs and listened to the tales for what seemed like an eternity.

Things are different in 2008. DVDs and video screens are everywhere, along with professionally recorded music, dancing and slick lesson books. Kids are as likely to jump on inflatable bouncers or go to water parks as play on a church swing set once Bible time is done.

Vacation Bible school has become big business, with families helping to foot the bill through registration fees and donations. A handful of Christian publishers provide the curriculum, thereby setting the summertime agenda for millions of elementary-age kids at thousands of churches nationwide.

“Gone are the days of making birdhouses and golden macaroni frames,” said Kevin Clark, children’s pastor at Life Church in suburban Birmingham. “It costs a lot more compared to what it did when I first came here, but it’s really good.”

The roots of vacation Bible school go back at least 130 years, when Christian summer camps began operating. Baptists began publishing VBS materials in 1922, and the format was mostly unchanged for decades, according to Mary Katharine Hunt of LifeWay Christian Resources.

But in the 1990s, LifeWay and other companies began turning out packages with everything from Bible-based curriculum to craft supplies and professionally produced music and videos.

Publishers won’t release sales figures on their VBS products. But the Southern Baptist Convention said nearly 26,600 churches used LifeWay’s VBS materials last year with a total enrollment of almost 2.9 million children.