DIY Empty Tomb

Our neighbors gave us this pop-up tent years ago for the girls and I to sleep out in the back yard. We used it once for that. But in children's ministry I use it at least once a year. Next to duct tape and a kiddie pool, it is one of the most versatile tools I have used in ministry.

It has been the inside of a cave.

DIY Polar Bear Cave

We made this really cute polar bear cave with crinkled up white paper (actually used same paper in 2 churches), cotton batting, "Buffalo Snow." ice chest ice blocks, blue cloth and lots of tape. You can watch the video below to see how it got put together.

In the Cave with Dave

This pup tent someone gave me years ago has really come in handy. It has served as the giant fish that swallowed Jonah, the base camp for Joshua during several of his battles and most recently it became

Re-purposed Stage Makes the Empty Tomb

Have you ever heard of a buzz prefix? If there were such a thing, I think "re" would be one of them. We "re"cycle, "re"purpose, "re"furbish and "re"store everything today. Instead of throwing out the mouthwash no one uses in our house anymore, I goggled how to re-purpose it. Did you know it will kill the germs in your kitchen garbage disposal?

So this Easter, I thought it very apropos

DIY Ice Cave

Remember that church with the camel kneeling on its platform? Well I was there last week and the first thing they said to me was, “Come and see our ice cave!” They even have the nerve to open the window in the winter time to make it feel like an ice cave.

So how do you make an ice cave? Plastic tablecloths and

The Empty Tomb - An Interactive Easter Lesson

Last Easter I wanted to make an empty tomb for the children to enter for our Easter lesson. I had already covered our puppet stage with stone paper for Daniel and the Lions’ Den. I simply converted it into the tomb.

How to make the cave:

1. First, I cut an opening in the front for the tomb entrance. I saved the paper I cut to cover the stone I made in step 2.
2.  I found a large piece of flat cardboard and covered it with the paper from the opening. I needed to add some extra paper to complete the job. This was the stone that was rolled away.
3. Finally, I covered the rest of the puppet theater with black tablecloths to make the cave effect. You could use plastic ones from the dollar store, black sheets, or even black bulletin board paper if you have it.

That was it. I added an old

In the Lions' Den with Daniel

One of the major VBS curriculums for 2015 is using stories from the book of Daniel, so I thought that I better get the rest of my Daniel posts on here. 

We had a puppet stage that morphed from being the fiery furnace into the lions’ den. The cardboard lion in front of the den was an old VBS prop. It was just made from a picture of a lion in a coloring book projected onto cardboard and painted. 

The paper was leftover from some scenery used elsewhere. We kept the paper on after we finished Daniel and made this into a tomb for Easter.

Hint – ever noticed how cardboard warps if you paint it? Did you know that if you paint the back side of your cardboard it will “unwarp” it? The cardboard shrinks when the paint dries – painting both sides counteracts the shrinkage and you will get a straight piece of cardboard again. You only need a light coat on the back side. (We did not paint the back side of our lion and you can see that it is a little warped.)

We used this puppet stage to make the lions’ den, and then we presented a puppet show. Leo and Lawrence, two twin lions, told the story to us of Daniel and the Lion’s Den.  Here is the script if you