Watch this short interview with Amy Livingston to learn more about the effect of event decorating.
Catch a few of our VBS decorations in the video below. I heard dads go "Wow, this is cool." when they walked through my favorite room filmed below. I expect that from moms, but to hear dads say it meant were really making an impression.
You can see some of the other decorations we made for this VBS here and here and here.
We made this Sunken Treasure Shop with all repurposed equipment. We borrowed an old trunk and an old barrel. We raided our wise men and king costume box for treasure like material. The wise men's present boxes for gold, frankincense and myrrh became containers for prizes. Check out the video below.
To decorate or not to decorate, or maybe the real question should be, "Just how much should we decorate our church for VBS?" click to tweet
Let's start with asking why we decorate in the first place. I think we decorate for VBS for the same reasons that we theme our children's areas or church platforms. It creates a "wow" effect. It makes VBS feel like something special. And it sends a message that you cared enough to make the place special for your VBS guests. That "wow" effect makes a very good first impression - so it is important.
So how much decoration does it take to get that message out? Only you and your team can decide that. I just want to give you some ideas for getting the most bang for your buck in this post.
Sanctuaries take a lot of work to make an impact. We share our decorations with another church. This year they made these big coral reefs for on the platform. We had jelly fish hanging from the lights and cardboard water bubbles on the walls.
The short video below shows what we did in a small walk through room and in our craft room. We covered both in blue. For about $70 you can buy a 1000 foot roll of colored paper. We used less than 1/2 of it to cover our craft room. In the smaller room we used blue plastic which had been used 2 years running. We added some Dollar Store plastic tablecloths.
I found some more pictures from week 1 of Ocean Commotion VBS.
This treasure chest was for the kids to put their offering in. There was one for the boys and one for the girls. They were made from Styrofoam coolers. Another Pinterest project.
VBS Week 1 always includes a photo op for kids.
The platform decor used insulation panels. The back panels were painted to look like the bottom of the ocean. These coral panels in front were also painted onto insulation panels.
This is church number 2 where Ocean Commotion will take place. We decided to cover the murals with blue paper to make underwater scenes. You can buy a 1000 foot roll for about $70. We covered all the walls and have lots left. The paper is 3 feet wide and our ceilings are 9 feet high, so it is a perfect fit (sort of!).
We recently completed the first week of a 2-part VBS. Here are some of the decorations. Like the bubbles? We made them by soaking paper with water and then dropping blue paint onto the paper. See the picture below. Then we cut out different sized circles when it was dry.
They hung a gauzy material from the ceilings to replicate water and put black silhouettes of sea creatures above it.
I love the coral they made from pool noodles and Great Stuff (the spray insulation foam you can buy).
There were swarms of fish everywhere. The older ladies in the church loved cutting these out.
Amazingly, King Saul and the witch of Endor (I Samuel 28) is often overlooked when teaching children. The story refers to Saul having banned all of the mediums in the land. Why did he ban them? Deuteronomy 18:10-11 "...And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead." I thought this was a great opportunity to teach about the danger of Ouija boards, fortune telling, seances, and other things the children might be exposed to.
I love working in VBS. But it can be very demanding.This video that I made captures my feelings about it in 30 plus seconds. I hope you enjoy it. The memes are not original. My thanks to the creators of them.
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
David and Goliath is a great lesson on proportion. Do we sometimes see things out of proportion? All the time. You know why? Because we leave God out of the picture. This is one of the lessons we can learn from David's response to the Goliath situation. And why not have a little
It seems that there is no end to the giant fish population on Pinterest these days. But just in case you missed them, here is one more DIY post for making a giant fish.
Everyone knows that fishermen are likely to exaggerate the size of their latest catch, but how many fish can brag of catching a man (aside from the one in Geico's cheesy 2015 commercial)? There is no exaggeration in the size of the fish that swallowed Jonah, and there is a lot of truth in this story to swallow as well. The message in this book lends itself to drama too, a great plus for your tactile/kinesthetic learners.
