Workshop of Wonders VBS ... odds and ends

"All my ordinary turns extraordinary when I live my life for you. 
I'll imagine with God. I can build with God.
Watch me grow with God every day.
As I work with God, as I walk with God,
Live for God, that's what I'll do."
-"That's What I'll Do" song lyrics by Matt Huesman


In addition to the decorations and the activities, there are a few other odds and ends that made our VBS spectacular this year.


Missions Moment
In years past we have collected money each night for a mission organization during our opening gathering, but this year we wanted to spend more time exploring the mission of the organization and why we were supporting it.

Habitat for Humanity was recommended in the Workshop of Wonders curriculum. We agreed that it aligned well with the "Work with God"/"Build with God" themes of the week and thought that even the younger kids would be able to understand the idea of building houses for people who don't have one.

The money bucket ... love the sound of change hitting a metal bucket!!

Habitat for Humanity mission project progress tracker

The kids worked together to collect spare change and drop it in the bucket. The collection each night "bought" us another piece of a cardboard house poster. The kids loved guessing what piece they would earn the next day. And, we raised over $140!

In addition to the fundraising campaign, each group participated in a Missions Moment each night while they ate their snack. They learned more about the work that Habitat for Humanity does, worked together to make a mural, decorated thank you cards for local heroes, and made prayer bookmarks.

The kids worked together to make a community mural during their Missions Moment on Day 2

Parent Emails
The Workshop of Wonders curriculum suggests that you send home handouts each night that summarize each session. We've copied these in the past, but found that most of them never made it home and by the end of the week, were not even handed out.

Day 1 email to parents

It was important to me to emphasize the connection between VBS and home, letting parents continue the conversations that we began, and then it dawned on me... why not use the church's Constant Contact newsletter service to send emails home each night?!?

While I used some of the text from the Cokesbury handouts, I also added a summary of the crafts, snacks, and activities, as well as announcements about the end-of-week celebration and a report of how much money we raised for Habitat for Humanity.

Day 3 email to parents

I received several compliments on this added communication tool, even from one of our visiting families. (Although the only drawbackswas that I didn't have email addresses for some of the kids who attended as someone's friend and/or weren't dropped off by their own parent.)


Trading Cards
One of the neat things that the curriculum offered this year was Scripture Treasure Trading Cards that connect to a free Workshop of Wonders app. Similar to the VBS passports we used last year, I thought this would be a great way to further reinforce the VBS lessons at home.

I debated back and forth about the best way to distribute and keep up with the trading cards throughout the week, knowing full well that most would get lost in the car on the way home. I finally landed on an almost perfect solution... trading card pockets. The kids could add a card each night and take home the full page of cards at the end of the week.

Each child went home at the end of the week with a collection of Scripture Treasure Trading cards

Only six cards were provided in the sets from Cokesbury, so I used the graphics from the Decorating CD to create three more cards to fill the nine pockets: one with church information, one for the child's name, and one with information of how to connect to the app.

 
Volunteer Thank Yous
To thank our many volunteers (some nights we had as many volunteers as kids!) I was inspired by our theme for the week, "ordinary things become extraordinary with God." I bought two bulk packs of Extra gum and attached a card that said "Thanks for helping make VBS 2014 EXTRA-ordinary!"

EXTRA-ordinary thank you gift for volunteers

Hopefully they felt some love and gratitude for their hard work this week!

Another great VBS goes down in history! Now it's time for vacation!

Workshop of Wonders VBS ... the activities

"Gotta wonder why, think and try, wonder at all of that, imagine at the Workshop of Wonders."
-Workshop of Wonders theme song

In my last post, I showed how we decorated for our Workshop of Wonders VBS this summer.

However, I knew that the highlight of the week was going to be the fun and creative activities. I can't take much credit for these ideas myself... I had awesome volunteers planning and leading these stations, but I am so thankful that I was able to gather such a creative team to work together!

This year we scheduled our VBS for four nights (Sunday through Wednesday) with a special End-of-VBS celebration on Thursday night. The Cokesbury Workshop of Wonders curriculum is designed for five nights, so we used some of the Session 1 materials for Children's Church on Sunday morning, and then started full force with Session 2 at VBS on Sunday night.

Here was our plan:

Day 1 – Sunday
Theme: Build with God!
Story: Rebuilding the Lord's House
Craft: Clay Cross Ornaments (similar to this) & Recycle-Bots (robots made from recyclables, like this)
Snack: Rice Krispy Paint Brushes

Day 2 – Monday

Theme: Grow with God!
Story: Parable of the Mustard Seed
Craft: Woven CD Flowers (like this)
Snack: Cupcakes with Candy Flowers

Day 3 – Tuesday

Theme: Work with God!
Story: Feeding the 5,000
Craft: String Art Crosses (like these) and Nuts and Bolts Cross (washers and nuts painted like this)
Snack: "Nuts and Bolts" Snack Mix, similar to this
 

 

Day 4 – Wednesday
Theme: Walk with God!
Story: Walking to Emmaus
Craft: Walk with God Canvas Art (based off of this)
Snack: Foot-shaped cookies

Stay tuned because I have one more 2014 VBS recap on our Missions Moment, trading cards, and more!

Workshop of Wonders VBS ... the decor

"You are the God who works wonders."
-Psalm 77:14a

Puppet stage and centerpiece of the Workshop of Wonders. Frame made from PVC. Pegboard held on by zip-ties. Tools and graphics from the Publicity CD.

Back in February I found myself in charge of leading Vacation Bible School at my church. (I had planned to be one of the main leaders, but didn't plan to be the ONLY leader.) Luckily some of my friends volunteered to help me out, to let me bounce ideas off of them, and to join me for a few planning meetings over lunch or wine.

Under construction altar

Habitat for Humanity mission project progress ... kids will bring spare change to "build a house" together

For the last few months I've had all of the behind-the-scenes logistics, volunteer recruitment, and advertising occupying a large percentage of the real estate in my mind. And, it might have all been worth it to see it all come together last night!

Plastic tablecloths and paper plate gears hang in the Main Hallway

My favorite part of the VBS planning is decorating... transforming the hallways and classrooms with basically paper and balloons. We're using the Workshop of Wonders VBS curriculum from Cokesbury, and I've been collecting inspiration images to my VBS 214 Workshop of Wonders Pinterest Board, but knew that I would put my own spin on it.

Lots of gears, robots, construction, and art supplies... with a special focus on our mission project for the week: Habitat for Humanity.

Foamboard & plastic tablecloth paintbrush hung on dropcloth-draped bleachers in the Gym

Wall in the Preschool Room covered in balloons and paper plate gears

Armed with plastic tablecloths, streamers, balloons, and cut-outs of the Workshop of Wonders clip art, I worked up at the church each evening last week. And, then came each day to find the tape melted and the decorations on the floor :(

Luckily with a couple of "aha" moments and clever uses of binder clips, straight pins, duct tape, and fishing line, things seem to be holding tight, and hopefully will stay that way through the end of the week.

Plastic tablecloth "paint" spilling from buckets and tissue paper pom poms in the Craft Room

I am excited to report that the first night (last night) went off without a big hitch!! We only had one crying child and one schedule confusion, but both were handled quickly. We have only lost a handful of balloons as well. Hopefully the good luck will continue through the rest of the week!

Habitat for Humanity wall of photos and facts in the Missions/Snack area

We've got a whole week of extraordinary adventures planned at VBS. I can't wait to show you the all of the fun crafts, snacks, and other odds and ends. And, most importantly, I can't wait for it all to be over on Thursday evening... I'm ready to hang up my VBS hat for a while.

Bible Story area

Tissue paper pom poms and decorative mesh hung from the ceiling in the Music Room

Want a trip down memory lane? Click here to see photos of the decorations from last year's VBS!

Everywhere Fun Fair wrapup, part 2

"Together, together, we're coming together. Celebrating the love of God in every way. It's the love, it's the joy, it's the faith that we share. Come On! It's an Everywhere Fun Fair!"
-Cokesbury's Everywhere Fun Fair theme song

In the last post I showed how we decorated for this year's VBS, the Everywhere Fun Fair. But decorations alone do not a Bible School make.

In recent years, my church has scheduled VBS from 5:45 to 8:00 pm on Monday through Thursday, with a finale performance and church-wide supper on Friday. However, the Cokesbury program is designed for five days, so we had to leave out one of the days [Day 3 in this case].

We divided the kids up into five groups, based on their grades. We had about 35 kids each night. After the opening group session in the sanctuary, the elementary groups rotated around four stations, each for about twenty minutes: Music, Story, Crafts, and Games/Snack. The preschoolers went to the Music station first, but then went to their own room to spread out and go at their own pace.

The theme, story, and country focus for each day were determined by the Cokesbury curriculum. Our wonderful kitchen leader, Michelle, organized the snack for each day, and I organized the craft project (although luckily found someone else to lead it!). Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to make a note of the games that were played in the recreation station... to be honest, it looked a bit like chaos all week, but I'm sure the kids had fun!

Here was our plan... 

Day 1 – Monday
Theme: Neighbors are Friendly!
Story: Sarah and Abraham
Country: Japan
Craft: Celebration Kites similar to the carp kites flown on Japan's Children's Day [following this tutorial]
Snack: Pretzels and edamame toothpick kebabs (similar to this) with soy sauce for dipping

Day 2 - Tuesday
Theme: Neighbors are Giving
Story: A Widow gives Cheerfully
Country: Zimbabwe
Craft: Decorating flowerpots with buttons and markers, and then planting a succulent to give to a "neighbor" (some groups focused on the flowerpots on Tuesday, and then planted on Thursday)
Snack: Sweet potato chips

Day 3 – Wednesday
Theme: Neighbors are Forgiving!
Story: Zaccheus
Country: Australia
Craft: Decorating totebags in the style of aboriginal dot paintings [using q-tips and fabric paints for the dots, following this tutorial]
Snack: Fairy bread

Day 4 – Mexico
Theme: Neighbors are Welcoming!
Story: God welcomes Everyone
Country: Mexico
Craft: Decorating foam door hangers with Everywhere Fun Fair-themed foam stickers to welcome "neighbors" [similar to this]
Snack: Tortilla chips and salsa with sopapillas

The preschoolers used Bingo markers to decorate their totebags. Here you can also see some of their decorated door hangers.

I printed each country's name/flag on a printable label. Before the closing program each night, the kids received the sticker from the country du jour to stick in their VBS passports. 

At the finale performance on Friday night, as the kids "graduated" from VBS 2013, they received their personalized totebag full of VBS goodies, including the rest of their crafts, their nametag, their passport, their photobooth photo as a magnet, a certificate of completion, a handout describing all of the things they learned this week, copies of some related workbook pages, and a brochure about the children's activities available at church throughout the year.

We ended the fun-filled week with a hot dog supper, homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert, and a slideshow of photos from the week.

I'm so glad that I was able to help plan VBS this year. Everyone agreed it once again was a great success!! But, I have to admit, I'm glad that it comes around only once a year!

Everywhere Fun Fair wrapup, part 1

"He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'""
-Luke 10:27

One of the reasons I haven't been around the blog much lately is that I volunteered to help plan Vacation Bible School at my church. [Yes, I'm the crazy person that volunteers without even having children!] Planning and decorating has occupied much of my brain for the last few weeks, culminating this past Friday after our week-long celebration.

Our theme this year was the Everywhere Fun Fair from Cokesbury. We blended the ideas of a carnival and our neighbors in different countries to create a world's fair. I searched Pinterest and blogs for related crafts and decoration ideas and wanted to make sure that I pay it forward for those planning VBS events later in the summer!

First I want to show you how we decorated for the Everywhere Fun Fair. While everyone praised my creativity, I could not put on this spectacle by myself. I'm so thankful for my two partners-in-crime (and as a result of this adventure, really good friends), Marie and Alison.

Each night of VBS started and ended in the sanctuary. We decorated with pennants, bunting-like fans made from tissue paper, and lots of balloons. We used the PVC puppet stage from our Puppet Ministry [similar to this] as our backdrop. Godwin Merifeather, the puppet emcee for the festivities, was supposed live in a ticket booth, so we used red foam core to build his home.

Each night focused on a different country, so we also switched out the cultural images each day. We printed out clipart from each country [mostly found here] and mounted them on foam core. I painted the country maps/flags on foamcore and mounted them on these weighted coffee cans/pvc stands that we found in the supply closets [by the way, I absolutely love rummaging through the closets of churches... you always find the neatest stuff], and they turned out so neat!

Most of the evening activities took place off of the main hallway in the Family Life Center. We wanted to make sure that this area had a big impact as the kids walked in the first time. We taped the red-and-white-striped tablecloth fabric to the ceiling in waves. And, at each crease we strung a row of balloons (I used a needle and fishing line to "sew" through the ends of the tied-off balloons, as seen here). We added some twisted crepe paper streamers (the wide fringed ones were inspired by Oh Happy Day) to the walls, just for more pizzazz!

We divided the gym into three areas, one each for crafts, snacks, and games. We used two sets of mobile bleachers as a room divider. This was the biggest headache because nothing would stick to the metal bleachers, and there was a gust of wind from the A/C that kept blowing things away. But after lots of finagling, our draped fabric, pennants, and posters lasted almost all week (when we walked in on the last night to find that the tablecloths had slid off, we finally gave up).

Our pride and joy was the choir room where the children went for music each night. With what felt like 500 straight pins, we pinned up plastic tablecloths from the dollar store to create a circus tent. We finished it off with a cluster of balloons and curling ribbon in the center. It stayed up all week with no corners falling down!!

Using the leftover tablecloths, pennants, and streamers, we covered a small puppet stage set-up that was donated to the cause to serve as the backdrop for our photobooth. We took each child's picture and gave it to them at the end of the week.

And, my personal favorite was the Bible story area. We bought the paper mural from Cokesbury; however, we were having quite a time figuring out how to hang it. We had to rethink how we were going to lay out the room but found that the wooden trim around the room had a bit of a lip that we could clip to. We rolled over the portable bulletin board to post the daily Bible verse and story illustration and pulled a couple of trees from the stage to extend the scene into 3-D. The children's director also added some blankets and baskets from her own collection to complete the scene.

Up next, Everywhere Fun Fair crafts and activities... you won't want to miss it!