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| |  Posted 3/31/2008 11:03:10 AM | |
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| This is mostly a report on how crafts and experiments worked. Kids are loving this program!
Day 2:
Bible Story: Headbands worked great! Our teacher had the kids each put a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them and walk to the story room. Some of them were shocked to find out where they were when they pulled off the headbands. They were so immersed in experiencing blindness. I would urge the Bible storyteller to read and understand the passage from the Bible, as well as the background info provided in Group’s materials. My storyteller felt like the main point of the actual Bible passage needed to be emphasized more.
Craft: The balls worked well for the older kids. Playing the songs from the DVD while waiting is a great idea and our kids sang enthusiastically. We didn’t do this with the younger kids and had more trouble with the timing. I was sorry we didn’t tell our extra helpers the instructions ahead of time, since they were wanting to pull the balls out of the molds too early, etc. All of the balls came out fine. We have made balls from other companies before, so the “wow” factor of this craft was somewhat diminished. Still fun though.
Invisible pens: Very effective. None of our kids had seen them before.
The balloon/pepper experiment worked great and made sense. If you’re quiet, you can hear those little specks of pepper hit the balloon. We had to confiscate the balloons before making the point.
Day 3
Our messiest day by far! That cornstarch mix is all over the church by now. Kids loved loved loved it. Just walking on top of it was not enough. Everyone had to try sinking in it and handling it too. Weird stuff! It’s like quicksand. If you sink, it’s hard to step out of the container and you end up bringing clumps of it along on your feet (which of course liquefies on the ground—we scooped it back up into the container)! You won’t have nearly the mess if you do it the way the book tells you to (we just couldn’t resist). We used 25 pounds of cornstarch with a little more than 2 ½ gallons of water. You can tell it’s okay to walk on when you can slam a fist onto it without splattering. An adult and 2 kids mixed for a good 15 minutes. It really helped to watch Steve Spangler’s experimentation (thank you. whoever suggested it). If you can throw away your container and drop cloths, clean up will be a lot easier. Thin layers of the mix dry and sweep or brush away, but bigger clumps get hard when they dry.
Slime: This slime behaved differently than the one in my sample kit. In fact, we were sure these were defective, but they weren’t. After shaking for 2 minutes, the slime was still really thin. After a minute of resting, it was still thin. After about 5 minutes of resting the slime was perfect. Maybe it was the damp weather. Anyway, we ended up talking more about the slime not working than about the Bible point. If you have your sticker and discussion time while the slime is resting, the timing should be fine. We filled our flasks according to the directions in the craft book (between the 10 & 15 line, I think). Only one leaked a little as it was being shaken. This craft was a favorite.
The disappearing water trick worked and was impressive, but took awhile on the trial run to gel. When we presented it to the kids, we cut back on the water and it worked better. Used a Styrofoam cup to hold the powder, since our little group was only a couple of feet away from the leader who presented it.
Everyone loved the sink or float snack and we had a really good discussion (about hard times making us stronger) while eating it.
I didn’t hear the Bible story, but the building of the boat was simple and effective. Given our limited manpower, these easy sets have been great!
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| | | Posted 3/31/2008 11:27:47 AM | |
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| Thanks for the update...it all sounds great!
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| | | Posted 3/31/2008 2:20:52 PM | |
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| Yes Jeannie, thank you for the reports. They surely help a lot. God bless you all and may His power continue to overflow in your VBS!
Partnering with parents to "TRAIN" up our children in the way they should go! |
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| | | Posted 4/1/2008 7:37:46 AM | |
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| That's exciting! Thanks for the report and tips! (even the mixing of the cornstarch, at least i know how much time to allot to mix it.)
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| | | Posted 4/1/2008 5:44:40 PM | |
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| | Hey Jeannie, For Day 2, did you use the "blinders" from the Group Outlet, or did you buy "headbands" somewhere else? I wondered if I could find those stretchy headbands for a cheaper price somewhere. Dollar Store? Wal-Mart? Target?
 Allison in NC! |
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| | | Posted 4/1/2008 8:45:51 PM | |
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| Hi Allison,
I have been to all the stores you have listed and no one carries that kind any more. I found two strechy ones at Big Lots but the rest are not wide enough to cover the eyes. Looks like those will have to be made or use strips of cloth that has to be tied.
Riverside Kathy |
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| | | Posted 4/2/2008 10:28:20 AM | |
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| | Ours came from RI Novelty. They were striped. I'm not seeing them on the website right now. These covered their eyes with no problem. If we'd had to tie blindfolds on the kids, I'm not sure we would have bothered, given our limited time. |
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