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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: 6/22/2007 11:26:24 AM
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Hello,
We just finished our VBS and I thought I'd share my craft experiences/adaptations for whatever help they may be to others...
We did not do a "marketplace" with craft booths but ran a more traditional approach...(ie. one craft per night that corresponded to the bible point of the day) Here's the rundown
Day 1
Theme: Follow Jesus
Craft: Compass Necklaces from Guildcraft. We used rexlace (plastic lacing) and switched out the cords so that the wooden fish beads from OTC would string as well. I would not recommend these comp because they fasten inside the compass and you need a paperclip or something just to trip the latch to open it...cheap and difficult to work with, but the kids loved the comp and stringing beads
Day 2
Theme: Jesus Teaches Us
Craft: Natural Canvas Bible Covers to decorate from OTC. We bought several stencil kits from OTC (letters and sea themes, etc.) and had them stencil whatever they liked. We did not use fabric markers (for cost and ease of things). They loved the stencils. The markers bled through a bit, so we had to use newspaper under and between when coloring. These covers fit some but not all bibles, but the kids didn't seem to care.
Day 3
Theme: Jesus Heals Us
Craft: Blank Color your own People Puzzles from OTC and Guildcraft. They both carry these puzzles but Guildcraft had a version with fewer pieces that worked well for the pre-K's. We tied this in with "Jesus makes us whole...puts us back together." They colored these with markers and crayons (flesh colored crayons for the skin). We also bought a roll of eye stickers from OTC so they could choose eye stickers. They loved these too...the OTC puzzles were about 40 pieces and somewhat challenging to assemble...the Guildcraft were very simple but perhaps too elementary for 2nd grade and up.
Day 4
Theme: Jesus Protects Us
Craft: OTC Wooden Boat Craft....This modification may be helpful to some of you....We did not use the sails that came with the kit, but I found foam sheets in packs of 10 at the dollar store (Dollar Tree). If you cut each sheet in half, then on the diagonal, you can get 4 sails out of one sheet (or 40 for a dollar). We used these foam triangles instead of the sail (no gluing, much more substantial than that cheap gauze sail from OTC). We painted the boats with metallic and glitter paint (which they loved). They stuck glow in the dark star stickers from OTC on the sails and we just popped holes on the sails as we put them on the masts....they stayed without any glue or glitches. Caution...tell them not to paint the masts or they get paint on the sails. Also....I bought the small paint brushes at OTC (maybe $7 per 100 or so?)...the handles had five colors (pink, blue, yellow, green, and purple), so I bought those five colors of paint and told them that the pink brush stayed with the pink paint, purple with purple, etc. I bought foam meal plates with the compartments at Dollar Tree (five slots, five paints....10 plates per pack) and put the color appropriate brushes with the paints. This almost entirely eliminated "paint mixing/muddying" and they didn't have to rinse their brushes. It doesn't take very much paint to paint these boats...I way over purchased on paint (just a FYI). We used baby wipes to clean up hands and this worked great.
Blessings on your VBS programs! I greatly appreciate all the good ideas and craft modifications that others have shared in the past....
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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: 6/25/2007 4:39:47 AM
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| We have also just finished GBTS (or will tonight) and had a wonderful week. We are a small church and had under 25 kids each night but kept picking up a new child or two each night in spite of the threatening weather we have had this week. The first night a local Rabbi came and talked to the children and adults and showed us all a Torah (not a real one as it was machine printed) and shofar and other items and told little stories about his faith. It was fascinating and we all learned a lot. We also planned one craft per night for this VBS but plans are made to be changed and we ended up doing two each night as the kids really liked making seashell necklaces. I have been the crafts person for VBS for many years and rarely purchase a kit craft anymore. We get lots of donations of craft materials and funds from our congregation and never seem to go without anything we need. We got lots of shells through donations. I used my Dremel to drill holes in the ones that needed holes and we just let the kids go when they first arrived every night. So many shells and so little time! We also did spice bags (instead of cedar chips) using whole spices that the kids crushed themselves (or just threw into their bags whole) along with potpourri and herbs. They enjoyed the oil and spices last year so much I had requests for a repeat this year but wanted something a little less oily. I have a leftover bag of crushed cinnamon and I don't know what else that will probably be turned into applesauce ornaments for the next fund raiser. Treasure chests were made from pre-dyed craft sticks and foam core with ribbon "hinges" and seashell decorations. My first experience with pre-dyed craft sticks and I was surprised to discover the color runs using glue. Maybe it was the brand of sticks we used. Wipies took care of that though. The chests were a challenge for the younger kids but we had lots of hands for helping and they are storing their memory maker fish in them (we did purchase those as our wood craftsman just could not help us this year). Last night was the stone carving. We made our own stones using equal measures of plaster of Paris and vermiculite and added water to make a stiff dough (like mashed potatoes) and plopped down large servings onto foam trays and then shaped with our hands as the mixture set to make stone shapes. That was Tuesday and they carved the stones on Thursday. A big hit with the kids. I cut up dowel sticks on 45 degree angle so both ends were pointed and they used those to carve the stones. We had some creative and imaginative results and several of the older kids took extra stones home with them. Not much mess during the carving, just in the making of the stone. Tonight, by request of the children, they will once more search through the sand in the tub to find shells and make yet another shell necklace. We have thoroughly enjoyed this VBS series.
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Forum Member
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Last Login: 3/19/2008 7:58:41 PM
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| Can you tell me more on how it went with doing just one craft. This is our approach this year, but I am getting nervous that we need a marketplace. Our wonderful craft leader is providing one craft a night, a nicer craft that may take a little longer. I was trying to provide a small marketplace w/ some of the shops listed in the manuel but as a demonstration or hands on activity, the children would not be making and taking a craft home. The more I think and plan it the crazier it gets. :-) We have people to do about 7 different shops, I dont know if I need to do them or not. Any feedback on this idea would be awesome!! Does it work well w/out a marketplace? Im having a hard time getting it together, 4 weeks left!! Thanks for any help
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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: 6/29/2007 11:00:00 AM
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| We set up our crafts in marketplace shops but as rotations rather than as free time. (We have over 300 kids to move around so we need to have things scheduled.) We chose 4 crafts that we thought would work really well with our theme & our desire to be as authentic as possible, so we chose... - scroll-making (with a lesson on scrolls & the Hebrew alphabet)
- sandal-making (we bought cheap flip-flops in bulk rather than carpeting and did a lesson on clothing & sandals in Jesus' time)
- mosaic coaster (with a lesson on art & mosaics in Jesus' time)
- stone carving (with a lesson on rocks & stone carving)
These went very well with our kids. I hope you're able to find what works best for your program.
Blessings to all, ~gina~ in Houston
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Junior Member
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Last Login: 7/2/2009 10:09:51 PM
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| I'm a big fan of the marketplace. We use 9 shops, leaving out the Barnyard. We've had about 30-35 children at a time in the marketplace. The children are free to select the shops that are of interest to them. Last year (our first HolyLand Adventure), it was quite easy to recruit tribe leaders, but more challenging to find shopkeepers. After our congregation saw and heard about the marketplace experience, we had more than enough volunteers for shopkeepers and had to work a bit harder to find tribe leaders. Initially we thought the tribe leader and assistant tribe leader would each take half of their tribe to a shop, but we quickly discovered (5 minutes into the first night of Bethlehem Village) that it worked quite well for children to wander through the shops, as they would in a real marketplace. Tribe leaders kept tabs on where their children were--the bandanas were great for this. They were also able to stay closer to children who might need assistance with the activities. I asked shopkeepers to try to engage children in their shops for about 15 minutes, but we didn't watch the clock or set a timer. Everyone was able to work at a fairly leisurely pace, which allowed more meaningful interaction between shopkeepers and children, infusing the Bible points into their conversations and not just "doing crafts". This was different from previous years when everyone was rushing to finish the projects. Since you have shopkeepers, I encourage you to try the marketplace. It really contributes to the Holy Land Adventure concept of immersing children (and adults) in the "real life" of Bible culture. Diana
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Forum Newbie
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Last Login: 7/9/2007 11:58:59 PM
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| For those who used the boat kits from OTC did you have the kids try floating their boats in a small pool of water? Did they float? We are hoping to get wood boats that the kids can race in a small pool of water as part of the shop. Any ideas which ones float well?
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Last Login: 1/24/2009 4:58:15 PM
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| We tested both Group boats & OTC boats. They both float. The kids love blowing and making them glide across the water. Racing the boats was a favorite. Just make sure that both boats are covered or decorated with something waterproof. We gave the kids a choice between acrylic paint (like you get at the craft store in the small plastic bottles) and crayons. They used both and it worked fine. Because some of the painters were slower than others, we gave the kids plastic plates to put boats on and to take back to the tribe. By the time VBS was done for the day, the boats were dry. We had some boats already put together and painted and dry in the water pond for the kids to play with and race, along with those who used crayons. The kids also really liked decorating the sail and it gave them even more creativity. You just know anything with water is going to be fun. We had ample supply of towels at the shop for those who just could not resist splashing. Us big kids, too.
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