Big Apple Adventure VBS 2011

I LOVE to decorate for VBS!  Sadly, I don't usually do anything small.  I think because I got saved at VBS as a child.  At that time my family didn't go to church.  A family friend had invited me to go.  I still have fond memories of what the church looked like decorated, the crafts we did and the guest speaker who was an x-hobo and what he spoke about the night I gave my life to Jesus.  All of my heart goes into the prep for VBS and prayer that Jesus will change a child's life forever during that week! 

 

I really enjoy looking at other people's ideas and get a glimpse into their creative process so I thought maybe there is someone else there who enjoys that too so I'm going to share.  I used foam insulation board to create our city scape.  I started out w/ a VERY rough idea and used a hot knife to cut the board then began painting.  Once the outline was done I added some dimension with a different color in the middle and then cut a rectangle out of a sponge and painted "the lights" in each building.  My husband helped me put all the different pieces of insulation board together using skewers.  There are three different sizes cut from the boards to create each row of the skyline.  The taxi cab is made from a yellow tri-fold project board we found at Hobby Lobby.  I cut the taxi out using the edge to make the tires flat so it could stand on it's own.  Then I added the taxi sign by using two pieces of paper and sandwiching toothpicks in between then sticking it inside the top.  

 

 

 

 

New Way to Store Our Fruits and Veggies

We have changed our eating habits.  Instead of processed foods we have started eating whole foods and plant based items after much research and watching (on Netflix) a few documentaries like Forks Over Knives.  Our children are still eating and drinking dairy products.  The transition isn't as easy for them especially our daughter who is going to be nine next month.  She is a picky eater like I was when I was a kid.  It's going to take some time and patience for her to make the switch.  I am happy that we are eating more fruits and vegetables and minuscule amounts of sugar.  I feel so good!  We just finished up our first week and I haven't felt sluggish or have any pains in my chest like when we eat something really greasy and unhealthy.  My husband hasn't had any acid reflux or heartburn which he normally takes medication for everyday(but didn't this week).  The abundance of fruits and vegetables we were eating for the week was taking over our kitchen table and counter space.  After much thought I came up with this solution which I am very pleased with.  When I'm hungry for a snack or getting ready to cook I can see it all at one glance.  This particular shoe caddy was a little wider than our pantry door so I just folded over the extra column to the back and attached the hook through both sets of holes. 

 

Under the Sea Decorations for VBS

 I LOVE Vacation Bible School.  I was saved at VBS when I was 11-years-old.  It is very special to my heart.  I love sharing God's love with the kids.  We wanted to decorate our room like the Great Barrier Reef and have an underwater feel inside it.  The welcome sign below along with the coral inside the room were created using foam insulation board from the local hardware store.  I used a hot knife found here that I bought at Harbor Freight using a coupon making it $20.  Last year we used a wire hot knife that I burnt out quickly making the NY Skyline out of the same foam board. 

 

 

These palm trees were made using pool noodles, paper bags, tape, spray paint, wire hangers, and poster board.  I will post a tutorial soon on how to make them. We made the surf board from the left over insulation board.

 

The purple coral has canned foam insulation sprayed onto it and painted over once dried.  The fish are made from different sizes of coke bottles, 2 liters and 20 oz.  The clam below is from the bottoms of the Coke bottles hot glued together.  You can find a lot of information and ideas on my Pinterest board here.

 

We hung streamers from the ceiling to be the waves and clear ornaments for the bubbles.  We bought inexpensive table clothes at the Dollar Tree and hung on the wall (much easier than bulletin board paper like we used for the night sky in our cityscape last year, although next time we will make sure nothing is left on the wall before we hang it up).  We also used tan sheets on the floor for the sandy ocean floor.  Then we finished it off with some squishy urchin looking balls from the toy section of the Dollar Tree,  treasure necklaces and coins on the floor and some fishing nets hanging on the coral.

AWANA Sparks: Books of the New Testament Bookmark

In Sparks Book 2-Wing Runner, Rank Section 8 all 27 books of the New Testament are listed to be recited. We created this to help us remember those books.

AWANA Sparks Books of the Bible New Testament Bookmark

Addition Facts 1-10

We made and printed these out on card stock then laminated them. You can print them out here.

Caught Being Good at AWANA

Mike and I are Sparks Directors of AWANA at our church. For those of you who don't know about AWANA it stands for Approved Workman Are Not Ashamed which comes from 2 Timonthy 2:15 "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." Children come to club to hear a Bible lesson, play games, recite scripture verses they have memorized and have FUN!

We have started giving these notes out with a piece of candy to boys and girls we catch being good! ;-)

 

You can find it here.

On a Roll- Word Blend Game

This is a game I just made for Meara to practice creating word blends. She and I take turns rolling both a number(1 or 2 syllables) and blend cube. Then we create a word based on the results of the cube writing a one or two for the syllable of the word on the recording sheet. At the end we tally the number of syllables for each blend to determine which blend had the highest number of syllables.
They can be found at the links below:
Blend Cube 

On a Roll recording sheet

Number 1 and 2 Cube