Acacia in the Desert

VBS teachers decorate their rooms.  This adds pizazz.  But they have five stories around a common theme.  You can’t reach that level of pizazz just by changing the decorations each Sunday.  So analyze each month’s worth of stories.  Usually you can pull out a common theme, if you have the kind of curriculum that starts a new set of stories each month.  Find the common theme, and redesign your room based on it.

These setup tips are for that collection of stories that are usually grouped together in a curriculum.  It’s a smattering of miracles, Jesus’ teachings, and tales of the disciples.  One unifying theme to make these stories a unit is the Sea of Galilee.  Common stories are:

• Calling of the Disciples.  “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
• Jesus Calms the Storm.  “Peace, be still.”
• Healing of the Paralytic.  Four friends and a lame man let down through the roof.
• Feeding of the Multitudes.  And a little boy gave his lunch.
• Jesus Walks on Water.  Peter too.

If the craft involves fish, then the story fits into this unit.

Felt Underlay

Available from Worship Woodworks.  They also provide:

• a wooden boat
• people
• fishing net
• wooden fish

Personally, I’d go to the local craft store, buy two pieces of felt, and hot glue them together.  Then I’d make the other pieces out of construction paper.  Most stories can be told just with the pieces above.  But you could add:

• waves cut from blue felt (Calming of the Storm, Walking on Water)
• basket (Feeding of the Multitudes)
• mat (Healing of the Paralytic)
• house made from shoebox (Healing of the Paralytic)

You use these pieces to tell the Bible story to the kids.  Then place them on a table against the wall, turning them into a learning center, so kids can tell the story to themselves over and over.

Air Mattress

Available from your local store. Your job is to transform this into the Sea of Galilee.

• Blue.  If it’s not a suitable color, get a blue tarp and toss it over the mattress.  Voila!  Water!
• Waves.  Fill the air mattress only partially with air.  Avoid firmness.
• Boat.  Take the table from your Sunday School classroom, and fold its legs under it.  Place it on the mattress.

If you have filled the mattress to the right amount of firmness, kids should be able to sit on the table, and by shifting their weight, feel the “boat” sway with the “waves.”

Use this to dramatize the stories.  The teacher acts as narrator, the kids are the disciples, and one person is Jesus.  Have them:

• Sit in the boat and fish from it (Calling of the Disciples)
• Experience a storm (Jesus Calms the Storm and Jesus Walks on Water)

Any storm is greatly enhanced if you stand by the light switch and flicker the lights, or if you aim a box fan at them and turn it on, or if you mist kids with a water-filled spray bottle.

Lake Scene Setter

Available from Party City.

Use to  mark off sections of the room.  Mark off a drama center with a box of costumes.  Mark off a fishing area.  Place a section of the scene setter behind the air mattress “boat.”

• Any Story.  Draw a bulls-eye and spread it onto floor.  Kid tosses a bean bag.  Teacher asks a review question.  If answer is correct, child is awarded points based on where the bean bag landed.
• Jesus Calms the Storm. Cut a section and turn it into a parachute.  Kids hold the sides and corners, and create a storm by shaking it wildly.  Put paper boats on it, and shake until kids hear the words “Peace, be still!”
• Peter Walks on Water.  Lay strips of it on the floor.  Dramatize Peter sinking beneath the waves.  Award a prize to the best actor.

Use it to just generally add atmosphere.

Fishing Net

Available from Party City.

Hang from the ceiling to add atmosphere. Or tack it to the wall.

For Calling of the Disciples, have kids pretend to be the fish, and run to the other side of the room. You, the teacher, be the fisherman and try to toss the net over them.

Or, cut net into pieces, hot glue magnets to it, and use to catch paper clipped construction paper fish.