Marilyne Nunley, Joey and Annette Cook, and Amanda Cook

Theme Decorating
Decorating for VBS can be a wonderful and tiring experience! However, the blessing of knowing that you have helped children really get into the Bible stories makes all your effort well worth it. This years theme, Soul Survivor on Danger Island is one that will be naturally exciting to any child. Island decor is readily available and for the most part reasonably priced. Start now during the off season looking for bargains. Enlist the help of someone who enjoys shopping at garage sales to be on the lookout for things you will need. Place a list of things you would like to borrow in a prominent place in the church. In my experience, people are glad to be able to help in this way. The Oriental Trading catalog also has many items that will go along with the island theme. Try to decorate as many common areas of the church as possible. This will create a feeling of anticipation leading up to VBS week which will help with your preregistration campaign. When people are excited about an upcoming event, they are much more likely to invite their friends to attend. Remember, nothing can take the place of sound Bible teaching, but the teaching environment can be enhanced with appropriate decorations.

Registration Table
Choose a busy hallway or foyer to set up your registration table. This is the first glimpse of the theme that people will see, so make it as interesting as possible. Cover a table with an island print fabric or brightly colored cloth. A fish bowl would be nice, but a real one could be problematic. One alternative is to tape a wire to the back of a cardboard fish and stick it into a ball of clay or sticky tack in the bottom of the bowl. Then shred blue cellophane and fill the bowl high enough to hide the wire. This gives the effect of a swimming fish without dealing with the real thing. Other props you might use on the table are a straw hat, flower leis, large seashells, tissue paper flowers and parrots. Use plants and tiki lights around the table area as room permits. Hang the lesson posters on the wall behind the table. You can also use the theme banners on the wall to complete your registration area. You may want to string these on a wire across the back of your scene.

Registration

Stage Decorations
If you will be having the skits that are provided in the Directors Handbook you will need to decorate the stage area to look like the Danger Island beach scene. Even if you are not doing the skits, this is a great way to decorate the general assembly area stage. Use a painters canvas drop cloth on the floor to look like sand and place driftwood, shells, plants, palm trees and rocks ( made from Styrofoam) to create a realistic beach setting. A small broken boat would be great if you can find one, or you can make one from cardboard. Add some boxes, crates or even broken pieces of wood to give the allusion that a shipwreck has taken place. The Preschool Coloring Book has an excellent picture of Jesus holding the bag of items needed to survive Danger Island. You can make a stand up character of it if you add the bottom half. Either make a sign or use the ones provided in the Kit which show the five lesson applications: Abide, Trust, Pray, Stand, Obey.

Stage

Island Scene Theme

Tan colored paint drop cloth

Seashore Snacks
Have one of your men construct the frame for the cabana used for the Seashore Snacks. Cut 4 posts from 2 2x4s which have been cut in half lengthwise. We used 5 2x4s on ours, but you will want it taller if you plan to walk under it. Cut 4 side rafters to desired length; this will determine the overall size of the cabana. We used 1x6s split lengthwise for ours. To brace the corners, we cut 14 by 1-1/2 pieces from scrap plywood. If you use screws to assemble the cabana, it will be easy to take apart and store for future use. For the roof, cut 4 equal triangles from cardboard to fit the size of your frame, taping the seams together with duct tape. This roof will simply sit on the frame and can be lifted off for storage. Cover the roof with palm fronds cut from green paper. Place a low table under the cabana and cover it with an island motif table cloth or colorful piece of fabric. Decorate the posts of the cabana with ivy and floral garlands. A wooden bowl of tropical fruit would be a nice centerpiece. You could also use a hurricane lamp on the table. Make benches from wood planks placed over wooden boxes. We used tiki lights wired to the posts with fire made of red, yellow and orange cellophane. The Island Scene poster from lesson 3 makes a great backdrop for the Seashore Snacks cabana.

Snack Decorations

Cover with brown paper and draw lines.

Coconut candle holders

Drawn or plastic bugs

Cover table with brown paper.

Mission Hut
Make the mission hut as a lean-to attached to the wall. Craft paper works well stapled to the wall and attached to 2 palm trees (see instructions for making palm trees). Shred the front edge of the craft paper. You can purchase bulletin board paper which has a beach scene to use behind the hut. Place a small table beneath the lean-to and attach a grass table skirt to the edge. Use inexpensive fish bowls to hold the offerings, placing tropical fish stickers on the bowls. Enlarge the missions goal picture from the Transparency Masters and hang it beside the hut. Dont forget to trace off the monkey so he can climb the palm tree as the offerings grow! For an alternate missions hut idea, see pg. 43 of the Directors Plan Book.

Making Palm Trees

These can be made from the cardboard tubes from a carpet store. They are generally 12' long, so one tube will make 2 trees. Make a wooden X-type tree stand, notching the bottom of the tube to fit. Place a tight-fitting piece of styrofoam or floral foam into the top of the tube. Make palm fronds from green paper, gluing floral wire to the bottom for rigidity. Using T-type stick pins, anchor the fronds to the styrofoam and bend into shape.

Photo Spot
Every child will want to have a photo memory of his week in VBS. Creating a great photo spot is an important part of decorating and gives the child and his parents a lasting keepsake to take home. A small island hut can be constructed much like the snack cabana, except that it will require a frame around the bottom as well as the top. The roof is made the same way except that it should be covered with craft paper and made to look like a thatch roof. Cut strips of craft paper about 6-8 long and wide enough to cover one side of the cardboard roof with some overlap to the adjacent sides. After taping it onto the lowest edge of the roof, shred the ends, then place your next strip so that it overlaps the first. Continue working your way up to the top before doing the next side. Enlarge the front onto a piece of cardboard which covers about half of the front section. After applying accent paint, cut open the window section, and draw the lattice portion of the window onto the inside. Cut cardboard to fit the left end of the hut, paint and staple on. Use tan fabric or cardboard across the back, but hang tan fabric over the right end of the hut. This is the end the child will crawl into so that he can look out the window to have his picture taken; he will get on his knees behind the window in order to see out. Hang a hammock from the framewe used and old discarded curtain for ours. Make sure to place a Bible in the door of the hut. Decorate the outside of the scene with plants, flowers, palm trees, tiki lights, and any other island decor you choose.

Photo Spot

Lesson 1 Shipwreck Point

When making backgrounds, I find that using a collage method of construction with various colored paper really cuts down on the amount of painting necessary. For this lesson I enlarged the shipwreck scene using light blue for the sky, dark blue for the water, dark brown for the boat, and craft paper for the sand and rocks. Using a dry brush technique, highlight each of those areas with acrylic paint or you can use chalk if you prefer. Enlarge the pelican onto white poster board and attach him to a Styrofoam rock with wire. Hang seagulls from the ceiling. Using the transparencies, decorate the door to look like a boat with holes broken into it. Make the anchor on cardboard or poster board, and use driftwood if you have it. For the lesson scene, enlarge the mountains on dark brown, the hills and trees on green, the bank on craft paper, and the water on blue. For the trees, I drew them on green, but cut out the trunk area with an exacto knife and placed brown paper behind it. Use chalk or highlight paint to finish the scene. To enhance the look of the water you can cover it with blue cellophane. Be sure to hang some grape vines and grapes somewhere even though they are not shown on the transparency of this scene. I used the picture of Joshua from the Preschool Coloring Book. Place the Abide sign somewhere Lesson 1DecorationShipwreck Point in the sceneyou can hot glue it to a piece of bamboo and fill a large can with sand or pea gravel to stand it in.
Island Scene Lesson 1

Paper rocks

Blue paper for river

Alternate Wall

Door Decoration

Fish net

Port holes

Woodgrain paper or cardboard

Driftwood

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Lesson 2 Big Shadow Cave

Make an area of the room into a cave by enlarging the cave scene onto brown and black paper. Chalk works really well to highlight the stalactites and stalagmites. Enhance the scene with stalactites and stalagmites made of Styrofoam cut with a hot wire. This is very easy to do, and they are very lightweight and easy to hang or stand on the floor. Spray paint them brown, then go over them with a dry brush using purple and tan colors. Hang a few bats from the ceiling also. Make the door look as though the children are entering the cave. Hang a spider web across the door frame with a dangling plastic spider and add a gecko or two. For the lesson scene, enlarge Goliath as big as your space allows so that the children get the feeling of what a 9 ft. giant really looks like. Do Goliath and his soldiers on white paper and glue them to the craft paper mountain. Make David a stand up character and a little smaller than normal to further emphasize the difference in their sizes. Dont forget to enlarge the fraidy Lesson 2DecorationBig Shadow Cave cats hiding behind the rock and make them as stand up characters as well. Use either blue paper or fabric for the stream and add some smooth Island river rocks. Put the Trust Scene Lesson 2 sign with this scene.

Small smooth stones Flashlight

Light blue paper for stream

Alternate Wall

Door Decoration

Twisted brown paper

Make the room as dark as possible and let the children hold their flashlights as you tell the story. You may need more light for the younger children.

Small stones glued on cardboard

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Lesson 3 Quicksand Cove

For the quicksand scene, I used the one from the Preschool Coloring Book which has one little boy pulling the other out of the quicksand. If you glue one boy to the scene, you can bring the other out as a stand up character. Cut slits under his arms and thread a small rope through them and then back to the other boys hands as though he is really pulling his friend out. If you use tan fabric as the quicksand, you can pull it up onto the stuck little boy and staple or hot glue into place. Decorate the door with a palm tree and a sign which says Watch your step! For the lesson scene, enlarge the temple and use chalk to color it since it all has to be on white paper. Cut out the scallops on top of the columns and put gold foil wrapping paper behind them. Cut out the sections between the columns and put light blue sky and green bushes behind them. I used the picture of Hezekiah from the Preschool Coloring Book and placed him on a piece of upholstery fabric Lesson 3DecorationQuicksand Cove for a rug. Place the Pray sign in this scene.
Island Scene Lesson 3

Tan paper or material

Gold paper Rope

Door Decoration Alternate Wall

Green paper

Brown paper or door curtain Kiddie pool with wet sand inside Blue paper 2 layers of bubble wrap covered with brown cloth

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Lesson 4 Hot Rock Volcano

Enlarge the volcano mountain onto brown paper, but do the lava portion on orange and glue to the mountain. Highlight paint the mountain and greenery. Cut strips of red, orange and yellow cellophane and starting from the top cover the lava portion of the picture. Glue small strips as though it is shooting out of the volcano top. Extend the lava out onto the floor. Copy the little girls from the Preschool Coloring Book and place them in the scene as though the lava is flowing around them. Make lava rocks from Styrofoam and paint them black. Use the transparency to enlarge the flames and surround the door. Crayola markers are great for coloring flames. Copy a small section of flames onto poster board and place across the doorway so that the children will have to jump over the flames to enter the classroom. For the lesson area, enlarge the statue of Nebuchadnezzar onto gold foil wrapping paper, cut out and glue to the background scene. Do the worshipers and priests on white paper, color and glue to the scene. Use light gray chalk to make smoke from the incense. Copy the fiery furnace on white, color Lesson 4DecorationHot Rock Volcano and glue to the background. Make the 3 Hebrew children to be stand up characters, and place the Stand sign nearby.
Island Scene Lesson 4

Red and yellow tissue paper

Rock

Alternate Wall

Door Decoration

Black painted rocks

Heater or smoke machine Strike matches for sulfer smell Cover door in red paper

Red door hanger Black construction paper rocks

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Lesson 5 Boggy Swamp

I used the scene from the Preschool Coloring Book because it had the two little boys standing in the swamp. Do the foliage on green and the water on blue paper. Use yellow chalk on the water for pond scum. Make one of the trees as a stand up, copying it right onto cardboard. Cover the trunk with scrunched brown paper to look like bark. Highlight the bark with brown and gray chalk. Make a snake and hang it from the crook of the limbs. Do the alligator on poster board and attach to a Styrofoam rock. Trace off some dragonflies and glue iridescent cellophane to their wings before cutting them out. A glue stick which dries clear is good for this. Also make some mosquitoes, attaching thin black wire for legs. Hang Spanish moss from the trees by making small slits in the background paper and pushing the moss into them. Make a tree to mount beside the door opening. Dont forget a snake and some moss for this tree! For the lesson scene, I made one to look more like hills and a valley (see extra pattern). Do the hills on brown and the valley on green paper. Highlight paint or use chalk to accent. Copy the tents onto white paper and glue them to the valley area. Make Gideons men on white paper also, Lesson 5DecorationBoggy Swamp color them and glue them to the background as though they are running down to the Island valley. I used the picture of Scene Gideon from the Preschool Lesson 5 Coloring Book, but had to use the regular transparency to make his bottom half. Place broken pieces of pottery on the floor around Gideon. Put Extended cliffs the Obey sign in this scene.
Broken pots Basket of bamboo Compass

Alternate Wall

Door Decoration

Vines Blue green paper Leaves taped to floor

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Alternate Pattern for Lesson 5 Background