Next summer, kids will pass go and collect truth about Jesus in “Twists & Turns.” Lifeway Christian Resources’ 2023 Vacation Bible School (VBS) theme celebrates games of all kinds.
I'm back, sorry for the long delay following up on this project. When we last left off, the main game board was done. Now it was time to lock in and layout the body parts to be removed. The original idea by producers was to make the Operation game DIY themed, each organ had a crafty/how-to pun. Sort of like the original game where a bucket represented "water on the knee" and not an actual body part. The initial part list was very long with a lot of fun ideas, but the segment producer and I needed to edit it down to what parts would work well spaced across the board. As I began to lay it all out and make templates for the holes yet to come. The hope was to make each body part an actual 3-dimensional representation of that body part (as illustrated by the picture below, using wrenches for the "wrenched ribs" and a piece of wood for the "plywood patella"). Just then, at this point, the game was revised. As happens often in TV. Instead of the DIY theme, it was decided to make it a challenge to see how well the players knew ACTUAL human anatomy, picking and pulling the right body part based on a clue. I must admit, this made me very happy. The clock was against me, and making a faux liver was time consuming enough, but also having to glitter it? There was a second revision that also worked to my deadline advantage. I suggested this one, and was thankfully approved. While trying to make 3-dimentional parts work, I discovered some parts would be far more difficult and awkward to remove than others. It would really slow the game play up. My change was that all be flat cut-outs (like the original game) so each part was similar in weight and thickness, but the odd shape of each would prove challenging. I would also add (again like the original game) a knook or cranny the tweezers could easily grab (if the players noticed it). Now that the game was figured out. I plotted out the parts and sizes on the board in actual size by placing tracing paper over and drawing each body part hole. I then sketched the actual body part onto the trace paper obviously smaller than the hole so it could be removed. Next, I inked each sketch, scanned, and colored in Photoshop. Several examples... Happy to say each happened to be under 8.5' x 11" in size so I could print out on my own printer. I spray-glued them onto black foam core (so the outlines matched the edges) and cut out with an X-Acto. Body parts to remove done! This may seem redundant, but to ensure each hole was the right size, each finished part became a new template that I re-traced onto the board. Only then did I cut the hole in the board for each (about a 1/2" wider than the part). Next in Part Four, making the boxes under the holes to hold the body parts, and the electronics to make BUZZ and the nose light up!
Giant Game of Operation: I was recently asked to be in a dunk tank at my elementary school's end of the year carnival. As much as I love being continuously dropped into a tank of cold water by vindictive elementary students, I instead offered to make a game. What I c…
Our church hosted a "Kingdom Chronicles" VBS this year so I needed to come up with some simple and inexpensive medieval decorations. Here's what I made... Poster board torches (Yield 10) 3 sheets of each red, orange, and yellow tissue paper 2 sheets of black poster board (you can get 5 cones from each sheet) staples hot glue gun 11" quarter circle made using a measuring tape and pencil like a compass sticky tack or pushpins to hand the torches with Roll your quarter circle into a cone Add one staple at the outside upper corner Take one sheet of each color tissue paper (red, orange, and yellow) Lay them on top of each other and cut into quarters Bunch the centers together and staple Hot glue the stapled tip of the tissue paper to the inside of the poster board cone Toilet paper roll chandelier (Yields 2) 1 sheet of each red, orange, and yellow tissue paper, each cut into 16 rectangles 1 sheet of black poster board 12 toilet paper tubes 4 large cardboard circles (14"-16" diameter) like the ones pictured below staples hot glue gun 1. Glue 2 circles together (for strength) 2. Makes 1/2" cuts around the bottom of every toilet paper tube 3. Open up the slits and hot glue the tubes evenly around the outer edge of your circles 4. Spray paint your chandeliers from top to bottom with black spray paint 5. Make "flame" tufts out of your tissue paper and staple them at the bottom (like the torches above) 6. Stuff tissue paper "flames" into each toilet paper tube 7. Cut poster board into 1" x 6 1/4" strips (you should be able to get at least 90 strips of paper) 8. Make 6 separate paper chains of 13-15 links each (depending on how long you want them) 9. Glue 3 paper chains to each chandelier 10. Connect your three chains together with one final link. 11. Hang your chandeliers using fishing line and ceiling hooks. Dollar store tablecloth banners 2 different color dollar store tablecloths for each banner 16"-20" piece of ribbon to tie each banner fishing line or yarn to tie the two tablecloths together at the top corners duct tape or ceiling hooks to hang the banners from the ceiling The finished product - teaching section up front, craft and coloring station at the back. Display area for our week's verses
This is lesson 3 of the VBS: Moses series. There are several choices of Plague posters to print, decorations, a plague bag game board, lesson, visuals and more. We usually hand out some small item at the end of class. I decided to make these 10 Plagues Bag Game. I found smaller flat handle bags here in January, but they were seasonal. So, I originally was going to use these until I found the smaller ones. I used 6.38x5" zipper plastic (flat) bags with a handle. You should be able to find them in the gift/party section. Click here to download the Plagues Bag Game. This includes a smaller version with a optional cover and a full page board that can be used as review (class or personal) or early arrivers review. Both are color or black & white and directions are included on the last page. I decorated one wall as inside Pharaoh's palace. I found a shower curtain on EBay (look at Amazon also) and stapled it to the center of the wall along the bottom. I added Egyptian borders I printed along the top to complete the space above the shower curtain. I added plastic table cloth (here or here) for curtains on each side to cover the rest of the wall. I pieced the Pharaoh together after printing on cardstock. If you would like to print and put pieces together, this does not have directions. There is a completed Pharaoh to use as a reference for the pieces. Click here to download. I created the two columns in front of the side curtains using 12x12x12 boxes (UPS store or Amazon) covered in bulletin board paper. I used white since the bowl tops were white and wouldn't require me to paint them. I found the bowls here and they have the wavy tops that look like some of the tops I have seen in Egyptian photos. We used 8" concrete tube forms found here after walking around the huge store looking for something to use. We covered those with the same white bulletin board paper (2 times). I finished them off with an assortment of printed borders and colored Duct Tape and Masking Tape. Click here for the printables for the columns. I put the 10 Plagues oversize posters on one side of the whiteboard and Moses' family on the other and added Egyptian style borders and titles/banners. The Egyptian border was stapled across the top of the whole wall. and because the door knob was right where I needed to put the posters, I added another border to fill in the space. When something doesn't work as planned, you just have to change it and make it look like you planned it that way. We had a discussion on the third plague and after some research, it seems like it is generally thought to be lice when all the variables are put together. Although NKJV states lice (and that is what I use, and created all the posters using), I decided to research after I had the posters printed. So, I also made the scroll (above it) with a statement on the different translations explained. Click here to download it. These are the hieroglyphic banners I made to use as the title for the 10 Plagues. These are full page banners; but can be printed smaller if needed. Click here to download. I created these posters and used them on the wall as you can see at the beginning of this post. They can also be used for visuals or a bulletin board. Click here to download the regular size PDF. Click here to download each full size jpeg that can be used as a photo enlargement. Or, you may prefer this set of plain posters. These can be used for visuals or a bulletin board also. Click here to download the regular size PDF. Click here to download each full size JPEG that can be used as a photo enlargement. You may like these posters with a papyrus background and Egyptian symbols. Click here to download the regular size PDF. Click here to see these full size JPEG's. Click here to download the basic lesson. The teachers make the changes according to age/grade/their students. Click here to download the updated visuals for Exodus 7-12. All of the 45 visuals are not shown. Click here to download the pictures to color. (These are the same as the visuals but are black & white.) I used a set of the posters on a wall to teach this lesson. But, I know that not everyone wants that option. These stand-ups are great for Bible class also. There are 2 to a page. Print on cardstock. Cut on solid outside line and fold on center dotted line. They can be lined up in front of you. The number and plague is on the back in gray for you to easily point to the correct plague. Well, I planned to use the posters and I did refer to them at times... but, I was asked to set up my hands on visuals that I always use for teaching the plagues. I actually used the second set of stand-ups below a little different. I printed basic notes and taped them to the inside of each plague. This helps keep me on track and I could easily see who did what for each. Click here to download the notes. I put each stand-up visual with the matching hands-on visual after I was done talking about each plague. Click here to see the items I use for the hands-on plagues. Click here to download the Sweet Stand-Up visuals. Click here to download the Graphics Stand-Up visuals. Click here to print the (standard) visuals. Please note that these visuals have been corrected and updated. But, most of the Egyptians did not wear shirts and I didn't have the time it would take to add covering to all the visuals. Click here to print the Pictures to Color. A couple of us prefer to use these half page visuals for VBS. I print on cardstock, cut & laminate and put thin magnets on the back. They are easy use on a magnetic board since they can be put up and taken down as needed. One of the label pages and at least one of the picture pages are the same throughout the 4 lessons. You can print one to use for all lessons; or print for each lesson to store all the needed pieces together. This includes the lesson with the corresponding numbers for the visuals. This contains the introduction to the plagues visuals only. See below to download the plagues visuals. Click here to download. I didn't add each plague into the Magnetic Board Visuals because we used the posters that were printed larger and on the wall as one of the decorations. I did update the Plagues MBV that I had created using Cathy's though. Click the links below if you want to see them. Click here for part 1 and here is part 2 and here is part 3. Click here to see the lesson and printables for preschool. Use the search bar on the right to see more for the 10 Plagues.
Well right now, I have the theme song from this year's VBS in my head and I just can't get it out!! It will probably be stuck there for a ...
Game Night Ideas for the whole family. Looking to plan an awesome game night party? You can host a game night party for the whole family.
Looking for a fun way to pass the time? Try Life-Size Candyland, a simple board game that even the youngest kids can play!
Inspiration: This one started out as mix and profile for a full hour class, but I ended up cutting a few tracks so I could work it into a 45 minute class. Both versions are posted here and both inc…
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we turned our whole gym into a GIANT board game. We used pieces of colorful paper to cut out squares. The squares formed a path from one end of the gym to the next. We wrote special commands on some of the squares: “roll again”, “lose a turn”, “move two spaces forward”, etc. Poster sheets were used to create huge trivia and activity cards, while a cardboard box was covered in construction paper to look like dice. Kids were used as the “pieces” and placed in teams to walk on the "board." The trivia cards incorporated questions about Martin Luther King Jr. and African American History. The activity cards consisted of challenges that incorporated teamwork, for instance: keeping a bunch of balloons in the air for a minute; challenging a staff member to jump rope contest (that's me!); or getting every single person on your team to score a basket with a football in under a minute. Here is the winning team!
Life Size Operation Game: As a child I loved the Milton Bradley Operation game, the buzzer always scared me when it went off, but it was fun. The object of the Operation game is to remove a body part with out touching the tweezers to the metal sides that surround the object…
The Adams family take us behind the scenes of their extraordinary escape room that transformed their entire house into an ancient Egyptian mummy's tomb!
Lutheran Church of Hope had one seriously EPIC VBS this summer. What could be more fun than mixing VBS with an iconic video game theme? Well. Nothing. Check this out: Game On with Jesus There was even a full-fledged music score! Here’s a sample of one of the many songs: I have it on good authority that at […]
