So I have been out of the loop on my blogging for the last 2 weeks and I am missing it!!! Last week our church hosted VBS- Pandamania style by Groups; it was also the same week that I was in Guatemala on a mission trip... which I will post about next. I usually help paint, decorate, and do crafts for the little 3yr-6yr olds during VBS, but since this year I was not going to be able to do that, I decided I would do mucho decorations. How does this relate to my classroom???? Well, unfortunately we don't do "themes" at my new school :( but it is both a blessing (on my checking account) and a curse (what do you mean we don't have a theme?? what will my classroom be based on now...) Anyway... back to how to use it in the classroom... so ADD... You can use any of these ideas to do a JUNGLE theme in your own room! Check out these pics... hope they inspire you! This is the entrance to our church. A wonderful member built this bridge for the kids to cross. They LOVED it! The vines and leaves really made it feel like a jungle. Here is a mural that I painted. The panda is made from 2 sheets of poster board taped together. A crafty friend of mine and I traced the panda on the poster boards and we each painted 10 different pandas. She painted this guy :) We had a ton of lanterns and umbrellas from Hobby Lobby. We hung them from the ceiling using fishing line and paper clips... I still think paper clips rank in my top 5 inventions. Here are a couple of waterfalls. The top one is made from a scene setter that we had left over from last year. The bottom is made from blue plastic table cloth cover. We got a huge roll for $17.00 and even made a pond from it! Speaking of ponds... This is our massive stage! We made this pond using blue tarp and had it come off the stage and go to the floor in and around a kiddie pool we also had. Add a couple of pandas and we are good. I love that one spitting! Carpet tubes donated by a local carpet store. All we had to do was tape some bamboo paper around it. This is our stage. Too bad the back lights aren't lit. The made the soji screens green. All the characters were traced onto Styrofoam sheets and cut out with a hot knife. Another top 5 invention... Then hand painted. The cave was also made from a a Styrofoam sheet and covered with brown paper to look like a cave. We used green cellophane to cover the lights. I have seen teachers use the plastic table cloth cover to do this as well in their classroom. Gets rid of that horrible fluorescent lighting :) LOVE the pandas!!! They really changed the the atmosphere to a fun loving one! This is the dining room. A man volunteer (so helpful) helped me hang this white cloth that we had using PVC pipes and a little wire. The kids felt like they were in a tent. The doors were covered in wood panels that I made from insulation foam last year. The red roof was done also using insulation foam (my husband painted most of them...LOVE him) and some awesome ladies figured out how to hang them at an angle using fishing line. AWESOME!! Well... that's about it! I hope you get inspired with some ideas on how to use this for a jungle classroom. Be sure to contact your local churches after VBS. Most of them are more than willing to donate decorations that will most likely be trashed at the end of the week, and you DON'T have to make them or buy them! Can I get an Amen?!?! :)