Soldiers of God Decorations

Thematic decorations are easy this year. Grab yourself some blank overhead transparencies and a wet-erase marker, trace some pictures of swords and shields and so forth on there, stick it on the overhead projector, thumbtack some posterboard up on a bulletin board, project the soldier stuff onto there, and pencil in the outline. Then you get your volunteers together and paint them all in, and when they're dry you go over the outlines with black permanent marker. When VBS rolls around, you cut them out and sticky-tack them on the walls, and Bob is your uncle. So, some suitable soldier-gear images? Yeah... The Soldiers of God logo (preview shown at right) is available upon request. (See SVG documents.) There are also some suitable public domain images available from the Open Clip Art Library. These represent various time periods, but you can pick and choose...

• round shield and broadsword
• round shield and crossed spears
• Roman shield and longsword
• suit of armor: front, back
• Elizabethan soldier
• WWI silhouette
• castle tower
• M1 Abrams main battle tank
• sword (proper)

Soap Sculpture

Friday:	Soap Sculpture
Bible Lesson:	Peter in Prison: We should be praying; prayer is effective.
Memory Verse:	1st Thessalonians 5:16-18

Age Groups:

• teens

Supplies Needed:

• soap
• tools for sculpting soap
• patterns/ideas for what to sculpt out of the soap (examples: praying hands to represent prayer, Peter between two guards, the Word of God as a sword, ...)

Note: You can also offer teens the option of continuing to work on their cap curtains, if they aren't finished yet, rather than doing the soap sculpture.

Instructions:

Each teen receives a bar of soap and a sculpting tool. Have them sculpt something from the Bible lesson, e.g., prayer. Teens who do not feel "up to" a three-dimensional sculpture may do a two-dimensional engraving on the surface of the soap. The silhouette from the elementary praying hands craft can be made available to the artistically challenged.

Praying Hands Craft

Friday:	Praying Hands
Elementary Lesson:	Peter in Prison: We should be praying; prayer is effective.
Memory Verse:	1st Thessalonians 5:16-18
Preschool Lesson:	Peter in Prison: God answers prayer.

Age Groups:

• elementary
• preschool

Supplies Needed:

• white paper
• black construction paper
• tissue paper (one-inch squares)
• pattern (shown small; also available in SVG format from the Open Clip Art Library, see SVG documents for more info)

Preparation:

For the preschool, pre-cut the construction paper. The piece you hand the children should be a rectangular "frame" with an open area in the middle in the shape of the praying hands silhouette.

Instructions:

Have the children glue tissue paper onto one side of the white paper. (It doesn't need to go clear to the edge, because the black construction paper frame will cover the edges.)

Have the elementary children trace the praying-hands silhouette onto the black construction paper and cut it out, removing the praying hands and leaving the outside (frame) in one piece. (They may need help getting started in the middle.)

The black construction paper frame then glues overtop of the tissue paper, framing it, and the white paper serves as the backing.

Shrinkies

Tuesday:	Shrinkies
Elementary Lesson:	Commanding Officer: We should obey Christ. (Centurion's Servant)
Memory Verse:	1st John 5:3-4
Preschool Lesson:	Centurion's Servant: Jesus is God.

Age Groups:

• elementary
• preschool
• teens

Supplies Needed:

• small sheets of the right kind of plastic. (This can be had from certain kinds of cheap plastic deli containers, but you have to get the right kind. I will post a clarification of exactly what kind at some point in the future.)
• colored pencils
• elementary pattern (mirror-image of the word "obey")
• preschool pattern (mirror image of a picture from the preschool lesson)
• access to an oven

Instructions:

Sand one side of the plastic to roughen it so that it will take the color. Tape the plastic smooth-side-down to the pattern. Trace the design and words from the pattern to the plastic. Color the rough side with colored pencils. Remove the pattern. Punch a hole through the plastic near the top. Bake in the oven at 300F for 5-10 minutes. Press down (flatten) plastic while hot.

Chalk Painting with Buttermilk

Thursday:	Chalk Painting
Elementary Lesson:	Jeremiah and the Cistern: We should endure the world's contempt when living our faith and when sharing our faith.
Memory Verse:	Romans 1:16
Preschool Lesson:	The Blind Army: God is very powerful, that there is none like him

Age Groups:

• elementary
• preschool

Supplies Needed:

• chalk
• buttermilk
• watercolor paper
• pattern (shield, with the first part of the memory verse in bubble letters)
• construction paper
• frame pattern (same shape as the shield, but larger)

Preparation:

Photocopy the pattern onto the watercolor paper ahead of time.

Instructions:

Let the children color in the shield and the lettering with the chalk, dipping the chalk in the buttermilk to create a paint-like effect. Then have them cut out the shield shape, and trace the larger shield shape onto construction paper and cut that out too. Finally they glue the colored shield onto the construction paper, which becomes both backing and frame.

Cap Curtains

Wednesday & Thursday:	Cap Curtains
Bible Lesson:	Jeremiah and the Cistern: We should endure the world's contempt when living their faith and when sharing their faith.
Memory Verse:	Romans 1:16

Age Groups:

• teens

Supplies Needed:

• fishing line
• a large collection of small disposable objects (ranging in size from buttons up to about tennis-ball size): buckeyes, film canisters, plastic caps (from milk jugs, pop bottles, etc), pharmacy bottles, ... anything you can collect that people normally throw away
• dowel rods (one per teen), or lampshades, or something else to hang the strands from

Preparation:

Drill small holes as necessary to allow the objects to be strung on the fishing line. Some objects (e.g., milk jug caps) may be best with two holes, so they can be oriented with their long dimension vertical.

Instructions:

Each teen gets several lengths of fishing line, but you may want to hand them out one at a time to reduce tangling. Have them select from the available stuff and string it onto the lines, in a pattern if possible, to create hanging-strand decorative curtains. These can be hung in a closet doorway, over a window, over a lampshade, ...

Picture Frame (Soldiers of God)

Wednesday:	Picture Frame
Elementary Lesson:	Armor of God: Temptations should be resisted using God's word and the armor of God, not human reasoning.
Memory Verse:	Ephesians 6:11
Preschool Lesson:	Centurion's Servant: Jesus is God

Age Groups:

• elementary
• preschool

Supplies Needed:

• sheets of spongy foam
• construction paper
• magnet backing
• picture frame pattern
• armor shapes patterns

Elementary Instructions:

Each child receives a piece of that spongy foam stuff. Have them trace around a pattern, then cut out the picture frame shape (both the outside and inside edges). Then have them cut out spongy-foam pieces of armor shapes (bibles, shields, swords, helmets, whatever) and glue them on the front of the frame to decorate it. On the back, have them glue just on the sides and bottom edge only (not the top edge or middle) and attach a construction paper pouch to hold the picture in place. Then have them attach the magnet on the back of that.

Preschool Instructions

Each child receives a pre-cut spongy-foam frame. Then help them decorate the front of the frame with pre-cut spongy-foam pieces of armor shapes (bibles, shields, swords, helmets, whatever). On the back, help them glue just on the sides and bottom edge only (not the top edge or middle) and attach a construction paper pouch to hold the picture in place. Then attach the magnet on the back of that.

Braided Red Cord Bookmark

Monday:	Braided Red Cord Bookmark
Elementary Lesson:	Red Cord of Salvation: Rahab was saved because she believed in God, and we are saved the same way.
Memory Verse:	Ephesians 2:8-9
Preschool Lesson:	Joshua and the Walls: We should obey God.

Age Groups:

• elementary
• preschool (does not correlate with lesson)
• teens

Supplies Needed:

• red string or cord (not yarn)
• beads (optional)
• one oversized model for braid demonstration

Preparation:

Cut strands of the red string at the appropriate length. Each child will need three or five, depending on age. Teens will definitely need five.

Instructions:

Each child gets five (or, for younger children, three) identically-long pieces of red string or cord (not yarn). Show them how to tie them together at one end. They can string a bead on the beginning of their cord. (It may also make the braiding easier if you have them tape the knot down on the edge of the table.)

Demonstrate the braid technique on the large model.

To braid five strands (or any odd number), take the first strand and weave it over-under-over-under, so that it is now the last strand. That is, if you start on the right, you bring the rightmost strand over the one beside it, under the next, over the next-to-last, and under the leftmost strand. Then you go back to the other side, take the new first strand, and do the same thing again. Keep repeating. (It doesn't matter whether you start your braid at the left or at the right, as long as you start at the same side each time.)

The three-string braid is easier: simply bring the left strand over the middle one, then the right strand over the (new) middle one, then the left strand over the middle, then the right strand over the middle, and so on.

Explain that braiding several strands together makes a cord, which is stronger than the individual strings. Rahab used a cord to let the spies out of the city, and she hung the red cord from her window so that she would be spared when the city was taken. Have the children braid almost all the length of their strings, then tie off the tail end with just a little remaining of each strand. They can also string a bead on the end.