CRAFT LAB FORMULA'S! Make your own Power Lab!

We had a great time at VBS last week!!

Our theme this year was "Power Lab" .... Discovering Jesus' Miraculous Power! We had so much fun learning about the Bible through amazing science experiments and games!!

I created this blog because I've received so many requests for the "secret formulas" and instructions for the cool hands-on experiments we've been doing this week in the CRAFT LAB. You are welcome to check this blog throughout the month of August, to get the recipes and instructions for these FUN experiments you can do at home with your family!

Hey -- maybe you could invite your neighborhood friends over for a POWER LAB day!! It would give you a great chance to share all the amazing Bible lessons you have learned this week at VBS. You've learned some great things at our Power Lab, so maybe God wants to use your voice to tell your friends about Jesus. If you ask Him, He can give you the words to say to help them to Discover Jesus' Miraculous Power! :)

Kids, remember to ask Mom or Dad before you do any experiments, so they can help you to be safe, and to get you the supplies you need.

DAY 1, FAKE SNOW!!

Today's Thought:
Jesus gives us the power to be thankful! Aha!
Story: Jesus Heals the 10 lepers
Verse: Always be Thankful

In Craft Lab today, we talked about the story of Jesus healing the 10 lepers. What an awful disease to have! -- imagine itchy scratchy sores from head to toe! But Jesus reached out and healed them, and made their skin clean again.

In the same way, He can make our hearts clean again, when we ask Him to forgive our sins. He promises to forgive us of our sins when we confess them to Him and say sorry.

Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:7

I found this fake snow online, from Steve Spangler Science. I am so thankful for this guy, and got most of our craft ideas for VBS from his website.

If you would like to order some Fake Snow for yourself: CLICK HERE.


SAFETY NOTE:
Although the Fake Snow material is non-toxic to touch and play with, I made the kids promise not to put it in their mouth. Parents if you are concerned you can read the safety information by clicking HERE.

Basically though -- Fake Snow is the same stuff you would find inside a baby's new disposable diaper. We just didn't tell the kids that. Because ...... eeeeeeewwww.

DAY 2, RAINBOW CIRCLES!

Today's Thought:
Jesus gives us the power to help others! Aha!
Story: Jesus gives sight to the blind man
Verse: When God's people are in need, be ready to help them

In Craft Lab today, we talked about our eyesight. We sometimes take it for granted. God gave us our eyes to see all the wonderful things He created for us.

But think about this. God really didn't have to give us eyes that could see COLOR. He could have made everything black and white, like an old movie -- just different shades of black, white and gray. And our lives would still be good, we could still read, have families, enjoy our lives.

But since he loves us so much, He gave us eyes that can see COLOR! Then he put colorful things all throughout the earth: Bright green grass -- red roses -- purple grapes -- yellow lemons -- colorful butterflies -- just so we could use our awesome rainbow eyes to see them with!

Next time you see a rainbow, say a little prayer of thanks to God for giving you eyes that can see ALL His amazing colors!!!

The craft we did today was "Rainbow Circles". If you want to try this at home, get your mom and dad to help you, and please work in a well-ventilated area because of the alcohol.

Ingredients:

*Plastic Cup

*Rubber Band

*Piece of cotton fabric (we used t-shirt fabric for some, and a cut-up twin sheet for others)
*Sharpie markers in primary colors

*Rubbing Alcohol in a small bottle that drips out

Directions:

1) Stretch the fabric across the cup, and secure with the rubber band.

2) Make dots or streaks of color, in the middle of the circle, with the Sharpie markers.

3) Drop 12-15 drops of alcohol, DIRECTLY INTO THE CENTER of the design. This will make the colors begin to spread out toward the edges. Totally cool!

4) You can make more rainbow-circles on your fabric, if you have more cups and rubber bands!

The alcohol only takes a few minutes to dry out. If you want to permanently set the colors, I suggest dipping the finished fabric into a bowl of white vinegar and water. Then hand-wash it in the future, in a big bowl of soapy water, instead of the washing machine.

Thank you Lord for eyes that can see all your beautiful, amazing colors!!

If you have a few minutes today, watch this video and then THANK GOD for giving you eyes to see colors. CLICK HERE FOR "COLORS" VIDEO!

DAY 3: OOOOZY GREEN SLIME!

Today's thought:
Jesus gives us the power to be brave! Aha!
Story: Peter walks on water
Verse: I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me

Wow, what a mess we made in Craft Lab today! We made big bowls of Oooozy Green Slime!

Each table made a huge bowl of slime, using the directions below. We got really BRAVE (our thought for the day, Aha!) by putting our hands into a big bowl of something disgusting. And we found that just like Peter was changed after he made his brave move of walking out to Jesus on the water ... our gloppy, liquid-y, soupy mixture also changed into something wonderful when we got brave enough to put our hands in there, and mix it all together!

Here is the recipe, it's super easy and makes a big batch, so you can share it with your friends!! The only weird ingredient you will need to purchase is called "BORAX" which is an old-fashioned laundry detergent you can find at most grocery stores. Plus a new bottle of glue. But everything else you probably have on hand! Here ya go:

Ingredients and Directions for Ooozy Slime:

*One big plastic cup

*One big bowl
*1 new bottle of Elmer's glue, 8 oz. size
*1/2 cup water
Twist off the white cap of the glue and squeeze it into the big bowl. You will need to use EVERY drop of the glue, so keep squeezing and squeezing! Then pour the water into the bowl. Stir water and glue together with a big spoon, for a couple minutes or so, until the mixture looks like smooth pudding (no streaks or globs).

Then in the big plastic cup, mix these things together with a small spoon:
1/2 cup warm water
2 teaspoons of Borax
3-4 drops of food coloring (we used green but you can do any color!)
Mix these things really good, in the plastic cup. Keep stirring and stirring, until you're ready to dump it in.

VERY IMPORTANT now:
One person will need to be stirring the glue mix like crazy, while the other person QUICKLY dumps the colored mix. Do not leave any powder in the cup, it all has to go into the bowl, and fast!

Keep stirring it like crazy for a minute or two, until most of the water has absorbed. Then everyone roll up your sleeves and put your hands in the goop. Yes it is disgusting, but be brave like Peter! Everyone mix for a while, then roll it into one big ball. Mash the ball around in the bowl until it is all mixed evenly, and looks like it's supposed to -- like slime. Portion it out into little baggies and you're all set.

Please be responsible with your Slime so your Mom doesn't get mad! Don't put it on fabric, and for heaven's sake do NOT leave it on the carpet.

DAY 4: LAVA LAMP!

Today's Thought:
Jesus gives us the power to live forever! Aha!
Story: Jesus dies and comes back to life
Verse: Since I live, you also will live.

Hmmm... this might have been the favorite craft of this week??? We used test tubes for this craft, but they are expensive and hard to find. I am giving you directions for using a regular 14-oz. bottle of drinking water. What a fun gift to make for a friend, and you can recycle a few water bottles!

Ingredients:
*Water Bottle, 14 oz. size
*Vegetable cooking oil (We used wesson oil, because it's clear, not yellow-y)
*Water
*Red food coloring
*Alka Seltzer Tablets. Break up each round tablet into 4 or 6 little pieces.

Directions:
1) Pour some oil into the water bottle until it's about HALF-full.
2) Fill the rest of the bottle with water, but leave about 1/2 inch of air-space at the top.
3) Drop in 4 drops of the red food coloring, which looks like drops of Jesus' blood. It is cool how the precious drops of "blood" go down slowly into the water, changing the water to red.
4) Now drop in 2 of the broken up bits of Alka seltzer tablets. Watch how the red part comes alive and bubbles up!

This bubbling action is like the Holy Spirit, who gives us LIFE more abundantly through Christ!

When we spend time talking to God each day, that LIFE will bubble up inside of us too ... giving us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Thank you Lord for the Holy Spirit!!



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DAY 5, GELLY CRYSTALS

Today's Thought:
Jesus gives us the power to tell others about God! Aha!
Story: Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost
Verse: Go into all the world and preach the good news to everyone

Today we made a cool bottle filled with different colors of super-absorbent hydrogel crystals. This is the stuff you can buy at the gardening store, but we put food coloring in it to make it more fun. The hydrogel crystals are non-toxic and considered safe for kids. (In fact ... this is similar to the stuff you would find if you split open a clean baby diaper.) We did warn the children repeatedly to NOT eat it the gelly crystals of course. And just to be on the safe side, we super-glued the bottle caps onto the project so hopefully they can't get their hands back in there. But just to reassure everyone, these really are non-toxic, and even considered environmentally beneficial. Still -- parents --- if you still have safety concerns please CLICK HERE.

For the craft, we layered 4 colors of the gelly crystals into a water bottle, and then tied on a little "reminder" card to help them remember what the colors stand for. See below for the text on the card:

____________________________________

Sin separates us from God. Sin means to do something wrong. We all sin, that’s why God sent Jesus to the earth – to help us with our sin problem. Jesus was the only one who never sinned because He was God's son.

RED = BLOOD: Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins.

WHITE = CLEAN: If we ask him to, Jesus will forgive our sins and wash our hearts clean -- white as snow!

GREEN = GROW: We grow in our friendship with Jesus by reading the Bible, talking to God (prayer), and going to a church where the Bible is taught.

BLUE = HEAVEN: (think of blue skies...blue ....) If we follow Jesus on earth, we will follow Him all the way to Heaven! We all live eternally somewhere. In this short life on earth, God gives us a chance to choose.

_______________________________________

If you would like to order some of the DRY hydrogel crystals, you can CLICK HERE to order. We mixed them in portions of about 1 tsp. of dry crystals to a big 10 oz. cup of water with food coloring in it. These crystals are amazing! -- they will absorb 150-300 times their weight in water -- one pound of the dry crystals can absorb up to 35 gallons of water!

Most of the kids loved the gelly crystals (especially the BOYZZZZ) because they felt cold and squishy. This was a fun craft! It is our prayer they will use this water bottle as a witnessing tool, to tell their friends about Jesus.