Under the Sea Themed VBS Ideas

I am the Vacation Bible School Director at my church and have been for several years now.  I enjoy looking at all the different themes and coming up with our own variation, since my church does not usually purchase the standard curriculum.  This year our theme was Finding Jesus Under the Sea and I am happy to share some of our ideas to inspire your next birthday party or VBS.

Once I decided on the theme I started pinning; check out my Pinterest board to see all the fun ideas!

My friend Melanie graciously agreed to help me make all the cutouts and words with the bulletin board.  She used her Cricut to make the fish and letters; check how she did it!  Her daughter made the cute paper plate jelly fish and we used green crepe paper to make the "sea weed."  We put the bulletin board up about a month before hand to get the word out around the church.

The first night we talked about dolphins and how they communicate with each other and the lesson was that we should tell others about Jesus.  For the craft, they made friendship bracelets. (one to keep and one to give away) I found these at Oriental Trading, which is my go-to for affordable crafts.

One of the games they played was throwing a ball through the hoop (you could also use a stuffed dolphin if you had one)

The second night we talked about sharks and how they never stop moving.  We related it to the story of Mary and Martha and how you should sometimes take time to rest.  For the craft, they made shark hats (which was a hit for all of the ages!)

The third night we talked about whales and how they are the largest animal in the sea.  The main point was how God can do BIG things, like parting the Red Sea.  For the crafts, they made whales using either paper plates (for the younger kids) or egg cartons. (for the older kids)

We made a Pin the Tail on the Whale game, which the younger kids especially loved!

The last night we talked about sea shells and how they used to hold a sea animal and that it serves as a reminder of the empty tomb of Jesus.  For the craft, they used markers to color real sea shells and also painted colorful "shells" made out of paper plates and colored yarn.

They played a game where they had to toss sea shells into a bucket from a distance.  They also had to rescue sea animals from a swimming pool filled with balloons, using a butterfly net, without knocking the balloons out of the pool.

We had a great week and all the kids had a great time playing games, singing, making crafts, and learning about Jesus.  These are just a few of the ideas from the week; I hope they inspire you!

Check out VBS Crafts on a Budget for more ideas!