WildLIVE! VBS
is packed with adventure, so decorating for it can give you one of the most exciting sets ever! Go “on location” and have fun with the habitat concept. In this option,* you’ll decorate areas of your church as different habitats that the film crew (VBS kids) visit for the WildLIVE! show.
WildLIVE! features kids encountering creatures from around the planet while taking part in a nature show. The “show” focuses on animals with amazing skills, special habitats, and surprising characteristics. Through the lessons, students will focus on Jesus’ captivating character and discover how to follow Him in their own “habitats.”
On Location in the Wild
Create a mountain habitat with llamas and other South American mountain animals. Mascot posters and jumbo posters add to the fun!
Kids will start and end each day in the WildLIVE! Studio (assembly time), but move “on location” to an animal habitat. For example, a hallway or room decorated with under-the-sea decorations provides an ocean habitat. A foyer could take kids on location to an African savanna, while a different hallway, stairway, or a classroom could be the Andes Mountains. Different habitats can be anywhere—even on the individual walls of a room.
We’ve provided easy options, available at rbpVBS.org/decorations, for decorating each of the five habitats. This includes animals and video items in our set of cutouts and a jumbo poster for each habitat. We’ve also provided a coloring-style mural for each habitat on the decorating CD of our Director Resources Download or CD Set, so the murals can be enlarged and colored as habitat decor.
Create a habitat with icebergs, water, and animals from Antarctica. Don’t forget the penguins!
After you have set up the habitats, add inflatable, cutout, and stuffed animals. Or for extra fun, have one or more staff members wear animal costumes! And because it’s a wildlife show, a good way to finish decorating is to sprinkle in a few video/filming items, like coffee-can lights, cardboard silhouette video cameras, and film-reel decorations.
With the habitats option for decorating, kids will feel as if they’re actually on location and trekking to adventurous places for the WildLIVE! show just by walking through your church!
Five Habitats ‘On Location’
Five habitats are an exciting part of WildLIVE!—and they include special mascots:
- Showcase 1: Andes Mountains of South America (Clover, a llama mascot)
- Showcase 2: North American forests that include water (Santos, a beaver mascot)
- Showcase 3: Oceans anywhere in the world (Carrie, a dolphin mascot)
- Showcase 4: African Savanna (Ellie, an elephant mascot)
- Showcase 5: Antarctica (Tux, an emperor penguin mascot)
If you want to include more or fewer habitats, great! That’s completely up to you.
Choosing ‘On Location’ Habitats Means Ease and Fun
Even with several habitats, there’s no need to change your decorations for each day of VBS. Make it easy on yourself and don’t change the habitats—kids will love seeing the variety every time they come. But have some fun and move things around a bit, such as moving the portable cutouts on stage in the WildLIVE! Studio to match the mascot of the day and its friends, or seeing if the film crew notice an out-of-its-habitat animal, or ______________________ (let your imagination fill in the blanks).
This “on location” habitats theme gives plenty of options for using decorations left from previous VBS programs. Leaves, foliage, tarps for sandy floors, cellophane, etc., can all be reused so you don’t have to find new items. And again, check out the options available on rbpVBS.org for quick and easy solutions.
Regardless of how you’d like to decorate, when kids walk in the door, WildLIVE! is sure to capture their imaginations and hearts. While decorations can help create an immersive experience with the theme, the main goal will always be to reach kids with the gospel and help them grow in Christ. VBS can impact kids for eternity no matter what kind of decorations you use!
*This article is the first of two on decorating for WildLIVE! If the concept of multiple habitats doesn’t sound like a good fit for your church, scope out a unified way to decorate.
