Our church is doing Group's "Crocodile Dock" Vacation Bible School.  I'm the director of Bible Bayou where we tell/act out the Bible story each day.  Well, when I gave our director the list of supplies I needed I listed the "electric campfire" available from group.com.  I need it for Moses and the burning bush.  I told her that we would definitely be able to use something like this in the future, too.  Well, she didn't order it b/c I guess she thought it was too expensive ($20) and I decided to order it myself.  By that time, group.com had sold out of the item.

 Can anybody help come up with a way to to have a lit up burning bush?  The idea is to pile small logs and leaves and stuff around a light source that can be turned on instantly, like being plugged in.  When it is lit up and the kids hear "God's" voice, it is suppposed to be a surprise so I can't be fumbling around, trying to press a button on a lantern within the pile.  It's supposed to be very dramatic.

I am at a loss as to what to do.  Anybody have any ideas?

Could you plug in the light to a surge protector, so all you have to do is flip the surge protector switch? I think you could probably do that with your foot if you wanted to make less movements, and surprise the kiddos.

One year for our Harvest Festival I did the game based on the theme of Elijah and the burning sacrifices. I had to make what looked like an altar on fire. I had a fan and a yellow light-bulb in a clip-on lamp under a wide-meshed screen. I tied bits of orange, yellow, and red crepe streamers to the screen. When the fan was on, the streamers blew like flames. I put little sticks and twigs on top for effect. The light from underneath made the whole thing "glow."

You could make something similar, and surround the whole thing with a brown blanket or more firewood.

Our church did the Australian Outback themed VBS this year. It was fun, but I just volunteered in the nursery.

slk2042:

It was fun, but I just volunteered in the nursery.

That's the easiest place to be, no planning and no projects to work out, heh.

I always volunteered for the kindergarten level kids. Preparation wasn't too involved as their skills are still fairly basic and they were fun to teach. VBS is one of the things I do miss about church attendance. 

Would some sort of lamp without a shade behind a red/orange cloth screen made to look like flames work for this (safely without the bulb touching the cloth)? Using the PP idea of a surge protetor and a switch to turn the light on suddenly may have the same effect. Maybe having a small fan also turn on and blow red/orange cloth strips so it looks like flames? Just ideas (and I don't claim to be creative, lol!).

Our VBS is 9 to 12 a.m. next week and I work all mornings so have to help other ways. Our theme this year is "Camp EDGE" and i've helped find some things to make the fellowship hall look like a camp (small 2 person tents, artificial christmas trees of various sizes to look like a forest, some larger rocks, firewood, camping gear, etc.)

DH is home for the summer so I signed him up instead, LOL. He is in charge of games and recreation with another dad and he is excited!  We cap our week off with church at a big park (praise band, kids sing the VBS songs) and a potluck picnic.

Thanks for the ideas, y'all.  I think DH can work with these.  I forgot that three years ago he built a fireplace for VBS and our fire was a fan with orange, yellow, and red streamers and the light source was a flashlight that was turned on the whole time.  We can work it out ( I hope!).  I'll let you know how it goes!

 I would get some chicken wire and shape it into the shape I wanted then cover it with a thin layer of paper mache leaving an opening to incert Christmas lights.  I would then paint, dry, then put in lights with 1 of the twinklers to make the flickering of the flame.  Just plug the lights into a power strip.

 We get all our <http://www.concordiasupply.com>vacation bible school
</a>VBS supplies online from Concordia Supply Ltd. I know that they sell the Crocidile Dock VBS. They also have many other related supplies and may be able to help out with what you are looking for.

Here's what we ended up using:  Hubby broke a large branch out of a cherry tree, stripped it down and stood in a brick for a base.  He took the foliage he stripped off and covered the brick and a small fan that was pointed up at the "bush".  We covered the "bush" with red Christmas tinsel to make it "burn".  We didn't even use a light source.

 We thought it looked pretty pathetic but the children were enchanted with it.  They're imaginations are so much better than ours!

dolly77:

We thought it looked pretty pathetic but the children were enchanted with it. 

That's wonderful! I'm glad they liked it.

dolly77:

 We thought it looked pretty pathetic but the children were enchanted with it.  They're imaginations are so much better than ours!

doesn't sound bad and glad it worked to get the point across!