Roar VBS: “Fear is a Liar” Watercolor Painting

This “Fear is a Liar” watercolor painting is a fun Imagination Station alternative for day 2 of Roar VBS! Read on for more tips including how to relate the watercolor painting to the daily bible point…

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Supplies:

–Watercolor paper
-Pens/markers (for writing their name on the back)
–White crayons
–Watercolor paints
–Large paint brushes
–Cups of water
–Large roll of paper (for covering the tables)

A few weeks ago I shared a “God is Good” watercolor painting that could be used for day 5 (or really, any day) of Roar VBS. As I’ve finalized our crafts, I decided to swap the watercolor painting to day 2 of Roar VBS. (I can’t be the only one who rearranges the crafts 5 or 15 times, right?!)

Day 2’s bible point is “When life is scary, God is good”. In Imagination Station on day 2, kids use the Hungry Hoopoe ($.89 each) as an object lesson. Our Fear is a Liar watercolor painting is a great alternative (or addition) to the evening’s Imagination Station activities.

Instructions:

• Optional: Cut paper in half. I ordered 11×15 sheets of watercolor paper, but our kids don’t really need a sheet that large (and I was hoping to cut costs), so I used our paper cutter to cut the sheets in half. Each child will get a sheet that is approximately 7.5″x11″ (almost as big as a standard sheet of paper).

• Cover tables with paper (you could also use plastic tablecover, but the paper will soak up a little of the water/paint, so I think it’ll keep the area cleaner and lessen the chance of water or paint dripping on the floor).

• Give each kid a piece of watercolor paper. Have them write their name on the back of the paper with a pen or marker.

• Give each kid a white crayon.  Instruct the kids to use the white crayon to write “fear is a liar” on their paper.  I pushed down pretty hard when I did the sample. They can also add decorations around the edge of the paper if they’d like. (If you are doing this craft with toddler or preschool kiddos, I would definitely write the message ahead of time and just let them paint over the top. My 2 year old daughter painted the watercolor paper without much help from me… although she was a little water happy! Keep an eye on how much water your young kiddos are using… the more water they use, the more the paper may warp as it dries.)

• Explain to the kids: Today’s bible point is “when life is scary, God is good”.  When we are scared (or feeling fear), our emotions tend to jump into overdrive.  When you are in a moment of fear, remind yourself that fear is a liar.  What does “fear is a liar” mean? (If kids don’t know, explain that when you feel fear, you tend to think of worse-case-scenarios.  Fear makes you think bad things might happen.  That’s not true though!)  We don’t have to make decisions based out of fear.  God is with us.  Even when life is scary, God is good.

• Have kids paint the entire paper. The watercolor paints come with very small paint brushes, but larger paint brushes worked much better for the sample.  Don’t worry if your words don’t show well at first. As the paint dries, the words show up. (Side note on supplies: I have linked the nicer watercolor paints. We have some of the really inexpensive watercolor paints already at church. You can use whatever fits your budget! This is the first time I’ve purchased the nicer watercolor paints. I was impressed by the quality – they even showed up brightly on black paper, which the cheaper paints don’t do.)

• Explain to the kids: At the beginning of this craft, you wrote the words “fear is a liar” on your piece of paper.  Even though you couldn’t see it when it was just written on the paper, you KNEW it was there.  The words became clear once you painted over them.  Just like the words on the paper, God is always there for us.  We can’t always see him physically, but when we look closely at our lives we can see that He is always there!

• Once they’re finished painting, have the kids lay their papers somewhere to dry (we use the empty classroom next door to our Imagination Station room).  Send the paintings home the following night. You could send them home the same night the kids paint them, but they’ll probably still be wet.

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