Some general themes naturally weave themselves into Bible camp such as prayer, God's love and kindness to others. Prayer boxes made from empty oatmeal canisters allow children to make a colorful and tangible way to look at prayer. Children use construction paper to decorate the outside of the canister with pictures or sayings, and then drop prayers written on small pieces of paper into the box for safekeeping. A tithing piggy bank made from an old bleach bottle allows children to set aside money to donate to charity. After an adult cleans the bleach bottle, children can use fabric or felt to turn the bottle into a pig with old thread spools for feet. A slit cut into the back of the "pig" with googly eyes and a pipe cleaner tail finish the bank.
Old Testament stories offer many options for crafts. Create a crayon rainbow by putting crayons in a cleaned out tuna can then placing the can in the oven for a few minutes. The crayons will stick together to create a rainbow which would go well with the story of Noah. Psalm 148 talks about praising God, and children can create a mobile that does just that. Wooden dowels can be strung together; then construction paper shapes decorated with sayings are hung from the dowels. Brown paper bag puppets of animals correlate with a discussion of creation. Brown lunch bags decorated with crayons, markers, paint, fabric or other craft supplies create any animal the child wants. The children can have a puppet show after completion, or they may just want to play with them on their own.
One ongoing project completed throughout Bible school is a booklet of all of the Bible stories discussed. This booklet contains pictures of the Bible stories that the child arranges in both Old Testament and New Testament sections. A song book provides another option for an ongoing project. Each child writes down the words of the songs sung at Bible camp and adds pictures. Or print the lyrics for the children and they just create the pictures to go along with them. Salt dough, made from one part water, two parts salt and two parts flour, molded into shapes can create mobiles when put onto a wire hanger or dowel rods. This mobile can show Christ's life with a manger shape, a cross and a clover representing the Trinity. Either bake the dough or leave it out to harden.
Holiday crafts are also good activities for Bible camp. If it's the Easter season, make small baskets out of construction paper and place a small lamb inside. The lamb, made from paper with cotton balls glued on, can be further decorated with crayons or markers. Butterflies cut out of paper plates and decorated with construction paper also lend themselves to an Easter theme. For Christmas themes, children can create a nativity scene with paper dolls colored and glued to craft sticks. Christmas tree decorations made out of foam stickers and cardboard provide another option. For Mother's Day or Father's Day children can create picture frames. Craft sticks colored with paint or markers can be attached to an envelope with a hole already cut out for the frame.