King of Kings Crowns for VBS art in a Colonia en Cabo San Lucas

Supplies: watercolors, crayons, brushes & cups for water.

After teaching local leadership how to do wax resist to make crowns, these trained leaders showed children in a colonia in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico how to make the crowns. The teaching theme was Jesus as King of kings (Rey de reys) and Prince of Peace (Principa de Paz). First the children learned a catchy song in Spanish (we didn't quite get to the English which really adds a nice touch when there's time to teach in bilingually). Then the teachers led the children in making the crowns while the women learned how to make earrings for cottage industry skills. The artful crowns were a big hit. Much fun enjoyed by all.

Cabo Church Art Workshop Mixes Art with Theology

Integrating mixed media art in Christian education is an excellent way to help students of all ages embody the lesson through simple art techniques which are easily taught and require simple supplies. Art makes learning much more fun! There are almost unlimited projects you can create that use stencils and stamps. Once you have the basic tools (stencils and stamps), the art continues into infinity. An easy project is to talk about symbols and shapes and how they add meaning to people, places, and events. The art experience helps people to visually connect with the key themes of a particular (biblical) teaching.

Lynn creates layers of meaning with stencils, stamped images and crayon

Lynn working on layers.

Stamped images add interesting layers to art.

No fancy set-up required: art supplies scattered down the middle and GO.

Art Training 101 at Cabo Church

As part of our annual mission trip to work with Feeding Los Cabos Kids, a ministry of Cabo Church in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, we spent an evening teaching how to incorporate mixed media art in Christian education for kids (and adults) of all ages. Various staff and volunteers spent two hours with an intense crash course which covered a variety of materials and methods. We did wax resist on pre-cut paper crowns. The crowns were traced around a Burger King crown on posterboard and cut out ahead of time. Because we did multiple projects very quickly, each person had only 15 minutes to decorate the crown with crayon (wax) and then do a watercolor wash so the wax would "resist" (show through). We talked about the different teaching options which could incorporate the crown as the project to symbolize the teaching. For example, Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords; the three wise men at Christmas, or one of the kings in the Old Testament such as king Solomon or king David. It is a fun and easy project. No art skills required!