Greco-Roman Decor: Fountains

Having a fountain is a great way to bring in Greco Roman Decor.   Below there's see some examples of how other churches have done it and some links to other sites showing other ways to do it.


Make a 3D Fountain

There are several ways to make a three dimensional fountain (some working, some merely decorative). 

Kiddy Tub Fountain 

You can make a fountain with kiddy tubs.   The cool thing about this is that they can hold real water!    The fountain pictured below works like an actual fountain, but even still water without the "pouring" aspect would be fun for kids to splash their hands in.   If you do want to try your hand at a running water fountain, this tutorial on a stacked planter fountain may help  (its a similar concept to the fountain below).   You may want to put a tarp under Your fountain and towels around it to protect floors from water that may splash out as kids play.

Photo by Mauri Willis-Jones

Stacked Planters and Tinsel

Picture by Michelle Barrera from 

Teaching Word Faith Center (Fort Worth, TX)

I love this ides...planters and tinsel, stacked, and you have a fountain.  

Foam Fountain

This looks difficult, but impressive.

 Borrow a Fountain

From Dayspring Baptist Church

Fountain Statue Borrowed From I-35 Statuary

We were blessed at our church to be able to borrow several statues from a nearby statuary, including the one above, which doubled as a fountain.  We had a tub underneath it which we surrounded by stones and greenery.

Something simpler, like a bird-bath, could work too in a pinch, and is something one of your church members might have and be willing to lend.

Make sure you have a good safe means to transport anything you borrow.   We asked about a multi-tiered fountain but there were concerns about being able to transport and assemble something like that without it breaking (and of course there's always the concern about kids knocking things over, so be careful about where and how you set up anything borrowed).  

Make a 2D Fountain

A two dimensional fountain can be stunning too.  Check out the examples below.

Picture by Michelle Barrera from 

Teaching Word Faith Center (Fort Worth, TX)

I love how just adding a little tinsel gives a flat drawing a three dimensional feel.

From Dayspring Baptist Church

This fountain was painted by a lovely and talented woman at our church.   It was on cut plywood, to allow us to store it and re-use it later.  

More Greco-Roman Decor Here

More VBS Rome Resources and Ideas

 

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Decor: Making "Pottery"

Michelle Barrera let me use lots great pictures of how her church, Teaching Word Faith Center (Fort Worth, TX) decorated for Athens VBS several years back. Here is how they made large pots.

You can see the bases of the vases

are made of cardboard and duct-tape

which is then covered with paper mache.

They then covered the vases with plaster 

(At least, I think that's plaster).

The greenery really looks stunning on these.

More Greco-Roman Decor Here

More VBS Rome Resources and Ideas

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Colonnade Gallery

Some pictures of colonnades from various churches doing Holy Land Athens or Rome Vacation Bible School.

From Vineyard Church in Hopkinton, MA taken by Areli Biggers




From Faith Baptist Church

From Snowd Branch Church

Picture by Jennifer Mounce 

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TIP:  How to Create Depth

If you are making a colonnade on a stage you can create depth and and add an illusion of a larger scene by starting with taller columns and then using descending smaller columns, set at an angle like the picture on the right...continuing the colonnade with a backdrop with painted columns at the back.   You'll notice that in many of the colonnades above.

(The drawing at right is by cdevries, who writes a number of wonderful articles on theater design. It was from a section on 3 More Ways to Improve Your Theater Set about creating depth. Used with permission.)

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Made from large cardboard box, with roof added
Picture by Michelle LaFlamme

From Dayspring Baptist Church

Pictures by Michelle Barrera
From Teaching Word Faith Center  in Fort Worth, TX



Learn more about how to make columns here.

More VBS Rome Resources and Ideas. 


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