How to Make a Coral Reef

Zoomerang, our 2022 sanctity of life Answers VBS, takes you Down Under to the continent of Australia, where you’ll explore diverse environments, including arid deserts, bustling cities, humid jungles, and the colorful waters of the Great Barrier Reef. And we’re excited for you to transform your church into an Aussie paradise.

You can always find décor ideas on our Pinterest page (and we have a variety of scene setters to help you set the mood available at AnswersVBS.com), but another great source of inspiration is other VBS directors and décor coordinators. And you can often find those ideas on our Answers VBS Discussion Group on Facebook.

Two VBS volunteers recently posted pictures of how they’re making coral reefs for this summer. We thought we’d share their wonderful ideas with you:

Stephanie G. shared:

So if you decide to dye coffee filters for your coral reef, here are my tips:

1. Don’t decide to dye 4200 at once. It takes a long time to dry them (I’m drying them in the oven and am on day 2 of drying)

2. Tie-dye gave me the most vibrant results, followed by RIT dye, then food coloring. I like bright and colorful VBS decorations.

3. I got them at Sam’s club, 700 for like $3.00.

4. Wear gloves. My hands are still purple after three days.

Here’s some of the coral I’ve made so far. I’ll also make some with spray foam and also with pool noodles. Then I'll combine it all together.

Heather S. also shared some photos, including some “behind the scenes” photos and instructions, of how she’s crafting a coral reef:

For the fan coral, I used pipe cleaners and just cut and twisted them. Unfortunately, they are kind of flimsy, so I added extra skewers (like you make kabobs on) and glued them on the back to give them stability.

For the larger, thicker coral, I got dowel rods and just had fun with Loctite spray foam. Then I covered the dowel and made it look coral-shaped. Next, I will spray paint these various colors.

The sea anemones are half Styrofoam balls with toothpicks in them, and I plan to paint them black and red. The other twirly coral is pool noodles that I used a hot knife to cut.

We hope you’re enjoying planning for this summer’s incredible Aussie experience. If you haven’t started yet, order your Starter or Super Starter Kit at AnswersVBS.com.