This "Workshop Design~Decor" forum hosts a collection of posts, questions, and ideas dating back quite a few years. You are welcome to start a topic or post a reply.
You will see many "decor" ideas in our Workshop Photo collection here.
You will also occasionally read decor and theme suggestions in lesson sets.
Each workshop is discussed in greater detail in its own forum.
Here are some Workshop Rotation "theme" and room philosophies:
One of the Rotation Model's goals is to transform what is often an institutional setting into one that's attractive to children, families and visitors, and facilitates our creative teaching techniques.
Over the past few decades, most churches have created table and chair-clogged rooms for sedentary learning. In the Rotation Model, no two rooms look alike or are furnished alike.
1. Room design cues come from each Workshop's regular activity (video, art, game, etc) determines its room need: furniture, room size, and decor cues, such as, paint color. Rotation purists reject the traditional "beige, boring, bombshelter" classrooms of our childhood!
For example: The Bible Skills and Games Workshop needs flexible space and plenty of room because our Bible games are often BIG and require moving around. Whereas, an Art Workshop needs plenty of storage, shelving, tables, and art stools* (see note below).
For example: A Video Workshop might have blue walls, a popcorn machine, comfy seats, and "theater" curtains. Whereas, the Bible Skills and Games Workshop walls might be covered with teaching resources (maps, posters, timelines), and have a big drawing board, a way to project Bible pictures and maps, and a bookshelf of Bible study resources and game props.
In the old days, classrooms all looked alike and were full of tables and chairs. In the Workshop Rotation Model, form follows function.
2. Because we rotate different grades into each workshop, Rotation Modelers think differently about chair and furniture size issues.
For example, in a traditional Sunday School, you would have smaller chair in the younger children's room. Whereas, in a Rotation Art Workshop, you will often find ART STOOLS because the stools work for different ages, and can easily be slid under the table and out of the way so students can work together.
3. Creating an overall Design Theme for your Sunday School and Workshops is common in many Rotation churches.
A church near a train station, for example, might theme their Workshops as "stations" the train pulls into. A church by water or with trees might do a Beach theme or Forest theme. Others will develop a garden or "Bible Trek" theme, and take their design cues and naming conventions from that theme.
4. Rotation Modelers tend to look at church space differently, and consider creative scheduling to solve space problems.
A fellowship hall can make a good Game Workshop. The church kitchen can be a Cooking Workshop. In a small church with limited space, a room used as a Video Workshop for the first two weeks of the rotation can quickly be transformed into a Drama Workshop for the 3rd and 4th weeks of the Rotation.
5. Success and Failure.
We know from Rotation successes that churches which creatively TRANSFORM their learning space often receive the biggest boost of support and attendance. Those who try to "do Rotation" in their "1970's -style classrooms" are often doomed to fail. Why? Probably because a commitment to re-designing the learning space and outfitting the workshops reflects the level of commitment to doing the Rotation Model itself, and understanding the needs of our church, as opposed to, the needs of the Property Committee.
People tend to support what's different if they can SEE what's different.
6. Rotation Modelers are ADEPT at being creative on a budget.
Examples can be seen in the Photos forum, but the following serves as an excellent example:
The 'curtain' is old CDs strung with fishing line. The table is an old Sunday School table covered in sheetmetal with decorative tape along the edges. The legs are covered in flexible aluminum dryer hose.
A "Space" Themed Computer Lab in Houston TX
7. The WoRM transforms nooks and crannies too.
Aslan's Drinking Fountain!
