The instructions at
vpython.org for running VPython 7 without the Jupyter notebook have been changed to this:
You can run from IDLE or Spyder with Python 3.5 or 3.6. You can start Spyder from a command prompt by typing "spyder", but you also have to go to Run > Configure and specify "Execute in a new dedicated Python console". Some Mac users have reported that running from IDLE or Spyder doesn't work, and the cause is under study. The following workaround, making and invoking a new environment, does work:
conda create -n vpclean -c vpython vpython python=3
source activate vpclean