Year 1 ~ Overview in pictures!
Highlights of what we did!
Ornament Making
(Oct 30/17)
The girls created unique Christmas ornaments, chocolate candies, and gift tags. These were used as thank you to anyone who made a donation to support the Explorers Program during the Hampton United Church Christmas Craft and Bake Sale on Nov. 4, 2017.
Thank you to all those who offered us their support!
Night Walk
(Nov 6/17)
Another meeting in November we met at Kim’s home and went for a night walk, unfortunately, it was a cloudy night so we couldn’t see the stars, but we still thoroughly enjoyed the outing, listening for the different night sounds, and singing as we walked.
Black Light Camp “Night of Light”
(Fri ~ Nov 24/17)
Church Sleepover with a Blacklight Theme – great fun for all involved!
Everyone was invited to come dressed in white and neon colours. The girls began the evening by having their nails painted in neon colours at the nail polish station. This was followed by a Flashlight Books of the Bible Scavenger Hunt. Next, it was mini-pizzas (thanks to the moms who created the pizza’s in the kitchen while we were playing!)
Then we broke into four groups and hit the blacklight stations: Plinko, Bowling, Mini Putt, and painting. During the event, the children received a glow in the dark necklace, bracelet, glow stick, neon headband, happy face glow pin, and a Night of Light 2017 T-Shirt.
Later we sat around our indoor (fake) campfire and sang campfire songs and ate ‘smores (thanks again to the moms who prepared the S’mores for us in the kitchen).
Lastly, as air mattresses were being set-up, the girls took turns having their picture taken in front of the blacklight photo booth backdrop. We finally settled in for the night. The next morning, while waiting for a breakfast of pancakes and fruit, they decorated the breakfast paper tablecloth using gel pens. After breakfast, everyone received a glow-in-the-dark cannister of slime, to their immense pleasure, and the slimy fun continued until parents arrived!
Collecting for the Christmas Food Hampers
(Nov 27/17)
At our November 27th meeting the girls and leaders broke into three groups and visited as many houses, in Hampton, as our time allowed, collecting food items for the Hampton U.C. Christmas Food Hampers. Thanks to all who donated! We collected a total of 218 food items plus $40 cash!
Christmas Party
(Dec 11/17)
The girls had great fun decorating chocolate houses!
Winter Camp
(Jan. 19 – 21/18)
It was a great weekend for all who attended two night sleepover at the church! For outdoor activities on Saturday, we went skating on Hampton Pond in the morning and tobogganing behind the Hampton Community Center in the afternoon. For crafts over the weekend the girls made friendship bracelets, a clay Inuksuk, snowflakes from Pearly beads, and hand sewed a mini felt mitten. Thanks to Kim’s mom for handling kitchen duties for us!
Lost Sheep
(Jan 29/18)
What is a parable? We learned about the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin.
Outdoor Scavenger Hunt
(Feb 5/18)
While taking a nature walk/scavenger hunt through Hampton park with flashlights, we also made ice cream. Everyone carried a small container which they shook throughout our walk, creating ice cream which we enjoyed at the end of the evening.
What does the bible tell us about Heaven?
(Feb 12 & Feb 26/18)
The girls drew a picture of what they considered the perfect place (paradise) would look like if they designed it. The pictures involved lots of sea breezes, flowers, and beaches.
Then they were asked what they thought heaven looked like? The girls gave their thoughts and then we opened our Bibles to find the answers. We looked up several scripture verses and noted what each told us about heaven.
We finished off by drawing what heaven may look like from what we learned from the scriptures.
Parachute Game Night
(Mar 5/18)
We had great fun at our parachute game night.
We played several, fun and active parachute games, to name a few: Ball Roll, Merry-Go-Round, Poison Snakes, Parachute Tag, Mushroom, The Wave, Rollerball, All Change, “Fisher’s of Men” and “Crossing the Red Sea”.
Easter Game Night
(Mar 19/18)
Here we heard the story of Jesus’ last week by playing through a series of 10 game stations that covered: Palm Sunday, Sneaky Temple Merchants, the Last Supper, Judas’ Betrayal, Peter’s Denial, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Commission and Ascension.
We clip-clopped like a donkey, kicked the sneaky merchants out of the temple, set the table for the Last Supper, joined the disciples in the upper room, searched for the one who betrayed Jesus, heard Peter’s denial and the rooster crow, and spread the gospel message around the world.
Food Bank & Last Supper~Computer Lab
(Mar 26/18)
Food Bank Helpers
We started off the evening by learning what takes place at our local food banks. Hampton U.C. had been collecting food items for Easter Hampers for four families.
The girls became food bank volunteers for the evening.
First, they had to sort the food that had been donated into one of 8 categories: cereal, meat, vegetables, alphagetti/zoodles, spaghetti/noodles/sauce, condiments (ketchup/dressing), cake mixes/icing/fruit, and soup/crackers.
Once the food was sorted it was now time to count the number of items in each category and report the amount to the food bank supervisor.
Lastly, they were asked to sort all the donated items equally and fairly. They then proceeded to sort the items into four areas (one per family), making sure that each family received items from each food category.
At end of evenig the leaders boxed the sorted food and Luanne delivered them.
Last Supper (Computer Lab)
In the computer lab, the girls broke into groups at our four computer stations and played the game: Jesus in Space: Mission #2 ~ Planet Whammo.
The game entailed the girls landing Lt. Stu on the planet Whammo. Here they had to decide if the robots are correct in their retelling of the Easter story. If Stu messes up, he gets zapped! Anytime the robot gets it wrong, Whammo!
Followed by the game “Whammo Labs” which involved navigating Lt Stu through different levels of the Whammo Labs–avoiding smasher robots and various robot recycling machinery. There are several locked doors that were only opened by answering a question about the items found on the Seder Plate.
A fun way to learn all about the Last Supper and Passover!
Easter Breakfast Fundraiser
(Sat ~ Mar 31/18)
We had a great turn out for our first Easter Breakfast Fundraiser held at the church on Saturday morning (March 31). We wish to thank all who attended and supported us. Your donations of $435.00 will be split between the “Explorers” and “Moms & Tots” programs.
Also, thanks to all the parents who donated food items for the breakfast and the Explorer girls who were able to attend and help with the cooking, serving, and clean-up.
Fruit of the Spirit ~ Drama Night & Fruit Kabobs
(Apr 16/18)
To start off our exploration of the Fruit of the Spirit, the girls were separated into four groups of three girls each. Being short two girls, leaders Luanne & Melissa helped make up one group.
Each group was then handed a script (each script reflected a different Fruit of the Spirit in a modern day setting involving three kids – Jeffrey/Peter/Maggie). Groups went off to different corners of the room for five minutes to decide on who was doing which part and to practice their Fruit skit.
Then we all sat down to watch as each group performed their specific fruit skit.
After the first four scripts were done, we had so much fun the girls wanted to continue, so we broke all the girls into new groups to do four more Fruit Skits.
What a talented group of girls we have! They also showed great Love, Joy, and Kindness as they cheered and clapped after each group’s performance!
We finished off the evening with the girls each making a Fruit Kabob, from nine fruits provided.
We then gathered in a circle to enjoy our Fruit Kabobs and hear Kim read the story “9 Fruits Alive”.
Fruit of the Spirit ~ Art Night
(Apr 23/18)
The girls decorated wooden “Fruit of the Spirit – Tic Tac Toe” boards which they could take home and play with family and friends. A special thanks to Chris Lopak for providing/cutting/drilling the wooden game boards!
Flowers & Pollinators
During the evening Beth and Rose did a short talk about planting wildflower seeds to support butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. They gave a demonstration of how pollination is done by the pollinators and discussed how planting the wildflower seeds around their home and/or neighbourhood they would be doing a kindness to our environment and it would also be a way to celebrate Earth Day (which was on April 22).
All the girls were given an assortment of wildflower seeds, for both light and shade, in an envelope to take home and plant.
Creation in a Cup & Sewing
(May 7/18)
The girls were really busy this night as we had two projects on the go.
Art Station – as Luanne retold the story of creation, as found in Genesis 1, the girls added items to their “Creation in a Cup” (pictured) . This idea was adapted from “Tiny World in A Cup” that aired on CBC’s Artzooka.
Sewing Station – Kim & Melissa pulled girls from the Art station to teach them the basics of sewing (we’d brought in two sewing machines for the evening). Each girl sewed (hemmed) their own Explorer Scarf (see photo). Once their scarf was completed they returned to the Art station to continue adding to their “Creation in a Cup”.
Last Meeting of the Season
May 14/18
Fun at Hampton Playground & Ice Cream Cones!
Spring Camp
(May 25-26)
Friday Evening
One night camp at Darlington Provincial Park. Did we luck out, the weather was perfect!
First order of business as the girls arrived was they prepared their sleeping areas.
Beach Treasure Hunt
Then we headed down the trail to the beach. It was a lovely walk and the path was dry except for one muddy section we had to traverse and were glad we had on our boots!
* Find a nice large gray rock with a flat/smooth surface for tomorrow morning’s Prayer Rock art project.
* Find a piece of green glass that had been polished smooth by the rocks, waves and sand.
* Look for interesting rocks of varying colours and shapes.
* Fossils – Kim showed the girls the type of rock to look for and how to break it apart to see if they could discover any fossils hidden inside.
Campfire
Roasting marshmellow, hotdogs, and enjoying roasted cone s’mores, singing, and a special closing with Fric and Frac, a skit on the Lord’s Prayer by leaders Luanne and Melissa!
Camp Saturday
Camp Prayer Rocks
Luanne show the girls how to take their smooth gray beach rock from Friday’s treasure hunt and turn them into a colourful Prayer Rock.
Camp Bracelets
Kim showed the girls how to make a special camp bracelet, using cord and a knot technique.
Camp Hike
Later there was a nature hike, lunch, time at the playground, another visit to the beach, and parachute games before heading back to camp to pack up for parent pick-up.
Hike photos below (stopping for a snack on the lookout platform).
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