Year 3 ~ Overview in pictures!
Highlights of what we did!
Fall Camp (The Incredible Race!)
@ Darlington Provincial Park
(September 13 & 14, 2019)
The Incredible Race: One Family, One Race, One Saviour. A fun-filled weekend of activities and crafts as they race each other through the history of the human race from the Garden of Eden to today.
Friday evening 6pm arrival.
Campsites set-up and waiting for girls 6pm arrival. Girls assigned to one of two sleeping tents, upon arrival they were charged with setting up their sleeping area.
The Incredible Race Begins.
Travelling requires passports, so the girls were each given a passport they would add a stamp (picture) to on each leg of their journey.
At each stop they heard a bible story, did a related activity and song.
1st Stop – Creation
2nd Stop: The Story of Noah
Evening Campfire Sing-A-Long, then off to tents for quiet time and reading before lights out.
Saturday
Breakfast: pancakes, sausages, fruit kabobs and apple juice.
Incredible Race T-Shirts for everyone.
3rd Stop: The Tower of Babel
4th Stop: Moses and the Exodus
5th Stop: The Story of Joseph
6th Stop: The Ten Commandments
7th Stop: God’s Promises (Isaiah)
8th Stop: John the Baptist
9th Stop: Jesus is Born
Lunch: “Dorito Taco Salad”. Yum Yum!
10th Stop: The Easter Story
Free time, fun somersaulting over on the grassy area.
Walking to the Beach, a chance to observe and enjoy nature.
Beach time! Searching for rock fossils, shells, and green glass
Then a short stint at the playground before heading back to camp to finish our journey.
10th Stop: The Easter Story (con’t)
Dinner around the campfire.
Hotdog & Marshmallow roast, apple juice, and blueberry cobbler.
Saturday morning laying out things to dry (background) and setting out everyone’s gear (foreground) for pick-up time at 7 pm.
Get to Know You Meeting
(September 16, 2019)
Tonight we played several games for the girls to get to know each other. We also learned the Explorers motto by playing a game where they had to put the Explorer Purpose Lines in the correct order, then we ended with a short sing-a-long.
Explorer Purpose
As an Explorer
It is my purpose
To love each day
With GOD’s love to guide me;
To grow each day
Exploring GOD’s world of wonders;
To give of myself each day,
For GOD has given me
A life to live and share.
Explorers Emblem & Prayer
(September 23, 2019)
Tonight we reviewed the meaning behind the “Explorers Emblem” and then the girls coloured and cut out a paper emblem which we will laminate, along with the meaning, to attach to their camp hats. The new girls also received their own red camp hat.
Explorer Emblem – meaning:
The RED Maple Leaf stands for us as Canadians who want to make discoveries of our own.
The WHITE Circle signifies our world, the earth. It is part of GOD’s world.
The COMPASS will be the BIBLE.
The GOLD Star is like the NORTH STAR on the compass and JESUS is our NORTH STAR.
Movie – “Milo the Praying Mantis Who Wouldn’t Pray”
Next we headed to the movie theater to watch a short video about Prayer.
Meet Milo, the praying mantis, only Milo has no idea how to pray or even how to talk to God. So when he needs God’s help after a big storm destroys his Snack Shack and his simple prayer is not immediately answered he tries several ways to get God’s attention. He thinks God isn’t listening to someone as unimportant as him. But when he finally learns how to pray, he realizes that God hears all our prayers and has been helping him all along. He just needed faith, patience, and to trust in God. God’s answers can come in many different forms, it may be NO, it may be YES, or it may be WAIT. Milo got what he prayed for, just not what or how he expected it, but in the end just what he needed. After the movie the girls were quizzed on what they had learned and how they could use it in their own lives.
Prayer
(September 30, 2019)
Praying for Others
Tonight the girls started off the evening by putting together a Children Around the World large puzzle. Once that was complete we walked around the puzzle, stopped, laying our hands the puzzle. We then went around the circle and each girl prayed for the children, of the country, their hand had landed on.
My Prayer Box
We reviewed all the different ways we can pray to God. Another idea is that we can write or draw our prayers on a piece of paper and give it to God, by placing it in our Prayer Box. The girls then picked a coloured box, wrote My Prayer Box on the lid, then were free to decorate it as they liked. Once completed they placed in their box a The Lord’s Prayer card and 12 blank cards they can use to write or draw future prayers on.
While decorating their boxes we went over the 5 Finger Prayer, using each finger, starting with your thumb: Praise God, Confess Your Sins, Thank God, Pray for Others, Pray for Yourself, Closing-Amen (center of your palm). A copy went into to their box as a helpful reminder.
Gratitude
(October 7, 2019)
Gratitude Pumpkins
We started off the evening by the girls making Gratitude Pumpkins. Here they wrote all the things they were grateful to God for and it could be used as a Thanksgiving Table Centerpiece.
Pinecone Owl Christmas Ornaments
It’s that time of year again were the girls are busy making ornaments for the Christmas Craft & Bake Sale at Hampton U.C. that takes place on Nov. 2/2019 from 9am to 2pm. Besides making Perle Bead Christmas Ornaments, the girls made these cute Owl Christmas Ornaments.
The girls will have a booth set-up to tell people about the Explorers program and ask for a donation, anyone who donates can then select an ornament, from the wide variety supplied, handmade by the girls. The money raised supports the Explorers weekly “free” program.
Christmas Crafts (con’t)
(October 21, 2019)
Tonight the girls were busy rotating through several stations making: Nativity Silhouette Suncatchers, Reindeer Heads with Sucker Noses, Nativity Silhouette Ornaments, Button Bookmarks, Wooden 3-D Christmas Stars, and Pinecone Snowman, for when we attend The Christmas Craft & Bake Show at the Church on Nov. 2/19 from 9am to 2pm.
Knox’s Pumpkin Farm Tour
(October 28, 2019)
Tonight we had a tour of Knox’s Pumpkin Farm thanks to Farmer Pumpkin, Farmer Bella, and Farmer Grace. We learned how they planted their pumpkins and got to each pick a pumpkin of their own to take home. We then ventured into the corn maze, then off to the barn. We learned about what was involved in showing a sheep at the Royal Winter Fair. Then we visited all the animals in the barn and got to go inside the pen with the miniature ponies. Lastly through the Halloween room and back outside to gather our pumpkins and meet parents.
Thanks so much for having us, we had a great time and learned a lot!
Christmas Craft & Bake Sale at Hampton U.C.
(November 2, 2019)
Today at the Christmas Craft & Bake Sale the girls promoted the Explorers program by telling visitors to the church all about the program and asking for donations.
Anyone who donated could pick an ornament, made the girls, as our thank you.
Meanwhile, Kim & Luanne were busy in the kitchen running The Jingle Bell Cafè in which all proceeds also went to the Explorers. Thanks to Chris Lopak for cooking all the Peameal Bacon for us, and to Bob Werner for handling the cash!
Night Walk
(November 4, 2019)
Everyone met at Kim’s and then we headed north on our night walk (lucky us – the rain held off) down and into to the Enniskillen Conservation Area trails.
Nov. 11th meeting cancelled due to inclement weather.
Armour of God
(November 18, 2019)
Tonight we learned about the Armour of God found in Ephesians 6:10-18. The girls read the scripture in their bibles, then filled in the blanks on their Armour of God worksheets. We then discussed the different pieces and their meaning with the help of flannel armour pieces.
We finished by playing the game “Invisible Battle“–a life sized Battleship-like game. Our version: if the square a girl was sitting on took a hit: they stood up, raised their arms, and shouted, “I will not be tempted!” (In response to the devil’s (other teams) invisible “fiery dart” of temptation. First team to hit all their opponents were the winners. Lots of fun!
Black Light Camp (Fiery Lights)
(November 22-23, 2019)
Another fun Camp!
Friday Evening
- Nails painted in neon colours at the Nail Station.
- Books of the Bible Flashlight Scavenger Hunt- upstairs in the church sanctuary. Take a flashlight and a bible book card from the bowl and head upstairs to find it’s match. Then back downstairs to find your cards match again, on the big bulletin board. Then off to find a different one.
Cards from https://www.sundayschoolsources.com/books-bible-flashcards.htm.
- Plinko
- Cow Bowling: the cows (pins) have escaped and are running free, help the farmer by roping (bowling ball) so they can be taken safely back to the farm.
- Golf
- Art-Fiery Furnaces
- Others: Snow Ball Toss & Keep the Lighted Balloon in the Air.
- Campfire: Story – “The Men Who Liked To Say No” (Daniel 3: The Fiery Furnace) written by Bob Hartman, along with Fiery Lights effects, camp fire songs, winners announced of top two scores of games and everyone received a Neon Bead Necklace. Campfire Snack: S’mores (using “Frozen” Marshmallows).
- Books of the Bible Activity Cards Set: This was our third year to do the Books of The Bible Flashlight Scavenger Hunt, one of the girls favourite activities. We purchased these cool 66 double-sided card sets on a plastic ring for each girl. To it we added a card with each girl’s name and “Fiery Light” Sleepover 2019. These will help the girls to learn the books of the Bible and their order, but also on the back of each card is information on each bible book’s author, chapter, theme and message.
Saturday Morning everyone got dressed, then breakfast of waffles, bananas and clementine oranges. Then it was time to wash our dishes then pack up our sleeping areas.
At nine we headed out to do our neighbourhood perishable food donation collection, again with Chris Lopak following us so we could place items directly in the back of his truck. Thanks Chris!
Thank you to everyone in Hampton who were able to donate on Saturday for your generosity to help others in need! Perishables will be divided into six family Christmas Hampers and any extras will be delivered to the Salvation Army, in Bowmanville.
Nov. 25th, 2019 – no meeting.
Creating Gifts for our Acts of Kindness
(December 2, 2019)
Tonight we started off the evening by making Christmas Cards, one set to go to soldiers overseas and the other set to go with our Acts of Kindness Gifts which will be provided by each girl’s family.
The girls then headed over to the three cookie stations to make cookies as part of our Acts of Kindness Gifts.
Lastly the girls helped to pack five Christmas gift hampers with the food they collected in Hampton on Nov. 23rd.
One box of canned goods were delivered to the Bowmanville Salvation Army.
T.H.E.E. Farmers Parade of Lights
(December 4, 2019)
Some of the Explorers rode in the parade in the Eldad United Church’s float as seen below.
Christmas Movie Night
(December 9, 2019)
While we waited for everyone to arrive the girls worked on Christmas activity sheets. Then we collected our popcorn and a drink box and headed into the movie theater.
The girls watched and then discussed “The First Christmas: The Birth of Jesus” from the NEW Superbook DVD Series. This fun animated story features the story of Chris, Joy, and Gizmo who are transported back in time to the Nativity story to learn the true meaning of Christmas, and upon their return, one of them engages in a selfless act of giving. After answering/discussing questions about the video, the girls then opened some gifts containing various Christmas objects and we examined their meanings and reflected on how each could be used to share the message of Christmas. (Lesson from rotation.org’s Writing Team’s Shepherds and Angels Video Workshop, supporting membership required.)
Delivering our Acts of Kindness
(December 16, 2019)
Tonight we walked Hampton, randomly delivering gifts to a few unsuspecting families, and raised our voices singing “We Wish You A Merry Christmas!”
Whatever is true… Philippians 4:8
(January 13, 2020)
Tonight activities revolved around Philippians 4:8. The girl’s made a mirror craft with the verse attached for their camp hats. The mirror to remind them to reflect (think) on keeping good, positive and worthwhile thoughts running around in their heads will be pleasing to God and lead them in the right direction. They looked up the verse in the bibles and filled out an activity sheet. We finished by playing a matching game with cards, but they had to purposefully focus their thoughts as to find matches from only one of four different sets of overturned cards in a few seconds working with their team members to find the most matches.
Winter Fun!
(January 20, 2020)
Since we just had a recent lovely snowfall we decided to take advantage and spent the evening tobogganing on the hill behind the community hall. The snow conditions were perfect!
Fiery Furnace – “Lights, Camera, Action!”
(January 27, 2020)
It was time for action, as the girls joined together in the dramatic retelling of the story of Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego in “A Simply Sizzling Stand” from the book “The Humongous Book of Bible Skits for Children”. For added fun to our drama we had a scene backdrop projected on the wall 
and a fiery sound track. The script called for a crowd so everyone got to participate. We did several run-throughs so everyone could try their hand at different parts. We have a wonderful group of actors! We are working on putting together a few skits that the girls can perform at the Sunday School Anniversary in June (which unfortunately didn’t happen due to Covid-19).
Winter Camp (Following in Jesus’ Footsteps)
(Jan. 31st – Feb. 2nd, 2020)
Friday Evening
Activities:
1) Foot Critter Hat Craft
2) Sleeping Bag Snacks
Lesson — 1 Peter 2:21-23
“Jesus is our perfect example, by following in His steps we will become more like Him every day.” A footprints path, where each footprint had an attribute written on it. We looked up, in our bibles, the verses and read them together. Drawing Game – how everyone hearing the same directions, do not all end up with the same drawing and why that happens. Discussion of Jesus qualities we can strive for, using the footprints, each girl then filled in a worksheet on those qualities they already have or strive to have, then wrote down examples of how they are currently using those same attribute(s) and what attribute(s) they need to work on improving, and how they might do that (by giving examples).
Game: Feet Relay Game (using footprints from above lesson).
Campfire: ate their “Sleeping Bag Snacks” made earlier, followed by campfire songs.
Saturday
Breakfast: Pancakes, sausages, and fresh fruit (strawberries & blueberries) and juice.
Snack: Rice Krispies Square & Box Drink.
Lunch: make your own sub, veggies & dip.
Dinner: English muffin pizzas, Caesar salad, and a pudding dessert.
Activities (in no particular order):
1) Cookie Making (thanks to Kim’s mom for making the cookie dough and making cookies with the girls and also for preparing our lunch for us!)
2) Soap Bar Carving
3) Dance duets with the “VeggieTales Dance Pads”
4) Painting wooden Angels & Polar Bear ornaments (thanks to Chris Lopak for cutting these out for us!) The girls kept their Polar Bear ornaments. The angels ornaments will be used for our next fundraiser.
5) Footprints Hat Craft
6) Tobogganing
7) Making Ice Cream
a) girls shook individual containers of cream, then buried them in the snow while they tobogganed, until it was time to head back to the church. Later we enjoyed eating the ice cream we had made.
b) at the church the girls had fun taking turns rolling back and forth a “UCL Softshell Ice Cream Ball”, to make some additional ice cream to enjoy.
8) Weaving a bracelet.
9) Canadian Games: Crokinole and Yahtzee.
10) Shrinky Dink Art
11) Skating at Darlington Arena
12) Mad Libs, then quiet time with a book until lights out.
Sunday
Pack up.
Breakfast: Melon, grapes, strawberries, oatmeal, cereal, milk or juice.
Craft: Knotted Friendship Bracelet.
Church time – headed upstairs to attend church, after children’s time we headed back downstairs for Sunday School, “Daniel & the Lions Den” – storytelling using Flannelgraph, then retelling the story through a fun drama, from a lion’s point of view.
Coffee Time: The Explores provided the church refreshments for the congregation after the service, which included cookies they had made on Saturday.
Parent pick-up 11 am.
Feb. 3, 2020 – no meeting.
The Story of Ruth
(Feb. 10th, 2020)
Tonight the girl’s heard the story of Ruth. They filled-in-the-blanks Ruth activity sheet using their bibles and the book of Ruth and also did a word search. In memory of Ruth and Boaz’s love story they created a fun Pop-Up Valentine Card for someone special in their family. Everyone’s card was unique and a couple are pictured below.
Feb. 17, 2020 – no meeting (Family Day).
The Story of Jonah
(Feb. 24th, 2020)
Tonight the girl’s did a dramatic walk-through of the story of Jonah, a fun and meaningful story, full of adventure, action and God’s love for everyone.
A stormy boat ride, being cast into the sea and swallowed by a big fish, three days later being spit out onto dry land, three days walking the city of Nineveh spreading God’s message to repent, and a quick growing vine and a hungry worm!
Inflatable Whale – nothing more memorable than being inside a big fish to remember Jonah’s story!
Parable of The Good Samaritan
(Mar. 2nd, 2020)
Off to the computer lab for “Good Sam the Samaritan” (Sunday Software), which retells and digs into the parable of the Good Samaritan—arguably Jesus’ most famous and most important teaching, and it does it in a fun and insightful way with animation, narration, quizzing, verse scramble, and discussion videos. Luke 10:25-37 NIV.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbour as yourself.”
Tin Can Lanterns
(Mar. 9th, 2020)
Back during our Winter Camp we had been unsuccessful, due to the milder weather, in attempting to freeze water in the large tin cans outside. So the water filled tin cans were placed in a couple of freezers for another time. Thanks to Julie for providing the tin cans and Chris for the wire handles!
Tonight the girls finally got the chance to make the lanterns.
Using a hammer and a nail they first created two holes, opposite each other, in the top of the can, and then inserted a rubber coated piece of wire creating a handle. They then were given free reign to hammer away any design.
When their design was completed they headed into the kitchen to run warm water to remove the remaining ice. Then back to the towels to dry off the outside of their can, write their name on the bottom, then collect two battery operated tea lights. A warning was given that the inside of the cans were sharp so to be careful when inserting and removing the tea lights.
![IMG_3869[1]](https://hamptonunitedchurch.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_38691.jpg?w=900)
We took a short walk outside with our lanterns, but it was still light. So when we arrived back at the church we took a quick photo inside, with the lights turned off, so we could glimpse the cool lanterns.
![IMG_3873[1]](https://hamptonunitedchurch.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/img_38731.jpg?w=900)
March 16, 2020 – no meeting (March Break)
March 23, 2020 – no further meetings, due to Covid-19, until the fall of 2022.
Hampton United Church 