Year 4 ~ Overview in pictures!
Highlights of what we’ve been up to!
Getting to Know Everyone
(October 17, 2022)
Getting to Know Each Other
- Activity Sheet – Two Stars and a Wish (fill in things/activities/ideas they’d like to do this year.)
- Memory Game: Can you remember what everyone said?
My Name Is/My Favorite Food Is/Placed I’d like to visit, etc. - Get To Know You Game that gets you Gummy Bears.
- Crazy Chairs Game – example, if you have red on move two chairs to the left (and sit on whoever is already there), hilarious pile-ups!
- Hat Craft – Shrinky Dink of the Explorers Emblem.
- Red Bucket Hat – were handed out to anyone who did not have one from a previous year. To this we attach small craft/memory items throughout the years. Pictured is one of those hats covered with memories.
- Camp Fire Sing-Along.
Pumpkin Patch Parable
(October 24, 2022)
Read the book “Pumpkin Parable Patch” – girl’s worked on a related activity sheet and then created a tiny paper pumpkin patch (for their hats), as we talked about the story — “Big or Small God picked us all.”
Yummy treat for the night, girl’s decorated Spider Cupcakes.
October 31, 2022 – No meeting (Halloween).
Hike – Enniskillen Conservation Area Trails
(November 7, 2022)
Everyone met at Kim’s and then we headed north on our night walk, lucky us–the rain held off and we saw the stars.
Using an phone Night Sky App we tried to figure out what the brightest star was, we think it was Jupiter. Tonight there was also going to be a lunar eclipse, so the moon was pretty bright and before we left it was surrounded by a bluish coloured sky, pretty cool!
Below is a photo of what was in the sky, over Toronto, that same night. Jupiter can be seen up on the right, second in. The moon is near the bottom left.
Armour of God
(November 14, 2022)
Read the book “The Armour of God Ephesians 6:10-18” by Agnes and Salem DeBezenac, followed by an activity sheet. Everyone also received an Armour of God Bookmark.
Game #1 – Armour of God Invisible Battle (Life Size Battleship-Like Game)
One team would pick a square of the other team’s and then the girl standing on that square was asked a question about the Armour of God, if they got it wrong it was a hit.
Game #2 – Obstacle Course
Girl’s had to travel through an obstacle course to collect laminated armour pieces for their hats.
Armour of God, cont’d
(November 21, 2022)
Hat Craft – put Armour Stickers on picture of a girl, which were later laminated and then given to the girls the following meeting.
Activity/Game – Girl’s traced each other onto large sheets of paper, then we played a game where they tossed an “Armour of God Dice”, to see which piece of armour they could add to their paper body double. It was a race to see who might be the first person to roll the dice and get their final piece of armour.
What’s In The Bible?
(November 28, 2022)
Flashlight Bible Book Scavenger Hunt
Girl’s took a flashlight, picked a “book of the bible” card from a glass bowl, then headed upstairs into the DARK sanctuary to search for the matching card somewhere in the pews. Once they found their matching card they headed downstairs to the Books of the Bible display to place their card on the correct book. The spare card was then dropped in a magnetic box on the board and off they went to pick another card and back upstairs.
Movie – What’s in the Bible? DVD #1 — Episode 1 (Intro to the Bible)
Begins with an overview of the importance of the Bible in history and in people’s lives. ● Describes the “One Big Story” of God and what he’s done for us. ● Introduces the Books of the Bible ● What’s a Testament? ● Who wrote it? etc.
Black Light Night: Jesus Is Our Light
(December 4, 2022)
Girl’s received: a glow in the dark necklace, a UV Reactive Bead Necklace, a Purple Glow in Dark Name Tag and to later pin on their hats: a Glow-in-the-dark Flower (or Happy Face) Pin and a green “Night of Light 2022” Glow Badge.
Black Light Games
NEW this year was a 3-hole mini putt course!
Pictures taken after set-up so you can see the layout before the lights went out.
Hole #1 – down the ramp and under the crayfish.
Hole #2 – under the crab and through the pylons.
Hole #3 – under the starfish and over the Xylophone.
Plus, previous games we do every year (pictured under the black lights): Plinko, Bowling, Golf Hole-in-One.
We finished the night with a Hoover Soccer Ball Tournament, the girl’s played so hard they busted both soccer balls!! LOL
Craft: Advent Wreath
Everyone made an Advent Wreath and finished it off with flameless tea lights.
The Advent Candles are: Hope – Peace – Joy – Love – Jesus is our Light center (white).
They also received an “Advent Booklet” that contained:
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- the prophets foretelling Jesus’ birth and the story of Jesus’ birth,
- the history of the advent wreath,
- advent readings for each Sunday, and a matching activity page.
Twelve Gifts Game
(December 12, 2022)
The “Twelve Gifts” Game
For this game each girl was given a boxed gift, they were then asked if they had the gift of _________ (example “a house to live in that was warm”), if there answer was yes, they raised their hand, then traded their wrapped gift with another person who also had their hand raised. With each of the 12 Gifts we talked about those who don’t have the luxury of having that gift, which we take for granted. Once we had gone through all of the 12 Gifts the girls swapped their box one more time with someone else, then they all opened that box.
Inside each box were the pieces needed to make a 3-D Paper Star Ornament (each was different–Kim had cut all these shapes with a Cricut machine). Kim showed us how to put the pieces on top of each other, largest to smallest, and placing a sticky foam piece between each layer. They were beautiful when done, as you can see in the above photo!!
The ornaments were not to keep, but to be given away, so we each wrote on the back of our ornament who the gift was for and who it was from, to be delivered by each girl later.
Christmas Story ~ Snack Stations
In groups of 2-3 girls proceeded through Christmas Story Stations. At each station was a “Story Card” they read out-loud, then they collected that story card’s matching snack ingredient from a bowl into their sandwich bag (example: Shepherds – Pretzel (Staff), Sheep – Mini-Marshmellows). [We adapted this snack idea found here.]
Christmas Party
(December 19, 2022)
Nativity Escape Room Game
Girl’s traveled through six nativity escape room stations each with an Activity Sheet Puzzle to solve, before moving to the next station.
Below is Room 1 (Station): A puzzle to solve with a decoder.
Hat Decoration
Decorating Christmas Cookies
Angel Ornaments
Girl’s made several angel ornament each, a small one to keep, and larger ones for the next Christmas Craft Bazaar. Made with wooden peg dolls and wooden a heart (thanks to one of the Dads who cut out all the tiny wooden hearts for us!), felt wings, a tinsel halo, and ribbon for hanging.
No meetings on Dec. 26/2022
or Jan. 2 or 9, 2023
Dance Party
(January 16, 2023)
Bible Book Scavenger Hunt
Girl’s had to dig into their bibles and look up answers to several questions, using the Table of Contents, Book-Chapter-Verse, or Concordance.
Dance Party with the VeggieTales
Luanne set-up her “VeggieTales Dance Dance Dance” Game where the girls, in teams of two, tested out their skill at following the arrows as they fell on the screen and stepping on the correct matching arrow on the dance pad, at the right moment.
Great fun had by all, as well as those watching and singing along to the fun onscreen lyrics!
I forgot to take a photo of the new set-up in the computer lab, but above is a photo of another time they played this same game using a video projector set-up. They want to do this again!!
Salvation
(January 23, 2023)
Slime, “The String Story” and 4GIVEN key chain
The girl’s made slime that revolved around an object lesson on sin.
“The String Story” (Cat’s in the Cradle String Idea) comes from the book by Karen Henley titled “Salvation: The Foundation of Living with God”. Her “String Story” is an interactive way to talk about Sin, Salvation and how Jesus set us free that they can learn, then share with family and friends.
Everyone also put together a 4GIVEN key chain for their hat or backpack.
Hike & Making Ice Cream
(January 30, 2023)
We hiked around Hampton Park and then headed north out of the village, hoping the skies might clear so we could see the stars on our walk, but that unfortunately didn’t happen. Although it was a nice night for a walk.
Our ice cream ingredients were placed inside a small container, which the girls placed inside a ziplock bag and then filled bag with snow. The girls were to shake it while we walked. When we got back to the church they placed their ice cream containers in a snowbank and played in the snow until parents arrived. Everyone’s ice cream was still not quite solid so they took them home to put in the freezer and enjoy later.
Alpine Ascent Winter Camp
(February 4, 2023)
9am Arrival – 8 pm Pick-Up
Handouts:
Headbands, Name Tags, Pencils
Divided Hat Craft (collect a piece at each station)
Peter Station
Hat Piece Collected = Bold
Computers: SunScool App-Peter & Cornelius
Worksheet: Peter
Gideon Station
Hat Piece Collected = Ready
Worksheet: Gideon
Ruth Station
Hat Piece Collected = Obedient
Skits: Naomi & Ruth
Worksheet: Ruth
Nehemiah Station
Hat Piece Collected = Faithful
Story Table: Rebuilding the Walls and Gates of Jerusalem
Activity: remembering the gate names with our fun memory props.
Worksheet: Nehemiah
Lunch: Pizza, Apple Juice and Fruit Tray
Sledding
Snack: Hot Chocolate & Rice Krispie Squares
Crafts:
#1 Braiding
#2 Sewing Mini Mittens
#3 Perle Bead Snowflakes
#4 Paper Snowflake
#5 Macrame Snowflakes
Esther Station
Hat Piece Collected = Courageous
Game~Esther Bible Jeopardy Quiz
Dinner: make your own sub, veggies and dip, pudding for dessert.
Skating
Special thanks to the Twigg family for the use of their ice rink!
Indoor Campfire Songs (with actions) and S’mores
Feb. 6 — No meeting.
Valentine’s
(Feb. 13, 2023)
Sewed Felt Hearts & Made Valentine Cards
Valentine Cards, one to keep and one to give away.
Feb. 6 — No meeting — Family Day.
Feb. 27 — Meeting Cancelled due to Weather Warnings for that evening.
The Story of Jonah
(Mar. 6, 2023)
Learned the song: “Who Did Swallow Jonah?”
Sang along with a music CD. This helped us to get the tune in their heads for when we tried playing it with the Bells later.
A Whale of a Tale:
Girls grabbed a flashlight then entered a giant Whale. Inside we sat to hear the story of Jonah through giant storytelling picture cards. Using our flashlights to highlight text as the girls took turn reading the story cards and to highlight the matching pictures.
Toss Jonah Overboard Game
Using beach towels and a knitted doll (Jonah), teams of four each took a corner of the beach towel and attempted to toss Jonah from the boat (towel) into the sea (blue recycling bin–we added an eye to represent the big fish that swallowed Jonah). It was not easy!! and when one group finally got Jonah into the blue bin everyone cheered! Next time we might try it with smaller bath towels, but it was hilarious watching Jonah get wrapped up in the towel like a hammock gone wild!!
Jonah Necklace Craft
Put together these Jonah necklaces, were leftover from a Jonah VBS years ago, luckily had enough as they’ve been discontinued.
Girls also received their Jonah HAT Memory Reminder.
Hungry Hungry Whale Game
A life size version of the “Hungry Hungry Hippo” game.
We used 2 scooters and tied to each was a 8 ft. thick braided skipping rope, 2 round laundry baskets, 75 soft snowballs, 1 blue soft ball (Jonah), and two stuffed toy fish.
Team Points Awarded = 1 per Snowball, 5 per fish, and 10 for the blue ball (Jonah).
Bells: “Who Did Swallow Jonah?”
Luanne created a colour-coded music sheet for the song “Who Did Swallow Jonah?” so the girls could follow the coloured notes to ring their bell when their colour was next. We will need a few more practices before we get the beat down! LOL
Mar. 13 — No meeting — March Break.
Parable of The Good Samaritan
(March 20, 2023)
Tonight we opened with a discussion of who had ever been hurt or seen someone hurt and what happened, did anyone help. Then we read the story of the Good Samaritan.
Puppets
We followed this using utensil puppets to the script “The Good Utensil” by Kim Hunter based on the story of the Good Samaritan http://www.huntermarionettes.com/rotation-spatula/.
Puppets were utensils of course, the robbers where wooden meat mallets, the Priest and Levite were kitchen utensils, and the Good Samaritan was a Barbecue spatula (flipper). The intro to the puppet script told why the Kitchen Utensils didn’t like the Barbecue Utensils. Very fun!!
Games
Jericho Road Rough Terrain Game
Excuses are Lava ~ Wheel of Excuses Game
Both of the above games are from the Rotation.org Writing Team’s Parable of the Good Samaritan Games Workshop, being part of the writing team and a supporting member of rotation.org gives us access to all these great ideas.
Everyone received a prize of a mini spinning drum toy for good sportsmanship!
Games Night
(March 27, 2023)
Good Samaritan’s – The “Go and Do Likewise” Scooter/Skateboard Game
This is the 3rd game in the Rotation.org Writing Team’s Parable of the Good Samaritan Games Workshop. Great fun! Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos tonight.
Pencil Nose Game
Broke the girls into two teams, each team tried to get their players to guess the same word. Words we used represented activities and stories we had done since October. Didn’t get a photo, but below are photos advertising the Pencil Nose Game. You wear glasses and the marker is attached to the nose! LOL
Jonah Mad-Lib
A mad-lib is wear you ask for nouns, verbs, and adjective words and fill in a prepared story’s blanks with those same words. Then read the story out-loud to everyone. One of our favourite evening camping activities. We ended up with a hilarious version of the story of Jonah and lots of laughter.
Easter
(April 3, 2023)
In the Kitchen the girls made – Peanut Butter Confetti Bars (we ate) and Mint Oreo Dirt Pie (in freezer to enjoy another meeting night).
Crafts: Plastic Canvas Cross (we yarn stitched) and Jesus Lives Tissue Lanterns.
Watched the Easter Story Slideshow the Explorers created back in 2019 (where they created the scenes with Lego, photographed them, then I imported photos into the software program Kid Pix Deluxe 3 where the girl’s later added voice-overs for the individual slides, then put it all into a slide-show.)
While they watched the Easter Slideshow they ate their Peanut Butter Confetti Bars they had made. The girls got a kick out of seeing their 4-year younger selves pictured in the credits of the slideshow.
April 10th – Easter Monday – no meeting
Be Prepared and First Aid Kits
(April 17, 2023)
In preparation for our spring camping
trip the girls gathered items for their First Aid Kits that were spread around the room (examples: bandages, alcohol wipes, safety pins, rain poncho, duck tape, string, whistle/light, foil blanket, piece of foil, pencil/paper, sheet of orange tissue paper). We then gathered and reviewed each item and it’s purpose. The girls who come to camp will receive a first aid kit.
Kim then asked girls what items they should have in a home or camping emergency kit. Example questions and samples were provided: What if the power was out, how would you see? (flashlight – spare batteries) How would you keep warm? (foil blanket) What would you eat or drink? (canned food/rain water) How could you collect water? (using piece of foil) How could you make sure water you collected was safe to drink? (you can purchase special water bottles that filter water), etc. etc.
We then checked a compass to find out which direction North was and then determined which walls faced North, East, West, and South, in the room we were in.
Next we went over our “Be Prepared” drill items and the positions to take: if there’s is lightening (make yourself small and only have feet touching floor), tornado (lay flat on stomach), blizzard (huddle with another person), make a shelter (two people form shelter shape by raising arms and joining hands, then a third person kneels inside their shelter), North (run to that wall), South, East, West, etc.
Then we played our “Be Prepared Game” where a drill item (from Be Prepared above) was shouted out and the girls had to quickly take the required position, last person in place was out, until only one person was left. Girls love this game and we played it several times!
Pie Making & 3-D Mother’s Day Cards
April 24, 2023
Tonight the girls learned the art of pie crust, using dough Luanne made before the meeting. They learned through doing–how to roll out the pie dough, gently place on and then press into a 5” aluminum pie plate, trim crust, add canned pie-filling (their choice-Blueberry, Cherry, Strawberry-Rhubarb or Apple.) They then rolled out the top crust, wet the edge of the bottom crust, added the top crust, trimmed, then fluted the edges. Pies were marked so we would know who made which. These were baked after and stored in freezer until our next meeting. Don’t they look yummy!!
Everyone also created a beautiful 3-D Mother’s Day Card.
Mother Daughter Yoga
May 2, 2023
To celebrate mother’s we turned our meeting night into a Mother Daughter Yoga night. A special thanks to Nancy Martin who was our yoga instructor for the evening!
Afterwards the girls presented their mom’s with a handmade 3-D Mother’s Day Card and the Fruit Pie they had made the week before.
Luanne also passed around Cinnamon Rolls she’d made, just like her mom use to make when she was a kid, using leftover pie dough. A hit!
Sit-Upon and Tent Set-Up
May 8, 2023
For our last meeting, of the season, the girls made a Sit-Upon to use for camping. A plastic padded square (plastic sheeting, piece of a yoga mat for padding, duck tape to seal, and vinyl stickers to decorate). They are great when camping to sit on around the campfire or during the day when doing crafts, so they always have a dry/clean place to sit. See everyone sitting on their “Sit-Upon” around the evenings indoor camp fire sing-along below.
For our hats we made a mini-sleeping bag craft.
To learn the art of putting up a tent we split the girls into two groups and each group put up a tent. Once completed they then had to take it down and store everything back inside the tent’s storage bag.
We finished the evening sitting on our newly made sit-upons around our fake, but charming, campfire where we sang some of our favorite camp songs, led by the older girls.
Camping ~ Ferris Provincial Park
June 9-11th, 2023
Theme: Treasured ~ Discovering Your Priceless to God
FRIDAY
Tents set-up in advance, thanks to Kim and Chris, as it looked like rain for Friday night, which it did! Before bed the girls discovered Kim’s sleeping bag had a puddle on it (lucky it was waterproof), so we had to move things around in the tent a bit and then proceeded to shake water puddles that had formed on the roof canopy. All was good. The joys of camping during rainy weather! LOL
Snack: Reese’s S’mores heated on the camp stove.
SATURDAY
Breakfast: Egg McMuffin and fruit.
Morning Hike
Hiked to the Suspension Bridge, took a walk on it, then continued on to the small dam, and then back to camp.
Wildlife
A tiny toad and a snail.
The snail had the coolest looking shell, discovered during our morning walk. (Land snail is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells.)
Park Playground
Enjoying the playground.
Dry Stone Wall
Near the playground is part of the Dry Stone Wall Restoration. The network of stone walls, easily four kms long and at least a hundred years old, that crisscross this area of beautiful rolling farmland and is an important feature of this property, which now is a stately 200 hectare now called Ferris Provincial Park.
Snack: granola bars & dried fruit.
Bible Activity: I Am Treasured
Our scripture activity was based on Treasures in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-24). Here we discussed the things people treasure on earth in their everyday lives and what are the things God wants us to treasure. The girl’s wrote out their ideas on a piece of paper for both and then these were placed inside a wooden treasure box they painted.
Lunch: Subs, Veggies and dip.
Bike Ride
Biked to the main office for ice cream, on the way back they stopped for a rest by the river before heading back to camp. Round trip was around 2 km, which included hills.
Snack: Trail Mix.
Crafts
After the bike ride, the paint was now dry on our Treasure Chests, so the girls decorated them with some bling!
Kim then taught the girls to make two different bracelets:
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- cord bracelet (pictured-orange)
- knitted bracelet (pictured-blue/white).
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To make the knitted bracelets we used what’s called a “Bee Knitting” tool. This was something new and required dexterity and patience.
Dinner: Hotdogs/burgers, veggies and dip.
Evening Hike
Tonight we took the trail in the opposite direction from our morning hike, travelling through fields, woods, and then along the river coming back.
Campfire Sing-along
What to do when there is a fire ban for evening campfire sing-along—flashing string lights of course and a delicious snack of blueberry cobbler cooked on the camp stove.
SUNDAY
Breakfast: oatmeal/cereal, yogurt, and fruit.
Ferris Camp Hat Badges were handed out to all the girls. These the girls were to pin to their Explorers Hats.
Taking down the Tents
Time to pack up everyone’s personal camping gear, as well as, all the kitchen camp gear and supplies.
Then everyone pitched in to take down the tents. Girls put into practice what they had learned at our last meeting, the steps required to take down a tent. They did a great job!
Then we had to carry and pack everything into the different vehicles.
What a great weekend, even the rain Friday evening didn’t dampen a fun time!
Previous Years
Year 3 (2019-2020) ~ Overview in pictures!
To view – click here
Year 2 (2018-2019) ~ Overview in pictures!
To view – click here
Year 1 (2017-2018) ~ Overview in pictures!
To view – click here
Back to Explorers Home Page
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