Explorers 2025-2026

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Year 7 ~ Overview in pictures!

Highlights of what we’ve been up to!

Getting to Know Each Other
(Oct. 20, 2025)

Activity Sheet:
Two Stars and a Wish (Things the girls wrote they’d like to do.)

Game #1: Get to Know You Game
“My Name is; I Like…; I Don’t Like….; My favourite colour is?; etc.” Can they remember what everyone said each time we go around the circle?

Game #2: Explorers Purpose Mix & Sort
Reviewed the Explorers Emblem’s meaning & the Explorers Purpose. The Explorers Purpose was cut into six sections, then mixed-up.

Craft: Explorer Buddy Tags
Girls coloured key tags, one for themselves and one for each of the other girls, tags received were placed onto a plastic lanyard hook, lanyard could be pinned to their Explorers Hat or attached to their shoe.

Game #3: Crazy Chairs Game
A circle of chairs equal to number of players. Leader says a statement, examples: “If you have the colour red on ~ move two chairs to the left; or “If you have blue eyes ~ move five chairs to the right” (you sit on whoever is already there). Hilarious pile-ups ensue as always!

Parable of the Good Samaritan
(Oct. 27, 2025)

Song:
As girls arrived we had the GHOSTBUSTERS Movie Theme Song playing so they could get the tune in their heads, as they would be singing it later, but with word adaptation for the GOOD SAMARITAN.

Scripture:
Watched on the big screen Cecil & Friends – “The Good Samaritan” where we had the girls add sound effects to the reading to make it interactive.

Just Dance Game:
Was projected onto the wall so we could all follow the onscreen dancers and sing-along to our Good Samaritans version of Ghostbusters. This comes from the Rotation.org Writing Team: The Parable of the Good Samaritan Music, Movement and Memory Workshop (Lesson) link.

Our proton pack neutrona wand (or particle thrower) in our case we called it the Good Samaritan Love Wand (we threw out love).

Good Samaritan Mad Lib & Skits:
Talked more about what a parable was and then in groups the girls filled in a Good Samaritan Mad Lib, which later Luanne read each one as the girls acted them out. (The Mad Lib is from the book “Teaching Children Bible Basics 34 Lessons for Helping Kids Learn to Use the Bible” by Barbara Bruce, 1999, Abingdon Press.)

Frances gave out smarties to everyone at the end of the evening for their great dancing and acting!

Ornaments – Make & Display
(Nov. 3, 2025)

Ornaments Making:
Girls each made a new ornament to add to our ornament collection. Anyone who donates to the Explorers Program at the upcoming Hampton U.C. Christmas Craft & Bake Sale can choose an ornament as a thank you gift. Money donated to the program is used to help cover the cost for example of craft, baking or game supplies.

This year’s new ornaments made by the girls were Blue Snowflakes, Christmas Trees and Poinsettia Ornaments.

Ornament Displays:

Next the girls were tasked with sorting all our previous years ornaments and then nicely grouping them into containers provided so they would look nice for Saturday’s craft show.

Good Samaritans Countries Blessing Dance:

Then the girls were tasked with either reading one of the Good Samaritan books provided or helping to put together the “Around the World Floor Puzzle.”

Once the floor puzzle was complete we all gathered in a circle around the floor puzzle.

Instructions were we would dance to last weeks “Good Samaritans” song while we moved (danced) in a circular motion around the puzzle, listening for the following commands:

Go (dance)
Reverse (move in the opposite direction)
Twirl (pick someone and twirl each other)
Freeze (freeze in place)
Name Called (while frozen in place if your name is called you tap with your toe a country on the puzzle, in front of you, to bless).
Country Picked (Example: Japan — everyone yells, “We send blessings to all the kids in Japan!”)

Ornament Fundraiser
(Nov. 8, 2025)

All the girls came and took a turn at manning the Explorers Fundraiser table, along with leader Luanne, at the Hampton United Church Craft & Bake Sale. Thanks to all those who supported the girls, we raised $445.55 for the Explorers Program.

Creation – we are all perfectly made!
(Nov. 17, 2025)

Movie time: Read the story of Creation, then watched the video “The Adventures of Toby – Making Friends/God Made Me Perfectly!” Toby feels like he’s a complete loser and doesn’t have a friend in the world but when he meets up with Jesus in his heart, they go on an adventure to the beginning of time, where Jesus shows Toby just how perfectly he is made and how precious a friend he is! (Also, now available on YouTube link.)

Creation Podcast: We began going through our “Creation Audio Script”, assigning speakers and choosing sound effects that would tie in nicely (either using our own voices or from the assorted instruments/items provided, such as: rain-sticks, bells, tambourines, thunder tubes, wave spinner wands, whistling/listening tubes, xylophones). Then we did a couple test audio recordings of the first section. Next Monday we will finish going over the rest of the script and then do a complete script audio recording.

This comes from Rotation.org, a lesson written by Amy Crane “A Story of Creation Sound Effects Podcast link.

Pictured are the girls having fun testing out one of the items we are planning to use for the sound of trees/plants growing, a spinning ribbon wand which gives a nice crinkling leafy sound.

Creation cont’d
(Nov. 24, 2025)

Did a “Creation Spot the Mistake” Worksheet then reviewed to see if the girls had caught all the mistakes and gave the girls who missed last week a chance to hear the story.

Then we continued working on completing our “Creation Audio Podcast“.

Later using a free audio program called “Audacity,” leader Luanne cleaned-up the different recordings and joined some together to create one complete recording and exported it as an mp3 file, which you can listen to below. Enjoy!

Birth of Jesus Computers
(Dec. 1, 2025)

Jesus Was Born (Bible Champions 2 CD-Rom by Third Day Games)
Here the girls heard and interacted with Luke 2:1-20 as they journeyed into Bethlehem to find Mary & Joseph, then headed out into the fields to find the shepherds. After the angels announcement they followed the shepherds to the stable to worship the newborn king. Then the girls had to find five people and tell them the Good News! Along the journey, the girls also performed acts of kindness by assisting anyone in the game who asked for their help (find a water jug, blanket, and a lamp).

The Wise Men Bring Gifts to Jesus (Bible Champions 2 CD-Rom by Third Day Games)
Here the girls heard and interacted with Matthew 2:1-12 as they journeyed into Bethlehem in search of the three Wise Men. They learned of the Wise Men’s stop to see King Herod, then later found the Wise Men outside a house in Bethlehem where Jesus is now a toddler. The Wise Men present their gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh and then in a dream they are told to not return to King Herod but head straight for home. Along the journey, the girls also performed acts of kindness, like rebuilding a broken bridge or taking a shepherd boy’s sheep to get sheared then returning the wool and sheep to him.

T.H.E.E. Farmer’s Parade of Lights
(Dec. 3, 2025)

Every year some of the Explorers get to ride on the Eldad United Church’s Float in T.H.E.E. Farmer’s Parade of Lights where we get to wave and shout “Merry Christmas” to all the people along the parade route and it’s wonderful when those same people shout “Merry Christmas” back at us! In the video that is us seen waving!

Christmas Game – Mary’s Obstacle Course
(Dec. 8, 2025)

The girls listened to Mary’s story. Then we paused as two of our girls were going to treat us with a Baton Demonstration to music which was enjoyed by all.

Next we played a Christmas Game we called “Mary’s Christmas Obstacle Course”. Here the girls worked their way through seven stations, events in Mary’s life. At the final station they dug through a bin of balls to find their “Mary treasured these words and pondered them in her heart” Hat Ornament.

This game comes from Rotation.org, part of a “Christmas VBS” written by Cathy Walz and Amy Hodges of St. John Lutheran Church link, we just adapted some props for what we had on hand.

Photos of our layout below.

After the girls had all had a chance to play through at least twice we headed to the movie theater and watched the VeggieTales “Merry Larry and the True Light of Christmas. Bob and Larry are going all out to make it the best Christmas ever at the Spring Valley Mall. With music, decorations and al light show like no other, it’s an all-out spectacle to outshine the competition! But a little girl with a big heart changes everything when she shows them all what Christmas is really about. We finished by discussing ways we can give to others.

Night of Light Christmas Party (Blacklight)
(Dec. 15, 2025)

On arrival girls received a glow-in-the-dark bracelet and Happy Face Pin, and a yellow UV reflective necklace.

They then headed over to decorate a tag for their Christmas prizes take-home bag.

Once the tag was coloured they headed upstairs for the “Books of the Bible Flashlight Scavenger Hunt”. At the bottom of the stairwell to the sanctuary was a fish bowl with a set of bible book cards in it and beside it flashlights. Girls were to take a flashlight, pull out a card, and head up the lighted staircase into the totally dark sanctuary. Using their flashlight they went up and down the pews looking for the matching card. Once found they headed back downstairs.

Once downstairs they headed to the large magnetic board which also contained a set of the books of the bible cards, but these were in order of the Old Testament and the New Testament. They were to place one of their matching cards in the basket, attached to the board, and the other matching card they had to place over the correct bible book, under provided magnets. Then it was off to get another bible book card, until all the bible books had been found and placed on the board in the correct order. Once completed they received their “Night of Light” prize for their hat.

Other games we played were “Plinko Bible Verse Game” Psalm 119:105 Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Wherever there plinko ball landed they collected that card number, they had to collect all 7 numbered cards, if they landed on a card they already had they waited for their next turn to try again. Once they had collected all 7 cards they had to put the verse in the correct order to receive their prize of a glow-in-the-dark bouncy ball.

Other games they played were Bowling, Ring Toss and then having their picture taken in the photo booth, if they wanted.

Prize Handouts: Night of Light/Bible Hat Decorations, Glow-in-the-dark: Bouncy Ball, Spinner and Croc Charm, as well as a Snowflake Hair Clip.

Frances surprised me with a “Mini Snowman Nativity Set” as a Christmas present from her and the girls. I laughed when I got home and finally opened the box, I had admired this at the Christmas Church Bazaar and when I went back to get it I was told it had sold! LOL

The Wise Men’s Journey to Jesus
(Jan. 5, 2026)

On arrival girls worked on either a Wise Men word search, maze activity sheet or colouring page until everyone had arrived.

Then we collected our popcorn and a drink and headed to the movie theater to watch “The Very First Noel”, an animated version of the Wise Men’s Journey to find the newborn king. We followed the video by discussing what stayed true to the bible and what did not.

Then we headed out to the hall where some of the girls did a fun reader theater’s script called “The Arrival of the Wise Guys” from the book “30 New Testament Quick Skits for Kids”. The girls really got into it adding some cool voices to their characters! Enjoyed by the rest of us who took on the role of audience.

Then while the girls worked on finishing their activity sheets we passed around three wooden Wise Men boxes, one held gold (toy gold coins & gold flakes in a mini-bottle), one held Frankincense (resin from Boswellia trees & a bottle of anointing oil) and the other Myrrh (resin extracted from thorny trees of the Commiphora & a bottle of anointing oil) that they could touch and smell.

The Fruit of the Spirit
(Jan. 12, 2026)

Handed out Passports and everyone put an apple sticker on the front and their name. The idea being that over the next nine weeks we’d be travelling through different stories that showed a “Fruit of the Spirit” and they could keep track in their passports, receiving a different fruit sticker each week.

We then took turns wearing the “Fruit of the Spirit Sun Glasses” as they read a page from the Fruit of the Spirit Board Book.

We then broke into three groups to practice a small skit, then each group went on stage to perform it. Pictured are all the girls taking a bow after the skits were performed.

Skits were:
LOVE: Play Ball
JOY: Noise Makers
PATIENCE: Waiting

Then everyone received a Fruit of the Spirit Bookmark.

Next we headed to the Computer Lab where we played “Cal & Marty’s Scripture Memory Game” where we had to unscramble the below verse, followed by answering 3 quiz questions.

Galatians 5 ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Jan. 19, 2026 – Meeting Cancelled

The Fruit of the Spirit – LOVE (The Prodigal Son)
Jan. 26, 2026

We were late starting off tonight as on arrival we discovered the C.E. Wing roof had been leaking and there was a fair bit of water on the floor. So leaders grabbed buckets and mops, once the floor was mopped, buckets were catching water drippings and help was on the way we headed to the Art Room.

Read the story of the Prodigal Son from the bible.

Passports – added the following stickers: “My time with God”, a photo of themselves, “Fruit of the Spirit”, “Cal & Marty Scripture Memory Game Verse”, “The Prodigal Son” and their first Fruit sticker “LOVE”.

Next we attempted to make a Prodigal Father/Son Wire Sculpture. Unfortunately the wire we had didn’t twist and hold like the wire I had previously used when I have done this same project, so we eventually gave up after one figure and will do this again when we get the correct wire. Pictured below is how they should have turned out. We finished off with free dancing to the song “Good Fruit”.

Cont’d — The Fruit of the Spirit – LOVE (The Prodigal Son)
Feb. 2, 2026

Reviewed the Fruit of The Spirit by asking the girls what they could remember and wrote them on the White Board as they came up with all nine fruit. Asked which one they thought was the hardest to do and they all agreed on Self-Control.

Rhythm Time:
Next we practiced a simple rhythmic beat (slap, clap, slap, clap) everyone joined in, once we had the beat down we added words, the Prodigal Son story told in rhyme. Words were displayed on the wall using an overhead projector, so all could participate. Reviewed the chorus first for those who couldn’t read so they could join in on the chorus (from Prodigal Son WT Music & Movement Workshop link.)

Light’s, Camera, Action!
Then using a story version I found online, I narrated, girl’s acted it out (actions prompted by narrator) wearing provided costumes. We ran through it three times so everyone could try out different parts.

This is the online story I used “The Prodigal Son – a big story with participation” as a basis for the narration and actions.
https://www.brf.org.uk/product/the-prodigal-son-a-big-story-with-participation/

“The Prodigal Son Jeopardy Game“.

Categories: On The Road Again, Father Knows Best!, Avast Ye Scurvy Swine, Kick Him Out Already!, What’s The Scoop?.

Seven questions under each heading to choose from, points 100 to 700. In our version each card asked a question and gave 3 answers to choose from. They listened to the question and the three answer choices then each team talked among themselves to decide on the correct answer, which they then wrote on their angel whiteboard (A, B, or C). Their answers were revealed once both teams were ready. (I’ve posted this lesson with printable cards at rotation.org and it can be found here.)

If either team has the correct answer they send a team member to press their pig’s remote button, when pressed and held, the pig moves forward a few steps, stops, wiggles his tail and oinks, they are to stop after the second “oink”, and take their seat for the next question.

I also kept track of their points, on the white board, in case we had a tie when the pigs crossed the “Home Sweet Home” finish line.

The Fruit of the Spirit – JOY (Jesus’ Is Alive!)
Feb. 9, 2026

Told them the greatest story of JOY in the bible was when Mary discovered, at the tomb, that Jesus was no longer dead—he was alive!

Game #1 Juicy Joy Apple: standing in a circle while the song “I’ve Got Joy, Joy, Joy, Down in my Heart” played they had to toss a stuffed toy apple until the music stopped, then person holding apple had to shout out something that gave them joy, then the music started again. Later we added a second apple, then a third, which was fun and kept everyone on their toes.

Joy Activity Sheet – Write 5 things that give you joy and colour the picture.

Game #2 Joy Freeze Sculptor: here we separated into two teams and one person, from each team, took a turn being the sculptor assigning poses for each of their clay team members. Everyone took a turn being the sculptor and the clay. I managed to get one photo (it was busy) here the one group spelled out JOY underlined, while laying on the floor, another group spelled out JOY standing up, among other great sculptures created!

Passports where then handed out and the girls who had missed last week got caught up filling in their passports, plus this week they were given a “Jesus is Alive!” (Faith That Sticks) sticker set to create this week story scene in their passport, as well as this weeks Joy Fruit Sticker.

Feb. 16, 2026 – No Meeting ~ Family Day

Fruit of the Spirit ~ Peace (Abigail the Peacemaker Saves the Day!!) Feb. 23, 2026

Passport stickers.

[Abigail Colouring Page – SuperColoring: Permission:Free for personal, educational, editorial or non-commercial use. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License]

Reviewed the backstory of David/Saul/Jonathan, then went into game mode as we learned the story of Abigail.

Station #1: David protects Nabel’s Sheep

Story: David and his men were living in the wilderness. They didn’t have much food, but they were kind. They helped protect a very rich man’s sheep from wild animals and thieves.

Game: Get the balloon sheep, using only the staff, safely through the animal and thieves obstacles and into the sheep pen.

Station #2: Nabel’s Rudeness / David’s Anger

Story: One day, David sent ten of his men to the rich man, Nabal, to ask for a little bit of food to share. They were very polite. But Nabal was a mean man. He shouted, “Who is David? I won’t give my food to anyone!” When David heard this, he became very, very angry. He told 400 of his men to grab their swords and get ready to fight.Story.

Game: As one of David’s men you are to take David’s request for food from the David Bucket (happy face). Travel by scooter to Nabal’s home and ask for food by placing request in Nabal’s bucket (mean face). Nabel says NO, so remove NO note and scooter with it back to David’s bucket, inserting NO note into David’s bucket, then turn bucket so you now see David’s ANGRY face. Lift a foam sword in the air and yell “We’re gonna fight!” in your angriest voice.

Station #3: Abigail the Peacemaker Saves the Day!

Story: Nabal’s wife, Abigail, heard about the trouble. She knew she had to act fast to stop the fighting. She quickly gathered bread, raisins, and fig cakes and loaded them onto donkeys Abigail rode her donkey into the desert and met David’s army. She got off her donkey and bowed down before David. She said, “Please forgive my husband. He is a fool. But you are a good man! Please don’t hurt anyone today”. David saw that Abigail was right. He stopped being angry and thanked God for sending her to keep him from making a mistake God wants us to be like Abigail—peaceful and kind, rather than angry like David or mean like Nabal.

Game: Take stuffed fruit from one basket and pack it carefully into basket with handle. Climb aboard the donkey and someone will hand you the basket of food. Ride the donkey to David (David’s Bucket), someone will pull the donkey with you on it, try not to drop any food from the basket or you have to go back. When you arrive at bucket (David), climb off donkey, kneel or bow down low to David and ask him to forgive Nabel, accept your gift, and be the kind man you know he is. Turn bucket from ANGRY face to HAPPY face David.

Say: God wants us to be like Abigail—peaceful and kind, rather than angry like David or mean like Nabal.

Fruit of the Spirit ~ Patience (Abraham & Sarah) Mar. 2, 2026

Arrival: *Activity Sheet: God’s Promise (Star Codes) Page 48. Answer: You Will be father to many nations.
Updating their Passports for any stickers they had missed and adding today’s Patience Stickers.

[Araham & Sarah Colouring Page -https://www.bestcoloringpagesforkids.com/abraham-and-sarah-coloring-pages.html ]

Game #1: *The Laughing Game: Page 43. Goal to keep from laughing.

Story: Story of Abraham & Sarah: *Wait for the Lord” by LeeDell Stickler, pgs 43-44.

Song/Dance: Father Abraham – Girls were first taught the tune by singing the first verse only without music and adjusting the 2nd line from “Many sons had Father Abraham” to “Many daughters had mother Sarah”, which seemed appropriate as we had all girls. The lyrics were pre-written out on a large sheet of paper and attached to the wall so all could see. Then they were taught the actions that went along with the song. Then we hit play on the CD player and the fun began!

Game #2: *Dippety Dip. Page. 42. Our adaptation: A ribbon tied around their waist, on the backside was a large paperclip and hanging from it was a piece of string with a Playmobil figure attached to the end, hanging approx. 12″ from the ground. As the figure was behind them they needed a spotter (their team mates) to tell them to step forward, left, right, bend down, etc until the figure dropped into a large coffee can and then the spotter(s) had to yell “Dippety Dip”, then they had to move forward and try to get their figure into a smaller soup can. Then they went back to the team mates, and the next person in line tied on the ribbon. Lots of shouting directions and laughter. The point: it required patience from the person in play, as well as the spotters!!

Handouts: Everyone received a glow-in-the-dark star and an ice cream sandwich treat.

Fruit of the Spirit ~ Kindness (The Good Samaritan) Mar. 9, 2026

Arrival: We all gathered around one computer to see/hear the story of the Good Samaritan, one of the girls flipped the story pages, while another girl read the story script. From the Lost Sheep Series of Storytelling Kits for the Big Screen (lostsheep.com.au), in our case we displayed it on the computer monitor this time as a review from our Oct. 27, 2025 meeting.

Computers Game #1: Bible Champions 1 – The Good Samaritan. The girls travelled through the story, first meeting Jesus and then interacting with the characters of the Good Samaritan parable. Lastly they had to find items: bandages, clean clothes, food/drink, sandals/walking stick and take to the man in the inn. Lastly they rescued several baby birds and returned them to their respective nests.

Computers Game #2: For review we played “Cal & Marty’s Scripture Memory Game”. We had learned how the program worked when we first started The Fruit of Spirit, now it was their chance to see if they could improve their scores. They had to unscramble the below verse, followed by answering 3 quiz questions correctly.

Galatians 5 ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Computers Game #3: Anyone who completed the above tasks then tried looking for “The Lost Coin” in the Charlie the Churchmouse software while they waited for everyone to complete the above, then it was time to go home.