Service Camp Day One... Serving God by giving of our Time

This week kicked off "Service Camp," a week long camp I'm hosting for Big Sis and four of her friends. "Service Camp" is just one of three camps that Big Sis will be a part of this summer. My sister (Ann) and a friend of ours (Kari) are each doing a camp as well. Last month was "Princess Camp" hosted by Ann and next month is "Water Camp" hosted by Kari.

The camps are designed with our 5 daughters in mind: Zoe (age 3), Ryli (age 5), Bayli (age 3), Naomi (age 4), and Eva (age 2). Service Camp is a three day camp where we are focusing on serving God by giving of our Time (Day one), Talents (Day two), and Treasures (Day three). We will be doing a field trip on the fourth day where we go to a nursing home to sharing our Time, Talents, and Treasures!

This fun backdrop was created to help reinforce each day's emphasis. Day one is giving of our Time: here Zoe is placing a band-aide on Eva's knee that has a boo-boo. Day two is Talents and Ryli is singing into the mic. Day three is Treasure and Naomi is handing Bayli a flower to symbolize giving of a treasure.

Today was Day One: Serving God by giving of our Time

The morning started with us outside taking a few quick pics of some of our campers.

Zoe standing next to the Service Camp 2011 sign

Bayli posing for a shot to start the day

Ryli holding up her camp bag showing off her two camp badges (Princess Camp and now Service Camp)

Roman toting around Zoe's camp bag... or anything else he can get his hands on.

Each girl got her hand painted with a clock on it to symbolize serving God by giving of our "Time."

Theo, the firefighter service dog came to Service Camp today to help teach us our songs for the week! He was a big hit!!

Next we had our bible lesson about the Good Samaritan! The girls each found the story in their bibles.

 Here they are watching the story being acted out using VeggieTale characters.

Eva is putting a picture on the board of a way that we can serve by giving of our Time (bringing flowers to a sick friend, collecting canned goods or blankets, doing our chores, etc).

After the bible lesson the girls decorated cookies to share with the neighbors. They also decorated special baggies to put the cookies in.

Below you can see the girls staying in a nice safe line holding onto a rope as we took a walk around the neighborhood to deliver our treats!

At each stop they shared our special cookies and recited our bible verse: "God Loves A Cheerful Giver" 2 Corinthian 9:7

During the camp the little campers are given coins when they are seen being a 'servant' or displaying good behavior. At the end of each day the campers are given an opportunity to visit the "Camp Store" (aka, the Teepee) where they can purchase items for themselves, save for a bigger item later, or buy something for a friend. 

These coins will come in especially handy as we talk about 'Treasures' on the last day.

The camp store

A view inside the camp store...anything from candy to trinkets to jewelry and stuffed animals are all available in the store!

All of our little campers! Aren't they cute!!

My prayer is that somehow during this week they catch a glimpse of putting others before themselves. This is a difficult concept to teach this young age, but it is amazing how we are catching glimpses of their understanding already!