FUN DAYS IN THE SUN

Remember while most children will enjoy fun vacations, there will be some in your class that will spend their entire summer in a day camp or in front of a TV set. Plan some fun activities that will give these children something to talk about when they go back to school. If you have lots of children that are registered in day camps, you may need to run a shuttle to the day camp with permission slips to check them out and bring them back. If the day camps are spread around town, you may want to have an entire activity day once a month to give them a break from their regular routines.

Make Your Own Pizza

You may want to have everyone pay a small fee to purchase the pizza supplies.  You’ll need several large bowls, measuring cups and spoons. Let 3 children work together on one crust. They can take turns, measuring, pouring and stirring. Try to break up groups by adding new children so they can develop new friends.

 When the dough is made. Let each pinch off a ball and make their individual pizza. If you have a large group ask teenagers to come help keep everything going smoothly.

 Give each child an individual recipe card so they can make a pizza at home. Dress up the card with a pretty border or a scripture verse.

 If you don’t have a favorite recipe, you can use mine. 4 Cups sifted flour; 1 pkg. Yeast; 2 Tablespoons oil; 1-teaspoon salt.

Sift flour, yeast and salt into large bowl. Add oil and very warm water. Mix until all liquid is absorbed. Add another teaspoon of water if necessary. Let rest 10 minutes. Knead until the dough is smooth and rubbery, about 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl and turn. Let rise for 1 hour. You could have them watch a video while the dough rises. Roll out dough. Add pizza or spaghetti sauce, cheese and pepperoni. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Caution. Caution Caution! Hot ovens and kids don’t mix. Use extreme caution. Run the kids out and pile the pizza pies into the oven. Bake until crust is brown. Be sure that only adults remove the hot pies from the oven. Caution: Be sure everyone is out of the way as the pies are removed and placed where no one gets burned. Place on brown paper bags to cool slightly. ENJOY!

WATER PARTY

 Give everyone a cup with bubble stuff in it and straws. Berry baskets work great to blow bubbles with also. Make your own bubble stuff with 2 cups water; 2 oz liquid glycerin, 2 squirts of Joy dishwashing detergent.

Have everyone bring their water guns and enjoy water fights. Set some ground rules for safety.

Have a water balloon toss. Line the children up with their partner across from them. Start off with the lines pretty close. Each side tosses the balloon across to their partner. If the balloon pops they are out. If they still have a water balloon they take one step back and toss again. The two-person team with the last un-popped balloon wins.

CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST

Eat snow cones and sing Christmas carols. Many grocery stories have snow ice machines in the produce section. If you tell them what you want it for they will often donate the ice for your snow cones. Purchase the syrup from Sims.

 Watch Videos at the church. Pop popcorn and have something to drink. Watch something funny like “The Little Rascals.”  

Play putt-putt or go skating or bowling.

 Go to the park together and play volleyball or softball. Or join them going down the slides or playing hop scotch.

 Visit the zoo. Call it a visit to Noah’s Ark. Sing “Good ‘ole Noah” to the tune of “Old McDonald” as you travel to the zoo. 

Visit a museum or take a nature hike. Look for things that God made and things that God gave man the wisdom to make. Ask them before hand to look for their favorite thing. Find something that is their favorite color. What was their favorite thing to do? Tell the group about it on the way home.

Have a bike safety course. The police department can help you with this one.

Do something for someone else. Visit a retirement home. Bake cookies and give them to the elderly in the church. Have a clean up day at the church.

FAMILY GAME NIGHT

Ask everyone to bring their favorite board game and a snack. Have tables set up around the room. Encourage families to have fun together. Provide drinks and popcorn and have fun!

LET’S CLOWN AROUND

Have everyone dress up funny. Wear their clothes inside out for Backwards Day or silly outlandish clothes mixed and unmatched.  Let everyone share a clean joke, put on silly skits, eat silly foods with cooking spoons and play silly games.

Have fun together. Encourage them to invite their friends. What a great opportunity for you to get to know them better and for them to get to know you better. Fellowship is important. Developing relationships at church is important.

I like to have a short devotion at all my events, even parties. I want to seize every opportunity to share Jesus with the children. It should be something fun, appropriate but have a message. You may want to use an object lesson from your favorite book or the short nature stories from “Hear the Ocean Roar” are great for anytime you need a quick devotion. They’re short, interesting and pack a great message for only $6.00.

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