Day 1 of Kids Summer Shake UP 2023 at Parma Heights Baptist Church

This year I am helping in grades 5 & 6 as a runner (aka gopher).  The first day we had about 33 in this group and split them up into 7 smaller groups with 4-7 kids in each.  Some groups had one leader and others more than one that stayed with their small group the entire morning.  After the opening rally in the pavilion, our first activity was capture the squirrel (similar to capture the flag). The kids got to run around in the woods which most of them seemed to like.  One girl slipped and got her shorts all muddy so I took her inside to call her mom to bring another pair.  She missed the skit, but got back to her group in time for the snacks and devotional.  Today's lesson was Jesus is the bread of life and the feeding of the 5,000.  

Our second activity was crafts where small groups worked together to build a city scape using cardboard rolls, boxes, crepe paper, bottles, and some other miscellaneous items.  The kids really got into this and worked well together.  Here are some of the things they created:

Pink Group getting started

Blue Group - Waterfall

Tan Group - Highest Tower

Orange Group Still Working

Yellow Group - getting stuff attached to their base

Our theme verse for the week is John 14:6 which says, Jesus answered, I am the way.  And I am the truth, and the life.  The only way to the Father is through me.  (Int'l Children's Bible)  An offering is collected each day which will all go to the Chain of Love orphanage in Brazil to provide bedding.  We had a good start and I anticipate there will be some more tomorrow.  I had an easy day as a runner with just one restroom trip and only one first aid trip.  There are separate groups for kids finishing grades 1-4 but I don't have any pictures of them today since I wasn't in the pavilion.  Hopefully I'll get a picture of the larger group tomorrow.  This post would be too long to do the whole week, so I'm planning to do each day as a separate post. 

There is still time to come, walk-ins are welcome. Check out this short video from today showing various age groups.