Thursday, October 29, 2015

Zoobilee Holiday Club

Holiday club! It is half term this week, which means kids don't have school because it the middle of their term. Usually during half term we don't do our toddler groups or youth clubs, so that the children's workers and youth leaders get a break too. But not this half term. This week we are running a three day holiday club. It is along the same lines of VBS. We spend all of Tuesday decorating our church with zoo-themed creations. It was a day of painting, gluing, and sticking to the extreme. I am most proud of my giraffe creation, Geremy. I worked with another volunteer for 80% of the day on this guy. We used a child sized table, a microphone stand extended as far as it would go, tons of cardboard, tons of paper, and even more duct tape and paint.

After about 8 hours of decorating and planning, we were ready to go! The next morning we had about 15 children show up. We have done everything from puppet shows to story times, songs to games, and even live animals. The kids have been loving it so much! Today was day two, and we had about 20 children show up. Most of these kids don't have church backgrounds, and know about this event through toddler groups or people in their schools who have invited them. For parents, we have a Zoo Cafe. This is a place for them to stay and hang out as long as they want while their kids enjoy the holiday club. We offer them free teas and coffees, and of course cake. Because every good English event must have cake. I have eaten more cake this year than every other year of my life combined! (Not that I am complaining!) The church leader and other church members have been joining parents in the Zoo Cafe and trying to talk with them and make it a friendly and inviting place.

Tomorrow is going to be our last day, and we will end it with some form of a baking activity with the kids. I have really enjoyed it! It will be sad for it to be over, but as long as Geremy stays up for a while longer I will be okay...

With Halloween next week, I have been surprised by England once again. It is a whole new culture shock when it comes to holidays in this country. The churches in England very strongly oppose Halloween. This is so different than the way I have grown up. Halloween has always been one of my favorites because you get to dress up really silly and eat candy. So this will be my first ever Halloween that I will not be celebrating. I have no costume and no plans. Most churches don't do anything, but there are a few in my area that I do some work with that do "light parties". This is supposed to be the opposite, Christianfied version of Halloween. One is having a glow party, and another is doing a superhero party... I understand their reasoning for not celebrating but it is very different than what I am used to. Don't even get me started on the lack of Thanksgiving here. That will be something I will have to face next month...

No comments:

Post a Comment