Five years ago this month, we started something special at our house for kids! It all started because of a Tadpole and a class I had Amanda enrolled in.....she was only a little over a year or so and it was a music class. They sang a song that required the kids to answer what a frog was before they turn into a frog......there was a pause and none of the kids answered so I yelled out, "Tadpole" and the teacher got so mad at me! I couldn't believe it! She stopped the class and turned to me and said, "We let the children answer here!" in such a
Honestly, I don't usually care about stuff like that but at that time in my life with my first child, in this area, I was already feeling a little overwhelmed with all that you must do with your child, and teach your child, because these are the "critical years" and I felt so much pressure to be the perfect parent and do all the right things! It made me feel like I failed to teach my child about frogs already! ha
Looking back it really makes me laugh because.......I think soooo differently now that I have learned a few things and developed my own parenting style! That tends to happen after a couple of years and once you have number two you have arrived! You stop caring what other moms etc, think and parent the way you and your hubby and God direct you to! Parenting styles take time to kick in I think, I sure don't know anyone who has it all down the minute they become a mom. (I do know several people who THINK they do but that's their own issue!)
So feeling that way........made me grow a little angry on the way home......I was thinking how dare this teacher call me out like that? How dare she expect young kids to know that answer? Doesn't she know I am PAYING 77 bucks for this class and it is hard to get my daughter ready and myself and get in the car and drive all the way to this class for this? She must not have kids because if she did she would know how hard it is to get somewhere with a toddler!
By then I thought....why in the world do I want my daughter in this class? She is learning all of these dumb songs that do not have a whole lot of substance to them. I want her to learn fun songs, but I also want her to learn songs that will cause her heart to grow in love for God. I want her to learn these bible songs now so when she is an adult they will just come back into her mind because their is a message in them to help her, there is substance!
I don't think I will ever forget that experience......because God really used it to create something wonderful! By the time I pulled into the driveway He had told me what to do. NO there aren't any classes that will teach her these songs so you need to teach her. God gave me the idea of having some friends over with young kids, and we could sing, have a story, a craft......then we would go out for lunch. We started with 13 of us total the first time. We did that three times and then learned it is much better to bring a picnic and just "picnic in the den" because I found eating out very stressful when Amanda was a toddler.......there is just something about that age and food that just do not go well in public unless I have something there to watch her why I clean up the mess she made, and all of the other moms were in the same boat so we launched "picnic in the den" and have so loved getting to know old friends better as well as the new ones that have joined us over the years! We did monthly clubs until Amelia was born! We saw many friends move away.........and new ones join us......and some grow out of bible club........it has been so rewarding. We have managed to do a few bible clubs since Amelia joined our family, but haven't been able to do a summer monthly club until this summer. Now that Amanda will not need to be picked up in the middle of the day..........we are ready to dive into our monthly clubs again.
So we passed out flyer's and sent a few emails out to friends we thought might like to come and heard from several that they would be away so I worried there wouldn't be enough interest.......but wrong I was! So then I worried we would have too many but...We had over 15 moms say no's for June.......and 9 cancel at the last minute.......and ended up with 21 kids and 10 moms, and only one no show! Plenty of kids for the space we have and not too many to be too crowded, so it worked out perfectly and we were sooo excited!
The girls did a wonderful job decorating! Amelia helped make fishermen and a boat since we decided our theme would be: "Fishers of men." It gave her something to do while her sis was gone all week at camp!
We recruited mammaw to tell the bible story for us! She has a way of teaching that even adults learn something, so I could sit and listen to her tell bible stories all day because I always learn something! My girlfriend calls it the "extras" she gives us!
We started with Noah! We thought it would be cute for the kids to take pics with him and then forgot so next time they can have their picture with Noah and Mrs. Noah! 
The kids came in and followed the fish...........
They swam in.......
Amanda decorated the wall with Noah's ark and it keeps falling down at least once a day and she faithfully puts it right back up! So cute!
Everyone had to enter under the net of fish to join us as............. 
fishers of men. (Amanda made this at a bible club we held in the past)
I love to decorate so I had fun making the ocean for the boat. We took the whale off of the faucet in Amelia's bathtub and tied Jonah to it. That is our story for August!
We used a moses craft we made at previous bible club......Moses is our story for July.
We used this ark that once had chocolate chip cookies in it! (Being a "keeper" or pack rat some might say does come in handy sometimes!)
The girls made this craft together for a decoration! It was fun to watch them work together!
Amelia made this craft example ahead of time for the kids since this is what we did for craft time.......
Amanda made this craft example.We sent this craft home to do.......
We had the kids design their own bags using Noah Ark stickers and Amanda was so good about passing them out and making sure all the kids made a bag! She also made all the name tags ahead of time, she was such a great helper and really made me see some wonderful hospitality, leadership and "serving skills" emerging in her. I was so proud of her and happy to see her in action!
Amelia is practicing being Jonah!
We had a blast and feel so blessed that God planted this club as it was all His idea and are thrilled to be back in business on a monthly basis again, and look forward to see how God uses this club in the lives of others and ours too! We would love to see clubs like this in homes and churches all over and have some friends who have done just that and we are sooooo excited about that because it really does take a village to teach children about God!