Finding Joy through Service

A few weeks ago I was asked by the ladies group at my church to be in charge of planning an activity at a children's center that serves emotionally disturbed children many of whom have been removed from their homes due to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.   I was asked to help a group of boys ages 5-8.

I decided to plan an obstacle course.  Something to keep them busy and have fun.  It has been a lot of work, but I am getting excited about it.

Here is a list of the things they will be doing:
--hop through hula hoops
--crawl under a table without letting the hanging balloons touch them
--trace their hand or foot
--do jumping jacks to the bean bag toss
--balance a tennis ball on a spoon to the kiddie pool
--dig through the balloons in the kiddie pool filled with balloons to find a prize  (the prize is a pair of funny plastic glasses)
--do the balloon waddle to a designated area
--hackey sack balloon
--waddle with the balloon to the finish line
--then sit and pop the balloon

Then if we still have extra time we will play "clear the room" with balloons where the kids are divided up and they try to get all of the balloons of their side and onto the other kids' side before time runs out.  And then we will just mess around with the balloons until time runs out.  Because I think I bought a few too many balloons.  But I guess it is always better to have too many than too few.

I think it will be fun.