"Strong in the Lord" Superhero Girl's Camp

This past summer, I had the opportunity to be the assistant director of our Girl's Camp, and we did a superhero theme called "Strong in the Lord" with Philippians 4:13 as our guiding scripture:

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

Here are the t-shirts we made for the week. (Red for the leaders and YCLs and blue for the girls):

Each day we focused on a different superhero (they each have amazing spiritual analogies to the gospel) and played their theme song in the morning to wake the girls up.

Day 1: Captain America

Day 2: Wonder Woman

Day 3: Green Lantern

Day 4: Superman

Here are some of the fun activities that we did during the week:

Book of Mormon Craft

We started the week off with a Book of Mormon craft where the girls decorated hardcover blue Book of Mormons with scrapbook paper and stickers. I love how they all turned out because each one was unique and beautiful and didn't take too much talent to make. I taught a short lesson on the Book of Mormon with it (and gave them a handout), and then they had their Book of Mormons to use throughout the week during personal and group scripture study.

Create Your Own Superhero

Each level was given an hour to create their own superhero, flag/cape, and chant using craft items that were supplied. (We had plastic tablecloths, paint, pipe cleaners, tape, scissors, string, popsicle sticks, pom poms, markers, glue, etc. available.) They needed to consider these questions as they came up with and created their superhero:

-What is your hero’s name?

-What is your hero’s super powers?

-How will your hero use those powers to help others?

-What does your hero’s costume look like? (Create it with the craft items. Please include a cape.)

-What is your hero’s weaknesses?

And then we had them stand up and share their superhero and chant with the group!

We had quite a fun array of superheroes by the end of the hour!

Daily Scripture Study Training

One of our goals during camp was to actually teach the girls how to study their scriptures so that they could get excited about the scriptures and then continue their studies once they got home.

We did each daily scripture study all together in the Mess Hall. I taught a 15-20 minute lesson about how to study the Book of Mormon, gave them a handout that they could then paste into the back of their decorated Book of Mormons, and then gave them a challenge and 15 minutes to put that scripture study lesson into practice.

I will post the lessons and handouts that I taught each day SOON! But here's the general idea I taught them each day:

Day 1--Read It, Find It, Use It (from the talk "Scripture Power" by Hank Smith)

Day 2--Spiritual Analogies

Day 3--Symbolism in the Scriptures

Day 4--Find Christ in the Scriptures

Day 5--"Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you"

Hands-on Fire Certification

My husband is a volunteer fireman, so he whole-heartedly wanted to teach the girls about fire safety in a fun way. He did not disappoint. He showed them how to make different types of fires, start fires without matches, taught them everyday things they could use as kindling (Doritos...no kidding), showed them his fire gear, and demonstrated why you NEVER put water on a grease fire. (I think that was their absolute favorite demonstration!)

Nightly Devotionals

We asked certain individuals from the stake to come in and share a devotional thought with us nightly. We simply gave them the hero theme for the day and let the Spirit whisper to them what spiritual lesson needed to be shared. The devotionals turned out AWESOME! Here are some of the topics that were shared:

-Using the Book of Mormon to overcome daily struggles (i.e. applying the Book of Mormon to your own life)

-A lesson about true beauty taught through stories about a baby, a pig, and a caterpillar

-Let Your Light Shine (like Green Lantern) along with an activity of making lanterns out of small Mason jars, glow sticks, glitter, and water

Wonder Woman Skit

I love spiritual analogies, and there are a ton of spiritual analogies when it comes to superheroes. So I created a Wonder Woman skit with my husband that we performed for the girls. The hardest part--finding a Wonder Woman outfit that was modest! What a task!

See the video and find the script here.

WOV (Woman of Value) Night Hike

Some lovely ladies in the stake took on the task of creating an amazing night hike that led the girls through the woods to different stations where they learned about different women of value from the scriptures: Emma Smith, Queen Esther, and Ruth. The girls each received their own WOV cape at the beginning, followed a rope with glow sticks through the woods to each station, and received a lit candle at the end where the girls sat singing hymns. What a spiritual experience!

Dance Workshop

One of the Young Women suggested we have a dance class during the week where they could be taught some of the line dances that are performed during youth dances. We had a woman from Virginia come in and teach this class, and it was SO FUN! She taught us the line dances to "Happy" by Pharell Williams, "Runaway" by Cascada, and "Magic" by B.o.B. This was definitely one of the favorite activities of the week for the girls.

Trial of Faith

If you've seen the movie "Once I Was a Beehive," then you know what a Trial of Faith is. (A type of scavenger hunt that gives the girls opportunities to practice their certification.) But since there was no outline for a Trial of Faith except for the one in the movie, we decided to make our own.

I will post the outline and the video of the Trial of Faith activity soon.

Skits

Early on in the week, we had the girls choose (by level) a superhero and a scripture story that they would then meld into a script for their skit that they shared on the last night when the bishops came to visit.

Here are some of the skits that were performed:

Level One--Ant Man and David

Level Two--Batman and Emma Smith

Level Three--Thor and Nephi

Level Four--Superman and Samuel the Lamanite

YCLs--Avengers and the Stripling Warriors

Leaders--Wonder Woman and Abish

Priesthood--A variety of all the superheroes and who that superhero would be in the scriptures or Church today

Overall, the week was AMAZING! So spiritual and fun!

Here's a video to summarize it all: