AFTERNOON SESSION:

Day 5:

Story Seeds: Feelings & Art

Today we reviewed all the feelings stories through the artists & bible stories, mainly Jonah and Joseph with Jesus. It was okay to feel differently at times of sadness, worry, shame, guilt, or anger, and of joy, love, peace, happiness, and comfort, all made by God. We reviewed how we could help handle those feelings, finished portraits, and did art shows to talk about other class friends in a friendly and encouraging way. Then we had a glow-in-the-dark dance party to celebrate!

Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles

Today was the grand finale of our Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles summer camp, and we celebrated our last day together with the theme "Joy – God Fills My Heart with Joy!" To match our happy hearts, our little chefs made adorable Smile Rice Balls, practicing their fine motor skills by scooping warm rice, shaping it into perfect little spheres using plastic wrap, and getting creative with seaweed to make the biggest, happiest faces on their food. As we made our joyful snacks, we practiced our final Mandarin sprinkles—开心 (Kāi xīn / Happy), 笑 (Xiào / Smile), and 饭团 (Fàn tuán / Rice Ball)—and talked about how God gives us true joy that we can share with our family and friends through a simple smile. Thank you to all our little chefs and parents for an amazing 10 days of learning new cooking skills, tasting new foods, speaking wonderful Mandarin words, and discovering beautiful Bible truths; we are so proud of everyone, so keep smiling and keep cooking! 

Day 4:

Story Seeds: Feelings & Art

Students kept studying Impressionism, the main art movement that expresses moments and feelings in artwork. They went back to Van Gogh and Renoir to see how they used color to capture the moment. Likewise, we could also capture the moment to express how best we could capture it and draw and paint like them. The main idea was that you could say ‘I need some space’ to think, read, draw, paint, or whatever you liked to do safely. Students drew and painted a portrait.

Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles

Today at Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles, our little chefs explored the beautiful theme of Forgiveness – "A Fresh Start." We learned that just as hard chocolate melts into something sweet and smooth, God's forgiveness melts our hard hearts! We practiced this by making "Melting Hearts" Surprise Chocolates. The children carefully filled their chocolate molds with sweet custard, red bean, and crunchy biscuits, learning to use careful portions so the chocolate could seal perfectly. While our chocolates chilled in the fridge, we also made crispy double-cheese Vietnamese rice paper snacks. We also practiced our new Mandarin sprinkles: 对不起 (Duì bu qǐ / Sorry) and 没关系 (Méi guān xì / It's okay), learning how to use kind words to make a fresh start with our friends. It was a wonderful day filled with sweet treats, savory bites, and forgiving hearts!

Day 3:

Story Seeds: Feelings & Art

Today the students learnt how others feel through the story of two artists, Cézanne and Renoir. They had been lifelong friends and had supported each other even during tough times. After reflecting on friendship, happiness, and sadness, the students made two puppets using small colored paper bags, googly eyes, and other materials. They then did a role play with the puppets, saying sorry to make the friendship right when needed, just like the two friends had done.

Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles

Today at Joyful Bites, our little chefs explored the theme of Self-Control – "Making Wise Choices." We kicked off the class by learning our new Mandarin words: 小心 (Xiǎo xīn / Careful) and 月饼 (Yuè bǐng / Mooncake), and we also reviewed the words we learned yesterday! For our first cooking mission, the children practiced amazing self-control by using "careful hands" to press dough into traditional molds, creating beautiful Snow Skin Mooncakes. While those went into the fridge to chill, we started our second recipe: Cheesy UFO Crisps. The kids layered chopped ham, fish balls, sweet corn, and cheese between round dumpling wrappers and pressed the edges tight. As we could only pan-fry a few UFOs at a time, the children had to practice their patience and self-control. They did a fantastic job waiting for their hot crisps and happily enjoying their cold mooncakes. It was a busy, delicious day full of wise choices!

Day 2:

Story Seeds: Feelings & Art

Today we reflected on the story of Jonah and Jesus. Feelings of fear, shame, and sadness were projected in the artists' portraits. We watched a video story about Van Gogh, and then seeing his portraits changed the mood through the color and the different brushstrokes. His own unique style of painting, made with multiple dots of different colors at times, stood out to us. The students used cotton buds to express their feelings too, whatever they wanted to express. They drew with a pencil, outlined with black markers, and then used all different colored dots with the tips of cotton buds to express their feelings.

Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles

Today at Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles, our little chefs explored the theme of Patience – "Waiting with a Happy Heart." We talked about how God helps us to be patient and keep a joyful attitude even when we have to wait for good things. During our cooking activities, the children practiced their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination by carefully folding "Float to the Top" 3D Fishball Dumplings and Cheesy UFO Crisps. They did a fantastic job placing the ingredients inside the wrappers, using a little water to "glue" the edges, and pinching them tightly. The real test of patience came during the cooking time! As the teacher safely boiled the dumplings, the children watched closely and practiced waiting with a happy heart for the dumplings to magically float to the top of the water to show they were ready to eat. We also practiced our new Mandarin sprinkles: 等一下 (Děng yí xià / Wait a moment) and 饺子 (Jiǎo zi / Dumpling). It was a fantastic day filled with hands-on cooking, learning to wait patiently, and enjoying our delicious creations together!

Day 1:

Story Seeds: Feelings & Art

Today we watched a song about the different feelings God gave us and spent time talking about it together. We also discussed Jesus and the gospel, celebrating the truth that God created us to experience every emotion, all of them! For our craft, each child made a "My Feelings Tree" card. They decorated colorful leaves to represent five different feelings (or more!) and folded the paper into a 3D pop-up card. Inside, they drew or colored a picture with the reminder: "God made us with Love, Joy, Excitement, Sadness, and Anger." We talked about how all these feelings are completely okay to have, and that we can express them in healthy ways and pray to God, asking Him to help us find calm even when we feel sad or upset.

Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles

Today at Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles, our little chefs had a fantastic time creating beautiful Fruit Yogurt Parfaits! We focused on the theme of Gratitude, "Thanking God for Everything." We talked about how we can be thankful for the delicious food God provides and the fun we have making it together. The children practiced their fine motor skills and independence by using safe plastic knives to carefully slice bananas and strawberries. They also had a blast using their hands to crush biscuits inside their little Ziploc bags! Afterward, they carefully layered their fresh fruits, creamy yogurt, and crunchy biscuit crumbs into clear cups to build a delicious masterpiece. As we tasted our sweet creations, we learned our new Mandarin sprinkles for today: 好吃 (Hǎo chī / Yummy) and 我喜欢 (Wǒ xǐ huān / I like...). The children loved using their new words to share what food they liked best. It was a wonderful day full of colorful layers, thankful hearts, and delicious treats!

Day 5:

Story Seeds: Feelings & Art

Today’s focus will be asking for help and feeling safe when you feel scared. We will make a safe place map and identify the most comfortable and feeling-safe place. We will also emphasize that God is everywhere, even in the storm and the belly of a big fish from the story of Jonah! They will bring a scroll of a safe place map with them! 

Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles

Today at Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles, our little chefs learned about kindness and how we can show God’s love through kind words, caring hands, and joyful sharing. During our cooking activities, the children made Friendship Egg Bites and practiced taking turns, sharing ingredients, and helping one another as they worked. We also learned the Mandarin words 朋友 (Péng yǒu) (Friend) and 鸡蛋 (Jī dàn) (Egg), connecting the language to our hands-on cooking experience. The children were also excited to enjoy the ice popsicles and jelly balls they had prepared earlier. It was a sweet and happy day filled with friendship, teamwork, and gentle reminders to let God’s love shine through us.

Day 4:

Story Seeds: Feelings & Art

Students will make a paper bag puppet to comfort them when they feel sad. From a different angle of the story of Jonah, they will see how sad God was with Jonah and the people of Nineveh in a different time. We can also feel that way sometimes, and it’s okay; God’s love covers all our feelings and the situations that we face.  

Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles

Today at Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles, our little chefs explored the theme “God Is With Me.” We talked about how we do not need to be afraid because God is with us wherever we go. To match our theme, the children made fruit spring rolls, practicing their wrapping and rolling skills as they filled soft rice paper with colourful fruits. We also continued our Mandarin learning with Bú yào pà (Don’t be afraid), Shuǐ guǒ (Fruit), and Chūn juǎn (Spring Roll). The children enjoyed choosing from dragon fruit, strawberries, avocado, kiwi, blueberries, and apples to create their own tasty combinations, then dipping their rolls in smooth strawberry yogurt. For our special treats, one group made ice popsicles while another group made jelly balls for everyone to enjoy tomorrow. It was a joyful day full of hands-on cooking, language learning, and sweet reminders that God is always with us wherever we go!

Day 3:

Story Seeds: Feelings & Art

Today, we worked on decorating the boxes students painted yesterday and put some soft toys or something inside to comfort them! When they feel sad, they can make a comfort box with collage technique on the colored box. 

Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles

Today students continued on our Grow and Glow journey with Day 3: Anger & Calm – "God Gives Me Peace." The children learnt how God can help us calm our big feelings as they made "Cool Down" Smashed Cucumbers," and we added two more Mandarin words to our growing vocabulary: 停 (Tíng / Stop) and 黄瓜 (Huáng guā / Cucumber). We also enjoyed the fruit treats we prepared yesterday together!

Day 2:

Story Seeds: Feelings & Art

Today, students use a brush to paint the background and then a drip paint technique to express their feelings. It is a series of lessons that are consecutively connected with each lesson from the previous day. Different colors mean different moods or feelings; we will discuss how it was followed in the video from yesterday. 

This will encourage the students to understand that it’s ok to sometimes have overwhelming feelings such as anger, fear, guilt, love, and/ or self-control and try to make it work positively and express it through the art form. God has given us all feelings, and His love overflows over all the other emotions and feelings. 

Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles

Today, we explored how "God Comforts Me" by making "Warm Hug Banana Sushi." The children practiced their spreading and rolling skills as they wrapped a banana in a cozy tortilla "blanket." We also split into two groups to start prepping some special treats for later in the week: one group made fruit jelly, and the other made lollipops. (Don't worry, the groups will swap on Thursday, so everyone gets a turn to make both!) We added new Mandarin sprinkles to our vocabulary: Xiè xie (Thank you) and Xiāng jiāo (Banana). We can't wait for another delicious day!

Day 1:

Story Seeds: Feelings & Art

Students were encouraged to look into famous artworks to discover the artists’ feelings and how they used colors and shapes to express the same feelings we have, through stories. What kind of color would fit into the different moods, and why? During the lesson, students will use collage technique to express feelings of happiness.

Joyful Bites: Cooking & Mandarin Sprinkles

Welcome to Joyful Bites! I am so excited to meet our young chefs tomorrow and kick off our summer culinary adventure! In this class, children will build confidence, teamwork, and fine motor skills by creating simple, delicious snacks while learning fun "Mandarin sprinkles." Tomorrow, we will dive right into our "Grow" theme by making "Brave Bear Toast"! Students will practice using safe plastic knives to spread cream cheese and SunButter, and we will learn that even when trying new things, "God Makes Me Brave!" We will also introduce our very first Mandarin words: hello (你好 - Nǐ hǎo) and bear (熊 - Xióng). Get ready for a week full of happy tummies, new vocabulary, and hearts ready to shine. See you tomorrow!