The following post is part 3 of a 5 part series by guest blogger Aimee Mae Riley. Aimee held a princess camp for her church. Aimee used the Princess Parable Series in her camp curriculum and shares the details of the camp below for our benefit. Enjoy!
Wednesday- Princess Hope and the Hidden Treasure
Today, we started with our story. Princess Hope, the eldest of the five princesses, finds her grandmother’s lost ring and is determined to buy it back. She is willing to sell all that she has- even her pet lamb!- to reclaim it. Once it is in the possession of the sisters, they discover a riddle inscribed on the band, which leads them on a treasure hunt through the castle. The story is inspired by the parables found in Matthew 13:44-46.
Following our story, we embarked on our own treasure hunt. We sent one table of girls at a time, while the girls at the other two tables remained and colored pictures from the story. Those hunting followed three, simple clues which led them to a special box (I just used a pretty photo box). Inside, each girl received a “treasure”: a sparkly compact mirror (I bought them in pink and purple for $1.50 each at Michaels), a fancy plastic ring (like the ones in their sand dig from Monday), and a scroll featuring the parable verses (printed on plain paper and wrapped with ribbon).
The girls LOVED the mirrors! I was truly surprised; in fact, I almost didn’t use them, thinking perhaps they were too young for such things. I reminded them that when they look in that mirror, they would see one of God’s princesses, who is beautiful both inside and out.
We made ribbon necklaces for our craft, and again, our trusty glue gun saved the day. The Mod Podge Acrylic Shapes did not all have holes to pull the ribbon through, so Caitlin (our summer camp intern) took the time to hot glue the ribbons to the back of the shapes while I took the girls outside to play on the playground. The necklaces turned out beautifully, and I am now in love with Mod Podge Waterbase Sealer, Glue and Finish (8-Ounce), CS15066 Extreme Glitz, although it did leave us with sparkly hands. :)
For snack, we made the most adorable fruit castles, which Kira (my other helper) assembled for me. Unfortunately, I forgot to charge my phone, so I don’t have any pictures from the day, and Kira’s castles were even prettier than the one pictured here. The girls ate them all up, along with pretzels and water.
Tomorrow, we will look at Day 4: Princess Charity’s Courageous Heart.
For more ideas, check out my Pinterest Princess Camp board.
Aimee Mae Riley is a mother of 5 children from Wisconsin. You can read her blog at Whispers of Worth.
