48
Indoor Campout

Grab

Blankets, sheets

Sleeping bags, pillows

Large rubber bands, clothespins

Marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers

Flashlights

Cooler

Stories, games

Go

It’s time to enjoy the great indoors! Work together to build your “tent.” Arrange chairs or other furniture in a square. Use rubber bands and clothespins to fasten the corners of sheets and blankets to the furniture, creating a cozy, covered sleeping space. Arrange your sleeping bags and pillows inside. Let your daughter bring in as many wild creatures as she likes in the form of stuffed animals. Stock your tent with flashlights, storybooks, games, and whatever else you would like to have on hand for fun.

Make some s’mores in your microwave “campfire.” Put a piece of chocolate on top of a graham cracker on a plate. Place a marshmallow on top of the chocolate and microwave it for a few seconds (watch carefully!) until it’s puffed up and hot. Take the plate out of the microwave and quickly cover the marshmallow with another graham cracker. Enjoy the sweet stickiness!

Turn out the lights and settle into your tent for the night. Tell some jokes, play games, and read bedtime stories by flashlight.

Grow

If you were camping on the highest mountain, God would know where you were. If you were on a ship in the middle of the ocean, he would be there. If you spelunked your way into the deepest cave, he would know exactly where you were. Your Father knows where you are right at this moment and is loving you more than you could ever imagine. Before you fall asleep, read the following Psalm together as a prayer to the Lord.

You have searched me, LORD,

and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

you, LORD, know it completely.

You hem me in—behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well. (Ps. 139:1–14)