Any beautiful summer day at Youthfront Camp West, one of the busiest places is NOT the waterslide, pool or lake. It’s Tommy Thompson’s craft table in the Snack Shop.
YF Family asked Thompson, who serves as Youthfront director of arts and crafts, to share why he thinks boys and girls alike are drawn to making bracelets and trinkets…and what that means for parents seeking deeper connections with their kids.
Your arts and crafts tend to be one of the most popular places to spend time while at Camp. Why do you think it’s so crowded with kids each afternoon?
I believe it is very satisfying to make something with your hands and to have something tangible to remember being at Camp that you have done yourself. It is like having a personal stamp on your experience. It’s also been a great connecting place – for building relationships. I hope and pray that it brings to their memories a fun time in the context of what, for as many as possible, will be a life-changing experience with Jesus Christ.
What role do you think creativity plays in connecting with campers/kids?
It has been very rewarding to watch campers “slow down” and be able to concentrate on making something with their hands. Many come together and sit at tables and visit while they construct their bracelets, necklaces, chainmaille crosses or other creations. Their cabin leaders also come and it opens a door to connect, get to know them better and to be able to share heart-to-heart. I believe being able to sit around a table and do this builds more than what is being made with their hands.
“I believe being able to sit around a table and do this builds more than what is being made with their hands.”
What has been your favorite craft over the years?
My favorite craft is making chainmaille. I actually learned it from Teen Staff! It is harder than the other projects, but I am amazed at the number of campers who come and want to learn and then persevere. It does take patience, special tools, a bit of strength and some figuring out. I will have campers come back more than one year to finish a project! One young man in particular learned to do it and has gone on to make intricate designs and work in silver.
What has been the most memorable experience in your role?
I’m not sure I could say that there is just one most memorable experience. I am always gratified when a camper returns and wants to learn more and shows great patience in doing this. I have also seen campers who might be loners or feeling uncomfortable in the crowds or it’s just harder for them to make friends – they are the ones who stick close by during free time and may spend most of the afternoons with me. I’m glad they have found a place where they feel comfortable and secure and cared for and I pray that they are built up and encouraged in their souls.
How did the craft table concept at Camp get started?
I believe this came about from a Camp planning session – to try it out and see if there was interest among the campers to make something to remember Camp by. I researched what might be popular and feasible to do and found that jewelry making – working with all kinds of beads might work. And these many years later, it really has proven to be popular. I try to keep up with trends in colors and beads and designs, but because of the number of campers who participate I really have to try to keep it as simple as possible.
Growing up on a ranch in western Nebraska, we learned to make things work with the things we had on hand. I’m very grateful for the skills I learned growing up. Part of that is working in wood and building/crafting things both for necessity and for fun and, it turns out, for camp ministry. It has been a privilege to help create and build games on a big scale for campers to enjoy as part of their experience.
What lessons have you learned while connecting with campers?
Prayer is essential. I am seeing hundreds of campers in a week’s time. I know my interaction with them may just involve getting them started or finished on a project or extra time in learning a skill. I want them to see Jesus most earnestly and I want the Lord to redeem this time and experience to help bring each camper into a saving relationship with Him. I believe that every connection is eternal and He purposes every moment. So constant prayer as I am with the campers is of utmost importance.
Why should parents/caregivers connect with children in this way?
As parents, grandparents, caregivers, we all want to love and relate to the children/teens in our lives in ways that matter and will have an eternal influence for Christ. Learning to do something together is a great way for this to happen. We already know we have so much competition for their time and attention. And technology is going to be there. That’s OK and of course can be good. But eye-to-eye, side-by-side and hands working together, I believe, does important things in a child’s life that can’t be substituted by other means. It has opened so many conversations about the Lord that just happen naturally as we work together.
In our family, our children and now our grandchildren learned skills by our sides. One of our daughters is adept at using power tools and all of them know how to paint a wall because they helped build part of our house. Crafts at Camp have been specialized because of time and efficiency needs in that context. But you can have much more leeway in discovering and doing meaningful hands-on projects with your children. There are vital things that happen inside a child and between you when you are doing something tactile and kinesthetic. It can be as simple as cooking together (a two-year-old is great at stirring and “adding” ingredients) or as complex as building something out of wood or metal. Hobby stores have huge options of “all together” projects that can be nice when finished. But you should ask yourself what your child’s dexterity level and interests are. Ornaments or something for a parent or sibling’s birthday – like boxes they’ve painted or even made if they are old enough – are workable hand-crafts.
Crafts at Camp are about the making of something – but it’s about the building of a life even more. So the time you spend making something together is about knitting your lives together in His Love and building an eternal bond with our Creator and Saviour. Craft something worth making.
About Tommy Thompson: Tommy has served on Youthfront’s staff for more than 40 years and was part of the early phase of the ministry through a connection with the Philgreen family, who helped found the ministry. He led a Kansas City Youth for Christ Bible Club in Ottawa, KS, in the 1970s and then attended the Christ Unlimited Bible Institute and was a Bible Club director. He learned sign language to be a Sunday School teacher to one of the Philgreen children who is deaf, and since then has led Bible studies at the Kansas School for the Deaf. Tommy’s woodworking skills have produced some of the most beloved and used games at Youthfront Camp, such as the life-size Operation game and the current shooting gallery. Most afternoons in the summer, he can be found helping campers make beaded bracelets and crafts projects at Camp West.
