The children know what construction is all about-- and it has nothing to do with watching episodes of Bob the Builder.

The children spent one week in June building playhouses. Their efforts resulted in four canvas and four wooden 4-by-5-foot miniature homes with polka-dotted window frames and colorful doors. The playhouses will be donated to Silicon Valley's Habitat for Humanity.

Community outreach has always been an element in the church's annual camp, co-hosted by Willow Glen's St. Francis Episcopal Church, says the Rev. Susan Smith, youth pastor at the Methodist church.

But this year's theme, "Habitat for Humanity" called for taking the community service angle a step further, she says. Rather than just working through Habitat for Humanity's summer curriculum, Smith wanted the children to get hands-on experience.

"I thought it would be really cool if they could build a house," she says.

Given the children's age group--preschool through fifth grade--Smith and the Rev. Katherine Doar, assistant priest at St. Francis, decided that constructing playhouses was a viable project.

Silicon Valley Habitat for Humanity's faith relations coordinator, David McCreath, was intrigued. While playhouses have been built for other Habitat branches across the nation, he says this project was a first for the San Jose branch.

"We're working with families who are low-income and sometimes the resources they have are pretty limited for children," McCreath says. "This will be a great asset to those families."

As summer approached, Smith's idea turned into a full-blown community effort.

A group of adult volunteers, most of them parents, took to designing playhouses that would be easy for the kids to assemble.

Smith says 40 to 50 adults from the community helped prepare and run the camp, while local businesses got involved by donating supplies and snacks.

Willow Glen's Old Country Roofing even sent two staff members to show the children how to affix roof shingles, Smith says, which ended up being a winner with the youth.

"It was a very hands-on program," says Kindra Ahrens, whose fourth-grader, John, has participated in numerous vacation bible school programs. "I think by far this was the best experience that they've had."

Each day the children worked on something new, Smith says, whether it was hammering together walls, painting doors and windows, or working on the roofs.

The campers also painted miniature furniture to go with the houses and made grass welcome mats and quilt squares for Habitat for Humanity families.

Witnessing the day-to-day progress of their hard work was the driving force for youngsters and adults alike, Doar says.

"When they started on Monday they didn't have anything," she says. "By the end of the week they had these houses that they had built that were special gifts."

Because each day of camp also involved reading about Habitat for Humanity's work and families in need of housing, the children understood that they were part of a bigger undertaking, Smith says. This gave them a great sense of pride and ownership.

Nicki Gordon, a Willow Glen mother who helped out with the camp, says her daughters Ryan, 5, and Annika, 3, were never disappointed that the playhouses could not be taken home.

"Even my 3-year-old understood that they were making these houses for kids who are underprivileged," she says. "It gave it a good cause. You were not just going to summer school to have fun, you were doing something for other people. For the adults and the kids, that made it really special."

Her girls were especially thrilled when during the blessing and dedication ceremony on the last day of camp they got to see photographs of the families who will receive the playhouses, Gordon says.

The playhouses will remain at the Methodist Church until the Habitat for Humanity homes are completed next spring.

During the dedication ceremony, the young builders were honored with Habitat for Humanity pins reading "building communities for generations to come."

Smith says the slogan was fitting.

"I think it's crucial that our kids know that they can make a difference," she says. "I really believe that we need to give our kids a chance and they can show us what they can do."