I wasn't able to go to Activity Days this week, but I sent this activity along for the girls to do. I got the activity from here (I love that everyone shares ideas on the web, so we can all benefit from each others talents and creativity!).
The pictures comes from Wendy's Activities too.
For Activity Days last week. I had the girls trace their body on a big roll of butcher paper. Than each girl decorated their bodies with yarn for hair, draw their faces and clothes. Then we used magazines to cut out things that represent each girl as they see themselves and also how Heavenly Father sees them. The important traits they possess as daughters of God. They put those items on their clothes like patches or t-shirt designs.
You could also bring gems and sequins to have the girls use as bracelets, necklaces and earrings. To "bling" things up a bit :-)
I talked to the girls about how in Primary they learn all about what it means to be a Child of God. But that as they get older and enter Young Women's they will learn what it means to be a Daughter of God. And we discussed those important traits.
The girls had fun decorating themselves and I hope their "bodies' are hanging up in the room to remind them of the importance of being a Daughter of God.
For Activity Days last night, we made these heart doille garlands. I completely stole the idea from here (thank yo so much, I didn't have anything planned until I saw this idea).
I have to say, we had 4 girls and it was touch and go to get this done in an hour. I wouldn't suggest this if you have more than 4 girls (or a lot of helpers). It is a great idea and I love the service/love ideas that the girls get to do each day. I told the girls if they would do what was on each heart each day, I would sign an activity off in their Faith in God books. I figured if they did 14 days of service and love, that was worth signing off an activity in their book.
Also, we didn't stitch the hearts together, we glued them together which was probably as time consuming as stitching. You could also staple the heart doilles together too (to make the activity quicker). Also, you could hole punch a hole in the top of the heart you print on cardstock and tie fun coordinating ribbon to it (to help the girls be able to pull out each heart better) adn add to the cuteness of it all.
Again, love the idea and think it is so cute, festive and fun. I just didn't anticipate that the girls would have such a hard time with it all. But in the end, it worked out fine and they had a great project to take home with them.
And the image of the garland is from Tip Junkie (thanks again).
A few weeks ago for our Activity Day, the girls made General Conference Journals. I figure they were getting old enough to start really listening to General Conference and what better way to motivate them than to have them decorate their own journals so they can write notes as they listen.
Here is a link to show how you can decorate a simple composition book.
And then I saw this link where they used pictures of the apostles as tabs so you could write the notes according to who gave the talk. i thought that was a great idea too.
The girls really loved decorating their journals. We will see this weekend if they actually use them!
Last week for Activity Days we had a lesson on Service. We had a Rock Star Pedicure Night. We started the night out by have a lesson on the story of Christ washing the feet of his disciples. We talked about why it was an act of service. The girls had to come up with an act of service they would do that week for someone. Then we leaders gave the girls Rock Star pedicures as an act of service to them.
The girls loved it of course. I got the glitter at Michaels for a $1 and the tin pans at the grocery store The flip flops you will notice came from Target in their $1 spot. But they didn't fit the girls, they were too small. Oh, well. I was going to have this at my home with candles, music, treats, etc. But that last time I did a pedicure night at my house with the YW two NEW pieces of furniture got ruined because of the acetone from the fingernail polish remover, so my husband asked that we not do that again.
So, we had it at the church, it isn't as "spa-like" as I had hoped, but I don't think the girls minded at all. And after looking at my saying, I used the word "sweetie" because i had bought some candy for the girls. But I realize I should have put "be a Rock Star And serve someone today"... that would have worked too.
I know this is being posted after Mother's Day, but i had to wait to post this idea, so that I wouldn't ruin the surprise for many of my activity day moms. But this is what my Activity Day girls did for mother's day this year. It is a cute little Ice cream sundae made out of bath salts and a loofa. Isn't that so cute!
We had to package the ice cream sundaes in these brown paper bags, so that the moms wouldn't see their present, since we made them 10 days before Mother's Day. But I think they turned out cute with the little ice cream tags.
Okay I have to be honest, I didn't come up with this all on my own. I think it originated from here.
We had a blast putting them together and the girls were super excited to give these little treats to their moms. 
In our church, we are asked to serve in different capacities within the congregation. They are called "callings". My last calling was to work with the young women ages 12-17. I loved that calling, but now I have a new calling and it is just as good. I am now in charge of Achievement (or is it Activity) Day girls (ages 10-11). This is going to be a great call. I have 7 girls, I meet with them every other week and we get to do fun activities and learn about gospel principles.
So, last night was our first meeting and we decorated binders. I gave each girl and binder. It will keep important items like the "Faith in God" books, calendars, rooster of the girls, tracking sheets for bringing their binders each time, Articles of Faith and the Faith in God requirements. It will also keep their journal and other handouts I bring each activity.
So, here are the items I created for the binder. If you would like to use them, just email me and I will send them to you. Here's to the girls!
Thanks everyone for the great ideas. I loved them and they are so helpful. I am putting them all here, for others to read and for future reference. thanks again you are life savers!
decorating flip flops with strips of material or even water balloons. You just tie the different strips of material or balloons to the straps of the flip flops. a frozen t-shirt contest is always fun. Just get the t-shirts wet beforehand, fold them like a department store and freeze them. Whoever can get their t-shirt on the quickest wins something. Then have ice cream or something to go with it.Do a "by choice or chance" activity. Pick a special location (we picked the temple, but you could choose something closer to you.) divide into as many cars as you have. Flip a coin at every stop sign or stop light. Heads - turn right. Tails - turn left. Keep flipping a coin until you reach your destination. At the end, talk about if you are going to ... get married in the temple, graduate from high school, go a mission, (whatever you want to focus on for your girls) ... by choice or by chance. Talk about making decisions now so you reach those goals by choice!!! Good luck!Sidewalk chalk the bishop's driveway...lots of nice notes, let the girls be creative and draw fun stuff.Homemade pizza night - have each girl bring a favorite topping...you provide dough, sauce and cheese. (you can do the pop-open dough or make your own...)easy service project - go to your local library and have the girls clean the children's books. (our library provided all the supplies - we just provided the girls!)Take the girls to your nearest temple grounds (hopefully you have some nearby?), divide them into groups of 2-3, give each group a point and shoot digital camera and have them take photos of each other. (you can give them a quick photography lesson at the beginning) Each girl gets to pick 10 pictures to have printed. My girls LOVE doing this...and they don't have many inhibitions about posing for their peers!We just had a mutual night where we introduced the girls to New Family Search. My beehives were the most into it out of the whole bunch! We spent 15 minutes introducing it to them on a large projector screen (at a memebers house) and then had several laptops all set up so that they could sign on create a username (member number and confirmation date needed) and then they entered in their pedigree chart they brought with them. Many of them now have names to take to our next temple trip and they are SO excited!Ice blocking is always a hit! You just need to find a park that has some good hills but its a good time for all.They could write letters to the missionaries serving from your ward and/or put little packages together for thema food drive -- collecting canned goods from members of your ward (you could ask people to sign up and then leave the things on their porches for pick up).
I wanted to share the mutual activity we did last week. We took the girls to Target and gave them a list of random things to go find. They had to take a picture of the item and at least one of the team members had to be in the picture. They had 30 mins to find all the items and get back to me and the winning team won anything they wanted at the snack bar. (Everyone else won a small icee).
It was a fun activity, because my girls love to take pictures of themselves (which you would understand if you saw their facebook pages). And it was a great bonding experience for our girls (which is another thing that was great for our little class).
It was a fun night and an easy activity to prepare for.
Here in the central valley, strawberry season happens twice a year and right now is the first round. The strawberries are sooo delicious. It is hard not to eat a whole bushel in one sitting.
So, for Mutual the other night, we had to take advantage and make strawberry freezer jam. It is so easy and something the girls could take home with them. I think they really liked it. The shocker to them was how much sugar is required to make jam. They couldn't believe it. It was good for them to see the hidden "dangers" of certain foods. They taste good, but there is a reason.
Here is the recipe we used:
INGREDIENTS
* 2 cups crushed fresh strawberries
* 4 cups sugar
* 1 (1.75 ounce) package dry pectin
* 3/4 cup water
DIRECTIONS
1. Mix crushed strawberries with sugar, and let stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, stir the pectin into the water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 1 minute. Stir the boiling water into the strawberries. Allow to stand for 3 minutes before pouring into jars or other storage containers.
2. Place tops on the containers, and leave for 24 hours. Place into freezer, and store frozen until ready to use.
Also, here is the label I made for the containers, in case anyone wants to use it.
This week we did Volleyball 101. One of the girls in our class plays Volleyball so she taught the girls the basics of volleyball and then we played some games. It was super fun and we enjoyed a nice evening at the park.
Last week we went to the corn maze as a joint activity. We had our best turn out yet. 60 kids and lots of leaders. Again, another fun filled night.
Here are some ideas for you all:
1) Adopt-a-Highway activity
2) Boo to You activity
This week, we had someone come and teach the girls how to do self portraits. The girls all created beautiful chalk drawings of themselves that we will be using for our YW in Excellence next month. I really wondered how well the girls would do with this activity. But they all loved it and did such a good job!
Now, for your ideas.
1) Worth Attacks
2) Alphabet Picnic
3) An Apple Festival. We had cute apple name tags with team names such as Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Gala, etc. We randomly split up the girls, boys, and leaders. We then rotated through five stations: 1)a round of the game Apples to Apples, 2) apple bowling with apples and 2 liter bottles filled up to the bottom of the wrapper, 3) apple spitting contest using sunflower seeds instead of apple seeds, 4) apple naming where they had to identify five different type of apples, 5)apple peeling where they had to peel the longest, continuous apple peel. Each winner at each game won an apple related prize: apple rings, caramel apple suckers, applesauce, sour apple bubblegum. For the finale one of the leaders created 4 beautiful caramel apples with white chocolate drizzles. 4 adult leaders were asked to do an apple eating contest. They bit into them and 2 got just what they thought, a yummy apple, the other 2were red onions. The youth laughed so hard and the leaders were good sports. We ended the evening with apple slices dipped in a chocolate fountain.
4) Drive-in Movie Night
As always, thanks for sharing your ideas.
This week we had a combined YW Mutual night. It really was a great night. We got the girls together to teach them about leadership. We used the following idea (which did not come from me, someone else made this little gem up, but for the life of me, I can't find who came up with this anywhere). But whoever it was, you are super creative!
It is called Picnic Ants
Invite all the YW to a picnic outside. bring blankets for all to sit on. Have red checkered tablecloths and picnic baskets as decorations and a whole lot of paper ants scattered around the tables.
Have someone share the Picnic Sandwich with Values lesson and someone else share the Picnic Ants lesson.
Serve sandwiches with all the toppings. Along with salads, grapes, soda, chocolate chip cookies. And you can throw in Ants on a Log (celery, peanut butter and raisins). The pictures of the cookies in the photos is what I did with the chocolate cookies.
Also play a few fun team building games. We played Red Rover. You could also throw a frisbee around
Picnic Sandwich with Values
Did you ever feel that you "sandwich" your spiritual needs in between everything else that demands your time like school, chores, sports, so your spiritual needs often turns out to be a last minute "jam" sandwich! Let's prioritize and make a fulfilling sandwich.
BREAD (faith-white): Bread is the foundation of your sandwich, made from nutritious wheat, the "staff of life". our personal testimonies are our foundation that begins with faith. Remember to build each day with prayer in Jesus Christ.
MUSTARD (Good Works - yellow): Most of us like a little extra "tang" mustard gives our sandwich. Like the proverbial mustard seed, we should all be prepared for those extra challenges of our calling and remember to serve others because we love them. Contact that less active friend.
MEAT (Divine Nature): The meat of teh subjects is WHO WE ARE or our divine nature. To make a sandwich a real meal, it helps to add meat. We all to "meet" regularly together to partake of the sacrament, to strengthen our testimonies, and to learn gospel principles. Some like a little ham on their sandwiches. Occasionally, "Hamming" it up can add a splash of fun to your life and that's no bologna.
CHEESE (Choice & Accountability - Orange): We all like to feel important once in a while. So occasionally, choose to let other be the "big cheese" and delegate some of the responsibility. Share some of the glory with them. Involve other class members and even if they fail it allows them to be accountable for their actions.
TOMATO (Individual Worth - Red): Some may say "tah may ta" and other may say "to-mah-toe". And anyway you say it, we all need to appreciate everyone's individual differences. We each have our own individual style and ways of doing things. Listen to everyone's ideas and recognize their individual worth.
PICKLE (knowledge - green): Have you ever seen a baby taste a pickle for the first time? Some things just have to be experienced to be learned. We gain knowledge in so many ways. Don't find yourself "caught in a pickle" remember to plan ahead. If you throw together an activity at the last minute, if could cause all to "pucker" Study the scriptures so you will be prepared to share the knowledge with others.
LETTUCE (integrity): Our sandwich wouldn't be complete without the crisp crunch of lettuce. "Lettuce" have integrity. In each area of our lives, "lettuce" endure, "lettuce" cooperate, "lettuce" be prayerful and stand for truth and righteousness.
SIDE ITEMS:
Chips: everyone need to "chip" in to make a picnic or activity successful. Always offer to help.
7-UP: remember to add sparkle/bubble and enthusiasm to your attitude.
Knife: never have a sharp tongue with other, but rather a sharp mind.
Fork: Dig into the scriptures. Don't let any golden changes slip you by.
Spoon: A spoonful of love should be given daily and sprinkled all week long.
Glass: Quench your spiritual thirst by attending all church meetings.
Plate: Gospel-centered spiritual food is what our Savior would have us eat.
Napkin: get absorbed in your callings and seminary.
Picnic Ants lesson
No picnic is complete without those uninvited guests called ants. You will find that we leaders will keep "bugging" you about your stewardship throughout the year, but it is only because we love you. We want you to succeed and to Come unto Christ. After all, if we didn't have any bugs, we wouldn't have anything to overcome, and there would be no challenges to help us grow. So, let's talk about some ants that may attend our picnic. Black ants are the good qualities that we need to personally seek and praise others for when we see them. The red ants are the fire ants or negative qualities that we need to identify and eliminate in ourselves.
Developing EXCELL-ANTS in leadership. Seek out and build up the good in yourself and others.
COMPET-ANTS (black) - She is full of ability and is great at prioritizing.
DISOBEDI-ANTS (red) - This person thinks the rules don't apply to them. She thinks it is cool to break the rules and encourages others to join in the mischief.
OBSERV-ANTS (black) - She notices what is going on around her. She watches other leaders and learns from them. She keeps her eyes open.
RESILI-ANTS (black) - She bounces back easily when things don's go her way. She is easy going and willing to make changes to suit the needs of others.
DEFI-ANTS (red) - She does what she wants, when she wants, and how she wants without regard for others' feelings or experiences.
SERV-ANTS (black) - This little gal realizes that to be a true leader, she must serve those she is called to lead. She goes the extra miles in helping those around her rather than judging them.
TAL-ANTS (black) - She is willing to share her talents with others. When asked to participate, she willingly donates her time and talents.
INFORM-ANTS (black) - She is always aware of what is going on, keeps the facts straight and passes information onto class members.
ARROG-ANTS (red) - She turns up her nose to anyone or to any activity that she didn't plan or doesn't like. She often feels that things are beneath her, lame and or boring.
COMPLEM-ANTS (black) - She is the first one to notice others talents and abilities. She always tells people of the good things she hears about them. Uses honest praise.
BOUY-ANTS (black) - She lifts other up! She is always cheerful and seems to be floating on air. She always has a smile and a kind word.
DILIG-ANT (black) - She works hard and tries to do all that is expected of her.
INDEC-ANT (red) - This sassy ant thinks that "if you got it flaunt it". She buys her shirts to small and shorts too short. She does not understand who she really is.
REVER-ANTS (black) - This little any has a reverence for sacred things. She knows when to be quiet, when to listen and when its appropriate to talk. She attends the temple regularly.
SELF RELI-ANTS (black) - This busy ant has initiative. She tackles things head on and has the confidence in her abilities to accomplish anything.
YOUR IDEAS:
1) Missionary Care packages
2) Break into two teams give each team $8 to go to the store and buy ingredients (budgeting) and then they all come back to the house (first ones, get first choice on kitchen utensils, pots, etc. and then they bake. The leaders will be the judges. They have to have a main dish and a veggie.
3) Personal Progress Night - We are planning a Personal Progress Party - where everything for the activity is "P" - wear pajamas, pink, purple, pigtails, we'll have only P treats - pizza rolls, pretzels, popsicles, etc. Then there are three or four stations that everyone does together - Pictionary, polish painting (nail painting), I forget the other one, and of course, one is a personal progress station where they complete one of the more simples goals that evening.
4) The Wednesday night after Thanksgiving we do a free babysitting night at the church to give parents a chance to go Christmas shopping. We feed the kids dinner, usually pizza. We have a nursery for younger kids, games in the cultural hall for the older kids. We have movies and all sort sorts of crafts and activities. We have them drop off kids at 5:00 pm and they have to be back by 9:00 pm.
This week we had an Iron Chef/Top Chef contest.
There are TWO ways to do this.
1) Let the girls go at it on their own. Basically, you give them ingredients and they come up with a dessert.
2) You ask the girls to bring their favorite recipe and they can use it. But if you don't have the ingredients, the trick is they have to be creative and substitute ingredients that you do have to make their dessert.
They had approx. 45 mins to create their dessert dish. you will be judged on presentation, taste, creativity and number of "secret" ingredients used. They will receive extra credit for each “secret” ingredient they use.
I had this at my house and basically we did half and half. We broke into 3 teams and some used a recipe and some did it completely on their own... making it up as they went. The secret ingredients were: honey, yogurt and raisins.
We then had the girls present their dishes and we (the judges) taste-tested them and gave each dish a score based on the 4 criteria.
I was going to get the winners something, but instead I made something for each of the girls to take home using the circle image below. I used those cheap silver circle canisters (they are 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 1 inch tall and can be found at Michaels) and filled them with Skittles and glued the circle image to the top. All of these items I had at home, which is why I chose to do this. I ran out of time, so this is what they got. But some cute recipes cards or spatula or glass shaker filled with candy would be cute too. Really anything kitchen-y would be a fun prize.
NOTE: The girls basically had free reign of my fridge and pantry and boy did they used it. They had a blast and my kitchen looked like it afterwards. And I have to go to the grocery store to restock my pantry. It was worth it though. But I just wanted to give you a heads up, if you choose to do it my way.
And Now for the Round up of your ideas:
1) Two-three months of service projects
2) Babysitting Preparedness Night - learned about infant CPR and heimliech, made activity booklets with ideas for games, treats, songs to sing, talked about who to call in an emergency and how to change a diaper.
3) Back to School Night. Blast to the Past - all the leaders put together a poster board of pictures of ourselves from Jr.High to Highschool. We then each took a turn telling the girls a little about ourselves back then, lessons we learned, what we loved and things we would've changed. Our president related our experiences to a travel guide. We've "visited" all the cool places and "eaten" at the best restaurants. We are there to help them decide where to visit and what to avoid.
4) Modern Book of Mormon Stories: The YW's presidency had gathered items from around the house and had them put together a skit of a BOM story and video taped it.
5)Modest is Hottest Fashion Show - Take a field trip to the mall. Divide the girls into groups and they were given a certain kind of outfit they had to put together - first day of school, prom, sunday best etc. They worked as teams to put together a modest outfit in the store and then we gathered together in a corner of the store and had a fashion show and took pictures. Talk to the store manager ahead of time to let them know what you are doing and ask if it is okay to take pictures.
6) Back to School Beauty Night
Please remember to share your YW activities this week by leaving me a comment. I will gather them up again and post them all next week. Thanks again for all your help!
I know many people that visit my blog come for my Young Women's lessons. Now that I am a counselor in the Young Women's I don't teach as much as I used to. Which is sad, because that really is what I love to do. The hard thing about my calling is coming up with 2-3 mutual activities a month. That is sooo hard!
This is where you come into play. I am looking to the community of YW leaders to help me out and to help each other out. Whether or not you are in charge of activities, many of you are involved in YW and mutual (if only by attending and supporting). I would love to have each of you share with me what your YW do each week in mutual.
I have been posting the activities my YW do each week hoping that it helps many of you out there. My thought is each week when I post my ideas, you share with me in the comments section, what your YW did that week. I will then take all the comments and make a separate post each week with all the ideas in one location so people can have a place to go to for ideas and activities.
I know this would help me out a ton. It is hard to come up with creative, interesting and fun activities each month, so let's help each other and share our ideas. What do you say?
We are having a combined YW mutual Activity tonight were we are having a Service Scavenger Hunt.
We broke the girls into about 4-5 girls per team/car. I came each team a brown grocery bag. In it had a list of services that each team needed to be accomplished. The brown bag is for them to put some proof items into the bag. Each bag also has a ziploc bag for the dirt they need to collect when they sweep someone's floor and a plastic grocery bag to put a dirty diaper into.
The scavenger hunt would be approx 30-45 mins. Tell the teams what time to be back by ... sharp. For every minute they are late, you will take away one completed service from their total.
The acts of service that require the girls go into someone's home should be church members or friends. We do not want the girls going into strangers homes. And of course while driving around, please do not speed, break driving laws or be careless. The winning team is the team that accomplishes the most acts of service. The winning team will each get $5 gift certificates to a local ice cream shop.
When the girls got back from the hunt they made ice cream in a bag. (Extra leaders stayed behind and prepare the ice cream activity). It is a pretty easy, fun activity. It takes less than 10 minutes, start to finish, and the only equipment you need are 2 ziplock bags. Here is the link to the instructions online and I included them here.
* 1 tablespoon Sugar
* 1/2 cup half & half
* 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla
* 6 tablespoons Rock salt
* 1 pint-size Ziploc plastic bag
* 1 gallon-size Ziploc plastic bag
* Ice cubes
* plastic spoons
* Optional - you can have chocolate syrup to make Chocolate Ice Cream.
1. Fill the large bag half full of ice and add the rock salt.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one and seal carefully.
4. Shake until mixture is ice cream, about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off top of small bag, then open carefully and enjoy!
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