The ideas in green were brainstormed to help get our creative juices flowing. All other ideas have actually been implemented by different activity day groups. Please contribute your ideas by clicking on "comments" at the bottom of the page.
Complete at least two of the following activities each year:
· • Learn how to budget and save money. Discuss why it is important to faithfully pay our tithing and how Heavenly Father blesses us when we do (see 3 Nephi 24:10–11). Pay your tithing and begin saving for an education.
After discussing how to budget, save, and tithe, make compartment banks to help the girls budget their money. They can make one compartment for tithing, one for savings, one for spending, and the last one for fast offerings or birthday and Christmas gifts.
In order to help the girls to understand their family's expenses, bring play money from a game like "Monopoly." Give each girl a paper detailing her pretend family, circumstances, and income. Help the girls determine their expenses and budget their money.
A ward in our stake did a "Price is Right" game show to teach their girls the cost of name brand vs. generic products, large vs. small packages, etc. The girls had a blast playing this game!
· • Learn to sing, play, or lead a song from the Children’s Songbook. Teach or share the song in a family home evening or at Primary. Discuss how developing talents helps prepare us for service to Heavenly Father and others.
After discussing how to budget, save, and tithe, make compartment banks to help the girls budget their money. They can make one compartment for tithing, one for savings, one for spending, and the last one for fast offerings or birthday and Christmas gifts.
In order to help the girls to understand their family's expenses, bring play money from a game like "Monopoly." Give each girl a paper detailing her pretend family, circumstances, and income. Help the girls determine their expenses and budget their money.
A ward in our stake did a "Price is Right" game show to teach their girls the cost of name brand vs. generic products, large vs. small packages, etc. The girls had a blast playing this game!
· • Learn to sing, play, or lead a song from the Children’s Songbook. Teach or share the song in a family home evening or at Primary. Discuss how developing talents helps prepare us for service to Heavenly Father and others.
Choose a song from the Primary Children' songbook that contains 3 or 4 verses. Divide the girls in groups. Provide each group with paper and markers. Obtain from your ward library gospel pictures that correspond with the verses. Assign each group a verse of the song. Have the groups use the markers, papers, and gospel pictures to illustrate their verse. Let the groups take turns teaching their verse to the other girls.
Invite the primary chorister to attend an activity day and teach a primary song to the girls in a fun and active way. Walk as a group to the home of an elderly ward member and sing the song to them.
· • Write a poem, story, or short play that teaches a principle of the gospel or is about Heavenly Father’s creations.
Provide nature magazines. Have each girl choose and cut out a picture. As a group, compose two rhyming lines for each picture. Write the lines and glue the pictures on a posterboard, making a poem. Share the poem at an activity day recognition meeting.
Read a scripture story or pioneer story that teaches a gospel principle such as love, obedience, etc. Provide props and let the girls act out the story. As a group, write a script based on your dramatization.
• Make an item from wood, metal, fabric, or other material, or draw, paint, or sculpt a piece of art. Display your finished work for others to see.
Teach the girls how to sew on a button and then have each girl make a pioneer doll with button eyes.
Teach the girls how to finger knit headbands.
• Visit an art museum or attend a concert, play, or other cultural event. Share your experience with your family or activity day group.
This week we are going to an art exhibit and we've invited the mothers to attend. We plan on going to the exhibit ahead of time and making a scavenger hunt where the moms and daughters have to locate certain Christ-centered paintings and answer thought provoking questions about them. It's not a race, just a nice way to learn about and think about the paintings.
• Visit an art museum or attend a concert, play, or other cultural event. Share your experience with your family or activity day group.
This week we are going to an art exhibit and we've invited the mothers to attend. We plan on going to the exhibit ahead of time and making a scavenger hunt where the moms and daughters have to locate certain Christ-centered paintings and answer thought provoking questions about them. It's not a race, just a nice way to learn about and think about the paintings.
· • Read D&C 88:118. Discuss what it means to “seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” Improve your personal study habits by doing such things as learning how to choose and read good books or being prepared for school each day.
Contact your local librarian and schedule a tour of your local library.
Bring objects that the girls might need in order to prepare for school each day (homework, shoes, clothes, breakfast bowl, comb, lunch items, etc.) Let one-half of the group hide the objects around the room. Then time the other half while they look for the objects and put them on, place them in their back packs, etc. Then switch who hides and who finds. Next, have one group carefully arrange the items where they can easily be found. Time the other group as they "get ready" for school. Then switch what group places the objects and which gets ready. Compare times when the girls had to hunt for the objects and when they were in the right spot. Discuss the importance of being prepared for school the night before.
Contact your local librarian and schedule a tour of your local library.
Bring objects that the girls might need in order to prepare for school each day (homework, shoes, clothes, breakfast bowl, comb, lunch items, etc.) Let one-half of the group hide the objects around the room. Then time the other half while they look for the objects and put them on, place them in their back packs, etc. Then switch who hides and who finds. Next, have one group carefully arrange the items where they can easily be found. Time the other group as they "get ready" for school. Then switch what group places the objects and which gets ready. Compare times when the girls had to hunt for the objects and when they were in the right spot. Discuss the importance of being prepared for school the night before.
· • List five things you can do to help around your home. Discuss the importance of obeying and honoring your parents and learning how to work.
Help the girls make and decorate 5 coupons detailing how they can help around their home. Let the girls take the coupons home to give to their parents.
We used the idea above and made folded flower coupons for mothers. This is a great Mother's Day activity. Here is a link to the folded flower instructions.
Invite 3 or 4 parents to activity days to demonstrate a variety of household tasks such as clothes folding, dish washing, dusting, window washing, etc. Divide the girls in groups and have them rotate as they learn the different skills. If you are meeting in a church building, have the parents in different rooms such as the kitchen to teach dish washing, the entry way to teach window washing, a class room to demonstrate vacuuming, etc.
Help the girls make and decorate 5 coupons detailing how they can help around their home. Let the girls take the coupons home to give to their parents.
We used the idea above and made folded flower coupons for mothers. This is a great Mother's Day activity. Here is a link to the folded flower instructions.
Invite 3 or 4 parents to activity days to demonstrate a variety of household tasks such as clothes folding, dish washing, dusting, window washing, etc. Divide the girls in groups and have them rotate as they learn the different skills. If you are meeting in a church building, have the parents in different rooms such as the kitchen to teach dish washing, the entry way to teach window washing, a class room to demonstrate vacuuming, etc.
· • Plan a physical fitness program for yourself that may include learning to play a sport or game. Participate in the program for one month.
As a group, learn to play a simple game such jump rope, hopscotch, or four square. If possible send the girls home with the equipment needed to play. Encourage the girls to practice playing their game at home.
Visit a local running track. Discuss the health benefits of jogging. Teach the girls the importance of warming up before exercising. As a group run around the track. Encourage the girls to continue to jog daily.
See the second activity under the next heading.
As a group, learn to play a simple game such jump rope, hopscotch, or four square. If possible send the girls home with the equipment needed to play. Encourage the girls to practice playing their game at home.
Visit a local running track. Discuss the health benefits of jogging. Teach the girls the importance of warming up before exercising. As a group run around the track. Encourage the girls to continue to jog daily.
See the second activity under the next heading.
· • Learn about and practice good nutrition, good health, and good grooming, including modest dress.
We had a modesty fashion show for our activity day group. We brought random materials we had laying around at home like trash bags, silk flowers, crepe paper streamers, balloons, foil, whatever. We also brought lots of tape. We divided the girls in to groups. Each group chose a model and the rest of the girls in the group dressed her (over her clothes of course!) using the stuff we'd brought from home. Almost anything goes as long as it's modest! Then we held the fashion show. It was a blast!
Invite the girls to a "healthy is happy" activity. Plan to walk to a local park or landmark. Have the girls wear hats and sunscreen. Have them bring water bottles and a sandwich bag containing a few handfuls of one trail mix ingredient (pretzels, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, cold cereal, whatever). Discuss the importance of exercise and then walk to the determined location. When you arrive, combine all trail mix ingredients and refill the girl's sandwich bags with the trail mix. As they snack, discuss the importance of healthy eating.
• Plan and complete your own activity that will help you develop your talents (write the activity below).
We had a modesty fashion show for our activity day group. We brought random materials we had laying around at home like trash bags, silk flowers, crepe paper streamers, balloons, foil, whatever. We also brought lots of tape. We divided the girls in to groups. Each group chose a model and the rest of the girls in the group dressed her (over her clothes of course!) using the stuff we'd brought from home. Almost anything goes as long as it's modest! Then we held the fashion show. It was a blast!
Invite the girls to a "healthy is happy" activity. Plan to walk to a local park or landmark. Have the girls wear hats and sunscreen. Have them bring water bottles and a sandwich bag containing a few handfuls of one trail mix ingredient (pretzels, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, cold cereal, whatever). Discuss the importance of exercise and then walk to the determined location. When you arrive, combine all trail mix ingredients and refill the girl's sandwich bags with the trail mix. As they snack, discuss the importance of healthy eating.
• Plan and complete your own activity that will help you develop your talents (write the activity below).
Have a game night where girls come and play some of the older games. We played dominoes (surprising how many girls did not know how), Water Works, and Yahtzee. Divide into three groups. Have each group learn to play their game and then teach it to the others so that part of the night was a learning and teaching exercise. We made popcorn and had a lot of fun!
ReplyDelete"seek learning"
ReplyDeleteDiscuss the importance of being ready for school and how you can be prepared overall for each new day. Also mention how taking care of yourself makes a big difference in how alert we are. It is important to be alert when trying to learn something new. Eating all 3 meals, stay hydrated, getting at least 8 hours of sleep, getting 30 minutes of exercise daily, keep clean. It doesn't seem like these are big deals, but they are. Staying clean helps you feel ready and prepared all on its own. Staying healthy is just better for your mind.
Discuss the benefits of reading and learning new things. Mention the importance of being humble. Talk about good study habits:
Have a clean/organized place to study. It helps you concentrate and to not feel more overwhelmed.
Create a good smell. Such as popcorn or febreeze. Using your sense is good to help you learn\memorize things. The smell can help you remember the connection you made while studying.
Play instrumental music (music without words). Again this helps your mind make connections and remember them.
Sunflower seeds are good for memory as well, and are recommended during studying.
Take time to learn and make it fun! Create flash cards, draw pictures, write the same thing over and over again, quiz yourself, turn it into a game! Learning should be positive!
activity for the girls: prepare the room clean it, make it smell, give it sound, and bring sunflower seeds. Have home made flash cards of a couple new words, maybe some simple math ones. Have them take a quick quiz after (it does not need to be hard just make it fun!) play a game of memory by matching capital cities to states. Have them draw or trace a map of the united states and color each state they can remember. At the end give them something else to learn like spelling and tell them to create a game together to learn how to spell 4 words. That way they are learning to come up with it on their own. Every kid learns differently and you just have to find what works for you. Bring jolly ranchers to treat kids through out the evening. Good luck!
I have created a new site with a whole bunch of ideas (more than any other site). I hope you will come visit! mormonactivitydays.blogspot.com
ReplyDelete