Activity Days: Modesty

We had quite the crew today with 10 Activity Day girls! I started out reading from the Strength of Youth pamphlet regarding dress and appearance:

Servants of God have always counseled his children to dress modestly to show respect for him and for themselves. Because the way you dress sends messages about yourself to others and often influences the way you and others act, you should dress in such a way as to bring out the best in yourself and those around you. However, if you wear an immodest bathing suit because it's "the style," it sends a message that you are using your body to get attention and approval, and that modesty is not important.

Immodest clothing includes short shorts, tight pants, and other revealing attire. Young women should refrain from wearing off-the-shoulder, low-cut, or revealing clothes. Young men should similarly maintain modesty in their dress. All should avoid tight fitting or revealing clothes and extremes in clothing and appearance.

As Latter-day Saint youth, you can also show respect for the Lord and yourselves by dressing appropriately for Church meetings and activities, whether on Sunday or during the week. If you are not sure what's appropriate, ask for guidelines from your parents, advisers, and bishop.

I then showed the girls pictures of women wearing immodest clothing and asked them what was wrong with what these women wore. They quickly caught on with things like: her shoulders are naked or her skirt is too short. I think it helped to see the models instead of just talking about the clothing.

Next we had the girls pair up, this was done with assistance as two girls both wanted to be partners with the same girl. They traced out one of them on newsprint and were told to create a modest outfit using scrapbook paper, crayons, glue, glitter, yarn, pipe cleaners, etc. They worked together in these little teams which was great. Everyone seemed to get their creative juices flowing. It was a good activity which kept them happy while learning at the same time.

This idea came from http://ldsactivitydayideas.blogspot.com/2009/09/modesty.html

Activity Days: Prayer

This idea came from: LDSActivityDayIdeas.blogspot.com

We began by discussing when to pray and remember to really talk with our Heavenly Father instead of just saying the same thing over and over. We gave the girls a paper and pencil. We told them to take a few minutes and write down the things they could pray about. We then had them share their first idea with the group. We then talked about how sometimes we can't hear the Spirit, even though we are doing good things.

We did a coupl object lessons to help them understand these concepts a little better. First: We told them it was Saturday and that we they preparing for Sunday by playing church music - the church music represented the spirit of the Holy Ghost. Using a CD player we played a song quietly for a second. Then we had one of the girls turn a vacuum on. We could no longer hear the music so we turned it up above the noise of the vacuum. While that was going, we had another girl play with the baby. We then had the other girls talk with each other but no one could hear! Although everything that was going on were good things, when we don't take time to listen and pay attention to the spirit, we will let the world distract us from our what our Heavenly Father has to teach us.

Second: We paired the girls off in two with partners that they don't normally hang around with. We gave them about 1 minute to talk to each other, study each others voices and come up with a plan. They were going to have to find each other without saying each others names and without seeing each other. We then had one girl from each partnership go with me and the other with my partner. We had took them in my backyard and blindfolded them. They then were told to find each other. They loved it! We told them this was like trying to listen to the spirit and recognizing it.

Next we had the girls come inside and decorate prayer rocks. That got a little crazy with painting and all but they enjoyed themselves. I hope they remembered a little about what they learned about prayer and now are to say the prayers for FHE to pass off Learning and Living the Gospel #5.

Activity Days: CTR Hemp Bracelets

Ideas found at mormonshare.com: A short lesson to teach them to learn to sing the Hymn, Choose the Right, understand the importance of choosing the right, and making a ctr bracelet to constantly remind them to do so. Activity Description:We followed the "Living and Learning the Gospel" suggestion to learn how to sing the hymn "Choose the Right" by playing a game. The game was played similar to musical chairs or hot potato, only the "potato" was a chewy candy wrapped in several layers that had the lines written on them. (Note: Make sure the lines are rather simple using only one line of the song at a time) When the music played, the potato was passed around. When the music stopped, the person left holding it had to recite or sing all parts that had been unwrapped until then. The winner was the person who was able to recite/sing the entire song without help. The chewy candy was to remind them to "Chews the Right."Next we played a "Sink or Swim" lesson found in an LDS Family Home Evening book that consisted of choices or situations they could face and whether they would sink or swim depending on the choice they made. Afterward, we braided hemp bracelets and weaved alphabet beads into them that spelled CTR. The girls had fun learning how to braid hemp bracelets for one, but also, knowing they made their own CTR bracelet and knowing the significance of it was fun for them. We used the Klutz book Hemp Bracelets for guidance, it is a wonderful book with thorough instructions! The girls were excited to know they could do this at home.

Activity Days: Making Posters

We had all the girls bring their scriptures to activity days. We fulfilled Learning & Living the Gospel #3: Mark these verses about the Holy Ghost in your scriptures: John 14:16-17, 2 Nephi 32:5, and Moroni 10:5. We also discussed the different ways the Holy Chost can help our lives. We made posters to represent the different areas of Activity Days:

Learning & Living the Gospel
Serving Others
Developing Talents
Preparing for Young Womens

The girls were excited to decorate the posters to be displayed at Recognition Night. Once were done with Recognition Night we can move on to the next fun things! I also made some fun sugar cookies for the girls to eat when we finished up.

Activity Days: Lip Gloss and Kindness

Summary:
Make home made lip gloss and use the poem to teach a lesson on kindness. Good unity activity.

Activity Description:
M'Shelle D.'s activity days class made home made lip gloss and then had a lesson on kindness, relating to the cute poem:

LIP GLOSS POEM
I have this pot of lip gloss,
I'll put some on each day.
I do it to remind me
To choose the words I say.

I'll try to speak with kindness
to everyone I meet.
I'll try to spread some happiness
to those that I may greet.

This pot of gloss reminds me
of the values I hold dear,
The colors are so cheerful
and the message is so clear.

If I want to live the gospel
I'll choose each word I say
I'll speak in just the kindest words
and I won't forget to pray!


Click on this link for a cute handout of the poem to give the girls: http://www.mormonshare.com/sites/default/files/images/LipGloss.pdf
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I found many recipes for homemade lip-gloss:

Recipe for Homemade Lip Gloss
2 T Petroleum Jelly or Vaseline
1 t Beeswax
10-14 drops flavored extract

In a small pot, melt the petroleum jelly, and then when melted, add beeswax. When melted, remove from heat then add extract. Carefully pour into small containers.
Note: Glitter can also be sprinkled on top!
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Lip Gloss

Materials:
Vegetable shortening,
honey,
unsweetened drink mix (eg. Kool-Aid),
hot water

Instructions:
1. Use a small bowl to mix 1 tbsp of the solid vegetable shortening and 1 tsp of honey. In a separate bowl, mix the drink mix and 1/4 tsp of hot water until it is dissolved. Stir in as much of the drink mix as possible. The actual amount will depend on the temperature of water. The more you can dissolve, the stronger the flavour will be.

2.You can choose the color and flavor of you lip gloss by the type of drink mix you use.

3. Add one drop of the water mixture to the shortening/honey base. Stir well. Repeat until you get the color/flavor combination you want. Pour into a clean container or old lip gloss pot.

4. Store in the refrigerator. Keeps for 3 days, but it tastes so good that you will use it up very fast!

http://www.creativekidsathome.com/activities/activity_40.html
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St. Patrick's Day activity-
Make your own Green Lipstick

Wet & Wild Mega Eyes trio in Amazon Greens
One full tablespoon of Vaseline
A few squirts of pure Vanilla extract
One small pot
One small plastic container with lid
Colored glitter if optional

First step- First place your pot on the stove. Now add a ¼ cup of water to the pot. Bring this almost to a complete boil. Slowly begin to drop your tablespoon of Vaseline into the water. Take a spoon and mix this up for about five minutes until you see the Vaseline completely liquefied.Second step- Remove the mixture off the stove allow it to cool down for 30 seconds. Then place your Green eye shadow and Vanilla into this pot. You should use at least a couple spoonfuls of the eye shadow. I have used the whole rectangle of eye shadow and it made a pretty decent size amount of Green lip gloss for all the little kids in my area last year for St. Patrick's Day.
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Lip-Smacking Good
Make homemade lip-gloss.

You Need:
Vaseline or Crisco: Crisco version goes bad after three days or so
Unsweetened Kool-Aid or any flavored drink mix
Vanilla extract
Cocoa powder
A small mixing bowl
A spoon: For mixing
Measuring spoons
Microwave
Cake decorating glitter: To add a little sparkle.
A container for the lip gloss: Find them at your local craft or beauty supply shop. You may want to pick up a dozen or so.
Stickers: For a label.
Food coloring

How to do it:
1. Have your kid decide what flavor of lip gloss she wants to make before she starts mixing things together.
2. To start, have your kid put some Vaseline (or Crisco) into a (microwaveable) mixing bowl and microwave it for about two minutes—until it's a liquid. Try not to let it boil!
3. If she's making chocolate gloss, have her add cocoa powder to the base and mix and stir it up to get rid of any lumps. She should add as little or as much powder as she wants, keeping in mind the more she adds, the darker the tint will be.
4. Then have her return the mixture to the microwave for another 20 seconds and then stir again.
5. If she wants to make vanilla flavored lip gloss, instead of heating the Vaseline in the mixing bowl, just have her add a tiny amount of vanilla extract to it (like 1/8 teaspoon for every 2 tablespoons of Vaseline).
6. To make red cherry-flavored lip-gloss, warm the Vaseline in the microwave for about 20 seconds, then stir in some cherry Kool-Aid.
7. Your kid can now stir in food coloring to tint her lip-gloss or add cake glitter to make it sparkle. 8. Finally, get her to pour or scrape the mixture into the lip gloss containers and let it cool. (If you've been using the microwave, be careful, it'll be hot!)
9 When she's finished making the lip gloss, have her make some labels for it. She can print or draw a label on paper and stick it on with a glue stick or print or draw one on a sticky blank address label. She can dress her gloss up with stickers, too!
10. That's it! Have her pucker up and slap on some of her homemade lip-gloss. She'll be licking her chops all day long.

Homemade lip-gloss makes a great gift for your kid's girlfriends. Do this DO at your kid's next birthday party. An activity and party favor all in one!
http://www.parentsconnect.com/do/lip-smacking_good.jhtml?cc=10492&psc=10027&mid=null

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Here are a few stories I read to the girls regarding kindness they both have very good morals:
http://www.sugardoodle.net/Anger/Nail%20in%20the%20Fence.shtml
and
http://www.sugardoodle.net/Work,%20Employment/The%20Legend%20of%20the%20King%20and%20the%20Water.shtml

Activity Day Ideas: Family Trees

This idea comes from:
http://jacobus-family.blogspot.com/2008/11/primary-activity-day-family-tree.html


The boys used the family trees they made at Halloween to make these great artful trees to hang on their wall for a Primary Activity Day (that's through the children's program at our church) The leaders did so much precutting work for the kids so they could assemble this nice tree. I can only imagine how many hours they put into this, but see the beautiful results?!

Activity Days: Joseph Smith's first vision packet

This weeks Activity Days we colored and cut out pictures of the first vision for the girls to use in their upcoming Family Home Evening. This covers Learning & Living the gospel #2. Here is the packet for Family Home Evening:

Opening Song: “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer” #26 in Hymns

Prayer:

Scripture: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him (James 1:5)

Quote: President Joseph F. Smith said: “The greatest event that has ever occurred in the world, since the resurrection of the Son of God from the tomb and his ascension on high, was the coming of the Father and of the Son to that boy Joseph Smith. … Having accepted this truth, I find it easy to accept of every other truth that [Joseph Smith] … declared” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. pp. 495–96).

Lesson: Tell the story of the first vision, use the cutouts to help you.
1. Joseph plowing the field - When Joseph was fourteen years old; many people in his hometown were excited about religion. Preachers gave sermons to try to get people to join their churches. Joseph learned about the different churches, but he couldn’t decide which one to join. The preachers disagree with each other. They can’t all be right!
2. Joseph reading the scriptures - One day, as he was studying the Bible, he read James 1:5. “ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” Then he knew what to do. Joseph decided he would do what the scripture said—ask God. He went into the woods to pray.
3. Joseph kneeling and praying - Joseph had never prayed out loud before. He looked around to make sure he was alone, then knelt down. As soon as he tried to speak, he was surrounded by thick darkness and he was afraid he would be destroyed. He prayed to be saved from this evil power.
4. Joseph looking up to the sky - Joseph later said: “Just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. … I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”
5. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ - Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ had appeared to Joseph. They told him not to join any of the churches because they were all wrong. When the pillar of light and the Heavenly Beings left, Joseph was lying on his back. He felt peace and joy. Joseph returned home and told his family about his experience. Joseph’s family loved God and wanted to keep his commandments. They read the Bible and prayed together often. Like Joseph, they were confused about which church was the true church of Jesus Christ. After Joseph received his first vision, his family believed him and supported him in the great work he was called to do.
6. Joseph talking with a preacher - When Joseph told others about his vision, they made fun of him. Ministers of other religions persecuted him, even though he was only a boy. “There are no such things as visions anymore! You’re either lying or you’ve been deceived by the devil.”
7. Book of Mormon - Joseph never denied his testimony. He said: “Though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; … I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it.”
8. Children praying - We, too, can go to Heavenly Father in prayer and receive answers to important questions in our lives. Through prayer we can also receive a testimony from Heavenly Father that Joseph Smith was a prophet.

Discussion:
There are two reasons why we pray:
1-We pray to thank Heavenly Father for our blessings
2-We pray to ask for Heavenly Father’s help
Just like Joseph Smith’s prayer was answered, our prayers will be heard and answered when we sincerely speak to Heavenly Father. Ask the family if anyone would like to tell about a time they had a prayer answered. Share your own testimony of prayer or ask one of your parents to share their testimony.

Activity: Play stick pulling, one of Joseph Smith’s favorite games. Contestants sit on the ground facing one another with their feet braced sole to sole. Grasp a round stick, a 1 1/4-inch hardwood dowel, between them, parallel to the ground and lengthwise over their braced feet. On a given signal they begin to pull against each other until one is lifted off the ground enough to see daylight beneath him. The best out of three pulls determines the winner of the contest.

Closing Song: “On a Golden Springtime” (Children’s Songbook p. 88)

Closing Prayer:

Activity Day Ideas: Light of Christ

This idea is from http://evansfactor.blogspot.com/2008/10/activity-days-needing-light.html

The elders taught a little lesson to the girls. It was the week before General Conference, and they were referring to the direction we would be given, but I think we can apply it to us everyday! They gave the girls each 2 pieces of paper. The first piece of paper, was for a paper airplane. They gave them specific instructions on how to make the airplane, and the girls listened very carefully, and followed them.

When they were through with the first one, the elders said, "Now, close your eyes, and make the same airplane with the other piece of paper". The girls did the best they could. Of course it was more difficult doing it in the dark. Of course everything we do in life is easier when we have the Light of Christ. The missionaries are so awesome! We all loved the lesson.
The best part was flying the airplanes!!! These girls are such a BLAST! I love them to death!!!

Activity Days: Hands

Our Activity Days night was really enjoyable. The girls seemed to get very excited about the topic of sign language. I had twelve young girls, between the ages of 8 to 11, over at my house last night. They have been a rather large handful lately and always seem to have a hard time settling down! I have researched many websites and found some great ideas to keep their minds occupied. The girls were all smooshed into my front room. Each girl introduced themself as there has been many new faces join us lately. We went over the alphabet in sign language twice and then I had each girl fingerspell her own name while the others girls practiced doing it with them. It got us to practice many letters in the alphabet.

After they thoroughly learned each others names, we watched a video that teaches lots of different signs that you may use everday! It is called "I Want to Learn Sign Language," I checked it out from the library. It was rather cheesy but was wonderful at teaching us signs! They all seemed to enjoy themselves immensely.

As they practiced the many signs while watching this video, I gave them the Jam Filled Butter Cookies. The recipe comes from allrecipes.com one of my personal favorite websites! The cookies were great and they all wanted more! I've included a copy of the recipe if anyone wants to try it.

Jam Filled Butter Cookies
(allrecipes.com)

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fruit preserves, any flavor

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and egg yolks. Mix in flour a little bit at a time until a soft dough forms. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. If dough is too soft, refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes. Place balls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Use your finger or an instrument of similar size to make a well in the center of each cookie. Fill the hole with 1/2 teaspoon of preserves. (put preserves in a ziploc bag and cut a bottom corner to make it easier to fill cookies)
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.