Friendship Valentines

This activity started with the girls filling out a silly survey about themselves.  It asked questions like, What street they live on, The color of their eyes, How many fingers and toes they have, Their favorite cereal.  Once they had all the survey filled out they had to go around the room to every other girl and leader and compare answers.  If an answer matched then they initialed each others' papers.  Obviously, everyone had the same number of fingers and toes but no one likes the same cereal.

The point of this activity was to show that we all have some similarities but mostly we are unique individuals and that is how Heavenly Father created us.  We are all Children of God and each of us is special to Him.  Whether we have blue eyes or brown eyes, He loves us and we need to love each other.

Then we wrote kind valentines to each other in honor of the holiday.

Exercise and Nutrition

This has been one of my favorite activities so far!

We invited the mother of one of our girls who is really into fitness and nutrition to lead the activity.  She spent about 15 minutes showing the girls 5 or 6 exercises they can do on their own and home.  Then she did a little cooking show and demonstrated several simple after school snacks the girls can make at home.  Simple, active, fun, and we only had to make a phone call for this activity!

Jars of Confidence

In keeping with the new Primary theme for the year, we had the girls make what we called Jars of Confidence.  They each painted a mason jar and most of them wrote "I Am a Child of God" on it.  We then gave them cotton balls they will use to fill the jar.  Each night they are supposed to think about all the times they felt Heavenly Father's love for them.  They get to put one cotton ball in the jar for each instance they feel His love and know they are a Child of God.

Faith in God Recognition Night

I recently came from the Young Women's program so I thought it would be a good idea to have something like a YW in Excellence or New Beginnings night.  It was just okay.

We made this night a little more formal.  We invited the parents, had a program with song and prayer, I explained how Faith in God works, my other leader handed out completion certificates, and a member of the bishopric bore his testimony.  We were done in less than 20 minutes.  But we had cookies and mingled with the parents afterward.

Two lessons from this night: 1) It was a good idea but way too formal for this group.  2) December is much too busy of a month to expect even half the families to be able to attend an activity.

We will be rethinking this one for the future.

Christmas Testimonies, Letters, and Cookies

We like to give our girls multiple opportunities to think about their testimonies through the year.  For this activity we began by discussing their thoughts and feelings about Jesus Christ during the Christmas season.  Then we spent ten minutes or so letting them write down those thoughts and feelings on a special "Testimony" paper in their binders.

Next we wrote letters to the two full-time missionaries serving from our ward, as well as the Bishopric, Stake Presidency, and Primary Presidency.  It was hilarious to see how they pretty much wrote the same things on each of the letters.  Several wrote, "I hope your mission is fun!" on the letters to the missionaries as well as the Primary.  (I guess it was our fault for making this a writing-intensive activity.)

Lastly we decorated Christmas sugar cookies.  Obviously, their favorite part of the afternoon.

12th Article of Faith

As part of a Serving Others activity we discussed the 12th Article of Faith.  I did a little internet research on what it means to be a good citizen and pared down my findings into short actions the girls could understand.  Each girl was given two actions written on word strips and they had to tell the group what it meant and how they could implement it in their lives.  This wasn't as boring as it sounds and the girls did a really good job with it.

Then we played a U.S. Presidents game.  We split the girls into two groups and sent them on a scavenger hunt around the church answering trivia questions about different presidents.

Cookies...Making, Baking, Sharing

We taught the girls how to make Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies (because my mother swears by that recipe).  After mixing the batch we stuck it in the oven to bake.  Then each girl was sent home with two plates of cookies.  One plate was for them to eat but the other plate had to be given away to a friend or neighbor on their way home.

At the next activity we followed up with them and made them report on their small act of service.

Getting to Know You

This was our first activity as new leaders. We delivered invitations and a lunch sack to each girl and asked her to fill it with three things that describe her. When they arrived at the activity the leaders collected the sacks and we had the girls guess which sack belonged to which girl. It was fun to see how well they already know each other.

The girls also filled out this questionnaire that I keep.  It has some random information that we may be able to use for their birthdays or other activities.

Activity Days Ideas

I always love finding new ideas for Activity Days on the internet. Here are the activities we've done with our girls. Hopefully they give you a few good ideas that can be molded to help your own Activity Days girls. Good luck!

My Testimony

I know that my Savior lives and loves me. I know that He came to this earth and suffered and died to take away my sins, my shortcomings and weaknesses, my pain and sorrow. I know that if I keep the commandments, repent, and exercise my faith that the power of the atonement will have full effect in my life. I am so grateful for the testimony that burns in me of the truthfulness of the gospel and the plan of salvation. I know that I will pass through struggles and challenges in this life but they will strengthen me and the Savior will comfort me because He knows what I am going through and wants me to be successful so that I will one day return to live again with Him and our Heavenly Father. I love this Young Women Program and the light and knowledge it gives me. The gospel is true! In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.