4th of July Tie Dye Shirts

In our little town, the Fourth of July is a big deal, so when we told the girls we would be making red, white and blue tie dye shirts, they were very excited!

Very little preparation was involved other than purchasing: red and blue dye, white t-shirts and rubberbands.  We did the activity outside on the lawn on a dollar store table cloth.

The girls simply created their design with the use of rubberbands then used the dye to create colors.  We put each shirt in a plastic grocery bag so they could take them home and let them sit.  We also gave them strict instructions to let them rest overnight, then to wash them alone.

The idea for this activity originally came from I Love to Create Blog, so this photo is from that site.  We used a different technique, but I wanted to give proper photo credit.

Since this activity didn't take too long, we also played some water balloon volleyball.

We used sheets folded into squares then volleyed waterballoons back and forth.  So simple!  No net necessary.  Plus, it provided lots of laughter! And teamwork ;)

Pool Safety

*Another fun idea submitted by Jessica

Where we live, almost everyone has a pool in their backyard. I am going to be teaching the girls a class on pool safety. In my ward, we only have 10 Activity Day girls, but we have separated them into two groups. I am the leader of the younger girls (8-9 years old). Since these girls are so young, I am going to teach basic safety rules, and simple things like how to call for help, and dial 911, etc. For a group of older girls, it would be a great idea to have an EMT teach them First Aide and CPR. We will all go swimming after!

Shoulder Grip

Required: Balloons
Players: Small to large groups

Set up 2 teams, you need one person on each team to be the “middle man”. They stand at the other end of the room across from their team and can move about to help teammates. Put a balloon in-between the shoulders of 2 teammates and have them run down to the other end and back. The balloon carriers are not aloud to touch balloon with their hands, only the “middle man”, at the other end can. The “middle man” (which can touch the balloon), can put the balloon back between shoulders if it falls to the ground. When they return to the starting line they then pass off the balloon. First team to finish wins.

*Another idea from Funattic

Jelly Bean Relay

Required: Spoons, two dishes for each team and jelly beans
Players: Small to large groups

Each team has equal amount of jelly beans in one dish and one empty dish. You’ll need enough spoons for everyone that is playing. The object is for each team to have one person at a time, move jelly beans from one bowl to the other. This is done with hands behind their back, spoon in their mouth and one bean at a time. The first team to have all members complete this task is the winner. You can use items like lemon drops (my favorite), heart candies or anything other than jelly beans.

*Idea from Funattic

Inchworm

Required: Paper cups and sand or water
Players: Small to large groups

This can be played as teams or individually. Mark off a starting point and finish line. Players are to lie belly down, with cup filled with sand placed on their back, crawl like an inchworm to finish line. If cup falls off and spills they are to start over. The first team done is the winner.

*Idea from Funattic

Balloon Head

Required: BalloonsPlayers: Small to large groups

Organize players so that they’re into pairs and each team receives a partially inflated balloon. When the game starts, teams must race to a finish line carrying a balloon between their heads, remember don’t use your hands. On hot days try it with water balloons or through a sprinkler. You can even try an obstacle course.

*Idea from Funacttic

The Amazing Race

Thanks to Diane who submitted this idea.

It was originally a Primary Quarterly Activity but it may work great if you have enough girls or for a mutual activity.

We wanted our children to learn that work can be fun. We volunteered to clean the church one day.

We fashioned our day after the CBS show: The Amazing Race. We invited parents to come with the children. We divided the kids and adults into 3 groups (because we have 3 lobbies that needed to be cleaned). We made sure that each group had at least one adult in it. Your building needs may be different. We had color coded teams (Plastic tablecloths in Primary colors) cut into strips to tie around their arms or legs.

(Our Approver/disapprovers wore: Big garden hats, aprons and sunglasses. They could not say anything or offer clues to the teams. They just followed each team and made sure the tasks were finished to satisfaction.)

ROADBLOCKS:
We made ROADBLOCK envelopes/clues. Each task had to be completed to satisfaction or they would have to repeat the job. Each clue said: Warning: The last team to finish this task will be given a SPEEDBUMP before they will be given their next clue. (For us, the ROADBLOCKS were: You must make the entrance ways shine-whistling or singing Primary songs as you work.)

The first SPEEDBUMP was:
You must make the living waters shine-Clean the drinking fountains, bathroom and kitchen sinks. Also sweep the floors if needed.

DETOUR #1:
We then had DETOUR #1. envelopes/clues. Put your shoulder to the wheel and push the vacuums. We have 3 vacuums available in the church. So each CLUE was a little different-depending on what they were supposed to vacuum. Since there were more team members than vacuums, the other team members were assigned to pick up clutter in the rooms-skipping to their destinations. Each clue had the warning: Warning: The last team to finish this task will be given a SPEEDBUMP before they will be given their next clue.
The 2nd SPEEDBUMP: You must set up the chairs in the overflow of the chapel.

DETOUR # 2:
We again made envelopes/clues. This clue was the last one. It said that they should hurry back to the Primary Room (Pit Stop) for awards and refreshments.
The remaining tasks were all different things that needed to be done as far as cleaning the church. We equally divided up the extra cleaning jobs into 3 different tasks.

The clues were something like: YOU MUST CLEAN THE DUST BUNNIES. (dusting piano, organ, wall trim boards. YOU MUST MAKE YOUR SLATE CLEAN. (cleaning the chalkboards. We only have one official chalk board cleaner appliance. Therefore, all of the other team members cleaned the chalkboard trays with damp cloths.) YOU MUST EMPTY ALL OF THE TRASH CANS.

WE bought dollar store awards: gold, bronze, and silver medals---1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.

We figured on 2 hours. Not many people showed up. We were still able to finish cleaning the church in a little over an hour. We had bought fun cd's of Primary music to fill in the extra time, but forgot to take them. You would want to do something like that. We had an opening exercise explain what was happening with a fun song to begin the day. One of our older girls asked if she could prepare the refreshments as one of her requirements for her Faith in God. She brought rice krispie treats and lemonade.

The kids said that they had a good time. We saved our clues. We are going to try and use this idea next year.

Fun and Uniqueness..all in one

Our girls sang a song in front of the Adult Sunday School and did fantasitc! As a reward we had ice cream sundaes but were able to tie them into the lesson. We talked about being unique and that it is important that we are all different. We took them into the kitchen and gave each of them one thing from the sundae stuff, ie., bowls, caramel, cherries, ice cream, spoons. We told them to go ahead and enjoy! They laughed and said that it wasn't a sundae because they only had one part of it. Our point exactly! We told them that that was just like people. What good are we if we don't have a variety?

Then we played some games with them. We did the penny in the flour game (measure a cup of flour, put a penny in the middle and pack it all really tight. Turn the cup upside down onto a cake pan and pass it around with a butter knife. Each person cuts a slice of flour away until someone finds the penny. Once they do they have to get the penny our with their mouth. Kind of gross but it's a hoot!)
We also did the candy bar game. (Get a large Hershey bar, one or two butter knives, a pair of socks and a pair of dice. Everyone takes turns rolling the dice until someone rolls a 7 or 11. Once one of those numbers are rolled that person gets to put the socks on, grab the knife(ves) and start trying to eat the candy bar until someone else rolls a 7 or 11. It's really face paced!) It took the girls a minute to catch on but once they did they were unstoppable. The pictures don't do justice to either game.

Outdoor Olympics

During the summer Olympics we decided to have do our own version of the Summer Olympics. For this activity we set up an obstacle course in the yard. The girls competed in sets of two, but really they were only competing against themselves. At the end we took the two best times and let those girls compete against each other. It was great to see some of the girls re-do the course along side some of the slower girls.

In the end everyone got a medal. We used baby jar lids, made holes in them with a nail, painted them gold and silver and strung them with yarn. Each girl got a few medals so no one felt like they were getting silver and everyone else got gold. They each got one of both colors and the girl with the fastest time got one extra gold. You could always just use gold and eliminate the silver.