Snow globe Service Activity

Our December activities go hand in hand but will be done in two parts.  Part one was making snow globes and practicing Christmas carols.  Part two will be the service portion where we will deliver the globes and sing carols to residents at a local nursing home.

To make the snow globes, we used:

Babyfood jars
Gold and silver spray paint
Mini ornaments
Glycerin
Distilled water
Artificial snow
Hot glue

Of course, you can improvise as needed.

Here is a video that explains the process.

A few tips:

*Make one to use as an example.  This will eliminate a learning curve during the activity :)
*Fill the jar to the brim with water.  The girls who didn't do this had air bubbles and the snow would not fall, it stayed on the top, near the air pocket.
*We spray painted our lids gold and silver to color the Gerber markings
*Glue the lid shut.
*We didn't sand the inside of the lid, but I think it would be helpful and ensure the trinkets stay attached.
*She recommends epoxy but hot glue worked just fine
*We opted for babyfood jars because not only does it keep the over all cost down, but it also takes up less space for the nursing home patients.

Once the jars were complete, we used tissue paper and ribbon to wrap up the snow globes.  I recommend wrapping them with the lid on the top, just in case they leak :)

We bought supplies for 16 snow globes and it cost less than $20.00:
16 jars (30 cents each)
Mini ornaments (they came in sets of six and nine and cost $1.98 each)
Glycerin ($3.88)
Snow ($2.50)


When everyone completed their wrapping, we practiced a few carols.  One girl even volunteered to bring her violin along to play a song for the residents.  I was very impressed that the girls were so excited to deliver their gifts and sing.  I think it will be a treat for everyone!

Quick Christmas Activities

I LOVE Christmas.  Maybe because my birthday is really close to Christmas day.  Maybe it's all the sugar!  I think it's probably all the extra love we feel because of the great gift we have been given by our Heavenly Father.  We want to share that love with each other.  One thing I love to do with my family, and with whomever I am working with in my current calling is to refocus on "Christ in Christmas".  Here are a couple of simple ideas that might help with that.

This one is from no time for flashcards.  If you go to her site, she had her children fill out little clue cards for each member of the nativity.  They read a story about the nativity.  Then the kids went and hid the pieces of the nativity.  They sent the mom on the scavenger hunt to find each piece.  They got to teach her about each member of the nativity set.  So sweet.  You could adapt this for AD very easily.  

This one is from myeyeq.

I LOVE this ornament.  She has a free printable on her site.  This is just a clear ball with a little bit of sand and some shells, but it reminds us that Christmas is a joyous time because of everything the Savior did for us, the Sermon on the Mount, Gethsemane, Calvary, and the Resurrection.  I tried to help our YW see this when I taught them this Sunday.  Christmas is Christmas because of Palm Sunday, and Good Friday, and Easter.  

                                                 
                                                      This one is fromlivelaughrowe.
So what does a snowman have to do with this Christ centered Christmas?  I thought this would be a cute and quick gift.  The girls could fill it up with a treat, there are so many pretty varieties of candy this time of year.  Then they can watch this:

                                                                      He is the Gift

Have you seen it yet?  It's very touching.  Have them take a minute and talk about what gift they can give back to the Savior this year.  Then go and give those cute snowmen to someone as a secret santa gift.  Or adapt any of these ideas as you would like.  Or use them to inspire you to go and create and teach your girls!  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Ideas to Consider

I told you I was way behind.  Or way ahead, if you look at it that way!  This is an activity we did last year that was tons of fun!  We printed up these tickets:

You can find an editable powerpoint of this ticket HERE. The version of it in the googledrive is very plainjane, but if you download it and open it in powerpoint, you can change the fonts, etc.  

And handed them out the girls after Primary the week of the activity.  When they came we watched Luke II and then had a short intermission for a hot cocoa and cookie bar.  We had hot chocolate with a variety of toppings: whipped cream, chocolate kisses, mini peanut butter cups, red hots, peppermints, candy canes, marshmallows, and even grasshopper cookies.  They had a lot of fun making their own crazy concoctions!  Then they settled in to watch one of our family faves, a Claymation Christmas.  You could watch anything that is short and appropriate.  We love it because it has a lot of traditional Christmas carols in it and is highly entertaining.  It was a fun way to wind up AD for the season.  You could also send them off with a little something to remind them of the Savior during the hustle and bustle of Christmas.  We really enjoyed the down time and not feeling like we had to check off something.  

True Symbols of Christmas

Here is an idea sent in from one of our readers.  Thanks so much for sharing!  

"I wanted to teach the girls the true symbols of Christmas in the context of an advent calendar. Having twelve girls (and they all come, yeah!) I need to be economical with supplies, so using my geometry compass I cut 7 1/2in circles out of cardboard cereal boxes. Then cut a 4in hole in the center of each to make a wreath.


These I painted green, giving a second coat to the colorful cereal box side.









Once dry I glued on 2" x 2" coin envelopes that I purchased on-line ($6.75 per 100).




I let the girls cut and paste the symbols onto the envelopes (just some clip art I found, I was able to fit three sets on one page) then they cut and inserted a quick blurb on each symbol along with one or two scriptures to read that day. I could only fit nine envelopes per wreath even though I had ten symbols to work with. I left out the wreath symbol but kept the info about it on the paper so they could still have it, perhaps they can glue it to the back since the whole thing is a wreath? Last of all they used my hole punch so they could attach a ribbon and hang up their project. Those who wanted wrote the nine days leading up to Christmas so they could remember which envelop to open each day.

Thanks for sharing, Laura!  I realize this is after the fact, but hopefully it will help out some of you for next year!  Or, you could adapt it for other holidays/projects.  

FHE lesson

This activity is super quick and easy...seriously.  We are having a lesson tonight on a recent talk by the prophet.  I chose the Race of Life from the April session of conference this year.  I am going to share with them the main points of Pres. Monson's talk-the plan of salvation, enduring to the end.  Then we will put together our own file folder for family night.  I printed off a lesson plan which can be found here.  I will have the girls draw their own diagram of the PofS and also jot down any other ideas they have that would specifically work for their family.   The rest of the time we will spend making this super simple ornament
found here

image from http://pinterest.com/pin/143481938099107665/

I am making it even easier for the girls by pre-cutting the red paper, cutting a black belt out of sticky-back felt, and using a tiny piece of gold pipe cleaner for the buckle on the belt.  We have 14-16 girls, so it has to be super simple and self-explanatory or we don't get finished in time.  I will post a pic of a finished one later. Have fun!

Tami

Caroling and Cookies

From ldsclipart.com

Hi there!  My name is Tami and I am the Ad leader as well as the primary chorister in my ward.  I love seeing what everyone else does and "borrowing" their fabulous creativity!  I hope some of the things we do can help someone else!  I know Christmas is over, but maybe this will help for next year.  For our last activity, we went caroling around my neighborhood.  Because we have a large group, we wouldn't fit in even two cars, so my cul-de-sac gets lots of service from us!

First, we practiced singing several carols.  We picked a couple of sacred ones, as well as secular.  Who doesn't want Rudolph sung to them?  Then we headed out the door.

by evanrudemi from photographyblogger.net

I had made a couple of batches of cookies ahead of time. What is caroling without a treat, right?  When the neighbors came to the door, we sang them a couple of songs, and handed them a plate.  We ended with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and then went to the next house.  The girls had a great, giggly time, as usual!

To finish up, we had cider and donuts back at home.  Then we sat and talked about what we could give Jesus for Christmas.  And then what they were giving someone in their family for Christmas.  It was a great way to focus on giving to others and the joy it brings!

Hope you enjoy this activity as much as we did!

Christmas Crafts

I posted previously about my planned Christmas activity.
This shows the story book, ornament (OTC) and a Gumball countdown.
For the gumball countdown I bought bags of wrapped gumballs from the $ store, grabbed some index cards and an old bag of bows. They stapled the gumballs together (or taped) and created the tag for the top. I think this was their favorite part.

This activity filled they 1.5 hours and they loved it!
Note - I had them bring glue guns + the ones we purchased last year so they each had one. Made it much easier!