Budget and some NO COST Activities!

Just saying the word budget kind of makes ya cringe huh?! Working with a budget in Activity days is tricky sometimes. I have received some emails asking about our budget. I will share with you my wards budget and I hope this doesn't create any hurt feelings. In my ward we have 2 groups totaling 16 girls. We get 45 cents per girl per activity for our budget. We also have been told not to use our own money! That is the hardest part for me. But the reason for this is to make it so that the person after us doesn't feel like they have to spend their own money to do fun activities. We also get a $75 budget for the mother/Daughter and Daddy/Daughter activity.

To work with these guidelines I try to do several FREE activities and then do one that costs money. Also, if I have supplies for an activity at my home I use them and I don't turn in a receipt for it. I consider it a donation. There are lots of fun things you can do with your girls that don't cost money like...

-Going for a bike ride

-visiting a church history site

-Taking a tour of different work places and seeing what they do

-Cleaning the sacrament trays

-Doing yard work for a neighbor

-Learning how to garden at your house! Let the girls help with your yard work!

-Having an Article-of-faith-a-thon (more details on that soon)

-Learning how to sew with leftover fabric scraps from ward members(we printed dot to dot papers for practice)

-Learning to play a new sport

-Visiting the temple visitors center and watching a movie there

-Doing a recipe exchange

-Writing letters to missionaries

-Writing to pen pal's (more on this soon to come)

-Learning to bake bread (I'm already making this each week so why not let them help and learn. You could even use some of the bread for the sacrament on Sunday)

-Swim party or splash pad-cosider inviting a life guard from your local pool to teach the girls safety tips. we did this and it was a hit!)

-Visit a bank and learn about budgeting and how the bank is ran. They might even have free giveaways for your girls

-Visit someone with animals like horses and have them share how to care for them Make sure to get permission slips if any riding takes place.

Think about your ward and the skills people have and consider having someone come to talk about what they do.

I do lots of these simple activities and the girls actually love them just as much as making a craft or doing something that costs money. SIMPLIFY your Activity DAYS and spend more time getting to know your girls. You will find a lot of enjoyment even on a small budget!

What is your budget? I would like to know. Please share in the comments your ideas for NO COST Activities so we can all benefit!

Giving Back

My sister recently did an activity that is worth sharing.  She called up her town Parks and Rec department and asked if that would give her girls a tour of the Town Hall.  They were happy to oblige and after the tour was over the girls were able to plant flowers (provided by the town) around the Hall.  They had a great time.

Even a tour of the City Hall or a local government building would be great!

Portable Flower Pots

In a few weeks we plan on doing an activity about self-reliance and gardening.  We've instructed the girls to come up with a 2 liter pop bottle and bring it to the activity so we can do something similar to this.  (More to come about this after this activity is complete!)
 
And this morning when I saw Pioneer Woman's Blast from the Past post, I thought this would make a treat to serve at the end!

 (Photo from Pioneer Woman)

You could also do dirt and worms if you don't want to get too fancy.

(Photo from Kraft Foods)

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.

Ice Cream in a Bag

I know it's not summer yet but this is a great one if you are trying to plan ahead. Here's an easy recipe that doesn't take too long.

For each girl you will need:

1/2 cup milk or half and half )
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup rock salt
ice
2 quart sized Freezer Zip-loc bags (could use smaller bags)
1 gallon Freezer size Zip-loc bags
hand towel or winter gloves to keep little fingers from freezing

Mix the milk, sugar and vanilla together in one of the quart sized bags. Seal, removing as much air from the bag as possible. Place this bag inside the other quart sized bag, remove air and seal (double bagging to prevent leaking and insuring success). Put the two bags inside the gallon sized bag along with the ice (we filled the bag with ice) and then about 1/4 cup rock salt. Remove air and seal tightly. Wrap the bag in the towel or put your gloves on, and shake, shake, shake.

This takes 15 minutes or so to freeze.

*Recipe courtesy of skiptomylou.org

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.