Dinner Service Activity

My partner had a baby a few months ago so the girls and I made dinner for her family.  We kept the menu simple in order to be done on time and not have any hiccups.

Each girl, or a team of girls, was assigned a job.  I'll share some of those jobs below.

Main dish-

Six Sisters 20 Minute Skillet Lasagna

 Jobs-
Brown meat
Prepare pasta water
Cook pasta
Measure spices and other ingredients
Stir in pasta sauce
Stir in spices and other ingredients
Add pasta to sauce and meat

Sides-

Garlic bread
Jobs-
Slice bread
Butter bread
Sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan cheese
Wrap in foil
Broil

Italian Salad-
Jobs-
Prepare lettuce
Cut salami, red onion, Roma tomatoes and black olives
Add parmesan cheese
Add croutons
Add prepared ingredients

*I generally dress the salad upon serving so we just put the desired amount into a small container so the family could dress it as they desired.

Dessert-

Rice Krispie Treats

Jobs-
Measure ingredients
Melt butter (I use a 1/2 cup.  It results in ooey-gooey treats!)
Prepare pan
Stir in cereal
Press into pan

Halloween Ideas

I love ORIENTAL TRADING.com they have the cutest and funnest ideas for parties and holiday kits! Great for any holiday, and some of them are really inexpensive if you plan ahead. The girls had a ball making these little ghosts.

Here is the old popcorn hand that most everyone knows how to make but if you add red food coloring to the mix or make carmel popcorn and add red food coloring you have red popcorn- Then you can attach a note that says
"YOU'VE BEEN CAUGHT RED HANDED SERVING OTHERS" . (or being good, or going the extra mile, etc. etc) and give to any bishopric, primary presidency, or anyone you want to spotlight.

"GREAT IDEA FOR FAMILY HOME EVENING"

You have been BOO"D is a popular thing to do in most neighborhoods during the Halloween holiday. The one that I had the girls do is located at :

http://strongarmor.blogspot.com/search/label/Halloween

You can download and copy and print at this blog site. Great ideas! Love it!

We did the "Halloween Phantom" it was so much fun! The girls made goodie bags
and we copies off two ghosts and two papers to go with it- and the girls picked 2 families that they wanted to Boo- They knocked and ran and left their goodies by the door from the Halloween phantom! Great thing they could do for FHE!

Firework Pens

What a fun way to celebrate the Fourth of July.  How about a lesson on freedom and then making these super easy and cheap pens.

I know I have seen the garland at the Dollar Store.  Pick up a pack of pens and a few strands of garland and for a few bucks you have a fun activity!

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!

Activity Repeat

This is the first time I have ever repeated an activity but I felt it was well worth it.  One of the first activities I did was clean the nursery toys with the girls.  Since most of them have moved on (and after spending some time in nursery the other day and seeing the toys get put in lots of mouths) I felt like it was okay to do this one again.  We went to town cleaning the toys with Clorox wipes and had a great time laughing and chatting about everyone's plans for summer.

(Horrible picture, I know, but I wanted to crop out the girls' whose faces were showing.)

If your ward has big plastic toys (like a kitchen) you could have the girls use shaving cream (outside of the building of course) to clean them.  It would be messy but lots of fun!

After we finished the toys we cleaned the tables, door knobs and cabinets.

When we were all finished we played the Skittles Game that I found on LDS Splash.  The girls had a ball and we laughed and laughed about how silly everyone looked with their mouths full of Skittles.

Service and Valentines

Today we had a Valentines party but also talked to the girls about service.  To start off, we talked about how it feels to serve and asked the girls to share some experiences that they had when someone served them.  We discussed how we may not feel like we are doing very much, we don't know how simple acts of service can really change someone's day.  We then gave each girl instructions to go home and do a secret, simple act of service for someone in their family.  They were each given two hearts to leave behind after they accomplished their service.

Next, we exchanged Valentines.  On our invitation we asked each girl to bring a Valentine to share with each of the other girls.  We made sure they knew that that did not mean they had to go buy something.  We told them it shouldn't be anything fancy, just creative.  Not all of the girls were able to bring some, and that was no big deal!  They still received some and were happy.  We only had one girl that brought store bought cards, all of the others made theirs.  It was great to see how different they were.  One girl used her mom's stamps, another used printer paper and highlighters and another used glitter glue to decorate cardstock.  They were all so diverse.

To end, we all gathered in the kitchen and decorated sugar cookies.  The girls had a great time frosting and laughing.  We had a great time and no one left empty handed.

Baking, Ornaments and Secret Santa

My girls requested (begged might be a better word) to do Secret Santa for a few families this year. We chose to do a family that is currently investigating the church, their Primary teacher and another Primary leader that they all love, the chorister. When they arrived I had everything laid out and ready to go. I laid it out in "stations" so that it was totally chaotic- although some chaos is to be expected!

We had a number of things planned to make but because of time didn't get to do them all. We split the girls in two teams so one half could help bake and the other could work on their craft.

The first baking half made these: (keep in mind while looking at them that the girls did these all on their own!)

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Ritz Crackers
(It wouldn't be right if I didn't give the credit to my Grandma for this one. She has been making them all my life.)

All you need is Ritz Crackers, peanut butter, melted baking chocolate and sprinkles.
One girl spread the peanut butter between to crackers, one dipped them in the chocolate (you could also do white chocolate) and one of the younger ones topped them with sprinkles.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Before they arrived I made these cookies out of a Betty Crocker mix. Of course, I would have liked to be homemade but it worked out just fine. We just used melted white coating, then one girl dipped half the cookie in and another sprinkled crushed candy canes on top.

The second group of girls helped make Cinnamon Milk. This stuff if so yummy! My mom's friend makes it for our family every year and I always look forward to it. So, thanks for the recipe Helen!

The girls helped measure out the ingredients, stir it up, fill the bags, tie them shut and add the instructions. We ended up adding 10 cups of milk, 5 cups of creamer and sugar and 2 1/2 tbs. of cinnamon. Then the girls scooped them into the clear party bags (we used a tea cup and each bag got 2 scoops) and tied them up. To add the instructions we just cut them out and taped them to the front. We were in too much of a hurry to get out the door so I didn't get a picture of the final product. We had enough for each of our Secret Santa families and for the girls each take one home. 12 bags total.

I wrote poems to attach to the goody plate just so that the person receiving them could know where they came from. (I know, it sort of defeats the purpose of the whole Secret Santa thing, but I would want to know!) The first poem is appropriate for teachers, bishops, etc. and the second was written for the investigator family. It is more generic and could really be used for anyone.

Besides doing Secret Santa gifts we also wanted the girls to have something to take home. My partner helped them make the cutest little snowman ornaments. She had everything cut and ready to go so all the girls had to do was assemble. She did great! It was so simple and they loved it. If I can find the instructions I will add the link.I know that I am adding this a little late in the month, but maybe this will help you plan for next year! And now that the holidays are winding down we will be going back to 2 one hour activities a month. We have lots of good ideas to share!

Thanksgiving Activity

The other day we held a 2 hour activity because we are only able to have one this month. Once all of the girls arrived and our spotlight, attendance, etc. was done we loaded them up in our cars (consider asking Mom's for help if you need more seat belts) and took them to the Temple. We didn't tell them what we would be doing until we arrived. Once we gathered them all around one of the leaders discussed what kind of service we do in the Temple and that we would be able to serve the people that were inside serving. We split up into groups and washed the windshields of the cars in the parking lot. Once they were clean we slipped this little saying until the wiper blade: "Because of your faithfulness in serving today at the temple you will see your way "home" more clearly. Thanks for serving so lovingly." (From SugarDoodle.)

Once finished we met up and gave each girl a pebble and a candy for this activity. They were to eat their candy and walk back to the cars and once there we questioned them on how their walk was. Each girl said something like "hard" or "painful." One leader read this quote "Sometimes we cannot recognize our sweet blessings because we are dwelling on the "pebble in our shoe" and discussed with them that although they had candy all they could think about was the pebble in their shoe. Each girl got a copy of the quote.

The Temple is only about a 10 minute drive from where we were meeting so once we got back we still had about an hour to fill. We played Thanksgiving Pictionary where each girl took a turn drawing something they were thankful for.

After Pictionary the girls wrote a letter to someone that they were thankful for. They wrote to teachers, parents, friends, etc.

Once the girls were done we gathered in a circle to play another gratitude game. Starting with the letter A, we went in a circle each taking the next letter in the alphabet naming something we were thankful for until we came to Z.

This activity could be done as two separate ones very easily! If you are still looking for a Thanksgiving activity you could simply use some of the ideas from the second half. The first activity is a great one to do on it's own anytime!

Ronald McDonald House Service Project

Tonight's activity comes from here, a great cause. We wanted to make cards and fringed fleece blankets to donate.

Here's the rundown. (I was so mad when I realized I didn't have my camera! Pictures would have been so nice!)

Preparation:

For the blankets: Wal-Mart just happened to have a sale on solid color fleece so we grabbed just over a yard of both pink and blue and were able to get 2 blankets out of each yard. Sure, they aren't very big, but they are just big enough to comfort a child. The blankets are so easy to make, but just in cause you aren't sure how it's done, check this out.

For the cards: My partner gets all the credit for this! She worked so hard to create a good system that wouldn't result in mass chaos and a huge mess. What she came up with worked great! Using a circuit cutter she cut out tons of different sayings (everything from "thinking of you" to "get well soon" to "love") and shapes (everything from monkeys and giraffes to hearts and stars.) Then she labeled sandwich baggies according to what was inside, i.e. animals, planes, flowers, etc.

Set-up: We needed more room than normal for this activity so we used the Primary Room. We set up 3 round tables and 1 long one. The round tables were for the girls and the long table had all of the paper and cutouts on it. We laid out all of the baggies on one end (there must have been at least 30!) and the paper on the other. Since we had the perfect size scraps lefts over from the journals we gave them for this activity, pretty much everything was pre-cut and just the right size for cards.

Once all of the girls arrived we talked about what the Ronald McDonald house is and how it blesses families. Then we explained what we would be doing and where the cards and blankets would be going.

The girls came to the table and chose 1 paper at a time and a few coordinating cut outs. They were able to make as many cards as they pleased and once finished sat on the floor and worked on tying the blankets with the other girls that had finished.

It went so smoothly! I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised at how cute the cards came out! At the end of the night we had 38 cards, 4 blankets and 18 very happy girls.

Babysitting

Today with the 10-11 year old girls I had a babysitting lesson. I adapted some of these ideas and came up with the rest on my own.

A few weeks ago I told the girls that we would be having this lesson and told them that they would need to be on the lookout for an old bag of any kind (purse, backpack, etc...) that they could bring. Here are the invitations that I handed out so that you can see how I worded the reminder. Although most of the girls said that they already had something in mind when I told them to be looking for a bag, I didn't want anyone to feel like they had to have something spectacular. After all, it's what's inside that counts, right?

I made each girl a personalized Babysitting Guide using a simple folder (the cheap paper ones) that included these things:

Add to your Kit
Babysitting Games
Safety First
Bee a great sitter

*Update I do not have access to these forms in Word. This posting is from an old Activity days Leader. Sorry! Please check Wendy's Activities Blog for more babysitting ideas and downloads!

I also added a few sheets of notebook paper (for notes, tic-tac-toe, phone numbers and so on) and a few coloring pages. I was going to buy dollar store coloring books for each girl but decided to print a few for each of them and then give them a few fun links (which can be found on the Add to your Kit list) where they can print more. They loved the idea!

I also glued a small emergency phone list on the inside pocket. The numbers included 911, Poison Control, the non-emergency number for the police and fire department and the closest hospital.

I wanted to include a basic first aid handout that the local fire station give out but they were all out. It's a handy little flyer geared toward kids that tells you what do to in all kind of emergencies. If you can get your hands on some, they would be great to add!

We discussed the Safety First, Add to your Kit and Bee a Great Sitter handouts and quickly reviewed most of the points. As we went along they asked questions about babysitting and believe it or not, we had a great discussion going!

After we had talked I gave them the rest of the items that I had for their kits:
(Keep in mind that it's a great time to stock up on crayons, glue, scissors, etc.)

Band-aids
Craft items like crayons and glue
Cotton Ball Game items

On the Babysitting Games handout it teaches you how to play a game with cotton balls. I gave each girl a few cotton balls and a long piece of yarn. At the end of the activity we played the game so that they would know how it worked.

They all said that they learned something new and were very excited! 2 of the 9 girls (the older ones of the group) currently babysit for me every now and them and at the end of the activity almost every one of them asked if they could babysit my kids tomorrow! One of them even called me when she got home! I hope I didn't start something!

UPDATE: Wendy, over at Wendy's Activities came up with these great PDF's. Most of the information from my original documents are included and them some. I do not have these files in Word. Sorry!

Bee a Great Sitter
Safety First
Important Information
Babysitting Games
Songs to Sing
Add to your Kit

Flat Stanley

*Thank you to Jessica for submitting this fun idea!

I downloaded the healdess Flat Stanley template from here. The girls then decorated the Flat Stanley (as a girl, of course) in modest outfits they designed using craft paper. I took a close up picture of each of the girls and after the pictures are printed, they will cut out their own head and paste it to the body.

I typed a short "About Me" page (What is your favorite food?... etc.) for them to fill out after they were done decorating.

We will be sending our Flat people and "About Me" letters to another Activity Days group, in another ward, in a different state. The ward there will write a letter detailing what the flat people did with them at their Activity Day and take some pictures to send back. The girls were all super excited about this whole project!!!

Fire Station Tour

Today we took our girls to the local fire station. It was great! The head EMT is in our ward and was able to give us a great tour. I highly recommend this activity! Just call ahead to schedule a time and be aware that there is a chance that they could have to leave for a call.

Our guide let our girls slide down the pole, showed us the living quarters, gave us a few handouts, a tour of an ambulance and much more.

The best part was when they had me get on the stretcher and the girls got to buckle me up and watch me get loaded up into an ambulance. They thought it was great!

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.

Rice Bag Feet Warmers

These rice bag feet warmers are a great way for the girls to help out a local nursing home. Help the girls assemble them for one activity and deliver them for another.

Father-Daughter Dinner

Let the girls help in preparing a fun meal for their dads. Have a theme, have some games and use these conversation cards.

Cleaning Nursey Toys

We took our girls down to the Church and pulled out all of the nursery toys. Then using Clorox wipes we wiped down every single toy! The girls actually had a good time and it was fun to chat while we worked. Plus, as a Mom with nursery age kids I was so grateful!

Bracelets and Nursing Homes

Have the girls make bracelets and take them to a local nursing home. Be sure to call ahead and make sure it is okay that you come. Prepare the girls by explaining what a nursing home is and why people are there.

It was great to see how excited the ladies were to get their bracelets and to see the girls talk with them. Even though they are so young they were really touched.

You could even have the girls sing a few songs before you leave.

Feeding the Missionaries

We let the girls prepare an entire meal for the missionaries and they loved it! We had the kitchen set up in "stations" and assigned the girls to each station ahead of time. That way we knew they they could handle the task and each girl would have something to do.

We made Chicken Parmesan, Salad, Breadsticks and had ice cream sandwiches for dessert.

Here are a few examples of the stations:

*Grate cheese
*Pound chicken
*Cut tomatoes
*Make dough
*Melt butter
*Shred lettuce
*Cook Pasta

We were able to put teams at a few of the stations which worked out great because those were also planned ahead of time to avoid any bickering or contention.

Since we only had 1 hour to get it all done we really had to move quickly, but the girls did great! Unfortunately the girls were not able to eat with the missionaries this time, but they still had a great time and asked lots of questions later about how they like it. It would be great it they could eat with them and ask them questions about missionary life over dinner.