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 ;)

LDS Blog Train Post: Pumpkins and Pompoms!

So, we have been invited to participate in the LDS Blog Train: General Conference Version!  I am excited, and more than a little intimidated, since I am NOT a digital designer.  However, I put on my thinking cap to come up with some simple activities that I thought would be enjoyable for not only AD girls, but little ones, as well.  Here is what I came up with-

General Conference Pumpkins and Pompoms

I love fall, harvest and Halloween!  You can use any of those themes to keep your little conference attendees paying attention.  

One great craft item that often gets overlooked is the humble pompom. 

You can buy a bag of them for just a couple of dollars.  And then, what, you ask?  Well, I will tell you!  

Idea #1:  Use THIS printable sheet of visuals and have the listeners cover each picture as they hear the topic mentioned.  You can use it as a bingo card, or have them cover the whole thing.

Idea #2:  Cut up the printable sheet of visuals and pick a few to tape onto small jars or buckets.  Whenever that topic is spoken of, the listeners can place a pompom into the container.  Or, go nuts, and use all the pictures for 15 different containers!  

Idea #3:  Assign each listener a key word, like "Jesus" or "faith".  Also, assign them a specific color of pompom.  When they hear their key word, they can put a pompom into their jar.  Having their own color just helps keep the pom stashes more equitable-intermixing of pom poms has been known to cause meltdowns. 

You can decide how to "reward" your listeners.  They may enjoy just filling up their cards or jars.  You might want to hand out a treat when they have reached a minimum level.  Hopefully, this activity will be flexible enough for both kids and moms to enjoy!

Now, on to the pumpkins!

Like I said, I am not a digital scrapbook designer, but I know how to shop on etsy!  And I used a kit I purchased on there to make a jack-o-lantern kit for conference.  **I did buy this with a commercial license included for personal use and also to make my own products, but just to be safe, please don't resell any part of this printable.  Thanks!** 


Build-a-jack pdf

This jack-o-lantern kit comes with pumpkins, noses, eyes, mouths, and also, some stems.  You can cut out the different parts of the jack-o-lantern and put them in different containers labeled with key words.  During each talk or session of conference, have your listeners build their jack-o-lantern by listening for the key words. Or give them a new piece for every 5 minutes they sit still.  Or give them a new piece for every 10 minutes they go without asking you for a drink.  Get out the kitchen timer!   Or you could even do this on the fly-for instance, telling your kids they can get a nose, if they hear President Uchtdorf say the word airplane or flying!  

Don't want to cut anything out?  Then next time you are anywhere near walmart, hobby-lobby, target, or any other store that sells halloween supplies, look for a kit that has pumpkins already cut out.  They are everywhere! 

I found mine at hobby-lobby, and grabbed a couple of sheets of adhesive-backed foam that I can have the kids cut up into jack-o-lantern features of their own design.  If you REALLY don't want to cut anything out, have them draw the pumpkin faces on with a water-based marker.  Easy-peasy.  

The only other thing you really need is some candy. Well, in my house, we do.  I need rewards to sit still for that long.  :) Oh, and comfy pjs!  Hope you enjoy conference this weekend!  

Go HERE for the build-a-jack PDF.

Go HERE for the conference bingo sheet.

You just came from granny enchanted.

Your next stop will be countdown to conference.  If you get lost along the way, go to the LDS Blog Train.

My Body is a Temple

This is a super cute picture from overstuffedlife.com.  I love her design and the message is inspiring!  I made this graphic into a print 4-to-a-page pdf.  You can find it here .We did an activity last spring ( I know, I am really behind-more on that later) that incorporated this theme.  We talked about how important it is to take care of our bodies and what Heavenly Father expect us to do with them.  You could take this lesson in several different directions.  We chose to do fitness.  So we went outside and played some games.  We did relays involving jumping rope, running, skipping, jumping jacks, etc.  

When the girls were nice and worn out, we had some of this:

Yummy fruit salsa!

And....

cinnamon tortilla chips!  Yummm!!!

This was a delicious healthy snack, easy to prep beforehand, and we make it all the time at my house now.  Here is the recipe (from allrecipes.com):

Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips

2 kiwis, peeled and diced 2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced 8 ounces raspberries 1 pound strawberries 2 tablespoons white sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar 3 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor 10 (10 inch) flour tortillas butter flavored cooking spray 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, Golden Delicious apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.
2.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3.	Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray.
4.	Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

2 kiwis, peeled and diced

2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored

and diced

8 ounces raspberries

1 pound strawberries

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

3 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor

10 (10 inch) flour tortillas

butter flavored cooking spray

2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

1.

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, Golden Delicious apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.

2.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

3.

Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray.

4.

Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

-

A Few More General Conference Resources

A couple more cute resources for conference weekend!  You may not use these for an activity ahead of conference, but these might work for a review of conference.    Enjoy!


This is a super cute idea from somewhatsimple.com.  You can find the link  HERE



NEW conference packets for this fall from sugardoodle.net.  Find the link HERE





Great journaling and question cards from ldsnest.  Find the link HERE.



Question/note cards from belindasgreatideas.  So cute!  The link is HERE.

PJ Party AD kickoff!

So tonight we had our first Activity Days activity of the school year!  It was super easy and fun!  I thought it would be great to have a pajama party, mostly because I love being in my pajamas!  The girls came all dressed up in cute pjs and some of them even brought their american girl dolls with matching pjs!  Crazy!  We had a short lesson on what the word "breakfast" means.  We talked about how important it is to nourish our bodies every day.  Then we discussed 2 Ne. 31:20 and Moroni 6:4.  We discussed the difference between feasting, snacking, nibbling, and just looking at the menu.  We all committed to read our scriptures every day for a month.  I made a little chart for them to keep track(-it is actually just a four-week one, but I figure that way they can still complete it if they just read 28 days total).

Scripture chart can be found HERE

We played two games:  5 Little Monkeys and the PJ Relay.  Five little monkeys is a version of musical chairs.  Everyone stood in a circle with a paper plate on the ground to mark their spot.  You don't have to use a plate, I just thought it would be easier than making something.  We then chanted the 5 little monkeys rhyme while the girls walked around in a circle.  At the point where it says "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" I removed one plate.  Then the girls had to race for a spot.  The girl who was out went to the monkey "hospital" and we started again, this time with "4 little monkeys...."  I tried to keep it unpredictable by changing the number of plates I took away.  Sometimes I just removed one; sometimes I removed 3 or 4 at a time.

this super cute cake was found at andeverythingsweet.blogspot.com

The second game we played was the PJ Relay.  I just took two pj shirts and two pj bottoms out of my husband's drawer and two outdoor chairs.  I placed eacj set of  pjs on a chair.  We divided into two teams.  The first girl in line had to race to the chair, put on the pajamas, run back to the starting line, take them off, and then hand them to the next girl in line.  She raced to the chair, put on the pjs, ran back, took them off... you get the idea.  It was mucho fun!

For refreshments we had a yogurt parfait bar.  I just scooped some yogurt into a cup and they choose a topping or two-granola, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.  Super easy and not too sugary!

The girls took home a cereal box favor with a reminder to study their scriptures.

Here is the jpeg.  I put these on those mini boxes of cereal you can buy in packs of 8, and tied a spoon on with a ribbon.

Find the pdf HERE

Hope this gets some creative juices flowing!  

Tami

Conference Goodness

Okay, I know this is after the fact, but we did a Conference Activity Day the week before General Conference.  I thought I would go ahead and share what we did, because six months from now, we will have conference again!  Let me start by saying that none of these ideas are original, and I hope that I give credit to the right people.  Thanks for sharing all of your amazing ideas with the rest of us!

We started off with a review of the song, Latter Day Prophets.  You can just grab the pix off of lds.org and use the prophets' pictures for your visual aids.  Next, we divided into two groups and played two different games.  The first group played a version of Don't Eat Pete, which we cleverly renamed Don't Eat the Apostle!  Or, you could also say Prophet, since they are all prophets, seers, and revelators.  We used this great picture of the First Presidency and the Twelve as our game board, found on Pinterest. I think you can just click on this and save it, since it is a jpeg.  If not, click here for the googledoc.

For those of you who have never played this game, here are the rules:

1.  Place a piece of candy on every picture.
2.  One person, who is "it", leaves the room.
3.  Everyone else decides who shouldn't be "eaten"
4.  The person who is "it" comes back and as they pick up candy, they name the apostle underneath.  If they pick the apostle who shouldn't be eaten, everyone yells, "Don't Eat the Apostle"!
5.  Repeat until you are all deaf.

The second group played memory with these cards
from a year of FHE

These cards are great, because they not only have a picture of all the apostles, but there is an interesting fact on each one.

We also learned all the apostles names, in order of seniority, while pointing at their picture and singing their names to the tune of the  "Books of the Book of Mormon" song.  You can find a picture of the Apostles in order, like this one, also here at A Year of FHE. 

To finish off the night, we played 1st Presidency Fruit Basket!  I gave each of the girls a picture of one of the members of the First Presidency.  Luckily, it was warm enough to play outside, because this got a little rowdy!

I sent each girl home with this great Conference Activity Packet that I got from sugardoodle.

.  It was a great way to prepare for General Conference and become more familiar with the prophet and the leaders of our church.  Enjoy in six months!  :)

Tami