What Makes You Beautiful Activity

So I found this super cute video on youtube, a lipsync version of "What Makes You Beautiful" by the Young Men in the stake that they made for the girls to watch at camp.  I loved the message and the idea that what makes our girls beautiful is their desire to do right.  So I based this whole activity on this concept and also the 13th Article of Faith.  We have a couple of girls turning 12 this year and this fulfills one of the requirements for Preparing for Young Women.  

This video is on youtube.  There are several other versions-all of them are great!  This one didn't have as many buffering issues!

First of all, we talked about what beauty is.  What did the girls think was beautiful?  What does the world think is beautiful?  How are they different?  I read them this quote:

You can find the beautifulquote  here.  It is a jpg of two sized for 81/2x11.

Then we split into two groups.  One group worked on this questionnaire:

    You can find this mirror printable here.

The second group made this tiara.  It is printable!  We just cut them out and then added some adhesive rhinestones where ever they wanted.  

         
You can find the tiara printable here.



Then we took a picture in the "beauty booth".  I just took a trifold display board, like for science fairs, but it was PINK!  (Hobby Lobby, if you want to know where I got it.)  I simply added the caption  Be-"You"-Tiful and then the attributes listed in the 13th article of faith.  Here are a couple of shots of my own girls.

We finished the evening off by watching the video and choosing some treats from our candy bar-I labeled several different treats with "praiseworthy", "of good report", "virtuous", etc. 

They took their treats home in these little takeout boxes I ordered a million years ago and hadn't used yet.  They are small, so it wasn't like they took home a ton of candy.  I just taped on a little label found here with some cute washi tape.  Easy peasy.  BTW, there are some other super cute printables of the 13th article of faith at that site.

My awesome partner brought some cupcakes as well, but you could just do the candy bar.  I like the idea of choosing/seeking after--you could do a much bigger display than we did.  It was a simple activity that got the girls thinking about something important with a little bit of fun.  Enjoy!

Who is Your Scripture Superhero?

A couple of weeks ago, we did a scripture superhero activity.  I asked the girls to think about who was their scripture superhero and be prepared to talk about their superpower. ( I made these little invitations with clip art from the ldsblogtrain.  They did a month of scripture hero digital art.  Supercute!  And free, although some of the links no longer work. )

For a snack, we kept it "super"simple and just bagged up some cookies-to-go with a cute bag topper.  I also sent the girls home with mini notebooks and printed some of these covers and adhered them to each one.  They were little scripture journals for them to write their thoughts in as they read the scriptures.

So, on to the activity:  

After opening song, Scripture Power, of course, and prayer, I shared a quick message.  I used a talk by Pres. Ezra Taft Benson, called In His Steps, as my basis.  He talks about how there is a great battle going on and how we need to fight.  "Great battles can make great heroes, but heroes will make great battle.  You will never have a better opportunity to be a greater hero in a more crucial battle than in the battle you will face today and in the immediate future."  You can find the talk here.  

I then asked each girl to tell us who her scripture hero was and what his/her superpower was.  I was amazed at the insight of these little girls as they shared.  Here are a few examples:

Ammon showed up several times.  He had superpowers of service, obedience, and work.  One of those girls said his superpower was doing what he was asked to do!  That is truly an amazing character trait nowadays!

Nephi was a hero because he was humble after he broke his bow and went to the prophet to ask where he should go to find food.  The girl who shared this said his superpower was not murmuring.  I wish I had that one!

Ruth was a hero because she followed her mother-in-law to a different place.  Her superpower was courage.

Esther was brave.

Joseph Smith was a superhero because he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  His superpower was that he knew he could talk to God.

Moroni, the son of Mormon, was a superhero because he stayed faithful and righteous all his life, and all on his own.

When everyone had a turn, we used these little "capes" to write some goals and ways that we could be like our superhero. 

I have to say, this is probably my favorite activity we have had so far.  It was super simple, but the spirit was so strong as the girls talked about the people they loved in the scriptures and shared the qualities they admired.  I know it is really fun to do crafty things with fun games and super snacks, but sometimes all you need is the gospel.  These sweet girls are truly amazing in their capacity to learn and understand the gospel!  Depending on how many girls you have, you may want to add a couple of different activities.  We had about 14, so it took our entire time to just do a couple of things.  I thought maybe a superhero obstacle course would be fun-maybe make a lego tower with a sign that says "temptation" on it for them to leap over.  Maybe some giant "barbells"  made of styrofoam balls and a dowel with labels of  "trials" and "adversity" on it.  I am sure there is a lot you could do!  Enjoy!

P.S.  You should be able to click on the images above and then right click and save.  They are made to print on 81/2x 11, but they are jpegs, so hopefully you can resize them for whatever you need.  If not, email me!  

here is the invite in word so you can put a text box with your details on it.  Email me if it doesn't work!

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