Good Samaritan Christmas Activity - Serving Others

In the Faith In God Book, this is one of the activities:

Read and discuss the parable of the good Samaritan (see Luke 10:30–37). Plan and complete a service project that helps a family member or neighbor. After completing the project, discuss how it helped your faith grow stronger.

30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.  33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

This actually makes for a really great skit.You'll need a few young, aspiring actresses and the following (this is what we used, but you can be creative and use whatever comes to mind!):

1. Traveler - Suitcase and fake money

2. Thieves - Black hat and sunglasses. I had a blow-up bat that we used to "wound" the traveler. 

3. Priest - A necklace with a cross on it. I made ours out of foam and yarn but paper would work just fine too. 

4. Levite - Kitchen towel as head cover and material to tie down

5. Good Samaritan - Kitchen towel as head cover and material to tie down 

6. Innkeeper - just any work badge with "Innkeeper" written on a piece of paper and taped over. 

Other props: Bandage, bottle labelled "Oil and Wine", and two road signs made out of green construction paper.. one for Jericho and the other for Jerusalem. 

The skit doesn't take much time... maybe about 15 minutes. After the skit, you can spend the rest of the time brainstorming on a way that we can listen to Jesus and "do thou likewise" for the next activity days. Or if time permits, you can use the rest of the time actually doing the service... like maybe delivering cookies, making a craft or filling out Christmas cards for members in the ward. You can have the girls bake cookies and bring them to the activity but not let them know what you'll be doing with them until after the skit!

Christmas Cards

Thanksgiving Minute To Win It

Minute to Win It - Thanksgiving style! Hopefully this is a fun way to celebrate Thanksgiving and get the girls to think about what we can be thankful for! This does take some prep work... paper cutting and taping. However, if you don't want to play all 6 games, you can choose which ones of these you want to do.... maybe based on the materials you already have without having to go to a store!





1. Coco Dunk - Place the “Candy Wrappers” on the Treasures and/or the Reese’s. Allow each participant to choose 6 pieces of candy. Since the candy is labeled, they get to choose what they are thankful for. The participant must place the spoon in their mouth and then once the timer has started, they pick the candy up with their spoon. The person who can “dump” the most candy in a cup and then remove it from the cup within a minute, wins.

 


2. Suck It Up - Allow each participant to choose about 10 pieces of paper (each with something to be thankful for). Have pieces of paper and a straw on one table and then a cup about 10 feet away on another table.  Using the straw, the participant must suck the paper from the first table to their cup. The person who can get the most papers in the cup in a minute, wins.

3. Hit It - Line the participants and elastic bands up about 10 feet away from empty water bottles. The person to hit the most bottles and knock them down in one minute wins!

4. Trunk Junk - Tape the elastic band or belt onto the Kleenex box onto the opposite side of the opening. Fold the trunk junk papers into accordions, and place into box. These papers have things that perhaps we wouldn't be so grateful for... and would want to "get them out of our trunk". Participant ties the box around their waist, with the back to their back and jumps to get the paper out of the box. The person to get the most out in a minute, wins.

5. Hot Balloon - Each participant must keep 2 balloons in the air for an entire minute. Perhaps you can ask each participant to choose two things that they are grateful for, and each balloon represents one of them.

6. Oreo Face - The first person to get an Oreo from their forehead to their mouth without using any hands in a minute, wins. My "thanksgiving" tie-in here is simple... I'm just grateful for yummy Oreo's!!

There's points awarded for each activity (written on the activity card) and once everyone has had a turn with each activity, you can award the first, second and third place champion!

I tried picking games where the items would be commonly found in any home. Hopefully the only things that would need to be specially purchased are the Treasures, Reese's and Oreo's (although those are also commonly found in my home!)