I CAN BE Qualities - Primary Activity Days Idea to teach empowering qualities - Develop goals and ambitions, Qualities Craft or Card

I have so much I want to say about this activity I don't even know where to start! 

So I have been struggling with anxiety recently - you know, that thing that my brother said he has and I've always believed him and tried to give him the space he needed, but it wasn't until recently (as an adult) that I've dealt with it myself. Conference talks and inspiring messages have a whole new meaning to me! Then when I had a friend share with me that her child has anxiety, I about lost it and still can't quite handle the idea of children dealing such hard feelings! 

I honestly hope everyone does an activity like this. Since I did this with my daughters and a couple of her friends, we have already used these words multiple times to inspire and teach. I really hope these words and their definitions were impressed into their minds and when faced with a situation (like going off a diving board) they can remember just who they CAN be. 

So I did this activity with a group of girls, but this would be great for boys too! 

I made two different "Qualities Worksheets" with slightly different words. 

“Qualities Worksheet Activity” 

Everyone will have their own worksheet in from of them. As each person takes a turn choosing which quality to learn more about, everyone fills out their own worksheet - either "I am doing great" OR "I could be better" as the leader reads the definition. Then the person who chose which quality to learn about  shares a time when they or someone they know has shown that quality - allowing everyone to get to know each other a bit better and share positive stories about themselves and others (this was my favorite part of the activity) Then, have each person chooses 3 words that resonate with them - whether is a quality they are already good at or one they want to work on. They can use these three words to make t-shirts or if you're not planning on making shirts maybe they can use the words for a different craft. 

FOR THE SHIRTS-

If you are budget conscious, think you can make these shirts for about $6 each. I got our stuff at Walmart and they had shirts for cheaper but my daughter came to the store and picked these. If you can catch the shirts on sale a Michaels, I'm pretty sure you can get them for $3.50 each, or the girls plain shirts at Target recently were $4. 

For the iron-on vinyl - we got the pack that was $3.12 from Walmart. The pack came with "86 pieces" and the letters are .75 inches. I think you can get very similar pack on Amazon and pretty much any craft store. Walmart only had 2 packs left so I bought them both and got three shirts out of it, with lots of extra (what's hard is the common letters!). I think you can definitely let 2 girls share 1 pack and should have plenty! 

 

ALTERNATE IDEA - if you aren't up for making shirts, another idea is to let them make a "YOU ARE AMAZING" card for someone in their life... anyone they consider to be their role model. Whether it's a friend whose at the same activity or someone at home. Or they can make an "I am amazing" craft for themselves to remind them how awesome they are!

MOTHER'S DAY IDEA- After learning about the 28 qualities, have the girls make their mom a "You are amazing" card. 

This flower pot craft has petals for every quality in the lesson, plus a bunch extra. 

It was SO much fun seeing what words these girls chose. What's crazy to me is not one quality repeated and they all suited these cute girls so well. 

At the end of the activity, I also handed out these bookmarks so 

hopefully these girls can remember these qualities after the activity!

You can the files for this activity  HERE. 

***If you would like to do this activity and teach kids about empowering/inspiring qualities but don't have it in your budget, please e-mail me. I would love to work something out with you!

Etiquette "Jeoparty", Etiquette Handout and Invitation- Primary Activity Social

Teach Etiquette with a game of "Jeoparty"  - hopefully the kids feel like they are learning while having fun! This activity was my sister's idea... I helped her make it and she said the kids had a total blast! 

I would invite the kids into a room with table and chairs but no place settings- yet. Maybe see how much your children know without any help. Have them set their own table setting and then once everyone has tried, pass out the Etiquette "handout". Allow them to fix their set up and then as the activity continues, allow them to practice good table manners. While the kids are eating (super fun food idea below!) you can play Jeoparty and they can have the hand out to refer to. 

Free invitation. Simply save this picture on your phone. Add the text for
your activity and then you can text or e-mail it to the participants :) 

Jeoparty files have 5 categories with 6 questions in each category. 

 

Pizza Primary Activity - Learn My Gospel Standards while making pizza!

Make Pizza for a primary activity while learning about My Gospel Standards!

Activity Idea:

STEP ONE - Solve the My Gospel Standards Pizza Recipe fill in the blank puzzles. Choose whether you'd rather solve them together in groups or individually,  hard or easy.

STEP TWO - Make Pizza! Once you have the recipe completed, you can make pizzas.

STEP THREE - While pizza is baking, complete My Gospel Standards Trivia page!

STEP FOUR - Eat Pizza!!

Get my files for this activity HERE

Article of Faith Cookies - Spiritual or Intellectual Primary Activity - Make cookies while learning and memorizing the Articles of Faith! Activity Days for Latter Day Saints

SO I know that making cookies is pretty exciting itself and most 7-11 year olds are all about making (and eating cookies) but this adds just enough of a twist that maybe it will get these kids working on their Articles of Faith too! Files for this activity are available HERE

You can either do this activity as more of a group, or have the children work on it individually... depending on what works best for your group. 

I used a "swig" cookie recipe from this website: 

https://vintagerevivals.com/swig-sugar-cookie-recipe-literally-best/

BONUS IDEA: If you have number cookie cutters, have the children make their cookie the number of their favorite article of faith. 

Examples of the "Riddles": 

Answer is butter

Answer is Salt 

Answer is Powdered Sugar 

Once all the riddles have been solved, you should have a complete recipe and be ready to make some cookies! While the cookies are baking, the children can work on this trivia page

To help encourage continued Articles of Faith memorization, I also made these Scripture Cards (sized to fit in standard scriptures)and  Articles of Faith Flashcards. The Scripture Card also has My Gospel Standards on the back (once it's folded)

If you don't have a laminator/key rings, I think stapling the Flashcards into a booklet works great too!

 

Primary Goals Activity - Brain Teaser Challenges while Brainstorming Primary Goal Ideas

 There are a lot of goal ideas/examples listed in the Primary Personal Development book. I wanted to go over those with our youth, but didn't want it to feel boring or like we were just reading together from the book. Really this idea can be adapted to any game, but this is what we are going to do - 

First, I will pass this page out - so while we are playing the game and going over ideas, the youth can maybe jot down a goal that they heard that they liked, or one that they thought of themselves. 

I will have at the front of the room/on the chalkboard. It has all the ideas listed in the book on its own paper facing down, and as we play the game the youth can come up to the board and uncover these goal ideas/examples. The youth will read out to everyone what idea they uncovered. 

I think you can use the idea of uncovering the ideas as you play a game with just about any game (maybe play a card game like spoons if that's easier for ya), but this is the game we are going to play cause I like the idea of "brain teasers while we brainstorm". Just need two dice!

There are 15 brain teaser cards, and 45 goal ideas. I will have the youth turn 3 ideas over each time they come to the board. 

Once all the brain teasers have been played and ideas turned over, I will go over the Primary Personal Development Program by sharing the scripture and components of the program. I will put these papers up on the chalkboard. 

At the end of the lesson, I'll pass out this Primary Goals page. Hopefully they were able to brainstorm a few ideas from each category, but now using this page they will pick just one and commit to work on it. I recommend laminating this page so they can change their goal as they complete them. 

Get my files for this activity HERE

Get To Know You Questions Cards - Social Activity

 FOUND HERE!

Primary Activities

 Hello 2022!!

So my understanding of the new program from when they first presented it and did away with Faith in God was that the biweekly activities were meant to help children with their goals. NOT that we as leaders would be tracking them, but helping with a goal here and there. Seems like that is not being pushed as much for the children as it is for the youth, but if you are in a ward that is hoping to use activities for goal development, this is for you! 

In our ward we are having a planning meeting dedicated to just teaching what it means for them to be in charge of the activity and giving them some ideas/direction. 

At the meeting we will finish filling out this calendar, where we will allow the youth who want to to sign up for a date they would like to be in charge. We have quite a few youth in our ward so it will take the whole year to pencil just some of them.... we are going to start with those that want to. I prefer to plan a year at a time so I chose to split it by 6 month calendars, but I also made calendars that are 4 months at a time in case that works better for others :)

4 month-

At the end of the meeting we will give this handout to each person that signed up as a reminder for when they are in charge and hopefully give the parents some direction to help their child. 

I have included all these files for the "planning meeting" in the Activity Days Starter Kit available here.