Activity Days

I am going to apologize now to all of the readers that are not LDS and all the men out there who have no clue or desire the following info!!

I have the new calling as Activity Days leader and I teach the 7-9 year olds in primary (Valiant 9 and CTR 8). I love being back in primary and with little kids again!! I adore it!!

This past week I was in charge of the recognition night for the Activity Days. There was a lot of preparation! I thought I would post what I did. I will warn you that I am not very creative and/or great with bringing home the church concept; however, I thought I would share what was preventing me from blogging for so long!!

The goal and concept for this recognition night was to introduce the new girls, to start off the year with a few goals and things the girls can look forward to. The basic idea of our theme was that we are here to help strengthen their testimony. We went with the scripture Alma 32:28. To summarize: we used the example of their testimony being that of a seed and that we are here to help them nurture it to build a foundation so that it can blossom into a beautiful flower. I made the invitations look like a seed packet. Then the girls decorated it and put them together.




(These are the invitations)

We ordered some charms and bracelets from the internet. We separated the girls into three levels. First years will receive the charm “Faith.” Second years will receive the charm “Leaf.” Third years receive the charm “Flower.”

The first charm "Faith"
Second charm "Leaf"
The final charm "Flower"
The bracelet

We also had the parents write a quick letter for each of their daughters describing to us what flower they most resemble and why. When I was in Miamaids they did a similar activity where our moms wrote a letter to us about how much they loved us and about the day we were born. I loved that activity and I still treasure that letter that my Mom wrote to me. I wanted the girls to have that same connection I had to my letter. What better way to make the connection than with a flower? I hope that every time those sweet girls see the flower that they have a connection with, it will bring back sweet memories of their mothers love for them.

One of the goals with Faith in God is to have and keep a journal. I made a journal that was unique to each girl. I put a picture of their flower on it and their names on the bottom. I also made them a flower pen to use with their journals. It was so much fun!!

These are the journals before I changed them. Only a dollar at Michaels!!

These are what they looked like with I was finished. I wish I had taken a picture of all twelve journals. I was too busy and didn't think about it at the time. I should have taken a better picture of the pens. I made each pen different. They were the same flower and color as the one their mothers picked for them. The two examples are so close so I hope you can see the difference between them.

I wish that the picture would show the cool 3D effect I did with the pictures. It took a lot of time! I ended up making two copies of the flower. I glued the original in place and then cut out (very time consuming) the largest part of the flower, used the 3D glue dots and then placed it on top of the original picture. I was excited with how they turned out.

We decorated the primary room with Christmas lights and my dear sweet mother in-law loaned me a lot of her silk plants. (Quick shout out to Vicky!! She was so helpful! I didn’t want to bother her knowing that she was going to have a huge weekend of family and houseguests. I knew it would be a huge burden to take some of her plants away from their beautiful home. One of the leaders had her heart set, so I figured I would lay the question out there giving her many outs to say no. However, she is wonder woman!! Not only did she let me borrow her plants, she also let me borrow her car! She dropped off the car and the plants to my house and then she picked up the car the next day!! I felt horrible that she loaded, unloaded and placed the plants back. I don’t know anyone or anything that does delivery, pick up, clean up, and lets you borrow. She seriously spoils me and she saved the day!! Thank you Vicky!! You are the best Mom in-law in the world!!)

We served flower cookies and I made fruit kabobs and served them in a pretty vase to make it look like a flower arrangement. I served the lemon drink (Great recipe from Michelle! Everyone loved it!) in my wonderful pitcher (great birthday present from Vicky, of course). It was a great night!!

Only two of the girls remembered to bring their accomplishments for display. Oh well. All in all it was a great night!!

I wish I had pictures of the fruit kabobs and the room decor. I completely forgot the camera. However, Ryan saw the fruit kabobs and the lemon drink before I left. He was impressed so I think I achieved what I set out to do!!

Quick question: What flower are you most like?? I would love to see your responses!! Just think maybe it will encourage me to make a journal for you or send you a flower!!