Fun idea for Octobers Activity Day (stock up now)

Saw this fun idea and thought it would be awesome as an activity for the girls in October. It would also be fun to do as part of a recognition night or Daddy daughter type Halloween Party.

Now is the time to buy school supplies so it would be an inexpensive activity as long as you save your crayons for October and have each girl bring their own pumpkin.

http://swelldesigner.blogspot.com/2012/08/crayon-drip-art-pumpkin-tutorial.html

I have done an activity with an art class that was similar only onto canvas and it was pretty easy. The kids ages were 5 to 12. I did hear that dollar store crayons do not melt as well so we only used crayola ones.

Be sure and bring a tarp or sheets or something in case it makes a mess. When I did it, the mess was pretty minimal. I only had two hairdryers but the kids did not mind waiting their turn because it was so fun seeing others doing their projects.

Fun Idea for Reminding Girls to Learn Article of Faith

Hang a number in one of your girls yard, or all of your girls yard. The girls know if they find it hanging in their yard or on their door knob that they are to wear that number to the next activity until they have memorized that article of faith and crossed it off. 

There are plenty of cute numbers out there that could be made into a cute necklace to wear. You could even find ones that they could decorate once  they had passed off that number.

Sewing Pillowcases

The new leaders had the girls sew pillowcases. Lainey loved it. In fact, she enjoyed it so much that she has made another one for herself and has plans for one for her brother and one for her friends birthday.

What was great about this activity was that the leaders made it very easy for the girls to do each step on their own. This class has 8 and 9 year olds in it, with the majority being new 8 year olds. They designated two class times for this project.

Each girl was asked to bring 1/3 yard fabric, 3/4 yard of matching fabric and pins.

For the first class they gave each girl 2 patterns cut from large paper ahead of time. (This was really cool because the girls were able to take the patterns with them so they could make more at home if they wanted to. I had only wished they had typed up directions for the girls to take home also. This way the girls could refer to the directions when they went to make it again instead of having to refer to their moms.)

The girls were then showed how to pin the patterns onto each piece. (When I went to buy the fabric I wondered why we were getting 1/3 yard for the top piece when it could easily be done with 1/4 yard, however, when I went to help I saw that it gave more of an opportunity for the girls to use the scissors this way, you don't need to cut the fabric if you have only a 1/4 a yard).

Each girl was then able to use some sewing scissors that were provided. They took turns.

When they were done cutting their pieces they were called over to a sewing machine. They were able to pick from a pile of scrap material and showed how to sew a piece together using the machine. They were able to practice a few times.

The second Lesson was spent sewing their pillowcases together. We ended up missing that class but I am assuming that while the girls were waiting for their turn on the sewing machine, they were kept busy by practicing their Article of Faith and playing games.

* One FUN way of practicing an Article of Faith is to have the girls sit in chairs in a circle. Then each girl on her turn is to stand and say one word in order of the Article of Faith they are saying. So child one stands and says, We, child two stands and says Believe, child three says IN, child four stands and says God, ect. You try and have them do this as quickly as possible. It can be quite fun. If a child misses a word the group has to stop and start all over again.

The top piece of the pillow case pattern measured 11 x 20 inches. Notice the fold line on the 11 inch side.

The main piece of the pillow case pattern measured 20 x 26. Notice the fold line on the 26 inch side.

Bandana Purse

Kristal and I had a calling change about 6 months ago. Kristal was called to Primary Secratary and I was called to Second Councilor in the Primary. We our enjoying are callings and are thankful we get to work together. We are still however, telling each other constantly of fun ideas we would love to do for Activity Days.

Here are links to our Activity Day Girls Pinterest Boards:  your welcome to follow along as we pin our favorites.
http://pinterest.com/cherihudsons/activity-day-girls/  Cheri's Pinterest Board  
http://pinterest.com/kristalah/activity-days/ Kristals Pinterest Board


I realized we never  posted our activity for a bandana purse. Kristal was the one who came up with this idea, but somehow I ended up with the pictures.

I am not sure where she came up with the idea for the bandana purses but I found a site which explains what to do.

http://voices.yahoo.com/no-sew-bandana-bag-any-girl-make-6969460.html

We purchased the bandanas at the dollar store I think. If not then it was at Joannes or The Craft Warehouse.

We also purchased fabric paint so they could add their names if they wanted.

We had some puzzles and crosswords  for Articles of Faith practice for anyone who finished quickly.

It was a fun activity.  (Kristal looks great to me, but I know she will kill me if I don't mention that she is pregnant in this photo, she is helping add the shoulder strap.)

Duct Tape Animals

One of the little activities we did was actually one of the girls idea so we let her be in charge for the day. We got all the supplys she needed in advance and then we let her teach. This could be fun to do and let every girl share a talent and teach it to the rest. For her activity, she made duct tape animals. We bought tissues and a bunch of different patterned duct tape. She then instructed the girls on how to make the little animals. It pretty much consisted at balling up the tissues and putting tape around them, then attaching them to create dogs, cats and whatever else the girls came up with! When they were done making a few different animals they played games with them. They turned out super cute!

This is a turtle one of the girls made!

Babysitting Service

So in December we had two activities, to keep with the Christmas spirit we really wanted to do a service project. Even though it is now May, this activity could definitely be adapted. We did the service project in two parts. For the first activity, we told the girls that we wanted to do a service project for their families. We figured that because their moms and dads were so busy trying to get ready for Christmas, that we could watch the girls siblings. To gett he girls involved we had them brainstorm. We first had them help figure out how many kids there would be and also come up with ideas of how we would entertain them.

As you can see they came up with some great ideas!

Next we needed to let the parents know what we were doing so the girls decorated an invitation with their cute fingerprints to look like Christmas lights!

Lastly for this activity we wanted to make little goody bags for the kiddos we babysat. 

The girls did a great job getting ready for the babysitting project.

Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the girls babysitting but the parents seemed to love the chance for a break and the girls had a blast babysitting! We ended up splitting the kids into two groups. The younger ones played with the nursery toys while the older kids were taken to the gym. The girls were in charge of some games and everyone had a blast running around. For the last half an hour we had the kids watch a Christmas movie and eat popcorn.  When their parents picked them up they got their little goody bags!
It was a perfect end to the night.

Thankful Journals

So I know its been forever since we have posted, unfortunately we both have received new callings! :( We did want to post our last few activities even though they were done a while ago. One of the activities we did was a super easy one, making Thankful Journals. To get the girls thinking when we first arrived I played a game with them. We got in a circle and each girl had to say last thanksgiving I ate ----. They had to list something they ate but they couldn't repeat anything that had already been said. If you couldn't think of something new right at your turn you were out. (This was done in November but the game could easily be changed.) 

After playing a quick round of the game I had the girls sit and gave them each a paper plate. On it they wrote 6 things they were thankful for. Then they cut a slice out of a circular piece of paper like a pie. They put the paper on top of the plate with a brad in the middle so the open spot slid over the different things they were thankful for.

http://www.graciousrain.com/2010/11/23/thankful-pie/
 This website is where I got the idea  

 Finally, I gave each girl a composition journal. I had bought these back in September when the school supply's were on sale and it made it way cheaper. I told them that these were thankful journals that they could write in at least once a week to remember what Heavenly Father has given them. Then I pulled out a bunch of cute paper, markers and scissors and they decorated their journals.