Parent-Child Activities

START THE NEW FAITH IN GOD PROGRAM WITH A BANG !: Invite all of the children and parents by giving them an invitation inside of a balloon. Instruct them to pop the balloon to get the invitation. Write the titles of each of the new categories in the Faith in God booklet: Learning and Living the gospel, Developing talents, Preparing for YW, Serving Others, Faith in God Award Requirements, Articles of Faith, My Gospel Standards and put each one inside of a separate balloon. Decorate the room with lots of colorful balloons. Invite a girl to come forward and pop a balloon and talk about what is on the paper. Repeat the process until everything about the program has been covered. Serve caramel popcorn for a treat and send each girl home with a booklet and balloon.

MOTHER DAUGHTER PARTY: We had a wonderful Mother/Daughter Party and Recognition Night at the beginning of the month when the topic was Hospitality. We used the theme, "Put Your Best Foot Forward". The invitations were the outline of a barefoot. The girls painted the toenails with marker and punched a hole on either side of the second toe. They tied a piece of yarn in a bow where they had punched the holes. The invitation started with the words, "Remember to put your best foot forward". The girls made place mats for themselves and one for their mother. We used the large pieces of construction paper and "stamped" baby footprints on the paper using the side of their fist dipped in thin coat of acrylic paint. They used their fingers to put toes on the prints. Decorations began at the door where they entered the church with footprints leading to the cultural hall. A sign said "Use good manners every day. To learn how, walk this way." The tables centerpieces for the different tables were ballet shoes, a furry slipper, a cowboy boot, a woman's high heel, and a sneaker. Helium balloons were attached to the shoes and a little greenery was added. When the girls entered the hall, a Disney character was pinned to their back. These were obtained from the internet at www.disneyclipart.com. Then we transferred them to Word and enlarged them. The girls had to guess the Disney character, but it was just the feet and lower legs of the character. They could only ask the mothers "yes" and "no" questions to get their clues. Afterward, they were told that they were able to tell which character it was just by looking at a small part of the character. Likewise, people can tell something about your character just by watching the manners you use. Then we played a bingo game that was made up of different table manners that would be practiced that night. We had a hostess for each table consisting of the achievement day leaders and members of the Primary Presidency. The hostess served each course so the girls would learn to wait to eat until the hostess was seated. Our menu was 1. soup for the "sole" (simple soup recipe) 2. lettuce use good manners salad (green salad)3. bread (only two "heels" per loaf and crackers 4. ice cream and sugar cookies in the shape of a foot (the one time you can put your foot in your mouth and it's okay). Certificates were handed out and the girls were able to take one of the balloons home. The girls and the mothers had a great time. Juneve Anderson, Tempe, Arizona

TALENT SHOW: Give the children an opportunity to play an instrument, show a piece of art work, do a magic trick, recite a poem, or what ever they want. Tell the parable of the Talents and encourage them to find and cultivate their talents.

NOBLE PAST BRILLIANT FUTURE: For our awards night we used the theme "Noble past, Brilliant Future". Each of the girls prepared a 5 min. or less story from their ancestry about a person that showed courage, faith, wisdom, or kindness. I had no idea how successful this would be. There was a huge turn out I guess because each family felt a part of the program! A counselor in the Bishopric gave a short talk about a pioneer girl and her legacy and challenged the girls to create a legacy of faith for their posterity so that someday there would be great stories about them! A week before the program I wrote a little skit about a pioneer woman that showed great faith in sharing what little food she had and how the Lord provided for her and her family. I video taped (in black and white) the girls acting it out. We showed this at the awards night. The girls felt like the stars of the evening. To advertise, I sent the girls home from church with invitations each Sunday starting several weeks in advance. I gave them extras to share with whomever they wanted to invite. To decorate I purchased giant foil stars at Hobby Lobby (35 cents)and foil star garlands. The girls voted on cheesecake for dessert. We also posted collages that each girl had made about herself using old Friend magazines. I put up word strips saying many of the activities our group had participated in. Each girl received a certificate of achievement that I had printed up on the computer. It was signed by me and a member of the Bishopric. There were two inch foil, sticker stars along the bottom of the certificate representing each time the girls had attended achievement day meetings. We also announced an awards recognition program of presenting each girl with a 5x7 picture frame (I keep while they are in AD). There is a picture of them inside. When the girls accomplish 4 goals in an area (by attending regularly they meet the goals) they receive a wooden heart that is glued to the wide frame. They get a different color for each area. When they "graduate" they will have a tangible reminder of all that they have learned and done. I have never participated in such a successful evening. Somehow having the girls share something from their past brought a very sweet spirit to the evening and the girls felt really special. I hope that this might help somebody somewhere. Good luck! -JPN

MOTHER DAUGHTER ACTIVITY: where we asked the mother to bring a picture of her daughter at her current age and a picture of the mom taken at the age of her daughter's. We put the pictures on a bulletin board and had everyone try to match who went with who. We also had the daughter's tell a story that her grandmother had told her, about the grandmother's life, growing up, etc. Then we had the mother's tell a story that her grandmother had told her about her life. This way the daughter could learn something about her great-grandmother. It was a nice change from doing the pedigree charts. Colleen Butler Orem, Utah

MOM AND MISS TEMPLE DAY: We met at our church and then carpooled to a park in Logan.We had a lesson on temples and talked about how wrong choices that we might end up making can lead us away from our goal of a temple marriage and how we can repent and get back on track. Then we gave each van a set of die and a frisbee. We told them to take turns rolling the dice. If they roll an even number, they can turn right. An odd number they turned left. Doubles let them go straight ahead. Each turn that led away from the temple (which was only 5 minutes from the park) signified a wrong choice and then we had to try harder to get back on coarse. We ended up on a dead end sub division and had to really repent. Each vehicle had a 30 minute time limit. After that long they were to drive to the temple where we took a picture of each mom with her daughter and a leader told some interesting stories about the Logan temple. We gave the girls a pencil with the saying "the temple, I'm going there some day" and a book mark with the poem "my three white dresses" then we went back to the park for a picnic lunch. The leaders had set up a table with the items the girls had made for recognition and all the fixins for a sub sandwich picnic lunch. The girls had also made "temple mints" for their mom's. It was a really nice morning. Sherrie Anderson Garland Utah stake

CRAZY MIXED UP DINNER: We had a crazy mixed up dinner for our parents. The girls made invitations and decorations They set up the ward house like a restaurant, with a reservation desk. The girls had fun cooking dinner, being the hostess, and then the waitress. The parents were all given menus with definitions of the different things to choose from. They then had to figure out what it was they were ordering. They were allowed to order 3 items for each course. And were given 5-10 mins to finish each course. It was fun to see what each course would be made up of. Example (Olives, cake,and knife) or (salad, a empty glass, and a toothpick). Yes even the utensils were on the menu. This was a big hit for both girls and their parents. I have also seen this done with only numbers on the menu. Each item assigned a number but the person ordering it does not know what she is getting. It is lots of fun.

LEADERSHIP SEMINAR: We held a Stake Leadership-style seminar for the girls on a Saturday morning; called "Seeing Yourself as a Leader." We kept the "seeing" theme and used mirrors to decorate each of the classrooms. We asked sisters in the ward to do 15 minute classes on several topics including: Listening Skills - "Stop, Look, Listen", Conducting a Class (and Praying for a Group) - "Eye to Eye", Fellowshipping - "Look Beyond Yourself", Filling Assignments - "Seeing a Job Through", and Dress and Grooming - "You've Got the Look." The girls checked in as they arrived and received a notes page, pen, folder and clip board for taking notes. We held opening exercises in the Chapel and then went to the first class. We rotated the girls in a group around to each of the classes with a 5 minute break between each. After the classes we had a lunch for them in the cultural hall. We gave each girl a certificate for completing the training and a personal mirror so she could see herself as a leader.

FATHER DAUGHTER KICKBALL: Play kickball with the Dads. The girls and the Fathers have to hold hands during the whole game. Only one of them will kick the ball and then they run together while holding hands. Some people have buckets of water be the bases and while you are waiting at the base you have to have your hands in the water to be safe. If the girls don't have a father, you can have a brother, uncle, friend, home teacher etc... join in on the fun.

FLOWER ACTIVITY: This is a fun mother daughter activity. Buy some inexpensive silk flowers and cut each stem from the bunch so that you have one flower for each wire stem. Get some green floral tape (at any craft store). Get a bunch of inexpensive ball point pens. Using the floral tape, tape the flower stem to the pen so that the pen is the stem and the flower is on top. When you have made a bunch of these, arrange them in a clay pot filled with black beans. The beans will hold the pens in place and will look like dirt. It makes a darling flower arrangement by the phone and it is very useful when you need a pen. Any age child can learn to use floral tape, just remember to stretch it as you wrap it around the pen or it won't stick.

PICTURE MIX UP FUN: : Take pictures of each girl with the same background and same distance from the camera. Take pictures of each parent with the same background and the same distance from the camera. Print 2 or 3 copies of each picture. Cut up each picuture by cutting off the heads and cutting the bodies in half at the waist. Have the girls and parents create their own scrapbook page by creating unique people by intermixing the body parts. It is a blast. They could also do this with mixed up pictures of their friends. This could be used with a lesson on family history or about being unique.

FATHER/DAUGHTER BREAKFAST:  We invited the girls and their fathers to a breakfast. Before we ate, we had fun doing a version of the Newlywed Game where we asked the fathers different questions to find out how well they new their daughters (What is their favorite television show? Who is their Primary teacher? What is their favorite school subject? etc.) After we sat down at the table, we tied every ones wrists to the person sitting next to them's wrist so that we all formed one big circle and then served the food. It was a lot of fun watching everyone learn to cooperate together to eat their breakfast! At the end we handed out the awards that the girls had earned that quarter.

OUR FAVORITE THINGS LUNCHEON: Have a Mother/Daughter Activity with the activities centered around "Our Favorite Things". Have each girl and mother write a letter ahead of time (secretly) to each other telling what their favorite things are about the other one. Have them exchange them later and allow a little time for them to read them privately. Make a questionaire for each mother and daughter to fill out with questions such as favorite color, music group, song, dessert, etc. Play a game and take turns with each pair asking questions about the other to see how well they know each other. Ask a few girls and/or moms to tell about their favorite book, scripture story, or who their favorite person is. We also had each pair bring their favorite salad to share for a luncheon since our budget was very limited. Take pictures of each mother and daughter together in a cute setting as a momento. We did this in the summer outside in a shady backyard.

DADDY/DAUGHTER DATE WESTERN THEME: Have everyone dress western. We set up an area with bales of hay, a saddle, wagon wheel, horse blanket, milk can with sunflowers,etc. under a tree and took pictures of each daddy and daughter as they arrived--one in color and one with a sepia tint to look old-fashioned. (digital camera) We had this in a backyard that had a fire pit and let everyone roast their own hot dog for dinner. We assigned out the salads, chips, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate to help keep the cost down. For activities I took out the blades from disposable razors and each girl put shaving cream on her daddy's face and "shaved" him. This was hilarious!!(Make sure you take pictures and do this outside!) Have some paper towels on hand for the dads to clean up with. Then, each dad "styled" his daughter's hair with accessories I picked up at All a Dollar. The dads loved this after being the victims of the first activity and they girls got some wild hairdos. We told the girls they had to keep the style for the rest of the evening. I took a picture of each girl after her hair was done. We then learned a simple line dance. Dessert was s'mores that everyone made themself. This was a really fun evening! SuAnn Bird--Lindon, UT

DADDY DAUGHTER PUMPKIN CARVING: We invited all the girls and their dads to a Harvest dinner party and told them to bring their pumpkin carving tools. We served sloppy joes, salad, chips and brownies with ice cream and chocolate sauce. After eating, the daddy's and daughters got to work on their pumpkins which also served as our centerpieces on cheap plastic tablecloths. When they were done, we took a picture of each girl with her dad and her pumpkin on a harvest themed back drop. Then for clean up we just rolled up all the pumpkin innards and seeds into the tablecloth and threw it all away. The pumpkins ended up being the decoration and the activity. It was simple and a lot of fun. Each girl got their own pumpkin so those with two daughters got to help with both. One dad even brought an electric jigsaw to carve their pumpkin!!

SEARCHING THE STONES: We did a Mother/Daughter activity with the theme being family history, although we titled the activity "Searching the Stones". We went to the cemetery and after discussing family history and why we might come to the cemetery, each mom and daugher team were given a "Searching the Stone" sheet with very good instructions on where to find each stone. Then when they got to each stone they were to record the story that was told by the gravestone. The idea was for the moms and girls to realize how much family information can be found in a cemetery. They really liked the search. There was information about color of hair, personality, nicknames, etc. We found a mother and daughter who died in childbirth. The list goes on and on. There really are stories to be told at the cemetary. (I got the idea from someone else about a year ago.) After they searched the stones we ate muffins and then I had the proper materials for doing stone rubbings (pelon and crayons). They really liked that as well. Some of the girls had family or friends buried in the cemetery and were very excited to do a rubbing of their stone. To finish up the activity I had a pedigree chart and family groups sheet for each girl to take home and fill out with their mothers (see Faith in God under Learning and Living the gospel). This activity took quite a bit of time setting up the searching the stones activity (you have to spend time to find these types of clues on stones) but it was well worth it. I believe that some of the girls (and their mothers) had a special feeling for cemeteries when they left and maybe some time down the road that feeling will lead them to do their genealogy. Anyone who wants more details or who lives in the Mesa, Arizona area and would like a copy of the stones search, you can e-mail me and I'll be happy to send a copy. (dtopham1@cableaz.com) ~Marcy

GUYS & GALS DINNER & MONEY MANAGEMENT: We are having the girls cook dinner and invite their favorite guy (Dad, Grandpa, Uncle, Older Brother-whatever role model they have)They will eat together using their best manners and then cleanup. We are then going to have their guys help them with a little trial run through life. They will be given an income based on the career they previously chose. They will have checkbooks to use with the help of their guys and will proceed to different tables to pay bills, make purchases and get "chance" cards to determine their expenses. We will then gather together as a group and find out the results of their choices. Did they pay their tithing first? Did they buy expensive furniture or go to DI. Did they get sucked into the salesman's pitch at the car dealership table and get in over their heads? Explain the power that "low monthly payments" and unwise use of credit cards can have on their lives.

VALENTINE'S DAY PARTY: For this activity we played BUNCO and had FONDU. This is a great activity for a large group of parents and children or just your group (we have 16 children in our activity day group). I set the FONDU up and let the chocolate melt(keeping a VERY close watch that it did not burn). In the mean time we played BUNCO. For anyone who doesn't know how to play BUNCO here are the rules we played by... pulled small tables from the other classrooms at the church. Set the tables up in a row. Put a balloon on the first table signifying the HEAD table. Set 4 people to a table, 3 dice, 2 small pieces of paper and 2 pencils. The person sitting across from you is your partner for the round. The object of the game on the first round is to roll 21 1's first. Choose one person to roll and the other will keep score for both of you. You and the other team take turns rolling the 3 dice as fast as they can. The first team to reach 21 yells BUNCO! Once that happens the leader throw's a stuffed animal (we used red Valentine bears) to both players. The rest of the tables counted up their scores and whoever had the highest score got up and moved toward the HEAD table- the team that lost at the head table gets up and moves to the last table. For the next round you will roll 21 2's and so on. The next team that wins will have the teddy bears thrown to them. We played this game for about a half hour. The last team to win gets to keep the bears and the other players were given smaller bears (from the Dollar Store). The kids LOVED it. Then we got to dig in to the FONDU! We dipped banana's, strawberries and pretzels in white and milk chocolate. Very Yummy! And we had a great time talking and getting to know eachother.

"COLOR MY WORLD WITH...": To kick off Activity Days and have a parent and child activity here is what I did:

Here is what I typed up and the activities that followed:

What does the Rainbow Mean?
God put a rainbow in the sky as a covenant and promise to remind His people that He would never destroy all mankind by water again. The rainbow is also a symbol of God's faithfulness and mercy. ~Genesis 8:13-17~

What is a rainbow?
A rainbow is described as "one of the most spectacular light shows observed on earth". Indeed the traditional rainbow is sunlight spread out into its spectrum of colors and diverted to the eye of the observer by water droplets. The "bow" part of the word describes the fact that the rainbow is a group of nearly curcular arcs of color all having a common center.

As choice daughters, we all have a "common center". We have a Heavenly Father who loves us and Christ as our elder brother and Savior. The colors in the rainbow will also help remind the girls of Heavenly Fathers faithfulness, mercy, promises, and covenants.

I chose a theme of "Color My World With..." all the topics in the Faith In God book. I chose the Rainbow theme to help remind the girls that Heavenly Father has made promises to them. As they look at the colors, they are reminded of that.

Learning and Living the Gospel (red)
Developing Talents (Orange)
Preparing For YW (Yellow)
Serving Others (Green)
Articles Of Faith (Blue)
Baptismal Covenants (Purple)
Gospel Standards (Pink)
Daughters of God (White)
Testimonies (Chocolate, I thought the girls would like chocolate better than "Brown")
Interview With The Bishop (Black)


Parents have a responsibility to help their children to learn and live the gospel. Primary Leaders and teachers assist parents in this important responsibility. The Faith In God book is a resource to help the girls achieve their great potential as children of God.

The purpose of the Faith In God guidebooks is to help the girls to live gospel principles, develop testimonies, build friendships, and prepare to become a righteous young woman. Girls who complete the requirements can earn the Faith In God award.

(We purchased the Articles of Faith Bracelet kit from CharmingLDSGifts.com. As the girls recite the Articles of Faith in primary, they will be rewarded with the corresponding number charm of the Article they recited.)

Along the way the girls will receive Articles of Faith charm bracelets. As they recite the different Articles of Faith in Primary, they will receive the corresponding number charm that they recite that day. Other awards will be handed out upon completion of different activities.

The most rewarding award that the girls can achieve is the sense of accomplishment and growth that they will receive as they work on all of these topics and gain a testimony of the Gospel and the love Heavenly Father has for them!

An important part of faith in God is keeping your baptismal covenant and staying spiritually strong. To help you develop faith and resist temptation, do the following things:

*Pray daily to Heavenly Father (We made prayer bears and I counted that as a Developing Talents requirement because we cut, sewed, and stuffed them)
*Read the Scriptures regularly.
(I found a bubblegum Poem:
Bubble Gum Scripture Reading
Scripture reading is lots of fun-
'Specially whild chewing bubble gum!
Read the scriptures while you chew,
And when the flavor's gone-
you are through!
I used my graphics program on my computer to add a cute border around the poem, used a cute font, laminated them and cut them out.)
*Keep the commandments (I found this printout at about.com that has the Gospel Standards on it and with folding techniques you fold it into a book.)
*Honor your parents and be kind to your family.
(I ordered "Kindness coins" off of orientaltrading.com and gave to the moms to give to the girls when they were being kind.)
*Pay your tithing and attend tithing settlement.
(I handed out tithing slips and envelopes to the girls and had a lesson on budgeting and tithing.)
*Attend sacrament meetings and Primary regularly.
(I made up an attendance record and will have a party for them for their attendance.)


I then let the girls present the other activities.
(I used my graphics program again and used a fun font, laminated and cut out the letter from the 1st presidency. When I read it I could feel the love that they and our Heavenly Father and Jesus has for us and wanted to the girls to put it in a place that they can read it everyday.)

Doing these activities will help your understandg and testimonyof the Gospel grow.

It is my prayer that we can all help one another to achieve thses goals and KNOW that we are Children of God and that He loves us!

I had bud vases for each girl full of clear marbles. I bought silk flowers in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink and white and attatched the following poem that I wrote:

Flowers

Each flower is different and unique they will remind you before you speak
To remember who you are special and bright like an evening star each color has a special meaning to look upon who you are leaning
Red is for the Gospel to live and to learn so you know to who and where you are to turn
Orange for talents to develop to love enjoy, and to envelope.
Yellow for Young Women you will become fear of this we will not succumb
Green is for happily serving others as we learn to love our brothers
Blue represents the Articles of Faith cornerstone of our belief is in the eighth
Purple for covenants made when eight Into the waters of baptism that cleared the slate
Gospel Standards are represented with
pink commandments are what make us stop and think
White is special and saved for last Daughters of Gos who no one will surpass! Leslie K. Gallichio
(I used my graphics program again to add a rainbow background, fun font, laminated and cut them out.)
We passed out oversized scrapbooks found at Wal-Mart. This will be full of pictures of the fun things we will be doing, and an ongoing project for the girls that they will have for the rest of their lives and something to pass on to their daughters!)

We made a paper plate rainbows with crepe paper streamers found at enchantedlearning.com.
On the table I had different printouts and ideas that we will be doing to fulfill the girls requirements.

I made rainbow jello in cups and we had a GREAT time and the girls had fun making the streamers with their moms!

(It also checked off the parent-child requirement and developing talents requirement because of the craft project.)

DADDY DAUGHTER ACTIVITY: We did a Daddy Daughter Survivor activity. I had them divide into 4 groups by choosing a color from a bag. I then had them tie a strip of material that matched their color around their heads as their buffs. We did the following activities:
1.Eat sour worms.
2.Balance on a 2 x 4 while holding coconuts in their outstreached arms.
3. Go as a team of four tied up and two of them blindfolded trying to find their marked coconuts them putting them on a sheet and drag that sheet across the finish line.
4. Untie large rings from ro
pe 5. Put together a puzzle
I got most of my material from the dollar store and did the whole activity for under $50.00. It was a lot of fun.
Thanks, Julie Hendrix

DADDY DAUGHTER SURVIVOR ACTIVITY: We did a Daddy Daughter Survivor activity. I had them divide into 4 groups by choosing a color from a bag. I then had them tie a strip of material that matched their color around their heads as their buffs. We did the following activities:
1.Eat sour worms.
2.Balance on a 2 x 4 while holding coconuts in their outstreached arms.
3. Go as a team of four tied up and two of them blindfolded trying to find their marked coconuts then put them on a sheet and drag that sheet across the finish line.
4. Untie large rings from a rope.
5. Put together a puzzle.

I got most of my material from the dollar store and did the whole activity for under $50.00. It was a lot of fun.
Thanks, Julie Hendrix