Developing Talents

“Some ideas for activities to earn the Faith in God Award are listed in this guidebook. With help from your parents or Primary leader, you can also plan and do other activities.”
Faith in God guidebook P.5

“When planning activities, leaders should consider ideas from this guidebook, ‘My Gospel Standards’, the Friend, and the children themselves. Parents and others with specific skills may be invited to help”.
Faith in God guidebook p.18

Church: Church suggested Activities.

MEND CLOTHES: Learn how to mend clothes. Have the children bring one or two pieces of clothing that needs mending. Teach them how to sew on a button and repair a torn seam.

CHECKBOOK MATH: Teach the girls how to fill out a check and keep a running total in a checkbook register.click here for lesson plan Show the girls how compound interest works and how much money they can have if they save 1 dollar a day with compound interest. Help them to get excited about starting a savings account and being responsible with their money.

SHOPPING THE SALES!: This was a really fun activity. I brought a few copies of our local grocery stores ad for the week and found my coupons I clip that matched the sale items. Our store does double coupons on Tuesdays so I had the girls look through the ad and find what was on sale as I held up the coupon. When they found it in the ad, I had them figure how much it would be with the coupon and them with the double coupon. Some of the items ended up being free, or we made a few cents. They really had a good time and I gave them each a candy bar at the end of the activity (4 for a $1.00 with a buy three get one free offer!). The mom's told me their girls really enjoyed this activity and wanted to go shopping with them.

BOOK CLUB: Assign a book for all of the children to read. You can go to the library and check out a book that has multiple copies. Have all of the children read the same book and then come to the next activity and discuss what they read. Have some snacks. It is a blast!

LEARN A FEW WORDS IN A NEW LANGUAGE: Have someone come and teach the children a few words in another language, IE: sign language, spanish, french etc... Play some games using the new language, like "red light, green light" etc...Talk about why learning another language might be helpful to you.

SCHOOL TOUR: Some of our older girls are starting 7th grade and most of them are starting 6th. We have made arrangements will the middle school to take a tour of the school before it starts again in Aug. The older girls that are familiar with the school will provide the tour.

ENGINEERING LESSON: Learn about engineering and problem solving by building a structure with straws. Give each girl a handful of straws and a glob of play dough and a paper cup. (The straws are cheap at CostCo or Sam's club or ask a business owner to donate them. The play dough can be homemade.) Tell them that they need to build a structure that will hold the cup off of the table. (You can make up your own rules) They can work in teams or by themselves but don't let them see each other while they are creating the structures or everyone will do the same thing. When they are ready, have them drop pennies in their cup one at at time until the structure falls over. The object is to see who's structure can hold the most pennies. It is a really fun activity. It makes them have to think and try to solve a problem. Children these days are used to being told how to do everything and they need to learn problem solving skills.

WHAT'S MY LINE:: One of our most successful activities was playing the "What's My Line" game. We invited two women guests and supplied the girls with a list of 20 questions they could ask to try to guess what the women did for a living. They could also make up their own questions if they chose to. We were discussing careers for women who are still single or find themselves single through divorce or being widowed. The girls loved asking the questions and trying to guess the occupations. One guest was in her late 20's and never married. One of her jobs was that of a dog breeder and trainer. She brought her three Rottweilers for show and tell after her turn and the girls got to see close up how well trained and behaved they are with proper training. The other woman was in her early 40's and had been divorced many years. She works as a merchandiser for Nabisco products in many of the Wal-Mart stores in our area. The girls did not guess her occupation but were thrilled with the whole package of Oreo cookies she brought for each girl.

EXERCISE TREASURE HUNT: Have a treasure hunt. Include on the clues to "skip" on the way to the next clue, then hop to the next, then do jumping jacks to the next one, then crab walk, then run etc...The treasure could be a healthy snack and drink. Tell them that they just completed their daily exercise and didn't even know it. Try to think of ways that they can exercise and have fun at the same time.

CREATING A GAME: Give the girls a few items like a ball, stick, hoop etc... have them make up their own game and play it.

SPORTS: Attend a sporting event together. Maybe one that they have never been to before like Curling, Rugby, Lacrosse etc... Learn the rules of the game.

"MOM I'M BORED":: Make a "Bored Book" have the girls bring ideas for crafts, games, sports etc... Put all of the ideas in a little book. The children can go home and add to the book. When they are bored, they can look at the book and get ideas of things to do. Stress the importance of being physically and mentally active as opposed to sitting and watching TV or playing electronic games.

TAE-BO: Invite a Tae-bo instructor to teach you about exercising.

TELEPHONE ETIQUETTE: never yell into phone, ask to take a message, never say you are home alone, speak loudly etc... bring some phones and let them roll play.

PANEL DISCUSSION:: Have someone from a Jr. High School, High School and University come and tell What each school is like. Describe a typical day and the types of classes that they may take. Discuss why education is important. Take a tour of the schools in your area.

FAVORITE BOOKS: Have each child bring their favorite book and tell about it. Provide a paper for the children to write the titles of the books so they can go home and read them.

CROSS-STITCH ACTIVITY: We purchased a few starter cross-stitch kits from our local craft store and then showed the girls how to complete them. We had a really great time and at the end of the day, the girls had something pretty to hang up in their rooms!

ART SHOW: Have each girl bring something that they have made to show the group. Discuss all of the different types of creative arts and why it is important to do something creative. Challenge them to go home and try something that they have never done before. IE: Sewing, knitting, crochet, painting, pottery, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, crafts, latch hook, creative writing, needlepoint,piano, any musical instrument, leather work, etc… Let one or each of the girls teach the group a new skill. Tell them (and their mothers) that they will share their new talent at the next recognition night.

ART HISTORY LESSON: Check out a book from the library with pictures of famous paintings. Look at the paintings and learn the names of the painters and the different styles of painting. Let the girls try to paint something in their own unique style.

HUGE FOOD PYRAMID: Get some masking tape and make a large triangle on the floor. Add the lines for the food pyramid. Have the girls cut out pictures of food from magazines and place them in the correct place on the pyramid. Read or talk about the Word of Wisdom and explain the importance of good nutrition. You could even give them a little food journal and have them keep track of what they eat for 2 weeks. Challenge them to try to eat healthy and bring back the food diary to the next activity. You could also use this with a cooking class where you learn to make healthy snacks.

POSTURE LESSON: Learn about the importance of good posture. Learn how to sit, stand and walk have the girls try doing these things with bad posture and good posture. Try to walk with a book on your head. Learn how it makes you look and feel better and helps breathing and circulation and confidence. (Please help all of the Mom's who keep saying "stand up straight")

LEAD MUSIC: Help prepare the girls for Young Womens by teaching them how to lead the music and conduct a meeting.

NEWSPAPER GAME: Using a newspaper, show the children all of the different sections and what is in each one. Read some of the headlines and stories. Look at the adds, obituaries, movie reviews etc... and talk about the importance of reading the paper and staying informed about current events.Divide them into teams and play a game where you ask them to find something and see if they can locate it in the paper. You could ask them what the weather is going to be on Tuesday. What "G" rated movie they could go to on Saturday at 1:00pm. What store has a sale on towels, what page a particular story is located on etc...

OUT THE DOOR FOR A FULL 24! A CAMPIN' WE WILL GO: we are taking our girls camping we are including activities such as how to put up a tent,swimming saftey,nature hikes, basic first aid, camp fire saftey,and of course the fun stuff to. Like a night away from home,swimming,camping, lots of food, smores and we are also including a campfire spiritual activity. HAVE FUN GIRLS!!

ETIQUETT DINNER: Teach the girls about proper table manners and have a dinner for them to practice. Teach about using the right fork, passing items on the table intead of reaching, proper use of a napkin (on your lap), not talking with your mouth full, etc. Spaghetti is fun for them to eat because almost everyone likes it and it is a little bit of a challenge to eat it without making a mess! (This is very entertaining for the leader to watch!) Serve salad as an appetizer and teach them about using the salad fork. French bread is also good with it, too. You can also get some young boys to be "waiters", too, to help keep the glasses full and clear the table later. Decorate the table with a pretty tablecloth and a vase of fresh flowers. I like to do this activity when the weather will permit us to be outside so if anyone spills you don't mess up your house and no one is embarrassed and it also provides a relaxing atmosphere. Be sure to take pictures!

MODESTY: I printed out some large paper dolls and had the girls design modest clothing for their paper doll friends.

NUTRITION: After a lesson on nutrition and the word of wisdom (be sure to tell the girls that the nutrition pyramid is revised about every 5 years while the word of wisdom never changes), we took pictures of the girls under a "Got milk?" banner with milk mustaches. Hint:You make a vanilla shake for the mustache to be thick enough to stick. YUM!

LOVING JAR: I purchased cute, small jars at a Craft store and bought a few flowers for decoration. The s then decorated the jars as a craft. We talked about unknown Services of Love acts that happen in our family, that sometimes no one notices. I instructed the s for the next week, watch each family member closely and if you see them do something special for anyone else to write it down on a slip of paper (I provided the paper, and the s cut these into small strips of paper the same day as the decorated jar). At the next FHE, take a few minutes and explain to your family that you have been observing them for a week and would like to share with the entire family all of the kinds acts of service. Then each should bear her testimony to her family about how love helps the family and small acts of kindness such as tying your siblings shoes is really all about love.

BROWN BAG SKITS: We put together 4 bags of randon things and the girls had to make up a skit using every thing in the bag. There were 4-5 girls in each skit. I had them think of a name of their skit and took pictures so we can scrapbook them. It was absolutely hillarious!! They are very creative. Next time though, I think I will give them a topic.

BUDGETING MONEY: I brought two large bags of M&M's and a bunch of small cups. (Any small snack will do: shelled nuts, dry cereal, small candies, etc.) Then I drew up a sample monthly budget. Each candy represented $10 of monthly income. I made sure that the number of candies in each bag equalled the total monthly income in my sample budget. I poured one bag of M&M's into a bowl in the center of the table and encouraged the girls to eat all they wanted. When the candies were about half gone, I set cups (labeled with a budget category and dollar amount) on the table and explained that each candy represented $10 of income and the cups represented the monthly budget. What shall we pay first? Some of the girls remembered our previous activity on tithing so they said, "Always pay your tithing first!" The tithing was paid and some of the other bills were paid, but soon the girls realized that the candies were gone but there were still many bills that needed to be paid. I asked, "What will we do now? We don't have the money to pay the mortgage or car payment or taxes... We paid the Lord first. How will he bless us?" Then I pulled out the second bag of M&M's and said, "Sometimes the Lord blesses us by giving us a second chance!" So we emptied the cups into the bowl and added the second bag. This time all the items in the budget were paid and there was money left over. "When we pay our tithing first and our obligations next, we will always have enough to meet our needs." The sample budget had money amounts for each category. I had cups for income, paycheck deductions, and expenses: contributions (tithing, fast offering, etc), housing (insurance, mortgage, property taxes, repairs/improvements, etc.), utilities (electric, garbage, gas, telephone, water, etc.), auto (loan payment, insurance, fuel, repairs, taxes, etc.), savings (long-term, rainy day, periodic expenses, etc.), groceries (food, supplies, dining out, etc.), clothing, medical (doctors, prescriptions, insurance, etc.), recreation (baby sitter, sports, satellite TV, etc.), allowances, family advancement (lessons, books, newspapers and magazines, etc.), other (postage, gifts, bank fees, etc.)

PRAY PILLOW: I thought this was a cute and easy idea for the girls to use for the developing talents area. It's a no-sew fleece pillow. I thought they could make one for themselves as a pray pillow and one for their parents for a Christmas gift. You can get smaller pillow forms at WalMart for $3 and 1 yard of fleece ($5) can cover two pillows. This no-sew fleece pillow features a row of knots across the center and takes 2 hours or less to make. Materials: 1 yd. Outerwear fleece, Chacopel pencil, 16" pillow form, 2-3 large safety pins, rotary cutter, mat, ruler, Optional: June Tailor Shape Cut ruler. Cut: 36" square fleece. Directions: 1. Measure and mark 3" from two opposite edges of fleece square. Note: Markings should be along non-stretch edges, 2. To fringe: Using rotary cutting equipment, cut up to marked line every ½ inch along both edges. Optional: Use Shape Cut "ruler". 3. Center pillow form on wrong side of fleece. Wrap unfringed sides over the top of pillow form. Safety pin in place. 4. Bring fringed edges together. Evenly match parallel fringe and tie square knots across center of pillow. Tuck unused fringe to underside of knots. Click here for picture of this pillow. Click here for directions for another no sew fleece pillow

HAIR STYLING: I noticed that nearly all the girls in our group had long hair and it was usually just pulled into a ponytail. So I thought a class on hairstyles would be a good idea. Get some books or magazines (from library) that show various hair styles. Teach the girls about different hair types (curly, thin, straight, thick). Help them identify their hair type. Show the girls a specific hair styling technique, such as french braiding. Pair the girls up so they can try the hairstyle on a friend (which is often easier than trying to do your own hair). Try to have each girl leave the class knowing how to do a style they did not know before.

TALENT NIGHT: We asked each of the girls to bring a prepared talent that they could demonstrate to the rest of the girls. We began with reading the parable of the talents and then let each girl have their turn showing off their talent. Some of them included: playing the piano, singing, playing an instrument, saying something in a different language, writing their name backwards and upside down, etc...the girls loved sharing and watching and learned at the same time, that their talent didn't have to be something super-significant.

HYMNING ALONG: For this activity we divided the girls into 2 teams. Each team was given a series of sites to travel to (by car or walking depending on the weather) and at each site they had a song to sing: At the Primary Presidents we sang songs about service; another home we sang As I have loved You and left hearts; we went to the park and collected pine cones and sang; at the city library we sang the Star Spangled Banner. We went to 10 sites and sang at each one...we got treats at 3 of the sites (pre-planned and assembled by the leaders)..the purpose was to get then seeing how the songs can help you through the day...favorite songs: Onward Christian Soldiers, count Your many Blessings and As I have loved you. from: D.Shel Orem, Ut

CRAFTS: 

 We made dinner for a new mother.

CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION!: We learned about the Chinese New Year. Made Won Tons, learned how to eat with Chopsticks, and made paper lanterns. The girls loved trying foods from another culture and leanring more about the Holiday.

FRENCH CREPES!: Girls learned how to make dinner & dessert French Crepes! Also decorated Recipes Boxes that they'll use throughout the year to collect the different recipes they'll learn and add their own personal favorites!

ICE CREAM IN A BAGGIE: Each girl pours their ingredients and assemble their baggies. Make sure to have each girl follow the recipe as they go along. Go outside on the blanket and shake them. When done, pour ice cream into cups and eat with spoons. Give each girl a recipe for “Ice cream in a Baggie” to make with family at home, fun for FHE. You can also have store bought ice cream available or ice cream made from a machine and talk about the differences and similarities. Here is the recipe: Ice Cream in a Baggie: 1/2 C milk 1/4 C half and half 1 T sugar 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract 2 sandwich size Ziploc® bags 1 one gallon size Ziploc® bag 2 C ice 1 T coarse salt Put one small Ziploc bag inside the other and add the milk, half and half, sugar, and vanilla extract to the inside bag. Seal both bags securely, removing excess air. Add ice and salt to larger bag and place smaller bag inside. Seal firmly. Let the kids shake themselves silly -- shaking, tossing, and turning the bag. Ice cream will be soft and ready to eat in 5 to 10 minutes. Enjoy!

BABYSITTING KITS: Babysitting kits for teaching 10 & 11 yearolds in Activity Days.

LETS SWIM!!!: Its almost time for SWIMMING!!For fittness we swim and practice CPR.It is great way to get to get girls out swimming.Afterward a popsicel.(THERE LOW CALORIE!)It also helps you to have talent in swimming.

NEWSPAPER FASHION SHOW: Get lots of newspaper,some tape. Split the girls into two groups. Give each group some of the newspapers. Then the girls will make an outfit out of newpapers and put them on another girl. The have them come out and modle them.

EXCRISE FUN!: Get some excrise, or yoga videos. And buy some little (unexpensive )water bottles. Have the girls watch do the excercises.

FATHERS DAY CRAFT: Needed: A gift that the girl's can make for their fathers for Father's day.