Choice & Accountability 2 and Integrity 1

For the Strength of Youth Cranium:

Last summer, our stake young women leaders challenged all the young women to read the entire For the Strength of Youth (FSOY) pamphlet. The girls have to read FSOY anyway in order to pass off Choice & Accountability 2 and Integrity 1. We did not read the entire FSOY at this activity, but my goal was to help them get started.

This was one of my favorite activities. It turned out to be fun and the girls seemed to like it. Several of them asked questions about standards and some of them gave examples of how they follow standards.

Here's what you'll need:

1. Playing cards. You can download mine here. 
2. A copy of the For Strength of Youth pamphlet, which you will need to highlight. If you look at the cards, they will show you which color to highlight each section. 
3. Two cartons of Play-doh. Three if you're shopping with young children.
4. Word strips of some mixed up words. The words you'll need are in the cards (each card in the "zelpuz" category). The word in the above picture is "education," for those of you who are like me and can't move on until you've figured it out.

Here's how it worked: We divided into two groups. I drew a card, then invited one player from each team to come up play the card for their own team. Each card gives instructions on how play that round, gets a point, then has to read the highlighted section of FSOY aloud. 

The key part was reading the highlighted section out loud. That's when the girls talked to each other about standards and asked questions. 

Personal Progress Valentine

I. AM. IN. LOVE.

And I want the young women to fall in love too!

You can print this Valentine here: MS Publisher or PDF.

And you can purchase the mini stampers here.

Make personal progress your BAE this Valentine's Day!

Taste the Rainbow--part 2

It's been a while. A long while.

WAY back in May, this is what we did for part 2 of our "Taste the Rainbow" series.

Again, we had three rotations and every girl went to each 20-minute class.

For our GOOD WORKS #1 class, each young woman created three messages of gratitude with small candies. They could then use these messages to acknowledge quiet acts of service over the next couple of weeks.

They each received a package of sticky notes (aren't these sticky notes adorable?). Hopefully they will use the sticky notes to write notes of gratitude as they acknowledge quiet acts of service.

And they put their messages and sticky notes in a bag, which was labeled with ideas of how to acknowledge quiet acts of service.

Hopefully the young women recognized that they have so many people who love and serve them every day. 

Our next class was taught by our fantastic young women president because she is a spiritual GIANT. She taught a mini class on the Young Women theme and the girls were able to pass off CHOICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY #6 that very night.

Our last class was taught by our bishop for INTEGRITY #7. He brought in several laptop computers for the young women to research how to strengthen their families.

Taste the Rainbow--part 1

There are lots of "Taste the Rainbow" activities floating around on Pinterest--I just had to join the party! I saw this one that was personal progress-based and so adorable. And this one that was for New Beginnings.

We had personal progress interviews last month, which prompted this activity. We've had lots of cute new Beehives join our ranks lately, so it seemed a good time to crank out a few value experiences in one night.

Here was the invite, with a small package of Skittles stapled to the back:

We had three rotations, so every girl went to each 20-minute class.

During the personal progress interviews, the one thing I heard over and over again from the young women is how difficult it is to start a two or three-week value experience and remember to keep it going. So, for FAITH #1, here's what I came up with:



I got a pillowcase for each girl, then used iron-ons to create a calendar-like thing.
At the activity, each girl got to decorate their pillowcase (here's a picture of mine--and yes, I realize faith #1 requires THREE weeks of personal prayer, not two. Good thing I figured it out before I made the rest of the pillowcases!)

I hope they will put the pillowcase on their pillow and every morning and night, will check off their prayers for that day. My bigger hope is that they will form a habit of prayer that they will find essential in life. I asked them to use the back of the pillowcase to write down all the service they recognize for GOOD WORKS #1.

The next class in the rotation was DIVINE NATURE #4. Our Elders Quorum president came and taught them how to memorize the sacrament prayers. He offered them a reward if the girls could recite the prayers by Sunday. And as long as they're doing DIVINE NATURE #4, they may as well do FAITH #4.

from www.modernroots.com

Our last class was INDIVIDUAL WORTH #4. The great thing about this class is the girls could finish it in one night. The teacher gave them a questionnaire with these questions:

What college do I want to go to?
What major do I want to have?
Where would I like to serve a mission?
What temple would I like to be married in?
What traits would I like in my husband? (physical, spiritual, personality)
How many children would I like to have?
What kind of mother do I plan on being?
Where would I like to travel with my family?
What fun things would I like to do with my family?
What kind of wife do I want to be?
Where do I want to raise my family?
What kind of home would I like?
How will I teach my children about my Savior, Jesus Christ?
How will I let them know that they are a Child of God?

Then we served rainbow cupcakes, recipe over at thefrugalgirls.com. You can find the recipe here.

Looking forward to Taste the Rainbow part 2, next month.

Knowledge #5

It was a bit of a "stretch" connecting yoga with knowledge #5. The girls had a good time and I learned a lot. And I was very sore the next day. A good sore.

 

I have a friend who teaches yoga, so she agreed to come and share her mad skills with our young women. Before yoga, she talked to us about how she got interested in yoga and how she became certified.

 

via www.yogalaconner.com

 

After yoga, the girls made fruit kabobs.

 

via www.savingdessert.com

 

Namaste.

Knowledge #3

 

Our young women went to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU, which helped them pass off KNOWLEDGE #3.

 

 

Stunning.

 

If you live in the Provo area, this exhibit is a must-see! If you missed it, or don't live in the Provo area, KNOWLEDGE #3 is still a fun one to finish as a young women group. With summer just around the corner, most communities have outdoor concerts. Better yet--attend a play, concert, or recital of a young woman in your ward. Now that's a win-win!

Faith #6

February's curriculum topic is The Plan of Salvation. It is the perfect time for young women to pass off Faith #6! Here's what I gave to our young women:

Honor Bee

One of our young women earned her Honor Bee! I put together this package as a gift to her.

It contains the book One Drop at a Time by M. Russell Ballard, some Burt's Bees lip gloss and hand lotion, some Bit-O-Honey candies, a letter from the bishop, a letter from the young women presidency, and (of course) her BEE CHARM!

On the back of the paper tag bee is this quote: "The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others." -St. John Chrysostom

What a fitting quote for a girl who continues to labor for others.

Young Women in Excellence 2013

We had a really great Young Women in Excellence last night! Our theme was purse-sonal progress. Photos speak volumes, so here they are!

The invitation:

The set-up:

The program:

We showed this video--I love this story and the church did a great job putting it in video form, as usual.

Here was the highlight of the evening: instead of table displays of the girls' accomplishments, we rounded up as many cute and colorful purses as we could find, then gave a purse to each of the girls the Sunday before our event. We asked the girls to put their personal progress accomplishments INSIDE the purse, and asked them not to put their names with their stuff. All the purses were gathered back up, then placed on the tables at YWIE. After we showed the video, we had each girl and her parents take a purse that was not her own, and review its contents. Then they got to guess whose purse it was. When they guess correctly, the YW owner of the purse stood and told what each item meant. It was a fun way to spotlight each girls' personal progress accomplishments. We have a ward full of amazingly talented young women!

It seems like our program had a lot of speakers, but each were brief (me, the Stake YW Presidency, the ward YW President, and the Bishop).

The girls each got to take home a paper purse.

Inside the purse were items found in most purses, but with a YW value twist!

White tissues because when we have faith to share our testimony, we sometimes shed tears.
Blue mirror to remind them that they are created in God's image.
Red coin purse to remind them that their worth is priceless.
Green notebook so they can write down all the knowledge that comes to mind.
Orange gum to remind them to "chews" the right.
Yellow hand sanitizer to help them keep hands clean while they continue to use their hands to serve.
Purple chapstick to remind them to speak with integrity.
Gold temple recommend because maintaining virtue will help lead them to the temple.

UPDATE: You can find all the labels here, but keep in mind that some labels might not fit because all products/brands are different.

You can download the purse invitation and program here. I did not use the side gusset.

You can download the paper purse take-home gift here. I enlarged it to fit a 12x12 paper.

Our treats were amazing (put together by our YW presidency). I wish I had a picture of the table with all the cookies, but some cookies arrived a few minutes before we started and I was too busy talking to snap a photo. You get the idea though.

It was a fun, fun night!

Halloween Personal Progress Reminder

I'm changing things up a little with personal progress.

Last month, our ward had a meeting for all adults during the 3rd hour of church. The focus of this meeting was the youth. The Sunday School president taught most of the meeting, with help from the Young Women's president and Young Men's president. The gist of the meeting was this: each auxiliary exists for the FAMILY. Personal progress was specifically mentioned as a PARENT/youth program. It struck me that I've been so focused on helping the young women with personal progress, that I've neglected to include their mothers in the program.

So here's what I'm going to do. Once a month or so, I'll give the mothers a reminder to have a sit-down with their daughters. Here's the reminder I gave them this month:

I gave it to the mothers with specific instructions to share the treat with their daughter while they are reviewing her personal progress. Crossing my fingers that it works....

Knowledge #2

I'll be honest, this activity did not go the way I imagined it in my head. Not even close. The young women were super excited about this activity. I was super, DUPER excited about this activity. But three hours into the activity--yes, THREE hours--the girls started to lose steam. If you do the math, you'll realize I had these Beehives--who just started school--at the church until 10 pm. As a mom of teenage daughters, this is a huge no-no for young women activities.

Let me explain what our activity was. Then I'll tell you what I'd do differently to make the activity work within the hour/hour-and-a-half time frame.

Knowledge #2 value experience requires the young women to "list the talents [they] have and others [they'd] like to develop." Then they need to "learn a new skill or talent that will help [them] care for [their] future family or home." We taught them some basic sewing skills by making string backpacks out of old t-shirts (handy as they just went back to school). A HUGE thank you to my handsome nephews--Cole, Daniel, Caleb, Quaid, Michael, and Nash--for donating tons of t-shirts for my young women to choose from.

I was hoping to get a picture of all the girls with their backpacks, but by the time they were done they had to head home as quickly as possible. So I just got a picture of my daughter (who is a Beehive) modeling her backpack. She had to wait for me to cleanup anyway.

The bags turned out WAY CUTE and the girls seemed very happy with their creations. You can find the directions to the bags here. So if I were doing this activity within the time frame, I'd either take two activity nights to finish, or I'd do steps 1-5 for them before the activity.

Because all the girls couldn't sew or cut at the same time (we had three sewing machines and three cutting boards), I had some girls working on their list of talents.

I created these forms just a little smaller in size than their personal progress journals so they could glue or tape them into their journals when they got home. I loved the quote from Elder Ashton that said being able to weep is a gift. Who knew? That's definitely one of my gifts.

You can download the talent forms here.

Smart Cookie

It's been a while since I've given the young women a personal progress reminder/incentive, so I thought back-to-school season would be the perfect time! I wanted to remind them that lots of the value experiences and projects are meant to be accomplished at school.
 

I baked them each a giant cookie, then placed the cookies in wax bags and sealed them with this cute washi tape.

After reviewing the personal progress book, I realized that lots of the value experiences and value projects mention it should be done at school. So I made a list of those on the back of the tag.

Our ward likes to keep Sunday treats to a minimum, so my initial idea was to give the girls hand sanitizer because in junior high, what girl wouldn't want herself some sweet-smelling hands? So here's what my first idea looked like:

I ended up not loving this idea as much as the cookie, but if you're interested you can find these mini hand sanitizers at Bath and Body Works.

Feel free to use the tags! PDF copy here.

Knowledge #7

Now that Girls' Camp is over (whew!) don't forget about KNOWLEDGE value experience #7. If your girls went to camp, they should have learned about first aid, safety, sanitation, and survival--the rest is easy!

Our camp director asked me to do a devotional. I love, love, LOVE this quote from Elaine S. Dalton. I put it on some shiny paper and added a glow stick.

And here are our young women at camp after their mega water fight!

Good Works #2

This activity was a fun one! Because of summer vacations/schedules, we didn't have very many girls attend. :(

For Good Works #2, the young women are required to: "Help plan your family's menus, obtain the food, and prepare part of the meals for two weeks. During that time help your family gather to share mealtimes. Report to your class what you have learned."

Each girl made a pan of enchiladas to take home to begin her two-week value experience.


I didn't plan the activity very well, but it would have been good to hand out a menu planner like this one [pictured below].

via Kissen Studio

Here are my young women with their enchiladas:

Good Works Service Project

I was assigned an extra activity in May. Hooray! I really do love planning activities. Since we've had a lot of girls going on missions from our ward, I decided it would be fun to put together packages for missionaries. My inspiration for what went into the packages came from here. The pillowcases idea was brilliant since missionaries don't like a lot of extra "stuff" to carry around from transfer to transfer.

Our ward currently has four missionaries in the mission field.

1. At one station, the girls wrote their testimony in a Book of Mormon. My hope is that the missionary will give the book to a young woman who is investigating the gospel.

I included a photo of the girls in the Book of Mormon to personalize it a little.

2. At the next station all the girls wrote a short note to the missionary.

 

3. And at the last station, all the girls signed a pillowcase for the missionary with their favorite scripture on it.

 

I also threw in some breath mints because no one wants to hear about the gospel from a missionary with stinky breath. Lastly, I threw the missionary's favorite candy in the box before shipping the packages.

Here's the package before shipping:

The Young Women were able to count this as a Good Works value experience write-in.

 

Divine Nature #3

I'm a couple of months behind in my blogging. The end of school year caught me by surprise!

In April we focused on Divine Nature #3. Here is the invitation I handed out:

I told them I was giving them a recipe and they had to bring ALL the ingredients to the activity. They were very worried I was asking them to bring weird ingredients, until they saw the invitation. I love messing with them.

I also asked them how they showed love to their family members. I compiled their list and handed it out at the activity. Here's what they came up with:

• send a text
• write a note
• talk/listen
• make a treat
• make dinner together
• pray for each other
• give compliments

I added to their list what is says in the personal progress book:

• refrain from judging, criticizing, or speaking unkindly
• watch for positive qualities
• find ways to be helpful
• verbally express love

At the activity they decorated a cupcake to take home to their family member to begin their two week value experience. The girls also got to decorate a cupcake for themselves. I couldn't believe how creative they were with my very simple toppings! Here are some photos:

Aren't they beautiful girls? I think so.

Summertime Personal Progress Bingo

My daughter is a 12-year-old Beehive. I've been busy coordinating our family's summer schedule and I realized the only thing she has this summer is YW camp. The only thing. So it got me thinking...maybe other young women have a pretty free summer too. It's the perfect time to get a lot done in Personal Progress! We're going to play Personal Progress BINGO. Here's how it works:

The instructions:

Click here for the chart in Publisher.
Click here for the chart in PDF.

And the finished product:

 

What great things is your ward doing for summer?

Knowledge #6

I've tried to follow the monthly curriculum theme for our Personal Progress nights, but this month was tricky! The only activity I could come up with was teaching the girls how to bake bread, and having them bake bread for Sacrament Meeting. Perfect activity for the Atonement theme, but the youth will be learning how to make unleavened bread the week before my activity. I'll probably keep the bread-making activity in my back pocket until July when the theme is "covenants."

So here's what I've come up with instead: Our ward has this AWESOME choir director who knows how to lead music. We'll focus on Knowledge #6, which requires the girls to learn two hymns and the correct conducting patterns. I'll also have a sign up sheet for the girls to lead the music in YW meetings (or maybe even Sacrament Meeting for a few brave souls?--have to check with the bishopric on this one). Since we are focusing on the Atonement this month (and Easter is just around the corner), I have asked our choir director to include songs that focus on this. I'm excited to see what he comes up with!

Here is the invitation for this activity:

And here's a view of front and back:

I was going for a Sweet Shoppe-looking invite, but it ended up looking like a baby shower invite. Oh, that I were a graphic designer and could make my computer understand what my mind sees.

I have LOVED all the communication with you amazing women and would love to hear what has worked in your wards to motivate the YW in Personal Progress!