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?