HELP!!! HELP!!!! HELP!!!!
As many of you know I am the 1st counselor for the Young Women in my ward.
I have just been assigned to make an idea binder for mutual activities. I know it will help our planning meetings run a lot smoother, but that means I have to come up with tons of ideas.
I have already pulled a lot of ideas off of
*~*~ I would like your help too~*~*
I know most of you grew up in the church and went through the Young Women Program. And some of you have also served with the Young Women as a leader. I would really appreciate it if you each would send two or three ideas that either you did, your ward did, you have heard of people doing, or you just think would be fun.
I need everything from the extravagant that requires a lot of planning and prep; to the really easy activities that requires no prep at all.They should fall under one of these topics:
- Spiritual
- Homemaking
- Skill building
- Unity building
- Service
- Sports
- Other
If you can't login to leave a comment you can always send me an email. violet_lufkin@hotmail.com
(For those of you who are not LDS that means that I am a spiritual advisor, a mentor, a teacher, a friend, and so much more, for about 20 girls from the ages of 12-18, we teach them gospel lessons on Sunday and then get together once during the week for an hour to do activities together.) If you would like to learn more about this program and our church click here
28 comments:
Ok. Let me think about this tonight and I'll email you tomorrow!
I'll bring my idea book tonight and let you borrow it...
1-We played a Jeoperdy type game right before Gen. conference with the 12 apostles being the topics. We put them in 3 groups and they all got a paper with some info and facts about each apostle to study before we started. We then collected the notes and played the game. It was fun because they all learned something new (even if it was who was who) and it was good prep for conf. I had pictures of each apostle on the chalk board and when a fact was revealed we would put a picture by that apostle (airplane by E. Ukdorf, etc.) at the end they get their notes back to take home.
2- Cosmic Volleyball- lights out, glow in the dark volleyball and kids where glow stick necklaces (sell around halloween in a tube in $1 bin for 15 -makes 7 1/2 necklaces) OR Water Balloon Volleyball where you have several pairs on each side. Each pair has a towel that they hold the corners of and try to catch and launch the water balloon over the net (very fun in summer, outside)
3-Dance Night- someone comes in and shows the girls how to dance ( the hula, latin dancing, swing, etc)
4-Culture Night- we each choose a culture (usually one that is our family background) and had about 5-7 minutes to talk a little about the culture and brought a dish from that country. Fun because usually the girls learn something about their own heritage but also about others. Can be done in pairs (esp. siblings)
Hope that all made sense.
Sorry about the many words I messed up. P.S. the glow necklace/bracelet they wear for volleyball are at the dollar bin at Target around Sept/Oct.
The Amazing Race-they made it a service one for our kids-they performed service for three different people and got the next clue which led them back to the church at the end for dessert, rock climbing for building unity, frisbee football, mystery dinner theater with the kids as actors. If I think of more I will email you!
I had this calling about a year ago...it was a hard one. here are some of the things that worked or ideas i had
i remember doing a drive in night in primary but i think it would be fun to do in young women. The girls make a "car" out of a large box (refridgerator) and then you drive to the movies and watch something like johnny lingo.
we made glycerin soap with pictures of the temples in them.
mirror etching. you can buy the etching cream at michaels or any craft store. we did picture frames instead of mirrors.
quilting...you can "tie" many themes into this one
spa nights with homemade face masks
improv nights
our ward has a stretch of highway that we would clean quarterly
i'll think of more ideas and post or email ya with.
Violet, I grew up in Corona Stake... I'm not sure you know who I am. Anyway... I saw your request for ideas on Katie's blog. I'm serving as YW Pres. right now and was 2nd couns. before that. I'd LOVE to have a copy of all your ideas when you have finished. My husband was YM pres a few years back as well... I'll send you all the ideas he found on the internet (it's a huge file).
Anyway... here are some of my ideas off the top of my head:
*I taught the girls to make pie
*we made Christmas cards for the inactive girls
*recipe exchange night
*P-party... all things "P"... including Personal Progress interviews
*four square
*pamper yourself night (manicures/pedicures)
*I remember growing up doing some kind of homemaking relay--sew a button, fold a fitted sheet, etc.
*my husband recently taught the beehives guitar
*get to know the general authorities (we did this right before General Conference)
*make conference journals
That's all I can come up with right off the top of my head. Good luck!
Oo, oo, I've got a great one my mom did! I'll email you some details...
Good luck, Vi! I'm sure you're wonderful with those girls!
I'll have to think about this one and send some ideas back. What a terrific idead to put it all in a book!
Wow..upon pondering your question I realized how much I don't remember about mutual night. But here are a couple of standouts that I do remember:
-goal night where we wrote a letter to ourselves to open when we graduated from high school. I found mine after I graduated and it was awesome to read it and realize what I had accomplished. The same goes with writing yourself a letter for your wedding day.
-service scavenger hunt
-personal progress catch-up day...where we did some of the personal progress assignments and planned how we were going to fulfill the rest in the future. Treats were involved :)
-Mystery dinner night: usually a mommy/daughter or daddy/daughter activity where the counselors served dinner and you got to pick what you wanted at each course. BUT the real identity was hidden with funny names. So, you could end up with spaghetti and a knife or a spoon and salad, etc. It was funny to see what people ended up with. Eventually, you had everything. Let me know if you need more elaboration on this one.
-learning to sew pajama pants or a skirt
-fun date ideas with the laurels, gather and make a simple book
-combining with girls from another ward for a fun game night including eating donuts on a string, etc.
-sometimes we had a big planning/movie night at one of the leader's houses where we(the girls) got to plan what we would do for the next three months and then watch a movie with popcorn and our favorite candy
-waterskiing (the girls fundraised the money to go) we combined it with a campout to prepare for girls camp
That is about all I've got. I hope that it helps!
I have only been in Y/w a few weeks and can not remember many from when I was younger. But here are a couple ideas i liked.
1. Play kickball or softball (probably a good y/m and y/w activity) and have different water activity's at each base, like a slip in slide to home or step through a baby pool at first base.
2. Have the y/w plan an activity for one of the primary's activity's. Such as a Halloween carnival or a Easter egg hunt.
3. Have someone come and teach them a yoga class. Talk about exercise or stress reduction.
4. The y/w in my ward came up with the idea for valentines where they made fruit heart pizza's and wrote valentines to family members.
Good luck with your book. It sounds like a lot to take on. I would love a copy of it!
Hey! Probably some of these ideas you already have, but here they are:
*Walk with Christ - we did in Norco ward, remember, it was spiritual and the kids loved it.
*Human Foosball - sooo fun!
*visiting the elderly @ convalecent hospital
*Mini Olympics - boy/girl pairs with events like long jump, 50yrd dash, shot put, ect. Our kids really liked it we gave gold medals in each event.
*Service scavenger hunt
*Raider of the Lost ARTS - Develop talents with the older sisters in the ward
*We have P night once a month - we work on personel progress and dress in P's, bring P treats.
*Carnival of Life - lots of work, lots of fun
*Yoga night
I will try to think of some more.
-Video savenger hunt
-Human Chess (Where the YW are the pieces of the board)
-Chutes and Ladders (Use the Cutural Hall as the game board)
-Spa Night
-Crab soccer
-Making frozen dinners for the older couple in the Ward
-Beach trips
-Volunteer at a Children's Hospital(Throw a Halloween Party, etc.)
-mini golf in culural hall
-nation ball
-sing at a Nursing Home at Christmas Time
-Quad Court V-ball (Call and ask about it or email me)
The Idea Door and LDS Splash are both really good websites with even more ideas.
i would love a copy when youre done! one idea, find out of the bishops store house would take canned foods and this summer-when it's light out at night, have the girls split up into a few teams with wagons and do a canned food drive, walk/run down a few neighborhoods and ask for non-parishable items. the more ideas i think of i'll keep sending...
Mall Scavenger Hunt - The team that spends the least amount of money wins! They start with a couple dollars. THis is a good lesson on Budgeting. I've done this twice and it has been fun and they have only spent about $0.30. Put sticker, make up, card, straw, etc for them to get.
Missionary relay - (Melinda's ward did this). They were partnered up and were tied together. They had to do everything together. (Ride a tricycle, etc)
Temple marriage - Have temple dresses for the girls to wear and model. Take a picture with their dads in front of a picture of a temple.
Spiritual - Have an activity about the sacrament. Make bread and each ingredient talks about the events in Christ's life. The bread you make have it for Sunday. I did this in our ward and that Sunday the girls were so excited and it was special for them!
One more . . I'll post more if I can think of more!
Careers - Have different women in the ward come in and talk about the careers they have or have had. These women talk about 5 minutes of what they do. At the end the girls can ask each women a couple questions of how they got there and steps they took. Stress the importance of being home but also having some kind of education such as yourself.
MOdesty - Bring newspapers, scraps, construction paper etc. Have the girls team up and make different outfits. 1) prom dress 2) church dress 3.) school outfit
Oh violet I'm the worst with creativity but under skill building it is ALWAYS good to get them CPR and/or first aid certified. good for babysitting and safety in general. It can be done in a night at mutual. Plus it saves lives!
Good luck!
Do a service auction. Have each girl come up with any service that they are good at, or a baked good, or anything from help doing hair one night to a movie night with them- anything. Then each girl gets Bishop Bucks and you auction off each service.
We did this as a relief society and it was so fun. Have each of the girls read the book The One Hundred Dresses. Then collect old dresses that you guys don't use anymore and take them to a DI or charity. You can do other activities based on the book too.
You will do great!
Hi Violet, it's Anna, Chris's wife... btw thanks for your sweet comment on our blog...
Here are a few ideas that my leaders used while I was in YW:
1. Learned to make bread/ rolls (homemaking)
2. Played the game of LIFE, life-sized on the gym floor. We were the game pieces, and the associated stops on the huge game board were mostly church themed, for example we had to pay tithing as part of the game. It was really fun! Unity building, maybe? This required extravagant planning...
3. We had someone teach us yoga and how to eat healthier (sports)
4. We made & decorated cookies to bring to some of the elderly members of our ward for special occasions like holidays & their birthdays (service)
5. We volunteered at a shelter for crack babies (service)
6. We had a first aid night (it was to help get us ready for camp but could also count as skill building)
7. We learned a color-coded way to mark our scriptures by topic (spiritual)
8. Sometimes we'd just show up and play a pick-up game of volleyball. No planning required! (sports)
9. We volunteered at a homeless shelter (service)
10. Sometimes we would just have personal progress mutual where we'd bring our books & work on our goals or get the ones we had finished signed off (spiritual)
11. Each December we made gingerbread houses from scratch (ahead of time) & decorated them at mutual. (homemaking/ skill building?)
12. We had a makeover/ pamper ourselves night where we did manis & pedis, and had a lady teach us how to properly apply make-up (other)
13. Occasionally mutual would be practice for our roadshow number (skillbuilding? (we'd sing & dance...) other?)
14. Sometimes mutual would be basketball practice (during the season) (sports)
15. We went ice-blocking in the winter & had hot chocolate after (other)
16. In the summer we had the occasional pool party (other)
17. In December we would go caroling at nursing homes (service)
I know there were tons of great activities, but these are the ones I remembered just as I was typing... hope that helps. Good luck with the project!
PS One more-
18. We did a picture scavenger hunt that was really fun- each team got a disposable camera, a list of items to photograph, and a time limit. The pictures were developed later & displayed in the seminary room for a while...way fun. (unity building, other)
Hi, Violette! So glad to find another blogging buddy. You seem to be a very seasoned blogger! Ah, to have 21 comments for one post...my biggest goal in life. ;) jk. See you later! You have the cutest family!
Oops, sorry, Violet, I spelled your name wrong! It's one of my favorite names and I got a little carried away, lol :)
hey violet, it looks like you have tons of ideas already, I didn't read them all so some of mine might be the same as other.
1. made quilts and dropped them off at a place for women who had experience abuse. You could talk to the girls about preventing abuse and where they could find help if a freind or they were experiencing any abuse.
2. had a fundraiser for camp where the girls and people in the ward singed up to share talents or skills. then, we auction off all the different things. We raised a lot of money with this and the girls where able to show case their talents.
3. A sound scavenger hunt. they get tape recorders and a list of different sounds they need to get.
4. the amazing race. we hid clues around a park or in the church building that will take them to different challenges. just like the Amazing Race show on tv. there where challenges on scriptures, sports, etc.
5. have them learn a new skill. There is a couple in our ward who is famous for making great bread. they had us over to their house and taught us how to make their favorite bread. we got to eat the bread at the end and the girls really enjoyed it.
6. we always asked the girls if there were things they would like to do or learn and we would base our activities on that as well.
7. over the summer we do a lot of sports activities. we went swimming, played ultimate frisbee, basketball, volleyball,etc. during the summer we did a lot of this because the weather was nice and the girls always wanted to do something outside.
8.we got together with other wards and had a Fear Factor. that was lots of fun and in the end the winner team got tickets to the movies. I thought the kids would not be into it, but they had tons of fun. This was with combined with the YM.
A great activity is Where's Waldo. In my ward we try to do this one every year. This activity only works at a busy place like the mall. We usually go to the TO mall.
-Adults from the ward dress up in costumes( somtimes a mom in the ward will dress up as an old lady or a hobo)encourage the adults to have costumes that make them very hard to recognize. It makes it more fun.(also try to avoid having parents of the kids particapating)
-The adults should arrive at the mall before the kids so that the kids particapating do not know who is a "waldo"
-When the kids get to the mall give them a check list with names like Wild Wanda (each adult should have a name assinged to them)
-Split the kids into groups and give the kids a time they need to meet back up and a meeting place.(It is a good idea to make the groups before hand so you can make teams with at least one priest or laurel in the group)
-The kids particapating go up to anyone the think is a "waldo" and asks "Are you Waldo". If it is an adult that is particapating they will check there name off the list( make sure to tell the kids not to bother anyone if the say no)
This is a real confidence builder and is always tons of fun. The better the costumes the harder it is.
Good Luck!
Bradlee Hager
Wow girl, great responses! I would love a copy of your final project! I am in Stake Primary right now, and another source I have found is:
http://latter-dayvillage.com/. I saw that it has quite a few YW ideas as well. I'll bet you are great with the girls. I know Kaye Zulauf sure appreciated you in the Norco Ward!!
Hi Violet. I just found your blog. Glad to hear everything is going well!
I just got back into town Looks like you got looks of help, but some of my favorite activities have been
a photo scavenger hunt
PJ"s personal progress night
taking cookies to the fire fighters
making frozen meals for those in need
temple babysitting night
self defense lessons
missionary relays
mother daugther night
babysitting kits
palying volleyball
progressive dinner
the cruise and three kingdoms
yard work relay
wacky baseball
temple night with speakers
making music videos
visiting widows
let me know if you have any questions you will be great
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