Service and Missionary Activity ideas

I am so excited for our service project this fall. We did it two years ago and couldn’t get the kids to stop doing it long enough to come have treats.

You’d have to move your date up a couple of weeks I think, but we did a Secret Service project. We had the kids dress up as secret agents and then we went around the neighborhood doing secret service projects. This mostly

consisted of raking leaves for people (the kids loved leaving big bags of leaves on people’s lawns), or of washing car windows.

Then we left a note at their homes saying the secret service agents were there. The kids had been divided in groups and in every group’s area, we had a “bad guy” which was just a picture on paper, for the kids to find. These bad guys were the things that prevent us from serving others, such as Lazy Larry, Selfish Sally, etc. We got rid of our bad guys then had treats.

This was a huge success for us, particularly for the non-members in our area who really appreciated the service. The kids are already looking forward to a return of this project. —Jennifer Nielsen

FIRETRUCK WASH – “Our town has a volunteer fire dept. and rescue squad. To help them one year we had an activity day that centered around cleaning the fire trucks. This was a big help for our local volunteers and fun for the

kids too. ” —Vicki Gallaher

UNBIRTHDAY PARTY – “At the beginning of the year we wanted to have a birthday party for our entire primary, but wanting to be a bit more service oriented, we decided to have an un-birthday party to give gifts instead of

receiving them. We held it in the cultural hall and everyone brought an old toy or book that they had outgrown to donate to a hospital or other children’s’ charity. We had three stations. At the first station they decorated cupcakes and had ice cream. The second they made party hats and the third they played dress-up relay. We all sat in a big circle at the end and sang the birthday song. They all received a helium balloon and a party bag to

take home.” —-Cora

FAMILY HOME EVENING ACTIVITY DAY – “I have done this activity day twice, in two different wards, on two continents. It is a simple idea that appeals to everyone. If you live near a Beehive Clothing Distribution Center, you can get all the boxes you need . Every family with Primary children in your ward or branch gets a free box of uniform size, which the Beehive Clothing center workers will happily donate to you. Each family decorates their own box as a storage container for the things they use for family home evening. This is done before the Activity Day. They bring their family’s unique box to the Activity Day to collect items given to them that day. The teachers and leaders organize several different stations or rooms for the children to rotate through, keeping brothers and sisters together in groups, and they learn and make things they can use at home to participate and plan for their own family’s FHE’s. For example, the groups can cover such things as musical ideas, stories, games, refreshments (especially those with an object lesson that tie in with the FHE lesson themes), and a station to make FHE assignment charts Use your imagination and your own local resources, and get as many people involved as possible. Invite parents to come with their children if they would like. This can serve as a way for the Valiant age children to accomplish the family service Gospel in Action goal, as they help organize future Family Home Evenings. It helps children of ALL ages to

feel like a valuable part of their families who can contribute something of worth to their own FHE’s. Have fun, and pass on the idea to others!” —Sara Potter

TEDDY BEARS FOR HOSPITAL FUND-RAISER – “”The Festival of the Trees,” a fund-raiser for children at Primary Children’s Hospital, is held each year in SLC. Volunteers decorate trees and contribute other crafts to sell. Our

Primary children made teddy bears to contribute. Ahead of time, leaders cut and sewed fifteen 3′ high teddy bears; bags and bags of scrap foam were donated by several upholstery places. At the activity, a Festival representative showed a video about the hospital, and about the children that are helped there. Then we had the children divide into groups to stuff the teddy bears. We put a mountain of foam in the center of the cultural hall. Each group chose a name for their bear, and wrote it on a tag pinned to his arm. Before finishing, the children cut a heart shaped piece of foam, and wrote their names on it; then they placed the heart inside the bear before closing him up. After cleanup, we took a photo of all the children with their finished bears. The children loved it! They really got into the

spirit of helping other children in need!” —Louise

SERVICE TO MISSIONARIES – “Before the activity day, we found some pictures in our primary closet of our current missionaries when they were Valiant age. We then obtained young pictures of the missionaries who weren’t in the

Primary Class pictures. (A sister, and a missionary couple) We made a cute scrapbook page using the pictures we had found with all of the missionaries on the page, with the caption, “I can be a missionary NOW”. We then had a

color copy made for each missionary and placed them in a plastic scrapbook sleeve. At the activity, we had on display, a recent picture of each missionary along with the color copies we had made. First we talked about

the things that the children can do to be missionaries NOW. We had a globe and pointed out where each missionary was ( 9 of them) and talked about how they don’t have to be far away from home to be missionaries. Then we gave them each a missionary name tag to wear. (paper “copy” slid into those plastic sleeves with lapel pins on the back) Then they went to the tables where the pictures were on display and wrote letters to as many of the missionaries as they could. We encouraged them to write down what they could do to be a missionary now. The children were then led to another room where they made turkey cookies featured in the November 1997 Friend. The

missionaries responded with delight at the letters and the scrapbook.” —Janiene Watson

MISSIONARY ACTIVITY – “We’ve done this activity twice in our Primary and we sure loved it! We can have 2 or 3 different groups for this activity. You’ll need to:
(1) Call the full-time missionaries serving in your area and invite them. Tell them three groups of children will come and ask them questions about the missionary life, Christmas spent in the mission field, their families, their feelings about the mission, etc.
(2) Call two people from your ward who have served missions. They will bring things from their missions, such as pictures, books, dolls, etc., and will set them up in separate rooms. They will talk to the children about
their time serving the Lord while as missionaries.
(3) Prepare a flier for the children’s families announcing the activity and asking each child to bring to the missionaries, wrapped as a Christmas gift, items they can consume quick, such as pens, pencils,
envelopes, notepads, stamps, canned soups, canned food, candy bars, breakfast cereal, dried fruits and nuts, peanut butter, jelly, jam, crackers, flavored oatmeal, napkins, toilet paper, soap bars, microwave
popcorn, fruit drinks, soda pop, etc.
(4) A few weeks before this activity, bring to Primary a basket with some of those items to show to the children. Explain to them how each item will benefit and bless the missionaries. Bring one of the items also
wrapped as a Christmas gift.
(5) Decorate a fake small Christmas tree with yellow paper stars. Each star will have the children’s and teacher’s names on it. We also prepared a paper chain to put around the tree. Each circle of the chain has
one of the children’s names. (We’ve asked each class to sign the star and the chain a few weeks before.)
At the activity:
The children will be welcomed at the door by one of us and will receive colored small stickers with the Primary colors. Each group will have an assigned color, an adult leader and together they will rotate from one group
to the other. One of us will ring the bell every 15 minutes for the rotation to happen. As they arrive, they will put their presents at the Christmas tree.
After the 3 groups were able to visit the 3 presentations, we all meet again, sing some Primary Christmas songs and tell the missionaries all those presents are for them. We invite them to open some, and it’s just wonderful to see the joy on their faces! We provide them with boxes or big plastic bags to take home all the presents and the small Christmas tree.
We call this activity also a “Service Project” from the children to the missionaries. We all have such a great time as we prepare and participate in this activity! Since we have different missionaries every year, this is
still a new experience to all of us, every December.
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VALENTINE DAY SERVICE – “Our activity day fell on Valentines Day this year and we took this opportunity to do a service project. This activity day involves 4 stations. 1) bags, 2)Valentine cards, 3) sugar cookie decorations, 4) mouse suckers. The children went to each of these stations. They decorated valentine bags, made cards and a mouse sucker, then decorated sugar cookies. After everything was made there were several games and lunch.
While lunch was being served we talked about loving one another and how it is important for us to show love to recent converts and let them know that we care for them. After the lunch our 8-11 year old girls along with three
leaders filled the bags with the cookies and other goodies and delivered them to our recent converts, shut ins, and the elderly in our ward. In all 22 bags were delivered. It was a great success and a fabulous missionary tool. We will definitely do it again next year.” —Becky Compton
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SERVICE SCAVENGER HUNT- “We had a unique scavenger hunt where we divided into 3 groups (because we had 3 leaders) and each group took an area of the ward. We set up a list of items that could be accomplished including raking leaves, pulling weeds, picking up apples, sweeping out the garage, bundling newspapers, watching young children, etc. Only one item could be done at each house and each task had a number of points assigned to it. Other rules stated that you could only go to houses that you knew, you had to stay together as a group, and all the groups had to be back to the church within 1 hour. The kids had a lot of fun and we were able to serve a lot of members of the ward as well as people in our neighborhoods. —Julianne Stirling
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CHRISTMAS GIFT SHOP – “For our Christmas Activity we are going to help the children make Christmas gifts for their loved ones. We will have three stations for the junior primary, three stations for the older girls, and three stations for the older boys. Here is a list of some of the gifts we will be making: Salt candles, Bath salts, Candy trains, Clothes pin reindeer, Gingerbread ornaments (applesauce and cinnamon recipe), Water-colored pictures, Felt ornaments. We are also going to have a table for gift-wrapping. We will let them cut out snowflakes, hold them against white paper sacks and spray them with glitter spray. For refreshments we are going to have gingerbread men and let the kids decorate them. My aunt did this activity in her ward once, and has made it a yearly tradition because the kids loved it so much. It seems like it is really easy for kids to get caught up in Santa Claus and what they are getting.” —Julianne Stirling
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CHRISTMAS SERVICE – (This was submitted as a class project but can be modified for use as an activity day.) “Each year, in my primary class, we ask the Primary President or the Bishop for a family in our ward (who is
perhaps inactive, or just having a hard time) for us to adopt for Christmas. Depending on the needs of the person or family, we invite another class (around the same age) to join us. Once we decide what we are going to do, we
have one or more get togethers at my home to prepare “a basket” (this might be a plate of cookies or something more elaborate) for the person or family we have adopted. Sometimes we take the “basket” personally and sing
Christmas carols or give it to the Bishop to give to the family. This year we decided to do our adoption a little earlier. Our basket will be prepared for Thanksgiving. The family we adopted are not members and lost everything they had in a fire. Our basket will be filled with Christmas decorations we are making ourselves. This activity brings us closer as a class, teaches the concept of service to others through hands on experience, and helps othersfeel Heavenly Fathers’ love. It’s a great missionary tool.” —Francesca Z.

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PARK CLEAN-UP “For our Service activity day, we did this simple, easy clean-up. We met at a local park, and brought plastic shopping bags and gave one to each of the children. Each teacher was responsible for 4 or 5
children, and we covered the park picking up garbage as we went. The children were very enthusiastic. Afterwards, we let them play on the playground equipment while we got an easy lunch ready: hot dogs, chips, punch, popsicles. Be sure to have somewhere that the children can wash up before eating. Relay games could also be played in the park, if desired. It was a very successful activity, and the children seemed to enjoy all of it.” —Elayn Dahl
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MISSIONARY/CHRISTMAS – Our primary went to a nearby mall and sang Christmas Carols and Primary Christmas songs on the stage that was used by holiday performers. (This will need to be arranged with mall management fairly early so that space will be available, and sometimes malls will post a schedule of upcoming holiday performances). The children wore their Sunday clothes. Many positive comments could be heard about the group, and some were curious as to what organization we were. The final song was “I am A Child of God”. Most parents accompanied their own children and afterward they received a candy cane. (Be sure to get the proper permission from Priesthood leaders for an activity like this.)
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MISSIONARY – “We enjoyed a successful activity centered around the missionaries. We called it our Mighty Missionary Day. The children were able to see and hear a little bit about each missionary from our ward (pictures, hobbies, and where they were serving) There was stationary for pictures and letters and mailbags for each missionary. The children then experienced with the help of our ward missionaries a Day in the Life of a missionary (door approaches and an alarm clock etc.) Next they wrapped a small item that they brought from home to put in a care package (candy, Kool-Aid, pens, stamps,etc.) . Then they told a little bit about themselves on a taped interview and gave words of encouragement. Last they helped make large Mighty Missionary Cookies (M&M’s). Before eating we recorded about 8 of our favorite primary songs to be included on the tapes. The children loved this activity and so do the Elders and Sisters serving from our ward when they received their surprise care package of love.” —Kim Hickman
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PIONEER – “Choose service that children would have had to do then, which is still meaningful today. Such as, I know girls who at eight-years-old (my great great grandmother!) had to knead and make bread for the family —
sometimes 10 loaves in a batch! As long as the children have clean hands, they could rotate past the dough and punch it, poke it, learn how to knead it, shape it, etc. Making it into “fry bread” at the end would make easy
refreshments, too. Meanwhile, dig around your ward for an antique collector who would loan you their butter churn and put some children to work doing that. Another “service” children had to learn was “darning socks” and who
doesn’t have a sock with a hole in it! Children had to do a lot of tending their younger siblings, which shouldn’t be hard to replicate either. In some ways, making the service “the same” helps children to realize that though
their ancestors lived in a different time, they were a lot like them, too.
—Sherrie Wieland
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HALLOWEEN SERVICE PROJECT – “Buy some pumpkin garbage bags at your local supermarket. Have the girls bring a rake from home. Ask a neighbor or someone in your area that has a big tree with lots of falling leaves. Usually we ask a elderly person or couple, but it doesn’t have to be. I guarantee you’ll find someone. Then start raking up piles of leaves and put them in the pumpkin bags. Set them somewhere where it will look nice in their yard. This works for Halloween and through Thanksgiving. I also made hot chocolate and brought it for the girls while they were working hard. They had a blast.” —Pam Clapier
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SECRET SERVICE AGENTS – “The presidency dressed up in trench coats, hats and sun glasses. I welcomed the children to our Secret Service Agents Training Mission and explained what a SS Agent is. I told the story of Jesus healing the leper and that Jesus then told him to go and tell no one. I told another story about 2 brothers that did secret acts of service for their neighbors. Then we handed out Secret Service Briefcases. I have a pattern for making them out of 11X17 cardstock. However, large manila envelopes would work well also. Inside we had pictures of both stories so that they could go home andtell their families in FHE. Also included was a paper for them to list their secret service goals on for the week and Clue Cards (to be left secretly at the scene of a secret service.) The children then colored their briefcases and wrote their service goals. Next we divided into 4 rotation groups:
1. Relays: * dressing in a trench coat, hat and glasses * picking up trash (ten crumpled papers into a trash can) * stacking up books (represents picking up their rooms)
2. Learning the 13th article of Faith (the sister had written the first letter of each word on the white board to help with the memorization. After that, they sang the 13th article of faith song.
3. Write letters to the missionaries
4. Decorate cookies to take to their mother’s (this was the day before Mother’s Day.” —Sallie Shelton
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CLEANING – “We took all the hard plastic chairs from our primary room outside on the lawn of the church and scrubbed them all with biodegradable soap (we don’t want to kill the lawn). The kids found pencil marks, gum, crayon, etc. and realized they needed to be better at respecting the furniture of the church. While the chairs were drying, we played some simple water games like knock down the empty pop cans, wet sponge relay, scoop
ducks from a wading pool, etc. When the chairs were dry, we carried them back inside and afterwards we all had a otter pop. Obviously, this is best when done on a hot day!!” —Kristin Bair
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EASTER- “Last year we had our “service” activity at Easter time. We made arrangement to go to a day-care for handicapped children in our area. Our Primary children stuffed plastic Easter Eggs with candy. Then they got to hide them around the yard area. This was a great twist as the children don’t often get to hide the eggs. Then we paired our children up with their children and had each group find 10 eggs. (important to get a count and have extra!) I had to wear sunglasses the whole time, but it didn’t disguise the tears streaming down my face as I witnessed our sweet children helping those less fortunate! It was a special experience. (We found many local stores willing to donate eggs and candy for this event.) Then we had a ward Easter Egg hunt at our church on another day. Each child that wanted to hunt brought 12 eggs filled with goodies. As the children arrived they would deposit their eggs on a blanket outside. Then they would go into a classroom and write letter to the missionaries from our ward. With the help from the youth or other ward members the eggs would all be hidden behind the church. Then the children would get to hunt for the eggs in age groups: 3 and under first, and so on. When they found 12 eggs they would stop and gather at a designated spot. We have found that having them come out in age groups and the fact that they will all get 12 eggs, worked best. (note- I always make sure to have several extra dozen in my car just in case- a family thinks it’s 1 dozen total or someone forgets the eggs at home, or some are lost when hidden etc…) The eggs can be filled with candy, stickers, or little prizes. This was one of our favorite activities!!!” —Becky Myers
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We had an activity in a park that included dividing up the kids into the four quadrants of the park and cleaning up for 1/2 hour. Each had his/her own little garbage bag. We had a cookout (hot dogs, chips, Kool-Aid) for lunch after and some organized games in the park.
1st half-hour – free play on the playground while stragglers arrived.
2nd half hour – organized games – races, etc.
3rd half hour – cleanup
4th half hour – lunch
Another activity involved planting flowers at the chapel – more a springtime than a fall activity, I think.
You could maybe hook it up with somebody’s Gospel in Action award and have the other kids “help” with whatever the service project is. —Ann
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Now we are doing a service activity in Sept. We asked the sisters in RS to make a few lap quits but leave them untied. We are teaching the children to tied them and them donating them to the Hospital or the millennium project
you know some thing on long those lines. We are doing about 4 quilts and will have a lot of help. So they kids who are done will be able to quilt there own little one to keep as a keepsake. Of course there will be things to fill the time and all but that is the basic. We have also in the past had them make place mats for the elderly bring them to the homes. I will look for more ideas for you.

A couple of things that we have done for service quarterly activities:
1. Sing songs at a local rest home. We did this before our late sacrament meeting on a Sunday morning. We picked some sweet songs and some fun ones. Our chorister even brought some of her props (sun faces for the little ones for “Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam”, etc.
2. Rake leaves in some yards of the elderly in your ward. We have a small boundary and so we were able to spread out and walk through our ward. We did this just after Halloween and we also picked up all of the smashed pumpkins
that were littering the streets as well. We had the kids bring rakes, shovels or brooms, and we swept walks and cleaned up, then left the full leaf bags (that we supplied) in the gutter, one of our husbands came with a
truck to pick up the leaf bags. At an appointed house, we passed out cookies, then walked the kids home. Be sure to have plenty of supervision for this one.
We just completed our Physical Activity. It was really fun. We had a family Olympics (to go with the summer Olympic). We held this at a local park in the evening. When each family arrived they made a family banner with their
name on it. We used poster board and cut it like a pennant. They used colored markers and lots of colors of curly ribbon to decorate. The pennants were punched with holes and then we threaded a two foot dowel through them. After the pennants were done and everyone had arrived we had a pot luck dinner. After dinner (the families each brought an unfrosted cake along with their pot luck dish), we supplied frosting and sprinkles, and
colored frosting in tubes with tips, and each family decorated their cakes. We put the cakes along the paper colored tables marked with a number. Each family voted for their three favorites. Then we took them off for three events just for Primary age kids. The discus throw (we used paper plates).
One child threw the paper plate, while another family member marked the place with the family banner. It was easy to see who threw the farthest and the closest. We awarded medals to the farthest, the closest and the throw with the most style, etc. Then we did a javelin throw (with a straw), and a shot put with a marshmallow. Then we did a mommy-calling contest, where the mommies were blindfolded and lined up. Their kids were lined up across from
them calling them franticly. The first mommy to her kids won a medal. After that there was an obstacle course with old tires and big boxes to crawl through. There were medals for each event and medals for the three favorite
cakes. We told the kids there was only one medal for each child, with some effort we managed to get a medal on every child. The medals were made with red ribbon hot glued to a canning jar lid. I put a small circle of construction paper on each medal that was white. Then wrote “Family Olympics Medallist” on it.
After eating our beautifully frosted cakes and ice cream (that we supplied), the families went home. Every one had lots of fun. Our only problem was that it got dark, and there weren’t any lights at the park. We held it in the
evening so that the families would all be able to come with their kids. But, you could do it on a Saturday afternoon on a cool, fall day. —Robin
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In my “old” ward we did this every year. The meetinghouse was within walking distance of a retirement/nursing home. We’ve gone for Valentine’s Day and sang “love” songs (Love One Another, Jesus Said Love Everyone, I Love to see the Temple, etc), Mother’s Day, and Thanksgiving. The Sunday before the event we’d spend sharing time making cards for the residents. After the kids sang, we’d give them about 15 minutes to deliver cards and visit with the residents. —Lawanna
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I am new to our presidency so I don’t have all the details but this is an activity they did just before I was put into my current position. They had a “birthday party”. Each family (or child if you wanted) brought an unwrapped gift to be donated to a charity. I don’t know what type of charity this is but they found one. At the activity they wrapped the gifts and then put “boy” or “girl” with an appropriate age on a tag. They were told what would happen with these gifts and thanked for their willingness to give to others. They then had a birthday party with cake, games, etc…..
You could also contact your city to see about cleaning up a park or something….. I hope that helps. —Deanna ____________
Every year for our service activity the primary goes to a home for the elderly and sings Christmas Carols. Obviously we do this in December. But there’s no reason why you couldn’t do this at another time of the year and sing some of the primary songs about families. What person wouldn’t enjoy having the kids come in and sing the songs we normally sing for Father’s Day and Mother’s Day? —Lynne
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Just thought I’d say that we had our first activity day yesterday and I survived it! It even went really rather well. We did the theme of Secret Service Agents. After I introduced the theme and explained it, each of the presidency took a turn to tell a service story. Then we gave them their “briefcases” that had copies of the stories to tell at home in FHE along with a goal sheet and clue cards to leave at the seen of a service. The kids wrote down some goals and decorated their “briefcases”. Then we divided up into 3 groups and rotated through 3 activities. In one group we planted flowers, another group did the weekly cleaning for the building, and another group played some cleaning type relay games. Then we came back inside and had a snack while watching a church video about service. The kids seemed to enjoy all of it, even the cleaning. So I would say it was a success. We had about 30 kids show up out of about 50 or so that are active. So I would say it was pretty well attended. Anyway, I just thought I would share since I know there are a few others with a similar activity coming up. Hugs! —Renee
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We’ve had the kids make greeting cards for the Meals-on-Wheels program. (Or they could be made for retirement home residents.) We used colorful construction paper cut in shapes, stickers, markers and colorful stampers.
You can do it around a theme like Valentines Day, Easter, etc. or just springtime. If there is a meals-on-wheels program in your area, the people really love getting a card when their meal is delivered. Hope this
ps! —Lynne
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In our last Ward Council, our Ward Mission Leader introduced the idea of having a “Love Your Neighbor” month. This idea was presented to all organizations to be taken back and passed on to each group. Instead of waiting to take a plate of cookies to your neighbor at Christmas, do it in June. Help your neighbor with their yard work, etc. This theme especially applies to non-members and inactives. You know…just being a friend and let the missionary work come later…
I want to use this theme and pass it along to my Primary. The best idea I came up with is to do an activity day with this theme. So, here is where I propose my question to you…what ideas do you have that I could use for an activity? Some ideas that I had were to plant a flower in a clay pot and deliver to some of the widows, etc., take goodies to the inactive children, service project (mowing a lawn). —Kimberli T.
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Service projects we’ve done in the past as a Primary:
– Tied quilts to be given to the Red Cross
– Made cookies for older singles in our ward
– Sang Christmas carols at the local retirement home (you should SEE those
old folks BEAM when surrounded by those kids!)
– Picked an older person in our ward, & did all of their yard work for them
I’m sure I’ll think of others as they come to me, but that’s all I can remember for now! —Debbie
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You could have them bring a new or very clean and “near new” toy and then take them to a pediatric floor in a hospital. The primary kids would be too young to go visit them but you could have them make cards and then your
presidency could deliver the toys and cards or you could make those construction paper stockings they make in school, the kind that are laced around the edge and you could fill them with cookies and candy canes and deliver them to a nursing home and sing carols to the residents. There’s also homeless shelters or domestic violence shelters where you could deliver toys. In our primary we had a valentine party a few years ago and we had 4 stations. We had the kids rubber stamp and decorate cards, we had 2 different craft stations and we had a station for decorating a lunch bag. We also played a few games with the kids. After the party the achievement day girls put the things the kids had made inside the bags and then the girls and the leaders delivered the bags to the shut-ins in our ward, this activity would work at Christmas time. —Amy
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Last December our Primary children invited the older members of our branch for a Christmas party. The children made personal invitation cards for each of them. We had a program with a short play; a teacher told the Christmas
story and the children acted to it. That didn’t take much time to prepare for. We sang Christmas carols and some children said poems or shared their musical talents. Our guests very much enjoyed the afternoon. They also came
to know that the children already have so much to offer and are not only the ones who are noisy at church. The children felt the Christmas spirit and the joy that comes from serving others. —Heidi
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Some of the service projects we have done in our Primary were making Christmas care packages for the missionaries serving from our ward, cleaning the church, cleaning up a nearby park, collecting canned goods, etc. to give to a homeless shelter. —Karlene
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Call a local nursing home or some type of Elderly Care Facility. They LOVE to hear children sing and love to be with children. This is a great activity for other times of the year, too – when nursing homes aren’t bombarded with so much attention. —Julie
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Last Spring (and at Christmas too) we went caroling at a local retirement home. We made spring-themed greeting cards to take with us (with things like flowers on them). We sang songs like “Popcorn popping on the Apricot Tree”,
“Pretty Purple Pansies”, “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam”, etc. We sang for a small group in a gathering room and then went around and sang to those who were still in their rooms. We had a great time and the residents loved
hearing all of us sing to them. —Lynne
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Preparing for the temple is like preparing to plant flowers
I am using this for my activity day tomorrow. We are actually planting flowers in front of the church sign as a service project and this is the symbolisms I came up with. This could be appropriate for a sharing time as well, without the actual planting activity. We are also doing other things as well but this is the main thing. —Geneen
Preparing for the temple is like preparing to plant flowers
First you must start by digging up the soil so the ground is not so hard for the seeds to grow. This is like our feelings we have when we pray; our hearts must be softened so that our testimonies may grow.
When you add the fertilizer it helps to keep the plants strong and growing producing many beautiful flowers. Just as with our testimonies we must constantly read the scriptures to help build our testimonies so that they
will be beautiful.
Flowers need water to survive without it, that would mean certain death. We need to be baptized so that we can continue in the Lords work. Without baptism we are unable to full fill the Lords covenants.
Flowers need sunshine to bloom and grow, without the sun it would be hard for a blossom to bloom to it’s potential. When we pray we can feel the warmth of our Savior.
Plants need air to breathe. We must also breathe the word of God, by reading scriptures and living a good example for the world to see.
By giving the flower all these things you help it to grow. But what happens if you do just these things? Weeds can grow and need to be pulled out. Weeds are often like sin. They keep growing and growing until they choke the flower and it begins to wither. We must also pull the weeds of sin from our lives by eliminating those things that are dragging us into the sin. To get rid of weeds you must pluck them out, to get rid of sin you must repent. We
need to try and keep the bad weeds and grass from growing into the flowerbed. How can we do this? We need to have a border. This border is a lot like the iron rod. If we always hold fast to it we can be free of sin
and keep the bad weeds out.
If we do all these things with the flowers in no time they will be ready to be put into a beautiful bouquet of flowers to be seen by many. If we heed the things the Lord has taught us to do we will be temple ready to be seen by many of those who have gone on before us.
Bear testimony of temple readiness
Colors of the flowers
Yellow for service from morning til night
Blue for purity in thought and deed
Red is for courage to choose what is right
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This may not sound like a great service project activity, but it really turned out great! The kids had a blast! Last summer we scrubbed all the chairs in the primary chapel. They were so gross, and we didn’t even realize how dirty they were until we actually cleaned one just to show the kids what we would be doing. It really brightened up our primary chapel.
We had ice-cream cones for refreshments. We also took pictures of everything going on and made a big poster to put up on our wards bulletind. —Kristi
______________________________
Last weekend our primary activity was a service one. We made almost 100 humanitarian kits (we have about 60-65 children), wrote letters to missionaries and servicemen and cleaned the primary chairs. It was a lot of fun and work for the children. We had posters for our missionaries for them to color and write on as the arrived and also had them separate all the kit items they had brought to donate. (Also, for 3 weeks before we talked about the families with nothing – not even toothbrushes. Encouraged them to do extra chores and earn money to but the items them selves. Also, talked in RS and Priesthood, so they understood our objective.) Then half the kids wrote to the servicemen while the other half put together 2 kits each. Then switched. We then all went out in the back and scrubbed chairs. (They were soooo dirty, I could hardly believe we touched them each week!) We BBQ’d hot dogs and sat on the lawn and ate them. It was very successful and fun!
____________________________
We did a “service” activity day in March. We focused on demonstrating different types of service —- service to community, to Church, to God, country, to family/friend, etc. Our goal was to get them thinking about
different types of service and how they could provide service everyday in one way or another.
1. We had it on the same day that our stake was doing a food drive and we asked that each child each bring in at least one nonperishable food item.We then gathered them around the collection and explained that the food was
going to be donated to a local homeless kitchen…that there are people and children that don’t have enough money for food. We tried to make it “real” so it wasn’t just a food drop. So they knew it was going to help people
living close by that went hungry.
2. We had a station where the kids wrote cards to our missionaries. We talked about how missionaries are serving God and the Church. We talked about how writing to the missionaries was supporting their service to God
and the Church. If we had had more time, we would have done something for the building as a service to Church —– plant flowers, pick up litter, straighten hymn books/clean pews etc.
3. Country. They were all aware of the war that had just started. We talked about how men and women were serving their country. We made a banner (large muslin, grommets) where they put there handprints in red and blue
around the edges with fingerpaint. We wrote a message to our troops. Transferred on two photos — group shots of the kids, and mailed it off to a local unit.
4. You could also talk about what “being a good citizen” is and doing something as an example (e.g., picking up litter nearby). We had them make Easter cards for local nursing home patients (you could have the Sr kids
write the letters to the missionaries and the younger ones do the cards -all at the same time)
4. Family – we talked about how serving our family is not only doing what is expected of us, like our chores but doing “extra” things for others. We had the kids raise their hands and tell how they had done something recently
for their family or friends.
5. We taught them and sang the “Give Little River” song.
We wanted to keep an emphasis on service through out the year, so we made a “Service Rainbow” chart on poster board. Each stripe of the rainbow is made up of little uncolored blocks. During opening/closing exercises each week we invite a few kids to describe some sort of service they’ve done during the past week. We emphasize it has to be something “extra” that they don’t usually do or are expected to do. Those kids then color in one of the small
blocks in one of the stripes (so the rainbow keeps it’s colors right). The rainbow ends in a pot of gold. When the rainbow reaches the pot of gold, we’ll have a special treat (don’t know what yet). We’ll emphasize then that
service isn’t about the “goodies” (the pot of gold) but about serving God by serving others. We explained how the chart worked at the Activity day and had some of the kids start it off when they shared a service they had done.
The “service rainbow” was something that one of our Primary Counselors remembers from her Primary days with fond memories. So we knew it “worked”. It has been a good thing too. It gives us a chance to let the kids “live”
service by sharing and then we reframe what they say and emphasize why it is (or isn’t) service. It’s really been terrific. —Jan

Missionary Activity Day ideas

We are planning a missionary theme Activity Day. We thought about issuing a

call to the Primary children asking them to choose the right, limit TV

watching to only 1 hour a day, have hair trimmed and neatly groomed, read

scriptures daily, and refrain from offensive language and conduct that is

not befitting to a missionary. In this call it will also inform them of the

place that they are called to “serve”.

On the day of the Activity Day we want them to dress as missionaries. We

will talk to the children about the importance of missionaries and why we

have them in our Church. Prophets have repeatedly said that every member is

a missionary, regardless of age. Then we will split into a few groups that

rotate to different areas doing the following activities:

*Learn to make a meal—–kids make their own peanut butter & jelly/honey

sandwich (or cheese sandwich). We put it in a lunch sack with carrots &

chips & a treat….to eat at the end of the activity

*Learn to sew on a button or tie a tie (we would use large cardboard buttons

and yarn or shoelaces for the younger children)

*Learn about a mission experience/culture of where a missionary has served

(or have local missionaries talk with the kids about their personal

experiences)

*Sing song “I Hope They Call Me On a Mission” and also teach older kids how

to lead music to this song

*Learn/discuss a scripture pertaining to missionary work or an Article of

Faith

*Write letters to our ward missionaries

After these rotations, we will have the kids eat their sack lunches that

they made and call it a done deal! —Cara Lee :o)

________________________________

You are going to a lot more work than we are for our activity. Yours sounds

like a lot of fun.

We have asked each child to bring an item to put in a care package for the

missionaries. We will assemble these care packages for the five young men

serving from our ward and the set of missionaries in our ward. We will also

be writing letters to them.

We have asked several people who have served missions outside the USA to

come and tell about their experiences. We also asked them to prepare

something for the children to taste that is traditional for that country.

The countries that will be represented are Australia, Argentina, Japan,

Mexico, and Germany.

Refreshments will be the tasters’ table. —DeAnne’

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Yes, when I was serving in primary we had a super missionary activity. We

had the ward missionaries attend, of course, and they were in charge of a

game where 2 teams have a relay on packing a suitcase of clothes the

fastest. I can’t remember how we did it exactly, but I know the kids had to

each dress in the clothes or outfit first (over their own clothes, of

course), run to the suitcase, undress, then fold and pack in the suitcase.

??? Does this make sense? I think it went along that line.

Also, we set up dividers in the gym with “aisles” like an airplane.

Everyone had tickets to get “on board” for their mission destination. They

all watched a missionary film (from the library, sorry, don’t remember the

title) while they ate their airline peanuts. We did this at the end of the

activity, as everyone was a bit wild from all the other activities and it

was very uplifting and spiritual for the children to take home with them

that feeling of preparing for their own ‘real’ mission. —Lynn

___________________________

One thing we did for a Missionary Activity was have the children bring

little suitcases or bags with them. Then we had the parents say goodbye to

them like they were really leaving on a mission. We had part of the

cultural hall set up like the inside of an airplane–we had a pilot, flight

attendants, peanuts, sprite, etc. You could have an in flight

movie–something short from the meetinghouse library having to do with the

theme–and then they get off the plane and go to the MTC. We had folders

made up with their nametags, info about the country they were going to, etc.

__________________________

At one of our missionary activity days we decorated the stage to look like

an airplane. We set up chairs in two or three rows of 2-3 chairs as if they

were airplane seats. We had made “airsick bags” out of paper sacks with the

name of the airline on it…I don’t remember…. Missionary Air or something

like that. We made oxygen masks from rubber bands and paper cups. We had a

tape (from our local library) of airplane take-offs and landings. The pilot

came on and said his spiel, the stewardesses demonstrated the airsick bags

and oxygen masks, and then they served soda and peanuts. I think we even

had an in-flight movie excerpt–just a short clip of something approved.

This was just a fun activity we did to prepare the kids to see and hear

missionary memorabilia from members who had come to share their missions

with the kids. We also made each child a missionary nametag, but I read

somewhere recently that we are not supposed to do that anymore. I just

remembered that prior to that we had even obtained some actual tickets from

an airline and gave them to the kids as a ticket to board the

ane. —Leslie

_______________________________________

See the October 1999 Friend, page 38, #2.

Here is the quote “Recently Church members have been counseled to not have

children pretend to receive callings as full-time missionaries or wear

pretend missionary name tags. However, preparing for full-time missions and

being “member missionaries” is encouraged…”

_______________________________________

MISSIONARIES – “One of our Primary Activity Days was on Every member a

missionary. We extended each primary age child a mission call. (They looked

and read much like the original) When each child arrived they received a

Nametag like the real ones and we had then find on a world map where they

were going to serve their mission. Washington, Utah, Germany, Soviet Union

etc. Then they were taken into the MTC, where we had real missionaries teach

them the first new member discussion. From there they were given a BOM and

went door to door like real missionaries do. (In several classrooms we had

teachers pretending that they were at home waiting for the “missionaries”)

As the children knocked on the doors the teachers responded. Some were happy

to see the missionaries and some were not. Much like what the missionaries

really experience. Then the kids went into another room where they wrote to

the missionaries in our Ward and wrote their testimonies and we pasted them

in the covers of BOM for the “real” missionaries to give out. After a tough

morning of tracking all the children were hungry, so we met in the cultural

hall for a typical missionary lunch. PB & J’s and milk. It was a wonderful

experience, all the kids really enjoyed being a missionary. By the time

lunch was over most of them said they wanted to go on a mission when they

were old enough.” STACIE GRAHAM, PUYALLUP SOUTH STAKE

CALLED TO SERVE: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A MISSIONARY – “I was inspired by news

coverage of reporters following missionaries around for a day and thought we

could try to simulate the experience for the children. We invited the

full-time missionaries to lead us through a brief scripture study and

calisthenics, after which we divided into groups to rotate between the

following areas:

1)Cooking: Assembling a potato salad with ingredients from various food

groups in order to create a one-dish meal (accompanied by a discussion of

the food pyramid);

2) Ambassador Presentation: Shoe shining, ironing, folding laundry, and

sewing a button;

3) Service: Set up chairs for Sunday meetings (our activity was on a

Saturday);

4) Teaching the Gospel: Role-play teaching the gospel & tracting. We

reconvened for a brief clip of the video, Called to Serve, and ended with a

testimony and closing prayer. It was fun as well as inspiring.” —CINDY

NAKEA

MISSIONARY – We sent in the mail a “Mission Call” to each Primary child

inviting them to serve in the Primary Activity Day Mission. They were asked

to dress in their Sunday clothes and bring their scriptures. When they

arrived, they received a missionary nametag and entered the MTC (chapel)

where they received instructions on what is expected of them while serving a

mission and were asked to share ideas of what they are doing now to prepare

a mission in the future. We had the nursery room set up like an airplane

with carpet making an aisle down the center of 10 rows of chairs. Our

full-time Elders played the pilots and the Primary President was the Flight

Attendant. She pointed out on a large map the areas that we would be

visiting and gave a demonstration similar to a real flight. The children

received color-coded passports that divided them into 4 groups. They

departed the plane one group at a time and visited a room in which a

Returned Missionary made a presentation on the country or state in which

he/she/they served. (We had an Elder representing Japan; an Elder

representing Georgia, USA; a Sister representing Chile; and a Couple

representing Russia.) In each room they were told about the country and its

people and saw special items or videos, and tasted food unique to that area.

After 10 minutes each group rotated to the next country and they had their

passports stamped at each area with different rubber-stamp pictures. At the

end we reboarded the plane and the children were served popcorn and soda

while the “in-flight” movie, CALLED TO SERVE, was shown while the parents

arrived. It was a great success! One thing I would do differently is have

the treat be whatever the tasting food was from the countries or give them

something as their parents picked them up. It was very chaotic on the

“flight home” and no one really watched the video.”

MISSIONARY TRAINING ACTIVITY – “Our small ward (17 children typically attend

activities) had a very successful activity day May 16. As the children

arrived, they entered the MTC where there were stations set up for them to

learn: tie a tie, polish shoes, separate laundry, approach people, look them

in the eyes, smile, firm hand shake. They left the MTC to get on their

airplane (upstairs) with their passports. There was a pilot, seat belts, and

flight attendants who passed out peanuts and drinks for in flight

refreshments. The children (teamed as Jr./SR companions) then went to

Australia, Mexico, Ireland, and Taiwan. While there (in decorated

classrooms) the adult that served a mission in that country told a story,

played a game and shared a traditional food with the visiting children.

Their passport was stamped as they left each country. This activity day was

so successful with no messes, no bored children, and no confusion. The best

part for me was my 1st counselor did it all so smoothly. It was

great.” —DONNA

MISSIONARY ACTIVITY – “We’ve done this activity twice in our Primary and we

sure loved it! We can have 2 or 3 different groups for this activity. You’ll

need to:

(1) Call the full-time missionaries serving in your area and invite them.

Tell them three groups of children will come and ask them questions about

the missionary life, Christmas spent in the mission field, their families,

their feelings about the mission, etc.

(2) Call two people from your ward who have served missions. They will bring

things from their missions, such as pictures, books, dolls, etc., and will

set them up in separate rooms. They will talk to the children about their

time serving the Lord while as missionaries.

(3) Prepare a flier for the children’s families announcing the activity and

asking each child to bring to the missionaries, wrapped as a Christmas gift,

items they can consume quick. These include items such as pens, pencils,

envelopes, notepads, stamps, canned soups, canned food, candy bars,

breakfast cereal, dried fruits and nuts, peanut butter, jelly, jam,

crackers, flavored oatmeal, napkins, toilet paper, soap bars, microwave

popcorn, fruit drinks, soda pop, etc.

(4) A few weeks before this activity, bring to Primary a basket with some of

those items to show to the children. Explain to them how each item will

benefit and bless the missionaries. Bring one of the items also wrapped as a

Christmas gift.

(5) Decorate a fake small Christmas tree with yellow paper stars. Each star

will have names of the children and teachers on them. We also prepared a

paper chain to put around the tree. Each circle of the chain has one of the

children’s names. (We’ve asked each class to sign the star and the chain a

few weeks before.)

At the activity:

The children will be welcomed at the door by one of us and will receive

colored small stickers with the Primary colors. Each group will have an

assigned color, an adult leader and together they will rotate from one group

to the other. One of us will ring the bell every 15 minutes for the rotation

to happen. As they arrive, they will put their presents at the Christmas

tree. After the 3 groups were able to visit the 3 presentations, we all

meet again, sing some Primary Christmas songs and tell the missionaries all

those presents are for them. We invite them to open some, and it’s just

wonderful to see the joy on their faces! We provide them with boxes or big

plastic bags to take home all the presents and the small Christmas tree. We

call this activity also a “Service Project” from the children to the

missionaries. We all have such a great time as we prepare and participate in

this activity! Since we have different missionaries every year, this is

still a new experience to all of us, every December.

MISSIONARY – “We enjoyed a successful activity centered around the

missionaries. We called it our Mighty Missionary Day. The children were able

to see and hear a little bit about each missionary from our ward (pictures,

hobbies, and where they were serving) There was stationary for pictures and

letters and mailbags for each missionary. The children then experienced with

the help of our ward missionaries a Day in the Life of a missionary (door

approaches and an alarm clock etc.) Next they wrapped a small item that they

brought from home to put in a care package (candy, Kool-Aid, pens, stamps,

etc.) . Then they told a little bit about themselves on a taped interview

and gave words of encouragement. Last they helped make large Mighty

Missionary Cookies (M&M’s). Before eating we recorded about 8 of our

favorite primary songs to be included on the tapes. The children loved this

activity and so do the Elders and Sisters serving from our ward when they

received their surprise care package of love.” —KIM HICKMAN

_______________________________________

You wanted ideas– these are some I have saved from other posts in the

ast —Alayne

“I HOPE THEY CALL ME ON A MISSION”

Each child will receive an “official” missionary “call” signed by the Bishop

and PP that read much like the real ones, about a week before the activity.

We will have already sent home flyers announcing the activity and telling

them to watch the mail for their call.

When they come they will each get a personalized nametag just like the real

missionaries wear! (I make these on my computer and laminate them and then

hot glue gun a pin on the back. Authentic-looking missionary tags can be

found at: http://www.davejennings.freeserve.co.uk/clipart/Cbadgpg1.html

This site, with free LDS clipart, has missionary badges that say “Member

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” and “Future Missionary Church

of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” They look a lot like the real ones.)

They each will have been told in their letter what country they are being

called to, so they look it up on a big world map and put a pin with a little

flag that has their name on it, on their spot. They will convene in the MTC

(primary room) and watch a short part of the “Called to Serve” video while

everyone is still getting there.

Then, we sang “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission” and split the kids into

“zones”. We chose the oldest kids to be “zone leaders” and divided the

younger ones into these four zones. Then each zone rotated through four

different areas that lasted 25 minutes each. They will also be paired up in

companionships.

1. Talk about how you have to be prepared to be a missionary. Bring out a

16yr old or so male, dressed in shorts etc, and have the kids say what he

needed to do physically. The boy’s mother gave him a hair cut in front of

the children, and he put on a suit etc. It was really fun

2. The MTC where they asked two elders serving in our ward questions and

sang songs with them (they drew these out of a basket).

3. Prep day where the children can write a letter, exercise, and maybe wash

a shirt with a washboard (if we decide to send them to a third world

country) or learn how to sew on a button. Even the Sunbeams could do it.

4. Each group will be given copies of the B of M. We will have about 8-10

classrooms with teachers in there so the kids can go “door to door” to teach

the gospel. Some teachers will not be very friendly, others will be eager,

etc. The kids go tracting with the 2 Elders in our ward and knocked on the

doors where the members responded to the messages. We even had some doors

empty so they wouldn’t get an answer (Nobody home!). Some people will not

be interested in the discussions, but one or two will welcome them in.

Since the theme of the year is baptism, we thought maybe they could learn a

simplified version of the baptism discussion. This seemed to be the kids’

favorite area. All of them said that it was fun.

5. Make Missionary food- have the kids make Top Ramen, PBJ Sandwiches, or

Tracting Mix and eat it

The best thing for us was to make the oldest kids “zone leaders” over the

little ones. They seemed to feel important and it made the day WONDERFUL for

all of us. We even had them dress like a missionary and gave them missionary

tags that they got stickers on at each area. We had a wonderful spirit there

and feel like the kids learned a lot from the activity about missionaries.

Other Ideas for stations

1. Write or “color” their testimonies and paste them into the fronts of the

B of M’s we gave them so the real missionaries can give them out.

2. Write letters to the missionaries in the ward. Include questions so the

missionaries can respond with the questions in mind. Read a letter from a

missionary in your ward that wrote to the Primary kids.

3. Make a missionary care package. Sing songs for missionaries on tape,

Send stationery, stamps, toiletries, treats, pictures, testimonies, letters,

pictures. Parents of missionaries can come talk to kids about likes and

dislikes and read parts of their letters

3. Have RM’s come and talk about the countries they went to and their

mission experiences.

4. Make Missionary T Shirts

I bought the “Tulip” brand of paint. The bottle says: “Tulip Slick 3d Paint.

Great on all craft surfaces.” I purchased Red, Yellow, and Blue for the

thumbprints (Our “Primary” colors) like someone on the list had suggested.

We used a black paint pen for the children’s name next to their thumbprint.

Paint pen is by “Decocolor” Extra fine point opaque Paint Marker.

“Permanently covers nearly any surface – weatherproof”. Try to have the

children use each color and stagger on T-shirt so it doesn’t have a bunch of

blue or one color next to each other. It turns out so colorful and pretty

this way. I purchased T-shirts with a front pocket on them and put the

Elders/Sisters name at the top of the pocket and underneath their name I put

Greenwood Ward Primary (In Green Paint). We put the “Thumbody Loves You” on

the back of the T-shirt at the top.

The pocket looked something like this:

– ——————–|

| Elder Smith |

|——————–| <—— This was a stitched line on the pocket

Greenwood Ward

Primary

I used a computer to do what I wanted for lettering and then I stuck that

inside the pocket and traced with great results. I did the same thing on the

back of the T-shirt (Thumbody Loves You)

We did these for all of the missionaries serving from our Ward and also

those currently serving in our Ward as well as the Bishop and the Bishopric

Advisor over Primary. We had the missionaries and Bishop come in and talked

about how much the children and Primary loved them and looked up to them and

thanked them for the example they showed us and the loving serving that they

gave. The children all sang “We’ll Bring The World His Truth” and we took

each missionaries picture holding T-shirt with a primary child standing next

to them.

___

___________________________________

We are making plans for our upcoming Activity Day and wanted some more

ideas. The theme will be going on a mission. A few of the ideas we had were

to divide into groups and rotate to each station.

One station will be prep day where the children can write a letter,

exercise, and maybe wash a shirt with a washboard (if we decide to send them

to a third world country).

There will also be a tracting station where the children will go down a hall

with a series of doors where people will not be interested in the

discussions, but the last door the people will welcome them in. Since the

theme of the year is baptism, we thought maybe they could learn a simplified

version of the baptism discussion.

This is the one activity day that I remember as a child and I remember how

great it was. I would be so appreciative to hear all your wonderful ideas on

how we could make this a fun activity, send the children away with a desire

to serve a mission, and help the children realize that they can be

missionaries now too! Thank you for all your help. I really appreciate all

your wonderful ideas and insights. —Karen

______________________

Missionary Activity

When we had our Stake Achievement Day Fair for the girls we had an activity

in the gym. It was a series of games that promoted teamwork. The girls had

a good time and we emphasized teamwork. Here is our outline:

Objectives

Help the girls understand the importance of cooperation.

Give them opportunities to work together.

Activities

Count the girls off one through eight to form eight teams — this should

equal six girls per team. There should be two teams competing at each

activity.

Hula hoop Relay

The two teams make a single file line holding hands. A hula-hoop is started

at one end and passed down along the line without the girls letting go of

hands. When the hula-hoop reaches the end of the line it is passed back

down the line. The team who passes the hula-hoop back to the beginning

without breaking the chain wins.

Tarp turn w/o stepping off

A team of girls stand on a tarp and they must flip the tarp over without

stepping off.

The first team to turn the tarp over wins.

Train Shuffle

Loop ends of rope and attach to ends of boards. Each board will appear as

shown (see attached page). Place boards about 12 inches apart. Three girls

from each team stands with right foot on one board and left foot on the

other board and grab the ropes that are attached to the boards. Everyone

works together to “walk” the boards to their team located about 50′ away.

The first team that returns to the beginning wins.

Paper Plate Bridge

Each team is given 2 less paper plates than the number of girls on their

team. (I.e., 8 girls would receive 6 plates.) The object of the game is

for the first team to reach a predetermined destination without stepping off

the paper plates wins.

The teams line up with everyone standing on or sharing a paper plate. The

girls pass a paper plate to the leader who steps forward onto the paper

plate. Then the girls behind her follow with each girl stepping on the

remaining paper plates. Forward progress is made when the whole team has

moved forward staying on paper plates. The first team to reach the finish

line with their last team member crossing wins the game.

Group Supplies

Supplies Needed:

4 Hula Hoops 2 Tarps

4 8′ – 2×4 Boards 20′ Nylon

Cord

100 Paper plates

Missionary Tag Group

Make a large circle with the players with everyone having a partner with

arms linked. One person is “IT” and another person is chasing the person who

is it. The person who is it runs away and to get away from being chased she

goes to the right side of a partner set and links arms with the girl on the

right. The girl on the left becomes it and is chased until she links arms

with another when she becomes safe and the girl on the outside left becomes

it. The game ends when the person who is “IT” is caught and she begins

chasing the girl who was originally chasing her. Have fun! —Kate

_________________________

Missionary Activity

We had a missionary activity a few activities ago. We did the “Pin the tie

on the map”. We made small neckties out of construction paper and the

children took turns being blindfolded and placing the tie on a large map of

the world. This indicated the possible place to be called on a mission.

The local missionaries helped us with the activity day and had a fun time.

We also did a relay race with suitcases. One person would pack the suitcase

then run back and hand it to the next person in line, they would run back to

the table and unpack, run back to the line-touch the next person in line and

so on. The children had fun. We discussed all the necessary things that

would go into the missionary suitcase at the beginning. Since this activity

was done at Christmas time we had made stockings for all the missionaries in

our ward. The children each brought an item that could be mailed to the

missionaries or you could do it for the local missionaries. They were given

a list of suggested items to bring (travel size shampoo, deodorant, granola

bars, jerky, bar soap, toothpaste, etc.) The items were then divided

between the missionaries. We had so many items that I couldn’t mail them

all and ended up giving a very large box to the local missionaries as well.

We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for refreshments. Have fun!

Connie in UT

___________________

Music for missionary activity

We have done something fun that these previous posts remind me of. Learn

the song (it is actually a round) “Our Door is Always Open” for the

missionary activity. It reminds us to welcome visitors. Play London Bridge

with this song. Sing while the children are holding their arms (the bridge)

high in the air and a few are going under and around in a circle. On the

word “welcome”, have the bridge people lower their arms and “catch” the

visitor, swinging him/her a little in their arms through the rest of the

song. It’s simple, but so much fun to be caught and to do the

tching! —Karen in Phoenix

____________________

Our ward did this as an activity day but you could do it in sharing time too

(I think). We gave all of the kids a “mission call”. They then went to the

MTC. It was a room that wasn’t being used at the time and we told the

children all about the rules that the missionaries have to follow. We gave

them all nametags and talked about taking on Christ’s name and that they now

represent Him and His church. Then they all boarded the plane and we made

stops. If the kids were called to that country, they got off and went to a

designated room. In each room we had returned missionaries from the ward

talk about that country and tell the children about their experiences there.

The re were about 6 rooms, but we have a large primary you could do more or

less. Then they boarded the plane again and flew home (the primary room),

where we had the bishop waiting to welcome them home and thank them for

their service. We had a special singer sing a missionary welcome home song

and the Primary President bore her testimony about missionary work since she

was the only RM in the Presidency. It was a big hit with the kids but it

took a lot of planning; The kids learned a lot and had a blast!! —Tina

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We had a fun activity day yesterday. Another counselor in the ward

spearheaded it, and she did some really neat things.

The invitation was a boarding pass for “missionary adventures”. The

children were to come in Sunday clothes.

The children arrived and were checked in at the door and given tags that

said “Future Missionary”. Their picture was taken and they were led to the

airport terminal where they could color pictures or write notes to the

missionaries serving from our ward, the counselor was going to tuck an

explanatory note in and send them off to the different missionaries we have.

Then the PP came in and welcomed them to the activity and we had a prayer

and the children were led onto the “airplane” – the stage with chairs set in

rows with an aisle down the center. They did the whole emergency exit

speech and turned the lights red for take off. The children were given Chex

mix in little Dixie cups for their snack (as we have several who are

allergic to peanuts). Then off the plane and into each of three rooms for

15 minutes each.

Each room was decorated and staffed by a ward member who was a return

missionary. We had a brother who went to Argentina, one who went to Puerto

Rico and a sister who served in France. The told the children what their

mission was like and mentioned customs and foods they ate. Each child got a

chocolate from France, apples with some kind of creamy dip from Argentina

and bananas from Puerto Rico. I couldn’t believe how reverent they were

and how excited they were to go to the different places.

Then, the parents arrived and we put them in the Primary room with “welcome

home” signs and we walked the children out of the rooms to the Primary room.

They were pretty surprised to see their parents there cheering and shouting

Hurray they’re home, and welcome back. It was a very fun activity and

pretty easy to set up. —Marcella

________________

We will have our last primary activity for this year in November

(10am-11:30am) and our theme is on “Being a Missionary”. I felt

uncomfortable in having to ask the children to bring a grocery item to our

activity to wrap up and give to our missionaries, as it could be a burden.

Some of our children aren’t financially able to do so. Instead, I thought

about having the children write out their testimonies on blank lined paper

which they would paste in the Book of Mormons that will be donated to us by

our missionaries with their class pictures on it. We had already taken class

pictures of our primary earlier this year so we don’t need to retake them.

What do you think? My only concern on this is that the children may go wild

on their testimonies with coloring it in that it may not be presentable to

investigators.

After that we thought about having a scripture scavenger hunt where the

children could use their scriptures of course. We were going to use the idea

that was already submitted by one of Sisters. If was too short a list, I

could add onto it. Look up the following scriptures to figure out what you

need to find.

1. Matthew 7:25 (rock)

2. Psalms 102:11 (grass)

3. Jeremiah 8:8 (pen)

4. D & C 45:37 (leaves)

5. Mark 10:38 (cup)

6. Ezekial 37:16-17 (stick)

7. Matthew 10:30 (hair)

8. Exodus 3:5 (shoes)

9. Moses 1:41 (book)

The next activity we thought would be also fun for the children. We were

going to have the children split up into teams and play dressing up as

missionaries. The first person in each team to begin would run to the end of

the cultural hall where we will have clothes hanging on those portable coat

racks and they would have to put on every item of clothing that missionaries

normally wear on a day to day basis: white shirt, tie, suit coat and pants,

socks, shoes, trench coat, backpack, umbrella. Once every item is worn they

would have to run back to their team and quickly have the next team member

wear them and so on and on…. For refreshments we thought of having apple

cider/milk/or hot chocolate with doughnuts or some type of bakery As a

giveaway I came up with the idea of giving each a child a miniature

missionary type tag which is simply labeled “Future Missionary” to take

home. —Latu Kinikini

________________

We did [a missionary] activity many years ago and I did a fun station on the

things missionaries have to learn to do when they live on their own. I had

used the partitions to make an apartment in the gym. I furnished it with a

bed (child’s size bed), table etc. I had written slips of paper with

situations /chores/skills that they had to do. A child chose a slip and

completed the task.

ie. You and your companion are about to leave to go visit an investigator

and a button pops off your suit jacket.

I had the small kids do play sewing with a plastic needle on a pre-punched

board, the older ones actually tried to sew the button on.

We presented it in a fun manner and the kids enjoyed learning the different

things missionaries have to do for themselves. Other tasks that I can

remember were; make the bed, wash some dishes (I brought some dirty ones, a

tub of warm soapy water and a dish towel), iron a shirt (did not heat it up,

they just pretended), fold laundry, …. Have fun at your activity, Terri

Finney

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We’re also thinking about doing the t-shirts or pillowcases with handprints

on them for the missionaries. Anyone had a good or bad experience with doing

that? We’re somewhat concerned about the mess factor.

We did an idea I got from this list last year where I printed on the T-shirt

from my computer (you can buy paper that will iron on what you type)

Thumbody Loves You and had the kids all put their thumb prints on the shirt

all over front and back and we wrote with a black marking pen their name on

their print. It was fun and we did it during primary, pulling them out by

class. We used ink pads and had wipes to wipe off their thumbs after. Worked

out fine and no one got any mess on their clothes. —Judie in CA

Responses:
There are new fabric paints that dry instantly (better than markers) that
you can buy at Wal-Mart. They come in basic colors and neon. We used them on
aprons and the kids (especially the little ones) had a great time and no big
mess!! —Kate
_________________
We did stationary one year. The children were given either flat sheets of
paper with a boarder line drawn around the edge. They could draw something
to decorate the border (and the center space was for the letter to be
written) or a sheet of paper folded into quarters to make a small card and
the child decorated the front. The presidency added envelopes and stamps.
They also took pictures of each class and glued them in the front of Books
of Mormon. Then each class added their testimony to the front page. I taught
the sunbeams then and strung together a few sentences from them like – We
love Jesus. We want to be like Him. etc and signed it with their names and
“sunbeam class age 4”. The missionaries were able to give those out to
investigators. They really liked their packets. —Marcella
________________
What a fun idea to make care packets. Making stationary for them is always
fun. Just have stamps out for the kids to put on paper. Include envelopes.
In a past ward they also made a package with 24 envelopes for each
missionary. In each envelope was a Christmas story or missionary thought or
a letter from one of the children. The missionaries reported that it was
like advents they did at home. They had a letter a day to look forward to
and loved it. As far as something to make and take home, perhaps a small
ornament, like a painted or glittered star, an angel or something depicting
the nativity? This type of thing could be sent to the missionaries and not
be too big or costly. —Becky
___________________
We are going to be having an Activity on Saturday on Missionary work. We
have decided to let the children experience a little bit of what it is like
to be a missionary. We will be doing the MTC, where they will do little
workshops like – Folding and Sorting Laundry, Scripture Chase, Making A Bed,
and learning different Door Approaches. We will then enter the airplane- We
have only allotted about 10 minutes for the airplane, and this is where I am
a little stumped. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do to excite the
children while in the airplane? We will set up a small classroom to look as
much as the inside of an airplane as possible. I am looking for something to
say to the children, or some kind of an activity for them to do inside the
airplane. We would like to give out a treat in the plane. We were thinking
of gummy bears. After the airplane, the children will go to their designated
missions, where they will hear from 3 different returned missionaries. We
are excited about this activity, and think the children will have a lot of
fun. Any ideas you have on how to make the airplane exciting for the
children as well will be greatly appreciated. Thanks to everyone for all the
great ideas. —-Natalie Houston
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Games/Activity Ideas
Here were a few ideas I had in my file:
o Color a bookmark (smaller kids) or write a testimony to go in a Book of
Mormon (to be given to the full time missionaries)
o Play foreign language Bingo (made up of animal pictures with the foreign
RM saying the word in their language)
o Write letters to full time missionaries from our ward
o Missionary Banks: Make banks for the children to save money for their
missions
o Missionary Suitcase race: Relay where the kids take clothes out of a
suitcase, put on the white shirt, tie & backpack, run down the room, run
around a chair (or tape mark), come back and take everything off, put it
back in the suitcase & high “5” the next person in
line.
o Service of some sort (maybe helping with something for the humanitarian
effort or something around the church that needs done)
:O) Whitney
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We had a wonderful experience as an Activity Day and I wished to share it
with the group. We have a rather small Primary and are able to provide more
for less than some of the larger groups. We have had so much information
about the prophets this year that we integrated missionary work with the
prophet theme. We made mission banks out of one gallon plastic jugs to
represent the Preparation a mission takes (they were made out of material
scraps, felt, beads, in the fashion of a pig). We did a flower attack at a
widows home(cut out large flowers and put them on stakes with something each
child wanted to share with her) to learn the importance of Service. We
learned the second Article of Faith to represent the Teaching talents you’ll
need on your mission. We learned head shoulders, knees and toes to
emphasize how important Obedience is. (Listening to the word) And the final
principle was Work. We baked ginger bread men and a larger ginger bread man
cake in the form of a missionary (tie, white shirt pants and tag) then the
children were reminded of all the principles we had learned and were
supplied with candies and frostings to create their own. They were so
creative and all had a great time. I know the impression of their mission’s
importance will stay with them, because it is fun to follow the
ophets. —Twila
_______________________________

We are planning a Missionary Activity Day in November and I thought I would
share our plans with you!
The purpose of our activity is to get to know and serve the missionaries
serving from our ward.
First we will gather together to hear from the mother or father of the
missionary currently serving. We are asking them to take a few minutes to
show a picture of their missionary, tell where they are serving and share an
experience from a letter they have received from them. We are also inviting
two young men from our ward who have their mission calls and will be leaving
in Jan/Feb., to share with the children where they are going and what they
are doing to prepare.
Then we will rotate the children through 4 rotations:
1. Record children singing Primary songs (to send to the missionaries)
2. Put together cookies mixes to send to the missionaries.
3. Play a missionary dress-up relay game. (we are asking the 2 young men
who haven’t left on their missions yet to help with this activity)
4. Wrap small items to give to the missionaries. We are printing up a list
of small items and asking the children to donate one item to give to the
missionaries. Things such as stamps, envelopes, stationary, church stickers
(to give to children), treats like
Kool-aid, candy etc.
We will be making up boxes for each missionary serving from our ward (and
the 2 that will be leaving) and send them to them from our
mary! —Angela
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Missionary Activity
I need help with a couple more things to finish off our missionary activity
coming up on the 29th. Does anyone know of something fun that would involve
8-10 kids in a 15 minute cooking class? I was thinking maybe mini pizzas or
cookies or something.
We’re also having a 15 minutes class on how to give a talk, followed by
their testimony. We want to give a handout to all the kids telling them the
four things they could do to give a talk which would be 1) Choose a
scripture, 2) Tell what the scripture means, 3) Tell a personal experience
or a gospel story and 4) Bear testimony. We have done bookmarks a couple of
times. I was wondering if there was anything else to make as a handout…a
banner or something??? —Kristi
~~~~~
I know our boy scouts love to make the mini pizzas that are made on an
English muffin half. You know, pizza sauce cheese and any topping that they
want to add. Set on a piece of foil (with their name in sharpie marker) on
a cookie sheet. Heat in the oven just until the cheese melts and no need to
cook longer because the muffin is pre-cooked. While it is cooking perhaps
they could make unbaked cookies? Then they will have a quick meal &
dessert. *

As for the talk segment you could add a fifth area…present a challenge to
audience; summarize things talked about, or something like that… Then you
could give them a medical glove with each area written on each finger. Then
they could remember each area of a talk with their hand. Make sense?! Good
Luck! —Mechelle
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We just had ours on Saturday and it was a blast! We had a great turn
out…lots of advertising!
Our theme was “I Want to be a Missionary Now”.
When all the kids showed up we had missionary badges for them that I made.
It had a beautiful sticker of Angel Moroni on it and then just said
“Missionary” instead of their names and then “The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints” under that. They were beautiful. The kids loved them.
We put all the kids with a companion after the opening prayer. We had a
senior and a junior companion.(Valiant 12’s companioned up with the
Sunbeams, etc.) Our ward missionaries welcomed them and told them how
important it was to stay with their companions the whole time. Also that the
bar has been raised and that all the missionaries need to be prepared more
spiritually, physically and mentally. And that now was the time to prepare.
We divided them up into three groups and did three, 15-minute rotations. We
had a class on how to give a talk with their testimony by a recently
returned missionary in our ward. We also had a bookmark handout with the
four items for giving a talk; 1) choose a scripture, 2) tell what the
scripture means, 3) tell a personal story or a scripture story relating to
the scripture, then 4) bear your testimony.
Then we had a class where our chorister taught them the song “I Want to be a
Missionary Now”.
Then we had a cooking class in the kitchen. The ward missionaries conducted
that one. We just had it all ready for them. They made mini pizza’s (2 each)
and had an absolute blast and they were delicious. The seniors had to help
their junior companions if need. We didn’t do it for them. We used the
pre-made biscuit dough. (10 for 49 cents). We let them roll it out with
rolling pins, put sauce, cheese and pepperoni on them. (If anyone is
interested in doing this, let me know. There are some things I learned while
practicing these at home that you will need to know). We had the
missionaries make a couple each time too so there would be enough for all
the adults too.
Then all the kids met back in the cultural hall for the 15-minute physical
class. The ward missionaries led them in exercises and jogging around the
cultural hall. They had so much fun!
Then everyone got back in their original groups and we had relay races. The
companions did it together. We started them lying on the floor with a baby
blanket on each of them. We rang an alarm. They had to get up, make their
beds, do 2 jumping jacks, put on a shirt and tie. The junior had to feed the
senior companion cheerios, the senior companion had to look up a scripture
and read it to the junior companion. They had to take the Book of Mormon to
the end and do a door approach…they had to sing “I Belong to the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”. (not the whole song, just that much)
Hand the person a BOM then ride a scooter back to the beginning, (we tried
to get tricycles but couldn’t find three of them) take off shirt and tie and
ring the alarm for the next set of missionaries to get up and make their
beds, etc. They loved it. The senior companion had to help the junior one if
needed during the race.
Then we all gathered together again and they all sang the song they learned
for the closing song. Then we ate our pizzas and rootbeer.
It was so funny because every once in a while we had to ask someone where
their companion was and they would just take off to find them. It was
usually a little Sunbeam that would take off. His mom was there so he kept
trying to find her. The older boy was so cute.
Some of the mom’s said their kids kept their badges on all day too. It was
sweet! My 4 year old brought our next-door neighbor who is also four and
all’s they talked about all day was “missionary this and missionary that”.
Anyway, if anybody would like more info let me know. We also took lots of
pictures to make a big poster. —Kristi
P.S. I forgot about one more thing we had on our relays for our missionary
activity…after the junior companion fed the senior companion the cheerios,
they had to wash and dry their dish.