List of Ideas for Activities Day
Arts and Crafts
Learn how to crochet a small baby blanket
Learn a song and perform it together (for Church, community performance,
Primary activity, etc.)
Tie a quilt (try small ones for dolls or babies)
Make coin purses out of material and learn how to sew on Velcro, buttons,
snaps, or a zipper. For the purse body, try animal head, rainbow, unicorn,
cloud design, or big flower shapes and decorate them.
Learn a new kind of dance and practice it together.
Make a decoration for your room.
Make sachets filled with potpourri to put in your drawers and make your
clothes smell great.
(For more ideas, see Craft Ideas in The Young Women’s Corner)
Education and Scholarship
Learn to use the local library. Learn how to use the computer system, card catalogues, etc.
Check out books on birds, famous people, plants, or other subjects of
interest and prepare presentations and posters about what you learned
Go to the zoo and find out about all of the animals.
Learn about other cultures and learn how to say a few things in another
language. Check out tapes from the library to learn how to say hello, how
are you, I’m fine, what’s your name, my name is ____, happy birthday, I like
you, etc. You could serve food from various countries. See Cultural Night at
The Young Women’s Corner.
Family Skills
Plan a menu for a well-balanced meal. Use the nutritional information on
labels or provided by grocery stores in the produce section. For a follow up
activity, learn to cook an item on the menu.
Learn how to clean windows. Get permission from the ward custodian to
practice on your building’s windows.
Learn to repair clothing: patch pants, hem skirts, fix unraveling sweaters,
or repair or replace zippers that don’t work.
Learn about using biodegradable and inexpensive ingredients for health and
beauty products and/or cleaning supplies (ammonia, hydrogen peroxide,
Bleach, baking soda, vinegar, salt, lemon juice, egg, cucumber, alum powder,
garlic, etc.)
Learn about child development and learn some fun activities for children of
each stage of development.
Health and Personal Grooming
Learn about the various food groups and what foods fill each requirement.
Read the Word of Wisdom (D & C 89) and talk about how our health can benefit
from following this revelation.
Learn an easy aerobics routine and practice it to fun music.
Learn how to buy pretty clothing that doesn’t cost too much and how to take
care of the clothing.
Learn to take good care of your skin, hair, teeth, etc.
Learn about how to use hairstyles to enhance physical beauty.
Hospitality
Make pretty stationary using stamps, cutouts, stickers, and scissors that
make different edges. Discuss letter etiquette.
Play telephone–Provide several scenarios for the girls to act out using toy
phones and their best telephone etiquette. Scenarios could include:
– –A girl answers the phone and 1) the person asks for one of her parents,
who is not there, 2) the person asks for one of her siblings, who is not
there, 3) the person asks for one of her family members, who is there.
– –A girl 1) calls up a friend to invite her to spend the night, and the
friend is not home, 2) calls up a friend to invite her to spend the night,
and the friend is home, 3) orders pizza over the phone.
Learn how to set tables for fancy dinners.
Learn how to make decorative napkin designs.
Learn to arrange flowers or make tables look beautiful.
Learn how to make introductions and shake hands properly.
Learn how to sit appropriately.
Outdoor Fun and Skills
Go on a hike. Mark the trail you follow with stacks of rocks or other
identification so you can return without getting lost.
Go on a nature walk with several good out books. Learn to identify 30
different plants, birds, insects, or other animal life.
Make up a Playground Olympics. Then do all of the events, or invite others
to participate while you judge them. Make lots of prizes.
Learn how to tell north by the stars. Learn to identify several
constellations and learn the stories that go with them.
Personal Preparedness
Learn how to prioritize, schedule time, learn value of being prompt
Start a collection of favorite quotes, stories, and scriptures for future
talks. Put it in a recipe holder or card file for easy storage and quick
access. Label the tops of the cards with subject headings and alphabetize
the subject headings.
Learn how to write checks, balance a checkbook, and budget money. Learn to
pay “bills.”
Learn to organize school papers, closets, rooms, etc.
Learn how to type more efficiently.
Learn to speed read.
Learn techniques to memorize better and practice them.
Learn how to conduct music and practice with the radio or a tape of music.
Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Learn First Aid–bandaging, CPR, infant CPR, treating shock, burns, etc.
Make 72 hour kits
Learn what to do during any of the emergencies that could happen in your
area (hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, floods, flash floods,
lightning storms, avalanches, etc.)
Practice escape paths to get out of the building in which you meet. Pretend
the fire is in different parts of the building and act accordingly. Practice
things to do if you or someone else catches on fire. (Stop, Drop, Roll.
Cover the other person with a blanket to smother the fire, etc.)
Service and Citizenship
Have a Service Road Rally. Divide up into groups. Go to various houses of
members or friends and offer to provide a service or two from the list. Have
a person at the house sign the list next to the service completed. Whichever
group completes the most services on the list wins. See the Service List for
ideas of things to include on your list.
Clean up a road or park.
Make food baskets for the needy.
Collect recyclable materials and take them to a recycle center.
Collect food or clothing for a homeless shelter.
Spirituality
Write a play based on a Book of Mormon or Bible story and perform it. Bring
bathrobes, towels, bandanas, and blankets for costumes.
Have a quiz show with questions about scripture stories and characters.
Spend the whole activity time sharing your favorite scriptures with each
other and telling why they’re your favorites.
Learn a Primary song that you don’t know yet. Draw pictures to remind you of
the words or to show what the song is about and how it makes you feel.
Sports and Physical Fitness
Go running, hiking, biking, or sledding.
Take a walk along a fitness trail or make an ordinary path a fitness trail.
Every 100 yards or so, stop and doing a fitness activity. Fitness activities
could include walking on a balance beam, doing a chin up or flexed arm hang,
doing sit-ups or stomach crunches, doing push ups, doing toe-raisers (slowly
go from a standing to a tip-toe position), doing jumping jacks, etc.
Show off your gymnastic skills.
Have a snowball fight.
Go on a walking field trip.
Climb a tree.
Learn to play basketball, softball, volleyball or other sports.
Thanks for Visiting!
John and Jenny Walsh
All About Mormons <http://www.mormons.org>;
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Achievement Day Activity Ideas
1. Sing “Count Your Blessings,” Hymn #241, and ask girls to make a list of blessings in their lives.
2. Learn the names of the current Twelve Apostles or past prophets and about their lives. (Sing the names to the tune on p. 119 of the Children’s Songbook.) Note: If you have the Gospel Art kit they have the pictures of all the past prophets and a short message about their history & story on the back of the picture.
3. Read Matthew 5:16 and discuss what the girls’ “light” is and how to share it. Dip candles to remind them of their light.
4. Learn more about prophets in the latter days and plan activities that center on following the prophets, such as Book of Mormon story sharing for Ezra T. Benson, visiting a temple visitor’s center for Howard W. Hunter, and so on.
5. Teach the girls an easy way to remember the 10 commandments. I have attached a file that has the cards on it and the ways to learn them easier.
6. Have the missionaries come to give a presentation to your girls suggesting ways that they could be missionaries now. Make a missionary name badge for each girl to wear and make sure to print “The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints” at the bottom of the name tag.
Good luck! I hope that one of those ideas may be helpful for you.
Cara Lee (UT) :o)
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We have planned out our next six months and our budget for our whole year. I have to admit I have not received approval on it yet, so we are still hoping. Hopefully this will help you some.
Achievement Day Activities Jan-June 2000
January 8 Paper Mache Masks
Need: Newspaper, Water, Flour, Paints (2.97), Paintbrushes (.96) Total = 3.93
January 22 Learn to Crochet Scarves
Need: Skeins of Yarn (4.40/5), Crochet Hooks (girls will provide) Total = 4.40
February 12 Popcorn Read
Need: Picture books, ball, popcorn (5.00)
February 26 Anderson Dairy Field Trip
Need: People to drive (FREE I think)
March 11 Family Scrapbook
Need: Color Paper, Fun Scissors, Family Pictures, Family Stories (No Cost)
March 25 Family Puppets
Need: Paper Bags (1.00), Construction Paper (3.00), Markers Total = 4.00
April 3 Preparation for Mom-Miss and Dad-Daughter Activities
Need: Cardstock (5.00), markers, fun scissors, miniature candies (3.60), ideas for games and activities Total =8.60
April 29 Board Games for Children
Need: Posterboard (2.88), Manipulatives (4.97), Markers Total = 7.85
May 27 That Grand Old Flag!
Need: Copies, Markers (No Cost)
June 10 Babysitting for Temple goers
Need: Babysitting kits (No Cost)
Total for Regular Activities: 33.78
May 12 Mom-Miss Bridal Sleepover
Need: Wedding Cake: (Cake Mixes (8.00), Frosting (powdered sugar (2.00), Crisco (2.50)), Veils: (Pipe Cleaners (2.00), White Flowers (4.00), White Material (4.00)), Breakfast (muffins (7.50), eggs (4.38) bacon (2.99), milk (5.62)) Total = 42.99
June 24 Silly Dad Day
Need: Sugar Cookies (7.50), Apple Men (7.50) Drinks (3.00), Yarn (1.76), Total = 19.76
Total for Mom-Miss/Daddy-Daughter Activities: 62.75
Memorization: Beads 2.50/1000, Lg. Quilting Pins: 3.92 Total: 6.42
Participation: Suede “Lace”: 6.96, Special Beads: 3.90 Total: 10.86
Awards: Charms and Metallic Paint $35.00 (Added a little extra for shipping charges) Total: 35.00
Postage/Calendars to Inactive Girls each month – $23.04
Cups, Plates, Napkins, forks: 7.49
Last 6 months of activities: 48.00 (.50/girl/activity)
4 Recognition Nights: Decorations and Refreshments: 50.00
Overall Total: $277.34
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Our Achievement days leader did a lesson on wholesome foods and the girls grew bean sprouts in canning jars with screen cut to fit the lid. All they had to do was follow instructions for a bout 5 days and walla – a whole jar of sprouts. It was pretty fun. After the lesson, she had sprouts and they made sandwiches with ham and sprouts! They loved it. Judie in CA
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Family History Idea
My sister was the ach. Day leader for the younger girls for a few years and
she did a wonderful activity based on this theme one year.
She got questions together such as: “where were you born.” “What is your
favorite memory of your mother?” “What were some outings your family
regularly took when you were young?” “What is your favorite scripture
reference?” etc. All of these questions, about 10 I think and put them in
bags. A parent came to the activity that night and the parent/child groups
were each given some paper and a quiet area to go and the children would pull
out the questions and ask the parent to write their answer with the
corresponding question number for reference to each question. We got to share
an answer with the group after if we wanted and there were refreshments also.
My sister kept the answer sheets and typed them onto nice paper and gave them
back to the parents and kids for memories. It was a lot of fun and kind of a genealogy idea. —Debra
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Here are a few *Ice breakers* that can be modified to fit.
Have them take as many or few M&M….then for each M&M they have to share something about them selves that others didn’t know. This can be fun for those with big eyes ::Laughs::
Another is a fill in the blank type sheet…
find someone born in a different state than you__________
Find someone with green eyes____________
(ect….you get the idea)
The other things you can do is some *team* activities, like a 3 legged race (they have to work together)
a dress up relay (with dad’s clothes)
If you want to teach them something, you can try a first-aid class, they would each draw an slip of paper out of a hat and one girl will have the problem while the other girl will have the *stuff* to fix her wounds here are a few examples of what kinds of help? a cut-Band-Aid, a burn-cold water, a bug bite, etc….be creative and have fun. —DeAnne
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Achievement Day ideas-
I am sorry this is long, so read it when you can! I was asked to write this up and thought it might be of interest to others. In January we have a planning meeting for the year. I give the girls the areas of Achievement and 6 or so ideas we could do for each. By popular vote we determine the top 2 for each area and then I make up a calendar for the year. I try my hardest not to change times or move things around. We have 2 meetings each month and we start with Arts & Crafts and move through the areas alphabetically. (When I was called, the leader before me, told me that was simply the easiest way to schedule it. That way you didn’t have to worry about leaving one out!) Also Hospitality is always the Daddy Daughter Date (spring) for one and the Mother Daughter Date (fall) for the other. This way the girls have chosen the activities and they are usually very excited for them. (Sometimes I would just give them a title of something I found in a book and then they would ask what it was and I would say that they would have to choose it to find out.) I have one girl act as hostess each time. It rotates, starting oldest to youngest and I rotate the snack that way also. The hostess is to call all the girls a few days before our activity to remind them of what to bring, etc. (I give her a written reminder on the Sunday before.) She also marks the roll that week and calls on someone to say the opening prayer. The snack is rotated except on birthdays. When it is a time that is close to one of the girls birthday we have a birthday cake to celebrate which I just do out of my own pocket. I do the same cake every time.
I feel that a good activity is one that leaves 15 – 20 minutes for them to play. So I have the opening for 10 minutes and then the activity for 30 min. and then hand out snack and then let them outside (or inside) to play. Here are all of the activities that we have done over the past years. They have worked for us and will give you good ideas for your own activities. Some are from other books & modified, but I feel it is important to make each thing fit our girls and me! I hope this will be of help to someone. —Cary in CA
Arts & Crafts – February
*Wooden Valentine Heart Shaped Candle Holders – I cut out hearts out of a 2×4. The girls sanded and painted them. We put a candle in them.
*Sugar Easter Eggs – I made the two sides of the sugar eggs. The girls put the things inside, put them together, and decorated the tops.
*Cinnamon Hearts – We made hearts with cookie cutters out of the dough which when dried gives off a great aroma.
*T-shirt – We painted a T-shirt with an Achievement Day theme.
*Cake Decorating – I had a cake for each girl and then a specialist taught us how to decorate them.
*Dream Catchers – We made the Indian dream catchers with crochet cotton and hoops.
*Slippers – I got a pair of white socks for each girl. We inserted cardboard into each sock and the girls decorated the bottoms with fabric paint.
*Wax Strawberry Sundae Decorations – We filled a goblet with strawberry jam and covered it with wax. We then whipped wax and put it on top to look like whipped cream. We poked a straw through and put sprinkles and a red gumball on top for a cherry.
Education & Scholarship – March
*Visit a Company – We went to Apple Computer. We had a tour of their history and got free
T-shirts.
*Pictures to Music- I selected 6 different types of music. The girls had to paint what each type of music made them feel, taking into account, speed & color.
*”What do you wanna Be? – Each girl came dressed as what they wanted to be when they grew up. They had their props and in turn told us about their professions.
*Wind Chimes – We made wind chimes out of pipes and talked about the weather.
*Pressed flower Bookmarks – I printed up some cute sayings on card stock. I had some small flowers that each flattened onto them and covered with contact paper on both sides.
*Wishing Well Careers – We looked at pictures of many careers and decided what we might like to do. We had pennies to throw in our “wishing well”.
*Learning about the Blind – We had a blind woman come in with her dog. She also brought a
Braille writer. She wrote each girl’s name in Braille. She had a Braille children’s book which she read to us.
Family History – April
*Family Favorites Cookbook – Each girl brought two recipes written out and made one of them. We shared our foods, telling why they were special to us. I collected all the recipes and printed them up into a little booklet for each girl the following time.
*Visit to the Oakland Temple – We go to the temple, had a tour of the Visitor’s Center & watched a video the missionaries put on for us. Then we went outside and walked around the temple grounds. We had a member of the Temple Presidency come outside and talk to the girls for 15 minutes, answering their questions. (I like to go in the spring so there are the possibility of brides walking around taking pictures. I want to girls to see this is where they should be married. I, also, like to take a picture of them all together and frame it and give it to all of them at the next activity. We do this on a Saturday Morning cause the whole thing takes 4-5 hours. To be honest, we have done this for 3 years in a row and it is one of the girls’ favorites!)
*”What country did your family come from? – Each girl brought a story about an ancestor and a food from that country to share.
*Grandparents Day – Each girls came dressed as one of their grandparents and told a story from that person’s life as a child.
Family Skills – May
*Strawberry Pies – Each girl brings cut up strawberries. We make a smash-in pie crust and fill it. The girls take home the pie.
*Sock Puppets – Each girls brought an old sock and we sewed buttons on for eyes. (Most couldn’t even thread a needle or sew and so that took a long time.)
*Strawberry Jam – Each girl brought strawberries, which we mashed and made into easy jam.
*”I Can Cook” – We talked about 5 concepts. 1) Accurate kitchen measurements are important. 2) Time & Temp are important. 3) There is a correct way to stir, knead, mix and break eggs. 4) Cleaning up is part of cooking. 5) Safety is important in the kitchen. We made peanut butter play dough.
*Candy Making – We made Chocolate Marble Bark and Microwave Peanut Brittle.
*Child Care – We each brought a doll and talked about how to take care of a baby. We had diapers for them to put on their babies, etc.
Health & Personal Grooming – June
*Paper Dolls – We talked about modest clothes with pictures from magazines. We cut out paper dolls and put on modest clothes for our dolls.
*Hair Bows – We made hair bows.
*Dental Care – We had a Hygienist come and talk with the girls about dental care. She gave them lots of little dental related things.
*Nail Care – We had a woman come and show how to give home manicures and take care of your nails. We let them polish their nails with clear but flavored nail polish.
*Colors – We had woman come and talk about what colors would look good on each girl and why.
*Modest Summer Fashion Show – Each girl came in a modest summer fashion and modeled it for us and then we went swimming.
Hospitality
– – Daddy Daughter (Spring)
*Hawaiian Luau Theme – Dinner and games.
*Western Jamboree – Dinner and games.
*50’s Dance – Soda shop and dancing. It was put on by the Stake. They had some games and a dance demonstration.
– – Mother Daughter (Fall)
*Sugar Pumpkins – Each Mother and Daughter put the things inside, put them together, and
decorated the outsides. (They look like the Easter Eggs you peek into except they are pumpkins.)
*Slumber Party – Both Mothers and Daughter slept over night. We had dinner. We played the
“Dating Game” modified with Mothers and Daughters. We all slept and then had an easy breakfast the next morning.
*Mummies & Her Little Ghouls – A Halloween theme party with dinner and games.
Outdoor Fun & Skills – July
*Urban Hike – We walked down to a park. I gave each girl 6 feet of yarn. They made it into a circle and had to draw on a paper all the things that were inside the circle.
*Swimming – We had fun at a pool.
*Zoo – We went with our families to the zoo together. We carpooled and took sack lunches on a free day.
*Campfire Smores – We cooked marshmallows over a fire and made smores. It was at a park so the girls played on the swings and stuff.
*Hike – We met at the church and then carpooled to an outdoor hiking trail.
*Par Course – We met at a park that had an outdoor exercise trail where you stop and do different exercises along the way.
Personal Preparedness – August
*Potpourri Doily Sachets – I backed a small doily with fabric. The girls stuffed them with potpourri and hand-stitched them closed.
*Life – We played the game of “Life” (Milton Bradley). I kept asking them questions as we played about things that came up.
*”Elephant Goals” – We talked about making big goals and breaking them into smaller pieces.
*Money Game – We had a game where the girls were given so much play money and they had to decide how they would spend it in order to live.
*Milk Carton 72 Hour Emergency kits – We made kits for each member of our families. Each girl paid for how many she made.
*Who Am I Now? – We filled out papers about our likes and dislikes now to keep for 5 years.
Safety & Emergency Preparedness – September
*Mini First Aid Kits – We filled film containers with first aid stuff for their backpacks at school.
*First Aid – We acted out emergency situations with props.
*Bicycle Safety – Each girl brought her bike to the church where we had a course in the parking lot done in chalk. We also talked about the different parts of a bike.
*Teddy Bear First Aid – I got an Emergency Rescue Video from the library and we watched it. I stopped the tape after each segment and we practiced on our own teddy bears.
*Babysitting Safety – We discussed what to do if… when babysitting.
*Food Storage Cooking – We made (and Ate!) Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes.
Service & Citizenship – October
*Historical Museum – We visited the one room museum and learned of the history of our area.
*Baby Quilt – We fabric painted a baby quilt that I had made for a new baby. We, also, made an easy casserole & cookies to take to the family & took it to them.
*Missionary Messages – We made up funny “mad libs” out of a Christmas song individually and sent them to the missionaries serving from our ward.
*Smile Face Pillows – I made a lot of circle shaped pillows and painted them with the smile face. The girls stuffed them for the activity. I, later, sewed them up and we gave them to a Children’s Shelter.
*Clean the Church – We cleaned one afternoon.
*Animal Hospital – We visited an Animal Hospital and had a tour.
Spirituality – November
*Book of Mormon Writing – We each had a little piece of copper and we wrote on it with a nail like Nephi may have written on the gold plates.
*Prepare a FHE – We did a Christmas FHE; the flannelboard lesson – we colored the pictures & told the story and we cut out the game and played it.
*Worthy Music & Name That Tune – We talked about how music makes us feel and then played name that tune with primary songs.
*Wooden Nativity Sets – I cut out wood pieces and then each girl colored them to look like the nativity with oil pencils. We then sprayed them with clear gloss finish.
*Prayer Rugs – We got small Carpet Samples and painted/stenciled on them “Prayer Rug”. The girls painted and decorated them with fabric paints.
*Lead Music – We learned how to lead 2/2 music, 3/4 music and 4/4 music. We practiced to
different primary songs.
Sports & Physical Fitness – December
*Roller Skating – We went to a rink in the afternoon and skated as a group. Each girl paid for herself.
*Jump Rope games – We got jump ropes and Chinese jump ropes and learned different games.
*Invent a Game – I had a whole bunch of things. I divided the girls into groups of 3 and each group had to come up with a game that used the things they had been given. Then we played the games.
*Exercise Video – We worked out to one of Richard Simmon’s tapes “Sweatin’ To the Oldies”.
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You could do a class on Telephone Manners. Make up a true or false quiz about telephone manners such as: “Hey! Who is this?” is always a pleasant way to begin telephone conversations. or If someone wants to leave an important message while you are babysitting, just try to remember what they said as best you can. Or, You don’t have to give any information at all to strangers on the telephone ~ not even your name, how old you are, where your parents are, your address, or anything else. I’d make up about 10 or 12 questions for true or false. For an activity, take in a couple telephones and have the girls role-play telephone conversations. Give them situations to act out. Example: A salesman wants to come and give you a demonstration on a new product. or Your sister’s friend is calling for her and she’s in the bathroom. etc. etc. Talk about phone manners like not screaming for your parents when it’s for them, etc. How to properly answer the phone. This would be an easy thing to get ready and be fun too. They could use this for their hospitality focus. Are you a pie baker? Teach them how to bake a pie. Do a class on Hand Care. What do you do with your hands? Shake hands, fix food, hold a pencil to write a letter, touch a baby, hug a grandma, wave, help pick up someone who fell, etc. Show them how to care for their hand and nails. Maybe give each girl an emery board, and talk about proper nail care. (Health and Personal Grooming) Hope this helps. I’ve got more if you don’t like these. Just email me later today. —Pat
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We just did babysitting kits for AD. We made play dough (recipe follows), talked about favorite fairy tales to tell to the kids, brainstormed snack ideas, talked about easy paper crafts (cut a circle of paper into a long spiral to make a springy snake, etc.). Some of the girls got very creative and made paper puppets attached to Popsicle sticks for telling the fairy tales. I had a little more time than you do and I made easy canvas bags for all of them to keep all their stuff in. If you can think of anything to easy to keep their baby sitting stuff in, they could just decorate that or something. The recipe I used for play dough is:
2 c. flour 2 c. water (add color to water)
2 tsp. cream of tartar 1 c. salt
2 Tbsp. cooking oil
Mix dry ingredients in pan, add water and oil. Heat over medium heat. Stir constantly until thick – it only takes a couple of minutes. Pour out on the table and knead.
Last year the AD leader did a night on baby sitting safety. She had a little quiz with really easy things like “If the house catches on fire I a) sit on the couch b) get everyone out and call 911 c) turn on the hose” She talked about some first aid and I think she had some handouts from the Red Cross.
You could also play relay games using dolls: change a diaper, dress a baby, bathe a baby, push the baby in a stroller, read a story, etc. Hope this isn’t too late. Jen