Activity Day Bucket List

Oh, how I miss being an activity leader, sigh! A while ago, I typed up this wonderful activity day bucket list that I wanted to accomplish with my girls while serving as an activity day leader.  By the way, I did accomplish most of these great ideas!  As you may already know, I blogged about several of my activities over the past couple years.  I provided links to some of those and website links that helped me accomplish my activities.  I hope this list can help inspire you during your fun church calling as an Activity Day leader! 

Credits: I used The Bucket List Kit from The Lily Pad and journal strips are from the PJ Party Kit by Eva Kipler. I used the following fonts grumble and love ya like a sister.
Activity Days

Learning and Living The Gospel

Atonement Lesson: I taught a great Easter Egg Lesson before Easter. Fill 12 plastic Easter eggs with small objects and scriptures about the Savior's Atonement. Have each girl read them.

“Bee”Attitudes by Gordon Hinckley: Read and discuss them. Send the girls home with a handout to help them remind them the importance of having “bee” attitudes everyday in their lives.

Conference Talk: Have the girls read a recent conference talk and discuss how they can follow the prophet and his apostles.
Conference Activity Packet:  Print out a few conference activities for the girls to do while listening to General Conference. Follow up with them the next month about what they learned from one of the talks.

Good Music Choices: Look at the lyrics to a popular song. Talk about the importance of listening to uplifting music and how bad music can destroy our Spirit.

Have a “T” party at the Temple grounds: bring a snack or have a picnic. Walk around the temple and talk about the temple and take photos.

Make a Family Home Evening Lesson: We prepared a lesson kit for the girls to take home and encouraged them to teach their family the following week. For example, we did the lesson on Joseph Smith's First Vision.  We included the following in the kit: Book of Mormon Stories, On a Golden Springtime, Sacred Grove Color Page, First Vision Clip Art, First Vision Flannel Board Story, Timber Game, Bookmarks, and Quick Butterscotch Crunchies!  The girls loved making the quick, easy, and delicious treat!

 Pedigree Chart: Print a family group record. Have the girls fill out the names and discuss the importance of temple work.

Prayer: Have the girls paint a prayer rock and talk about the importance of prayer.

Scripture Reading: Have the girls make a scripture bookmark using ribbon, scrapbook paper, buttons, other embellishments. Talk about some important scriptures.

Sunday Sundaes: talk about the importances of keeping the Sabbath day Holy while doing an object lesson making a gross ice cream sundae using the following toppings: mustard, ketchup, relish, chopped onions, raisins, etc. Have one brave girl taste the gross sundae and describe what it tastes like to the group. Then have the girls make a yummy ice cream sundae afterwards.

Word of Wisdom: Make a healthy snack (either vegetables, fruits, whole grain crackers, cheese, etc). Play a food pyramid game using visuals or clip-art of food. Use masking tape to make the food pyramid and have the girls place the food in the correct section based on the food guide. Talk about the importance of good nutrition and the dangers of using drugs/alcohol. Encourage the girls to try eating healthy for a week and discuss the results next time.

Serving Others

Babysitting Night: Have the girls help babysit on ward temple night or during Enrichment night for the Relief Society.

Bake Bread for Sacrament: Teach the girls how to make bread.  and call a member of the young men's to arrange a date/time to drop off the home made bread for sacrament meeting. 

Busy Box for Kids: Gather some supplies to make games or fun activities: play dough ingredients/recipes, glow in dark jello recipe, goo or slime recipe, snow painting, finger paints, home made bubbles, I spy game, etc. Wrap the box and have the girls decorate the box as well as sign their names. Drop the box off to a family in the war with small children.

Clean the Nursery Toys: Bring tons of cleaning supplies and a snack for afterwards. The girl's enjoyed cleaning the nursery toys!
Cookie in a Jar: Find a cookie in a jar recipe that you like. Have the girls measure out the ingredients. Next, tie a ribbon and paste the recipe on the jar. Have the girls deliver the cookie jars to a neighbors, friends, less actives, non-members in the ward, etc.

Gratitude Lesson: We did a couple activities HERE and HERE on gratitude, which we discussed The First Thanksgiving, Helen Keller, made crafts, made turkey name cards, and ate turkey pop treats.  
Harvesting Food for the Needy Families: This was a great late summer and early fall activity.  If you have a ward or community garden have the girls help weed and distribute produce to people in their neighbourhood.

Make Service Coupons: Discuss The Good Samaritan and have the girls fill out information in the service coupons booklet.  Encourage the girls to do the acts of service for family members. 

Primary Chorister Help: Ask if she or he needs help coloring or preparing things for singing time. 

Respect Your Elders: Have the girls weed, rake leaves, wash windows, shovel,etc).  Make sure you visit with the Elderly afterwards and allow them to tell a story about their childhood.

Secret Service: Assign each girl a secret grandma. For one month they need to do four anonymous service activities (make a bookmark, make cookies, write a poem, make a card, give a flower, write a letter, etc).
Teacher Appreciation Service: We made Scarecrow Crunch for a snack and a Scarecrow Accordion Card.  The girls helped me make the snack, which we got to eat and set aside a small bag to give to their teacher.  Then we made the cards, which they each wrote a little note to their teacher.  The girls loved giving the treats and card to their teacher the next day at school!
Thank You Cards: We had three activities which we made darling home made cards out of colored construction paper such as Love Bug Valentine's Card, Mother's Day Flower Bouquet Card, and Scarecrow Accordion Card. Have the girls share their feelings of love and gratitude about their Mom, Dad, grandparents, teacher, friend, etc.

Visit a Nursing Home or Care Center: Have the girls sing a couple songs to the patients. Play games such as bingo, checkers, chess, etc with the patients. They could also do read stories or do manicures for the females.
Make Secret Service Jars: Do a lesson on service. Share several quotes about service. Print out a label for the Mason jar (a heart symbol WHO U SERVE).  Invite the girls share ways they can serve others, which you can write down on the chalk board. Decorate the jar with the label and have the girls write out random acts of kindness on paper slips.  This would a great December activity by using a Christmas tree advent that contains service quotes on the back and have the girls decorate a Christmas tree with a ornament.  Encourage the girls to share a service memory or great idea how they could serve somebody in their family.

Developing Talents

Art History Lesson: Check out an art book from the library and discuss the different styles, artist's names, famous pieces, etc.  Have the girls paint a picture.  
Art Exhibit: We took the girls to Carl Bloch Art Exhibit.  Check on-line or in a newspaper for local art shows that are going on near your community.  The girls enjoyed the mini field trip! 
Babysitting Kits:  I liked these ideas from Be A Great Sitter and Baby Sitting Kit.

Bike Safety and Ride: Talk about the importance of wearing bike helmets, traffic laws, etc, and then go for a bike ride.

Budgeting: We did a M&M's Budget Activity to teach the girls about making a realistic budget for themselves.  

Cake Decorating: Have a cup cake decorating party. Everybody loves cupcakes, right! 

Decorate A Picture Frame:  Get some wooden frames from a craft store.  Have the girls either paint them however they like with acrylic paints or they could Mod Podge pretty scrapbook paper over the frame.

First Aid: Have a nurse come speak to the girls about basic first aid.    

Fabric or Balloon Flip Flops: Have each girl bring a pair of flip flops. Tie fabric or tiny balloons on top of the plastic part of the flip flops.

Kitchen Skills: Teach the girls how to make soup, pizza, cookies, Chex mix recipes, etc).

Gardening: Teach the importance of being self reliant. Plant a seed (bring a bag of soil, plastic cups, water pitcher, and grass seed). Teach them to care for their plant by giving it sun and water. We made a simple Paper Flower Craft (supplies: paper, pipe cleaners, scissors, tape, and pencils).

Goals for a New Year: Have the girls write down some personal goals, spiritual goals, and calender goals. Read Amy's Goal from the Friend January 2010.

Gratitude Journals: Have the girls decorate a notebook with scrapbook paper, embellishments, etc. Encourage the girls to write in their journals daily!

Grooming: Do facials, nails, and hair. Talk about the importance of staying clean and good grooming skills.

Journal in a Jar: Help the girls come up with questions or topics that they could use to write in their journals.

Make a bean bag:  Teach the girls how to hand stitch a bean bag out fabric scraps. Have them add the pinto beans, sew the hole on top, and sew on a button.

Modesty Paper Dolls: Make a paper doll using yarn, wiggly eyes, and fabric for clothes. Get a fashion magazine find modest clothing and discuss the not modest ones).

Music: Learn a new song or how to lead music.

Physical Fitness: Talk about the importance of being healthy by exercising regularly. Play a sport like kick ball, Crockett, go on a bike ride, swimming, etc.

Scrapbook A Couple Pages: Plan a head of time by taking some pictures of the girls then getting them printed for the activity. Provide some scrap supplies (paper, markers, embellishments, stickers, alpha, glue dots, etc) for them to create their layouts. 

Self Defense: Have a martial art's specialist teach the girls simple self defense moves and safety precautions such as not talking to strangers, etc.

Talents: Talk about developing talents using scripture references. Have each girl share their talent (music, art, skit, poems, short stories, sports, hobbies,etc). It could be talent show where they present on stage in front of the audience.
Teddy Bear Table Manners: Have the girls each bring a teddy bear. They cuddled their teddy bears while we discussed table manners, proper etiquette during sacrament meeting, and played a fun table setting game! 

Articles of Faith

Mission Possible: Scripture theme: " But Jesus beheld and said unto them, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are POSSIBLE" (Matthew 19:26). We made cute manila folder invitations, planned fun evening of doing article of faith games, finger print decoding, discussed ways the girls could learn article of faith by using secret agent 

Just for Fun Activities

Book Club: Make a trip to the library and check out multiple copies of the same book. Encourage the girls to read the book and discuss it during the next activity with snacks.
Daddy Daughter Dates: Dress up in formal wear, western wear, or costumes. Provide a lovely ball, western dancing, games, carnival, and dinner for them. We did a Western Daddy Daughter Theme, Princess School, Masquerade Harvest Ball, and Halloween dress up with treats and carnival games.

Game Time: Each girl brings their favorite card or board game. Snack on some popcorn and play games.
Hiking and sack lunch Have the girls bring a sack lunch and eat lunch after the hike.  Make sure they pack a water bottle!  We went on a simple trail to some waterfalls in the mountains.

Go to a local Pumpkin Patch, Corn Maze, etc.
Ice Skating and Hot Chocolate: Go to a local ice skating ring and then afterwards to a leader's house for hot chocolate and donuts.

Make Friendship bracelets: Get some floss and check out a book at the library or find instructions on the internet. I really liked this simple design from Friendship Bracelets!

Mom and Me: Have a PJ party! Do makeovers for Mom (facials, manicures, pedicures, hair, etc). Talk about the importance of daily prayer, reading scriptures and writing in journals. Watch a church approved movie and eat popcorn/goodies.

Visit the Fire Department and Police Station

Water Games: We had a back to school water game party!  We played tons of water games such as balloon toss, bucket toss relay, sprinkler fun, slip and slides, water pool games, etc.