Summer of PI: Part Two

We just scooped 1/4c. instant vanilla pudding onto a plate with a dollop of whip cream. Mmmm...

We just finished our Summer of PI (Personal Improvement) tonight.  It was so amazing!  Our girls achieved so much this summer through scripture study, personal progress, temple visits, service, etc...I was blown away with how hard they worked, so much so, that we totaled 430 pies!  Eek!  So, we had to tweak it a little.  We converted their Pie tally marks into points so that 3 points=1 pie. That significantly reduced the amount of pies we had to make.  All-in-all we made 150 pies.  Half way through the girls throwing pies, the leaders (and bishopric members) decided to AMBUSH the girls!  So we ran over to the table and the PIE FIGHT BEGAN!  It was an event to be remembered!  Some of the girls said we need to make this a tradition and I hope we can! 

Before!

Getting Ready to begin! The leaders participated in earning points as well.  Based on our points, we earned Protective Gear: Poncho, gloves, goggles, shower caps, and a towel.  Thank goodness we had that. 

Throwing the Pies at the leaders.  Before they threw their pies, I had them tell us one of their favorite things they did over the summer to earn a pie.

This one got personal (mother/daughter fight)

What leaders are willing to do for their girls!!!

The girls had fun getting messy!

And of course to top it all off... PIE for dessert!

If you have any questions, please let me know.  I'd be happy to share more details with you.  Please refer to my first post on Summer of Pi: Part 1 for additional info.

SLC TEMPLE HANDOUT/CRAFT IDEA

**UPDATE **: Please click here for the: Temple Template

I am super excited about this!  I saw this idea on Pinterest, but it had no instructions or any detail.  I just gave a Come Follow Me lesson on "Why is Temple Marriage Important?"  I gave this as my handout, but this would be cute for girls camp too.  I purchased two, 2 1/2" x 8ft* board from Home Depot for $2.12 each.  And some sparkly tuelle from Hobby Lobby for $2, so the whole project cost me $7 and it made 13 temples!  For the middle part of the temple I used bead board.  I had some left overs from a different project.  So if you don't have bead board, then that is where it will get spendy.

In order to create this, you need a band saw.  The right tools are EVERYTHING!  I cranked everything out in about 2 hours!  Then, I just glued the pieces together with wood glue, and painted it. Voila!  It was SUPER easy, just takes time and skill.  If you are interested in the template, send me a coment and I will upload them.  The project is about 5"w x 7"h. 

*After doing this, I may have upgraded to a 6"x 8' piece of wood, that way, I could have made the back two steeples in one piece instead of two, then I could have glued the middle bead board piece on top. 

Girls Camp Craft: Magnetic Board

For a girls camp craft we made magnet boards.  I saw this idea on Pin terest where they used stove top covers.  Unfortunately, the Dollar Store by me didn't sell them anymore.  So I found the next best thing, a 12" pizza tin ($1).  It was PERFECT and a 12x12" scrapbook paper fit like a glove. As far as magnets go, I wanted to use the clear stones, but I found that they weren't strong enough to hold a piece of paper.  So I just used wood square pieces I found at Michaels.  Then clothespins from the Dollar Store.  All in all, it was around $2.50 per girl, but depending if you have some supplies on hand, I bet you could make it less than that. 

Girls Camp: Pillow Treat

I bought the tissues at the Dollar Store.  They came in a 8 pack for $1. 

For girls camp every year we do a pillow treat each night for the girls.  I came up with this idea last year and it went over so well, that we decided it will be something we will continue to do every year.  We make sure that this is given to them the night before testimony meeting so that they come prepared.  Usually, our tent leaders will incorporate our treat into a nightime devotional. 

If you'd like the print out, click on the link below:
TESTIMONY TISSUES

Come Follow Me: July-What Does It Mean to Take the Name of Jesus Christ Upon Me

This was my handouts for the girls.  I think it would ha ve been great to get the actual name tags from the store, but I didn't have the chance to get there.  So, I found the image on line and added to it.  If you're interested in a FIB template you can download one HERE.

SUMMER OF PI (Personal Improvement)-PART 1

Here's the chart for all the girls.  Each week during opening exercises we ask the girls what they've done and mark it accordingly.  In the week since doing this it has been awesome to see what the girls have been up to, who's been reading their scriptures, who's visited the temple, etc...

I adapted this idea from a friend of mine who did this activity in her ward.  I am so excited about it.  I've called it Summer of Pi (trying to play off the movie title Life of Pi, get it?).  But PI stands for personal improvement.  We have different categories that they can earn pies for.  It started June 1st and will end Sept 1st.  Then our following activity Sept 4th, we will have a pie night.  In which, they can add up all the pies they've earned throughout the summer and will get to throw the pies in the leaders faces!  We are going to have the bishopric come and will invite the YW stake presidency as well.  The leaders are earning pies along side the girls, but instead of pies to throw, we are earning protective gear: Poncho, goggles, shower cap, gloves, towel.  We will do it outside in the Bowery and (hope) it ends in a pie fight (and of course we'll eat real pie for dessert!)

Now, the pies are just a foam plate filled with pudding and whipped cream to keep costs down.  My friend who originally did this idea, based their points on Personal Progress goals and indexing.  I took it a step further, since many girls have finished personal progress, I broadened the focus and accounted for many different areas of improvement.

We are one week into this program and many girls have earned pies.  EEK!  I think we may do this every summer and since it's our first time, we may have to tweak how many pies will be earned (I am afraid they may potentially earn a lot!) 

This is just a close up of the chart.  I just use tally marks when marking it off.  If you'd like this chart format, I have a link for it below.

I will post the final result after our Sept activity, but wanted to get this posted in case others wanted to implement this before we get too deep into summer.  Let me know if you have any questions, or suggestions!

Attached below is the Pie earning chart that you can hand out to the girls so they know what each pie is worth and a personal pie tracking sheet that they can track their progress throughout the summer.  I thought this would be a good idea, so that I don't miss anything they've done. 


Summer of Pi (value chart)
Pie Tracking Sheet
Summer of Pi Poster size tracking sheet- It should print in several different pages and then you can cut and glue it together to fit the size of a foam poster board.

 PIE CATEGORIES:

PERSONAL PROGRESS:

1 pie= 1 value experience

2 pies= 1 value project

* Earn an extra 5 pies if you finish personal progress.

BOOK OF MORMON:

1 pie for every 5 chapters read in the book of Mormon (I would change this to be every 15 or 20 chapters instead)

1 pie for consistently reading 5 out of 7 days (that’s an additional 13 pies at the end of the summer). I am so proud of our girls, many of them earned pies through reading.  This was really effective!

*Earn an additional 5 extra pies for finishing the entire Book of Mormon (on top of the above)

SERVICE:

1 pie for every 2 hours of service performed

1 pie for every temple visit (Baptisms for the Dead)

PERSONAL DEDICATION:

5 pies: for PERFECT church attendance throughout the summer

5 pies: attending all mutual activities throughout the summer

5 pies= keeping a weekly journal throughout the summer (This was harder to tally, I ended up giving them a point per week they wrote, giving them a potential of earning 13 pies- I am sure you can figure a better way).

1 pie: attending Girls Camp

1 pie: Each time you share your testimony

1 pie: for inviting someone to church or mutual

*Please click on Summer of Pi: Part Two to continue reading.

  *I found and purchased the cute graphics from Etsy Here:

Come Follow Me (March Lesson) Handout: What is the Resurrection?

I read President Monson's talk, He is Risen that the lesson guide suggested.  I LOVED his story about Jason that he relates at the end of his talk.  I decided to play off of the word "NEVER" that Jason so boldly professed in his hospital bed.  I thought it was very powerful.  I wrote this little saying to go with Jason's words and to sum up my lesson on the resurrection   I also showed the Bible video: For God So Loved the World (John 3:16), during my lesson.  It turned out really wonderful! I am so grateful for the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ! What a wonderful blessing promised to each of us!  

I used chocolate gold coins, and butterscotch discs to represent "riches".  I then wrapped them in tulle, added a ribbon and stapled it to the quote.

Click here to print out the quote: NEVER LOSE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST

Fabric Covered Flip Flop Tutorial

For our 2013 year theme, "Stand Ye in Holy Places", we decided to give the upcoming Beehives, a pair of flip flops during our New Beginnings night.  I wanted to think outside the box and come up with something a little different than the rag-tied flip flops that I have seen before.  I simply wrapped the fabric around these flip flops from Walmart ($.98) and Voila!  Cute colorful flip flops.  I thought I'd share the tutorial below. 

We wanted to do these in the Value Colors.  You can see I only have 7 colors because the white flip flop counts as Faith. *Note: Each strip will do one pair of shoes.  So, you can make a at least 40 pairs of shoes (depending on the width of the fabric) out of 1/4 yard of fabric!

You can leave the shoe plain as seen above in Step 4 and be done, or if you'd like to add an embellishment between the toes as I have done, than you can do so. Note: I just used hot glue and it seems to do a pretty good job, however, for more durability, you may want to use a stronger fabric glue.   

I added our theme on the sole of the shoe for an added touch.  I wrote these on here with a fine tip permanent marker.

Here's the end result!  I chose to add little roses between the toe (made out of felt), but you could embellish it with whatever you'd like.  The possible variations of this project are endless!

Here's how we packaged these for the girls.  The girls were THRILLED to have these shoes!

Mutual Activity: Missionary Pillowcases

We LOVE our Missionaries and are thankful for their service!

For Mutual, we decided we would send the missionaries from our ward, as well as the full-time missionaries serving in our Stake, a little "Thank You" for all they do, and also to let them know we support and love them.  Some of the YW have brothers on missions, so it was especially meaningful to them.  I made this sign and printed it onto transfer paper and ironed it onto the pillowcases. We then had the girls write their favorite scriptural reference and their name on it as well as the Elder's favorite scriptural reference (just for filler, we wrote some extra scriptures as well and let the girls doodle a bit).  All of the missionary mothers were more than happy to send it to them in their packages anyways, so it saved us on shipping.  We asked the mom's ahead of time so they could prepare.  

For the Full-time missionaries in our Stake, we had a group of girls baking cookies while they weren't signing and at the end of the night, we folded the pillow cases, tied it in a ribbon, and took it to the missionaries with a plate full of hot cookies.  

Remember, as you write on these, you'll need to put a book or piece of cardboard between the case so the markers don't bleed through.  We just used Sharpie markers, but know that they bleed, so it would have been helpful to use fabric markers instead.

Click on the link to print out the "Return With Honor" Iron on Transfer. Note: it is backwards so that when you iron it on it will be the right way,

"PLUG INTO GENERAL CONFERENCE"-Gift idea for Young Women

As you ALL know, Young Women LOVE their phones, iPads, iTouches, MP3 players, etc... I stumbled across "dust plugs" on ebay one day and knew that I had to buy them.  I didn't know how I would use them for young women's per say, but I knew the girls would OBSESS over these.  I purchased a package of 21 on ebay* for $3.75 (note: you will have to bid on them, so the price could vary).  They are universal and should fit in any headphone jack that you have. They have glittered bows, roses, daisies, reg bows...so you can get a pretty great variety. 

I bought a package for me, and every time I pull my phone out at YW (and everywhere for that matter) I have someone comment on how amazing and cute it is with the common phrase "Oh, I want that!"

General Conference is coming up, so I thought since this is literally called a plug, I would play on words. And hopefully, each time they saw their plug they would remember the words of the Prophets and listen to the whispering of the Holy Ghost.

I printed on white card stock and made it look like an iPod with the poem in the middle and the cute plug on the upper hand corner.

 

  Here's the poem I came up with:

“Plug” Into General Conference 

In times of troubles and of tears

We don’t need to worry

We don’t need to fear.

A prophet’s voice will guide and direct

We need to listen

We need to connect.

“Block” out the interference that comes our way,

We will feel the Spirit

We won’t delay.

For the joy we find will not be bought,

It comes by listening and in thought.

You may download a pdf version of my handout here: Plug into General Conference (4 per page):

* to find these on ebay, search for "bow dust plugs", or "flower dust plugs"...  You will find them that way.  They are usually sold in a 19 or 21 piece set and shipping is free.  It can take 3-4 weeks to get (they come from China), so you want to plan ahead.  Also, every time I have ordered one, I have always been given on extra plug as a free gift!

Gospel Busy Book Idea for Children-Compiled by The Friend Magazine

I recently went to a busy bag exchange and it got my wheels turning.  My girls LOVED all the activities, but I felt like I wanted something GOSPEL related that I could just Grab-and-Go for church.

My girls LOVE all the activities in the Friend.  However, up to this point, every activity in our Friend magazine's have been scribbled on.  I wanted a way to preserve the fun activities and be able to reuse them.  I really didn't want to spend $$$ on laminating them, so I found that just by inserting them into a page protector gave me the same result.
 

I bought 5 tab dividers I inserted within the Book and came up with 5 different sections of activities.  If you log onto www.lds.org, you can find past issues of The Friend and can print out many of the activities. You can also cut the pages out of your magazines, which I what I did for most of it.

Dry Erase Markers work really well on Sheet Protectors.  For the eraser, I just used pinking shears to cut a decorative edge on felt.

 Here's the 5 Sections:

My girls LOVE Seek n' Find games!  These come out of the "Fun Stuf" section of the Friend, which can mostly be printed out online.

2013 Friend magazines are highlighting one Prophet each month on the back page.  I just simply cut out each one  and will collect them throughout the year.

This is perfect for my 6 year old daughter who has learned how to read. This is even great to read to little ones to reinforce gospel teachings. I also have some of the stories of Jesus, which The Friend highlights.

I am thrilled by this!!!  I went to Deseret Industries one night and found some LDS and BIBLE children's activity books in the book aisle for $1 each.  So the activities from above came from those books as well. My girls LOVE mazes and connect the dots and what's better than religious ones!!!

Right: I printed most of the coloring pages from online, but I have also just copied them out of The Friend and placed them in the pocket on the tab page.  On the Left: I made this printable activity myself and will attach it here.  I put it in the "ACTIVITY" section and it's on the Word of Wisdom.

Top: This little binder pocket was from Walmart for $.50 and holds the supplies you'll need for the book. Bottom: Sometimes kids just want to doodle so I added extra paper and stickers for fun.

This has been a HUGE success for me.  My kids ask me for these activities every week and it helps with reverence during Church.  I think it's a great way to preserve your favorite moments from The Friend.  Not to mention, when they get tired of an activity, you can  constantly rotate it.

I purchased this cute bag from Walmart.  My goal with this project is to have it "grab-and-go".  It is important for me, seeing as I have 9am church and it is hard to get there on time!  Also, keeping this as a "Sunday Only Activity" helps keep it fresh and exciting for my girls to look forward to each week. I also have used some of the file folder games from the Finch Family Books (sold online and Deseret Book), which are also in my bag.  I will later post on some of them on here.

Come Follow Me (February Lesson): Why Do My Choices Matter?

I had this photo printed at Costco, and on the back I put President Monson's 3 R's of Choice.

I went with an Alice and Wonderland Theme.  I was reading through Pres. Monson's talk titled the 3 R's of Choice and he referenced the movie Alice and Wonderland when she meets the Cheshire cat on the pathway and asks which way to go.  I found the clip on you tube (only 3 min long), downloaded it and showed it to the class.  After we watched the clip, I asked them if they ever felt like Alice did, not knowing which direction to take.  I then made this relation and put it on the board:
Alice=You
Cheshire Cat=Influences
Path=Consequences
Conscience/Moral Compass= Our Values

I have a print out of these at the end of this post.  It was nice to put them on the board as a Visual Reminder to the girls.  After we had talked about all of this, I then made a quiz for the girls to fill out. I wanted to teach them that when we understand our values, we can understand what choices to make.  We actually went through the quiz together. I stopped on every question, added my thoughts and asked for experiences and feedback.  It turned out incredibly wonderful! I also used some of the talk by President Monson, when appropriate.  As a hand out, I bought some Little Debbie cakes and wrote on them with Frosting: "Eat Me", just to go with the Alice and Wonderland theme.





I wrapped them in cellophane and added this vintage Alice tag.


If you want any of the printables, you can find them listed below:
Alice and Wonderland Visual Aid for board
Who am I Values Quiz
 3 R's of Choice for back of picture
Vintage Alice Tag
Alice and Wonderland Video from You Tube-
(to dowload the video, click on the url address and type in the word "kiss" in front of the "you" in youtube.  It takes you to another site that will let you download it. Click "run" and select the quality. So simple and it works!!!)

Alice and Cheshire Cat Picture with Quote- You should be able to right click and save to your computer.

And if you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment!  My lesson was so successful and I presented it in memorable way using characters that were familiar to them.