Pioneer-Palooza

In Utah, July 24 is a state holiday marking the date the Mormon Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. As part of our July Activities Days (and Learning and Living the Gospel goal), we took a trip to our local cemetery.

We had the advantage of being able to find the graves of pioneers who had crossed the plains. We talked about the blessings we have living here thanks to their hard work and sacrifices. This same discussion applied to the names of people we found who served in various world wars, in the armed services, etc.

For the activity, the girls were given a clipboard with sheets of blank paper and a crayon. Then we let them loose in the cemetery to make rubbings of headstones that included the following:



- Same first name as their own
- Same last name as their own
- Same birthday as their own
- Name of another country
- A date before 1860 (in our case that likely meant the person had been a Mormon pioneer)
- Something beautiful or interesting (often a picture on a headstone, though we had a few good laughs over some crazy names)

Goal: Learning and Living the Gospel

Family History, Family Fish

Our theme this month is Family History -- and to make passing off our Faith in God goal even more fun, we turned it into a game. The girls each brought names to complete a two-generation Family Tree. [This cute printable thanks to the "A Year of FHE" blog. A bigger family tree available here from SugarDoodle.]

Then, we played a few rousing games of Family Fish and Old Satan—my spin on the classic card games Go Fish and Old Maid. Get instructions and Family Fish printables here. Plan on a good time (or go fish!)

Goal completed: Learning and Living the Gospel

Music Month for Activity Days

Ready to learn basic conducting, make a craft, and dance it out? Our Music Month had it all -- and turned out to be some of our best Activity Days ever.

Learn Music Conducting
Print the basic conducting patterns onto half sheets of paper. To make a piano pocket folder for the instructions, fold a piece of construction paper in half. Unfold and on one side of the fold, cut a curved shape like the overhead view of a grand piano. With the paper folded again, staple the loose edges together on the side and bottom for form a pocket. Cut a 1-1/2" x 6" strip of white paper. Draw a series of parallel lines across the short side of the paper, all the way down. These will become the white keys of the "piano." To make the black keys, color in rectangles that are half the length of the keys and overlap the lines. Show the girls how black keys are grouped in 2's and 3's -- they make up a pattern all the way down the keyboard.

Choose various songs from the Primary music book to try your hand at leading 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, and 2/2 time.










Make Music Batons
This music baton craft was easy, cheap and useful. Each baton is made from a plastic balloon stick (purchase from party stores like Zurchers; they come in 24" lengths, cut in half to make two 12" sticks) and two small wooden spools (you can buy a package of 20 from Michaels for just a few dollars).

Before the activity, use a hot glue gun to glue the two spools on the end of a stick as a handle. Thread the two spools onto the stick. While holding one spool at the bottom of the stick, squeeze glue in the center of the spool and at its base; let glue cool to affix the bottom spool. Add a few drops of glue on the top of that spool and press the other spool on top of it. Your handle is the two spools glued together.

During the activity, let the girls decorate their handles using permanent markers, stickers, rhinestones, etc.

I chose to keep the batons afterwards and apply a coat of sealant to the handles. We gave the batons back to the girls at the next activity to take home.

Play Music Match

Choose about a dozen songs to play "memory." Write each song on the back of a recipe card, then make a duplicate card of each song. We used about 10 popular songs from the radio (which are all in 4/4 time) plus a few songs everyone knows in 3/4 time. (Happy Birthday, Away in a Manger, etc.)

Mix up the cards and put them face down on a table (or tape them to a board or wall). The girls turn over two cards at a time, hoping to find matching song titles.

When a match is found, we played the song from an MP3 playlist we'd prepared with all the songs from the game. The girls used their batons to lead along with the music, but more than anything LOVED dancing, singing and conducting along with their favorite music. Bravo to this activity!

Faith In God Goal: Preparing for YW

(learning how to conduct music is a way you can serve others; it is a talent you'll be able to use in YW and beyond)

Activity Day Parade Day

Summertime fun with Activity Days! We held our own patriotic parade decorating our bikes, helmets, and taking a spin around the neighborhood.

Pick up inexpensive supplies at the dollar store. Each package can go a long way!

- Crepe paper streamers

- Foam star stickers

- Tinsel in patriotic colors

- Red, white, and blue ribbons