Wednesday, March 24, 2010

"Bee" a Great Sitter!

Our Activity Day Girls were invited by our Enrichment Committee to babysit for one of our Relief Society Meetings. To prep the older girls for the challenge, I held a "Bee a Great Sitter" night, where we discussed the basics of babysitting, safety tips and fun games that the girls can play with the kids.

I derived most of my ideas from LDS Activity Day Ideas, another Activity Days Blog that I love! I used their content and put my touch on it, giving it a "Bee" theme. All of the content adapted from LDS Activity Day Ideas has been reposted with permission.


To download my "Bee a Great Sitter!" Files via Google Docs, click the links below:

Handouts
Babysitting Tips
Safety First
Important Information Forms
Fun Games
Primary Songs
Things to Add to Your Kit

Labels
Labels for Folders
Labels for Games

Great Finds for this Activity
Home Goods, which is essentially TJ Maxx with all home goods, has fantastic large, reusable shopping bags for under $1 each. I found some on clearance for only 70 each. They have fun, decorative designs on them that the girls loved. They are large enough that the girls can add virtually anything to them including old sheets, dress up clothes, coloring books, etc.

 Wal-Mart had some really fun folders on clearance for 25 cents each in the clearance isle. They were more colorful and durable than the plain ones I was planning on getting! I am always amazed at the cute stationary finds in the clearance section at Wal-Mart.

The Clearance isle at Wal-Mart was also great in finding items for the games that we put together. I found socks for the Sock Guessing game and misc. items for the Sink or Float game. I was amazed how little I spent on the activity!

Preparation
I made each girl a folder with one of each of the hand outs. The only files I printed in color were the Labels for the Folders and the Labels for the Games (which I printed on full-sheeted sticker paper). Black and white copies of the handouts were fine.

I purchased/found materials for the following Games: 
  1. Sock Guessing Game (1 cute sock per girl, found on clearance of course!)
  2. Blowing Cotton Balls (6 cotton balls and a piece of twine for each girl)
  3. Ribbon Matching (Just brought all of the spools of ribbon I had laying around my house)
  4. Sink or Float? (found a number of random items on clearance and around my house. Mine included a piece of sponge, practice golf ball, plastic bracelet, straw, binder clip, plastic spoon and a fishing bob)
Our Activity
For our activity, we all sat in a circle, and I gave each girl a folder. We went through the Babysitting Tips and Safety First handouts together. The girls took turns reading each bullet point, and we discussed each one. I then showed them the "Important Information for Sitters" handout, and told them they could make copies and take them to each babysitting assignment they had.

Then, I briefly touched on the remaining handouts - Things to add to your kit, Primary Songs, and fun Games. Then, we spent the rest of the activity assembling the four games I had prepared. They cut out their labels and assembled all of the items for their kits. They took everything home the great bags that I found. The girls learned a lot and had a lot of fun!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Just One Egg - Easter Activity

For our Easter Activity this year, I am going to share the story "Just One Egg" from the Friend and discuss Easter and Jesus' gift to us. Afterwards, we are going to decorate Easter Eggs.

I will send the girls home with the story to share with their families.

Click the link below to download my PDF version the story "Just One Egg" via Google Docs:
"Just One Egg" Story