You are my hands...

We had a fantastic Activity Day a few weeks ago. First, we told the story of the statue of Christ as told by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s April 2010 Conference talk You Are My hands and had a brief discussion on what the story meant and how we can become the hands of Jesus Christ.

Our Activity is based on the following Activity from the Faith in God Book: “Learn about and practice good nutrition, good health, and good grooming, including modest dress.” Since we discussed using our hands for good, we decided this would be a good activity to teach the girls how to properly care for their hands and nails… manicures!

Here’s what you need:

• Nail Polish Remover
• Cotton Balls
• Nail Clipper
• Emery Board
• Hand Lotion
• Soap
• Water
• Bowl or container to soak hands
• Hand Towel
• 2 Washcloths
• Nail Polish (optional)
• Nail Brush (optional)

Items like nail polish remover, cotton balls, hand lotion, emery boards & soap can be provided pretty inexpensively. You can ask the girls to bring a small Tupperware container, nail clippers, 2 washcloths, a hand towel and some nail polish that they already have at home (although I found that the nail polish ended up being a total mess and took more time than we actually had). That makes this activity $7 or less:

• Nail Polish Remover - $1
• Emery Boards - $1
• Cotton Balls - $1
• Hand Lotion - $3 (or less)
• Soap - $1

If your budget permits, you could consider putting together manicure kits for the girls. I was able to put together these individual kits for about $2.50 each and the girls loved them! Here’s what I included in a small Ziploc baggie:  

• Lotion – Bath & Body Works - $1
• Emery Boards - Walmart - $.88 for 10
• Nail Polish Remover Pads – Minimus.biz - $.05/each
• Nail Clippers – Walmart - $.49/each
• Nail Brushes – Amazon.com - $.59/each

I also provided hand soap, tupperware containers and nail polish, but those items were not included in the kits. Here’s how we did our manicures:

1. Set up. Lay out a hand towel and gather the following materials: Cotton Balls, Nail Polish Remover, Nail Clippers, an Emery Board, Lotion, Soap, Small Bowl or container to soak hands, 2 Washcloths, Nail Polish (optional), Nail Brush (optional).
2. Clean up. Use nail polish remover to get rid of old nail polish. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and if you have a nail brush, use it to get all of the gunk out from under your nails. Sing the “Happy Birthday” Song twice to get your hands really clean.
3. Trim down. Use nail clippers to trim your nails straight across. Don’t cut your nails too short… make sure you only cut the white part of your nail. Cutting them too short will hurt and may cause bleeding.
4. Shape up. Use an emery board to shape your nail into an oval shape. Use the emery board in one direction… never back and forth.
5. Soak down. Fill a small container or bowl with warm water and a little bit of soap. Soak your hands for about 5 minutes. When you’re done, dry your hands on the hand towel.
6. Moisten up. Squirt a dollop of lotion onto your hands. Massage the lotion into your hands until the most of location is absorbed. Dampen two washcloths in warm water. Wrap each of your hands in a washcloth and relax for 2-3 minutes.
7. Push down. Gently psuh your cuticles down off your fingernails using one of your damp washcloths. Don't push too hard... just enough to make them look nice.

That’s it! You’re done…

…unless you’d like to paint your nails. If so, here are some tips:

• Use nail polish sparingly… a little goes a long way.
• Start painting at the base of your nail and go up.
• Make sure you give your nails plenty of time to dry.
• Have a friend paint your nails, it’s always easier to paint someone else’s nails than your own. You can take turns. 

Download printable instructions for handouts

Valentine’s Day Earrings Service Project

I am excited to share this activity with you, because it was my first ever collaboration! Thank you so much Andi at Hot Pink Pansy Designs for helping me out with this.

This is a super easy craft that my girls LOVED!

Here’s what you need:

• Pink, white and red buttons
• Novelty heart buttons (I found some fantastic ones in the Valentine’s Section at hobby lobby)
• Plain Earring Posts
• Regular tacky glue
• Qtips
• Heart earring boards (print out on cardstock)
• Straight pin

Here’s what you do:

1. Have the girls “Design” several pairs of earrings by pairing plain buttons with the novelty buttons
2. Using a little bit of glue on a QTip, glue your desired buttons together
3. Dip the earring post into a little bit of glue and place on the back of the earring.
4. Let the earrings dry for about 10 minutes
5. Cut out these cute heart earring boards. Puncture the card at the center of each heart with a straight pin and have the girls add their name at the bottom
6. Place your earrings on the card through the holes and let them dry over night

Note: A little bit of tacky glue goes a long way. Although the glue dries clear, it still looks messy if you use too much. I encouraged my girls to use the QTips to better manage the glue flow.

I used this project as a service activity to benefit a Denver-area charity called Project Valentine. The charity gathers donations and assembles gift bags to distribute to cancer patients on Valentine’s Day. I thought these earrings would make such a cute addition to their gift bags.

You can use this activity any way you would like. The girls can make these for their family members, friends, the primary presidency, or you can look into donating them to a cancer treatment center in your area around Valentine’s Day.

My girls loved this activity so much that we are doing them again for a Valentines crafting activity!

Fabric Flower Pins for Mothers Day

I wanted to hold an Activity Day for the girls to do something special for their moms. We normally start our activities off with a short devotional, which my co-leader was in charge of this time around. She chose to share an excerpt from Elder M. Russell Ballard’s April 2010 Conference Talk Mothers & Daughters. The message was perfect for the girls:

“Look to your mother. Learn from her strengths, her courage, and her faithfulness. Listen to her. She may not be a whiz at texting; she may not even have a Facebook page. But when it comes to matters of the heart and the things of the Lord, she has a wealth of knowledge.”

Then, we all took turns saying something that we loved about our mothers.

For our activity, we made these fun Flower Pins for mom. They are super easy and very inexpensive to make.

Materials:

• Long, narrow piece of fabric, approx. 1.75” X 35” (Cotton fabric is best)
• Craft Thread
• Large Needle
• Felt
• Large Bar Pin
• Glue Gun
• Buttons

Note: I brought a ¼ of a yard of a few different fabrics so the girls had some variety to choose from. Then, I TORE strips approximately 1 ¾ inch in length, so that the fabric had a natural fray to it.
Instructions:

1. Thread your needle with the craft thread, tying a knot at the end. Begin a running stitch about a ¼” into the length of your fabric strip. Continue stitching the entire length of your fabric, ultimately creating a gather.

2. Twirl the fabric and manipulate the gather to create a flower shape. Use the needle and thread to sew through all of the layers so that the flower shape stays put. When you achieve your desired look, tie the craft thread into a tight knot on the back and cut the excess craft thread.

3. Hot glue a button (or two) on the center of the flower. (you can also sew the button onto the center, but I found that it was difficult for the girls to do, given our short time)

4. On the back, hot glue a small piece of felt. This will cover up the raw edges and act as a stabilizer for the bar pin. Hot glue the bar pin the felt.

This project was very easy for some of the girls and more difficult for others. It really depended on their exposure to basic sewing. However, each of the girls made beautiful flowers. It was nice having two leaders. I kept the more advanced girls going, while my co-leader stayed and helped the girls that were having more difficulties.

I brought some paper and envelopes so the girls could write letters of appreciation to their mothers. It was a nice activity that gave the girls who finished early something to do.

The girls had a great time with this project and were amazed that they could create this cute flower so easily. We did it in an hour with nine girls. If I had to do it again, I would allow for an extra 15 minutes so they could help with clean-up!

Christmas Service

For one of our activities in December, we asked each of the girls to bring a dozen treats. I was amazed by the variety of things that we got: cookies, candies, cupcakes and more! I purchased four inexpensive platters and we divided all of the treats among them. While I wrapped the plates with Saran Wrap, I had the girls sign Christmas Cards for each member of our primary presidency. I made sure that they thanked them for all of the hard work that they put into our primary.

When the plates are cards were done, we loaded up in a couple of cars and delivered the plates of treats to our presidency. When we delivered them, the girls sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!"

We received a thank you card from one of the councilors. I read it out loud to the girls. They all were so happy and clapped after I read the card. We talk about how serving others make us happy because we are serving Jesus Christ.

A Summer Salad

Betty Crocker’s Summer Layered Chicken Salad is one of my all-time favorite meals. I showed the girls how to make it at one of our summer evening Activities. After teaching the girls basic washing and knife skills, I divided them up into three teams. I put each team in charge of preparing and chopping up a different ingredient for the salad: chicken breast, strawberries and lettuce. I let each of the girls help me add the ingredients for the salad. Then, I showed them how to make the homemade salad dressing. They took turns whisking it up. They were all amazed that you could make your own salad dressing at home!

We set the table, opened some store bought rolls and shared a meal together. The girls LOVED the salad and really enjoyed putting it all together. I sent them all home with the recipe to share with their families.

Note: I checked with the girls' parents to make sure I wouldn't be dealing with any food alergies. Better safe than sorry!