Family Home Evening Lesson & Charts

My Co-Leader and I decided that we could help the girls pass off a number of their Faith in God Goals by helping them prepare Family Home Evening Lessons throughout the year.

To kick this off, I gave a brief lesson on Family Home Evening using the following articles from the Friend. I also printed copies of these articles and sent them home with the girls’ to share at their next Family Home Evening. I put it them all into a folder and labeled it “Family Home Evening Kit #1: My family can be strengthened through Family Home Evening.”

• Lesson: Following a Prophet
• Activity: Our Family Will be Strong
• Song: Hymn 300 “Families Can be Together Forever”
• Treat: Sweethearts

We thought that creating family home evening charts would help the girls get excited about actively participating in Family Home Evening. These FHE charts are easy to make and very flexible. They took us about an hour to complete.

Materials

• 1 Piece of foam board cut to 12x12”
• 2 Sheets of coordinating 12x12” scrapbook paper
• 2 sheets of tag board in coordinating solid colors
• 28” of ribbon
• Avery Shipping Labels (optional)
• Avery Return Labels (optional)
• Small Clothes Pins
• Buttons
• Craft glue
• Foam Paint Brush
• Glue gun
• Pen
• Scissors and/or Large Round Punches (I used 1” and 1 7/16” rounds) 

Step 1: Chart Background

Combine a little bit of water with a small portion of craft glue. Apply a thin coat to one side of the foam board. Apply one of the sheets of scrapbook paper.  

Step 2: Chart Title

Create a title for your FHE Chart. I simply used “Family Home Evening Assignments” that I printed on a shipping label (you could also hand print your title onto a piece of your solid-colored tag board). Then, I created a boarder out of the coordinating sheet of scrapbook paper and pasted it to the top of my chart.  

Step 3: Task Pins

Cut 1” circles from your solid-colored tag board; enough for a task for each member of your family. Print tasks on Avery Return Labels (or hand print tasks directly on the tag-baord) and trim to fit on the circles. Paste each task label to a clothes pin with craft glue.

  

Step 4: Name Labels
Cut 1 7/16” circles from your scrapbook paper; one for each member of your family. Cut the same number of 1” circles from the solid-colored tag board. Print your family’s first names on the 1” circles. Center and paste onto the 1 7/8” circles.

Step 5: Ribbon
Cut your ribbon into 2 lengths of 14”. Hot glue the ends to the back of your FHE board, keeping the ribbon taut, in two rows.

Step 6: Finish it Up!
Clip the name labels to the ribbon with your task pins. Add decorative touches to your board by adding buttons and cutting patterns from your scrapbook paper. Make it your own!

These charts look great displayed on a small photo easel.

Vote for my T-Shirt Design on Sugar Doodle!

I recently entered the T-Shirt Design Contest at SugarDoodle.net. Please vote for my Girls Camp Shirt Design "We Are Strong!" You must create a free account or sign in to your account at Sugar Doodle to vote. Thanks for your support! Vote by clicking here.

Activity Day Purse: Pattern & Instructions

As promised, here is my Activity Day Purse Pattern and Instructions. To ensure the proportions are correct, this file should be printed on 11x17 paper.

The purse took us two 2-hour activities to complete. Check out my other posts that document our activities:

Activity Overview
Sewing Part I
Sewing Part II

Click the link below to download the pattern and instructions via Google Docs:
Activity Day Purse Pattern and Instructions

January Sewing - Part 2

The Second part of our sewing project conisted of machine sewing and finishing. I enlisted the help of our Primary President and a mother to help with this project. We had 3 sewing machines and 1 iron. 3 of us taight the girls the basics of machine sewing, one on one, while the 4th helped the girls with the basics of ironing. It all went pretty smoothly. With 7 girls in attendance, it took exactly 2 hours to finish everything up.

Since each of us were only able to help one girl at a time while sewing and pressing, I set up a table with copies of coloring and game pages from the Friend. This gave the girls something to do while they were waiting for their lesson.

Here are a few photos from the activity:


The girls hand finished the top of their purses with the same decorative craft thread that they used for the inside pocket.

When the girls finished their purses, they used craft glue to attach buttons.

A completed purse; waiting for the buttons to dry.

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.

The Symbols of Christmas

For our Christmas Activity, I wanted to share something spiritual with the girls and have some fun, too. I had heard the story "Teach the Children" several times, so I Googled it and was amazed how many versions there were! I combined four versions--three I found on the internet and one that my mother had given me in a Christmas binder some years ago. I condensed a couple of things and used LDS terminology that would be familar to the girls.

Click the link below to download my version of "Teach the Children" via Google Docs:
Teach the Children Story

I purchased tiny Christmas Trees, Ornaments (from the story) and a red fabric gift bag for each girl at a local craft shop. I waited for everything to go on sale and got most of the items for 50% off.

I found some mini clothes pins and hot glued them to the back of each ornament so they could easily be attached to the tree. I placed everything in the red fabric gift bag along with a copy of the story "Teach the Children."

For our opening excercises, we shared the Christmas Story told in Luke 2. When we were done, I told the girls that I had something very exciting to tell them. Santa Claus himself had visited me last night and brought me this little bag. The younger girls were excited and in disbeleif, while the older girls just played along. I told them that Santa Claus wanted me to share something very important with them. I began reading the story. I pulled each item out of my little bag as I read the story, decorating the tree along the way. The girls had fun guessing what each ornament in the bag meant and were very interested in what Santa had shared with me. When I finished, I told the girls that Santa had left them all a bag. They were so excited to have their own little tree for their rooms. They took about 15 minutes decorating their trees and chatting more about each ornament's meaning.

It was a fantastic activity that taught the girls about the true meaning of Christmas in a fun way. I told them to take their trees home and share them with their families for Family Home Evening (which I think they all did!). I also encouraged them to save their trees and bring them out each year to remind them of the true meaning of Chirstmas.

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!