Sunday, April 26, 2015

Activity Days: The Gospel Game Show

This last week for activity days my partner wasn't able to make it so I was on my own to create a fun, gospel-oriented activity for the 8-9 year olds in my ward. I've wanted to start doing activities where the girls are able to get up and move around more than they are able to do if the activity is just a coloring activity (although depending on your girls' personalities, those can be great lessons too).

I was scrolling through Facebook one day when I saw an article appear from Utah Valley 360 titled, "Dieter or Dumbledore?" Being the HUGE Harry Potter fan that I am, I obviously had to click on the link and test my knowledge of Dieter F. Uchtdorf and Dumbledore...and let me tell you, this quiz is not easy! But from it sparked the idea to have a "Gospel Game Show" for activity days, and the girls loved it!

I had 5 girls show up to the activity, which actually turned out perfect so that they could each have a turn at all of the activities, but I think if I'd had our full class of 8, then the activity would have taken a little longer and maybe been a little more competitive.

Here's what I used for the activity:

  • "Who Said It? Dieter or Dumbledore?" Power Point
  • Four Signs: Two that read "Dieter" and two that read "Dumbledore"
  • A package of Oreos or other small cookies
  • Two sets of Book of Mormons with a bookmark at Mosiah 18:9
  • A bag of Skittles, Jelly Beans, Candy Corn, or other small candy your girls like. 
  • Eight plastic spoons (or enough for each girl to have one)
  • Two paper bowls (more if you'd like multiple groups to be playing at once.
  • Jar of Pictionary words
  • Chalk
  • 8 plastic medals (or enough for each girl to have one)
We started off by having a little discussion about helping others.
Discussion:
What is our main purpose here on the earth? (To return to live with our Heavenly Father again). That's my purpose; who else's purpose is that? (Have the girls raise their hands). That's your purpose (say it again and point to each girl in your class as you say "That's your purpose, too"). We all have that same purpose in this life. 

Read Mosiah 18:9 to the girls, or have one of them read it until "even until death.":
          "Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death..."
Who's ever heard this scripture before? This scripture is very special because this is a promise we made when we were baptized. We promised Heavenly Father that we would keep His commandments and to love and serve others including mourning with those that mourn and comforting those that stand in need of comfort. How have you ever kept this promise in the past? (Let the girls answer how they have comforted friends, family members, etc.). So we all have the same purpose in this life, and we have all promised to help each other through it.

Well today  we will be having a "Gospel Game Show!" and it's your job to help your team win!

Activity:
Let the girls choose their teams or assign them teams, but make sure you have the 8 and 9 year olds mixed up so the activities are more fair.

Who Said It? Dieter or Dumbledore
The first challenge was completing Dieter or Dumbledore. At the first the girls had a hard time focusing, but then they really got into it. I gave each team one sign that read "Dieter" and one sign that read "Dumbledore". I read the quote allowed, gave the girls 10 seconds to deliberate, and when the timer reached 0 each team held up a sign with their answer. Whichever team (or both) that got it right, received one point. This was a fun activity even for those girls who weren't as familiar with Harry Potter or Pres. Uchtdorf.


I made a power point presentation using the fun quiz from Utah Valley 360. I added a manual timer to each slide to help the girls see how much time they have. (Sorry I can't post it here, but you should be able to just use the one from Utah Valley 360). 

Feasting on the Word
This next activity allowed the girls to move around a bit more... and they all got really excited when they saw it involved Chocolate Chip cookies. I explained that as we are helping each other come closer to Christ, that doesn't just mean just helping them when their sad, but it means sharing the gospel and "feasting on the words of Christ" or the scriptures so we were physically going to feast for this next activity.


This is a common minute to win it game, but it is so much fun! Have each girl take one cookie and place it on her forehead. The girls then have to squint and scrunch their faces to move the cookie from the forehead, across their eye and cheek, and into their mouths. They aren't allowed to touch it and if it falls off they have to start over.

The first girl to eat her cookie wins her team 3 points. Second place gets her team 2 points. Third place gets her team 1 point.

I made sure to mention to my girls subtly that "they could not touch their own cookie and would have to start over if it fell." I did this just to ensure that if none of my girls could actually get the cookie in their mouths, then I could reiterate that they can't touch their own cookie, but they are one a team and should help each other.

Feasting on the Real Word
Now that they have physically feasted, they are going to have to spiritually feast. Each team must memorize and present the scripture above, Mosiah 18:9 (just the first half unless you'd like them to do more). I let my girls decide in their teams how they wanted to memorize it: all memorize everything, memorize every other word, memorize lines, etc. Both of my teams decided to have each girl memorize one or two lines to present. I was very impressed at how quickly they were able to memorize it and how much they got into it. I helped some of the younger girls who were having a harder time and then we presented the scriptures to the other teams. To make it more exciting, I filmed the girls reciting the scriptures and they all did amazing! 

Pass Off
This last activity included candy, team work, and skill. Only two people from a team go at once -- if you'd like to move it along quicker and you have more girls, then you can use more bowls and candy to create more games at once, but I just had the one going since I only had 5 girls.

Sit each girl down on opposite sides of a table, one bowl in front of each, and the end of the spoon in between each of the girls lips. Fill one bowl with your Skittles, Jelly Beans, or other candy of choice. The girl in front of the full bowl of candy, scoops up a spoonful (using her lips to hold the spoon), dumps her spoonful into her teammates spoon who then dumps the candy into her own bowl. Give each team 1:00 minute. Whichever team ends up having successfully transferred the most pieces of candy gets a point.


You can play this as many times as you want and either tally all the scores for a final score or even give out points based on a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level, that's up to you!

NOTE: This game can get kind of crazy so having a candy that won't melt is a good idea.

Pictionary
We ended up not having time to play this, but I always bring this with me to the activities in case it ends early and the girls want something fun to do. So if the Game Show ends, feel free to pull this out and turn the wonderful game of Pictionary into a competition. I found some great words to use on Cook and Craft Me Crazy.

Before we had our closing prayer, I gave each girl a gold medal because it doesn't matter who got the most points. Everyone did a great job in helping their team to the best that they could do.

Do you have any activity days activities that your girls have just loved? We'd love to hear about them in the comments!






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