I had some great (and not so great) experiences in Activity Days years ago. I’ve experienced some of the best and the worst. In my current ward they generally don’t hold activities in the summer, because so many girls and leaders are busy and vacationing. My sister turned eight right before the last activity of the school year, and felt a little disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to come for months. Quite a few of the girls also felt left out with all the boys going to cub scout day camp. My mom and I both thought that there was a great solution–hold a day camp for the girls!
I also knew that their were some young women who weren’t going to be super busy during the summer, and that they could use an opportunity to work on some personal progress, and so after a little bit of planning with the primary–mostly through my mom–we decided that we’d do a week long camp, held in the homes of some of the girls, and led by the young women.
Because of Girls Camp and vacation, we got held up in planning things out until just a week before. However, the young women involved were super enthusiastic and we got the entire thing planned in two hours! The parents were also super flexible and willing to help. I was actually super scared that it would be a spectacular failure, but it ended up being a huge success!
We held it over five days, with a specific focus each day. Most of the activities we did had something to do with Faith in God and personal progress. The young women did a great job taking responsibility for planning the individual activities, and as the oldest one, all I really did was coordinate everything and fill in as needed.
DAY ONE: Developing Talents
Singing, Sports, Skits, and Missionary Letters
DAY TWO: Family History
Indexing, Pedigree Charts, Journals, Family Stories
DAY THREE: Life Skills
Mechanics, Bike Riding, Friendship Bracelets, YW Theme Bookmark
DAY FOUR: Babysitting
Sewing, Stick Puppets, First Aid Safety, Child Care Workshop
DAY FIVE: Cooking
Lasagna, Cookies, Manners, Missionary Package
At the end we also shared how everything we did over the week had to do with Faith in God and Personal Progress, and it got all the girls and parents really excited.
Throughout the next while I’ll be sharing the resources we used in the camp. Being that it was 4 hours a day for 5 days, these plans could totally be expanded into an entire summer of activities. It was a big deal for the adults and the girls that it was led almost entirely by the young women, so if you’re a leader feel free to use the resources, but…
IF YOU’RE AN ACTIVITY DAYS LEADER
Meet with the young women in your ward and see if they’d be interested in helping out with Activity Days, either with a week long camp like this, or with weekday activities.
IF YOU’RE A YOUNG WOMEN LEADER
Meet with the Activity Days leaders in your ward and see if they’d be interested in working with the young women in planning something for the Activity Days girls.
IF YOU’RE A YOUNG WOMAN
Meet with the Activity Days leaders and ask about planning activities or a weeklong camp with the other young women. They’ll likely be super supportive, especially if you let them know it’s for personal progress.
It really helped to build friendships between the young women and the girls, especially those who were closer to becoming Beehives. It was an awesome leadership opportunity, and it sounds like this might become an annual event in our ward!
