Shine On - Stake Activity Day Event

We had a fun Stake Activity Day for the girls ages 8-11 in our area.

The objective of our activity was to help each girl learn to follow the Savior and experience the joy of service.

The theme was "Shine On" and the scripture was Matthew 5:16.

Here is a basic outline of how we organized and ran the activity.  I am the Stake Primary Secretary so I like to have a summary page and schedule for each event.  It makes the OCD part of me happy.

We had three rotations for the girls to go through.  

SERVICE ACTIVITY:

Our service activity involved making school bags for children in Ethiopia.  We worked with a group called Hope Arising and they gave us all the details and collected the bags for delivery.  My friend is one of the founders of this non-profit so I know it is a wonderful organization.  If you'd like to find a worthwhile service project, I encourage you to look on their website.  Each canvas bag required 4 unsharpened pencils, 1 box colored pencils, 1 sharpener.  They have specific details Hope Arising.

MANCALA GAME:

Another station was making Mancala games out of cardboard egg cartons, paint and beans. Mancala is a game that originated in Africa.  The African children are resourceful and play with what is available.  They played Mancala using rocks and digging holes in the dirt.  Our game was a little less dirty.  The girls loved making the games.  We told them that they could use the game for part of a Faith in God activity under "Serving Others" (Entertain young children with songs or games you learned or made yourself.  Show that you know how to care for and nurture a young child).

LUNCH & GAMES:

The other station was for eating lunch and playing games.  We had so many girls that we had to make lunch a station or we couldn't have served them food fast enough. For lunch we had make your own sandwiches (on croissants), chips, chocolate chip cookies, and Sunny Delight drinks.

I was busy helping run the activity but here are some pictures I took before it started.

This is the welcome table.  We had one leader from each ward check in and then give us a headcount of how many girls and leaders were there.  The ward leaders were in charge of supervising their own girls.

We decorated with large suns made out of butcher paper.  Simple but it looked nice.

Here's a picture of the group.  I only put a picture of their backs because I didn't want to post pictures of other people's children.  The girls snacked on popcorn while they listened to the closing speakers. We chose popcorn because that is a common snack in Ethiopia.  We bought bags of Naked Popcorn from Costco and then put it in individual sandwich size ziplock baggies in advance. 

At the end of the activity we gave the girls necklaces that we made. The necklace consisted of a glass candle holder (from IKEA), yellow grosgrain ribbon for the necklace chain, battery operated tea-lights (from Amazon Prime) and then a label that wrapped around the side.

We had them all turn on their lights and then we turned off the lights in the room and had the girls sing "Teach Me to Walk" together.  It was an amazing experience.

Lyrics

1. 1. Teach me to walk in the light of his love;
   Teach me to pray to my Father above;
   Teach me to know of the things that are right;
   Teach me, teach me to walk in the light.
2. 2. Come, little child, and together we'll learn
   Of his commandments, that we may return
   Home to his presence, to live in his sight--
   Always, always to walk in the light.
3. 3. Father in Heaven, we thank thee this day
   For loving guidance to show us the way.
   Grateful, we praise thee with songs of delight!
   Gladly, gladly we'll walk in the light.