My very first year in Activity Days I was going crazy looking for ideas. Most of the early things I had planned were big and grand and over the top. And I quickly got to the point where I was out of energy and just needed an easy Wednesday.
My friend Tammy, an Activity Day leader in another ward, pointed me to this post:
http://shannonmakesstuff.blogspot.com/2012/06/faith-in-god-jeopardy-articles-of-faith.html
And holy hallelujah, it was JUST WHAT I NEEDED! A huge thank you to this woman who I don't even know who made my life so much easier by sharing her great activity on the internet.
Unfortunately for me, at the time (don't know if this has changed), the links to the image files she had listed were mostly not working. Stuff moves around on the internet. I get that. But I did still want pictures for the Picture Power category, so I started tweaking. And, because I'm me, (kind of fussy about everything being just so), I put everything in a computer document all neat and tidy when I was done. I have that file linked below.
HOWEVER-- I'm still not sure that it's really any better than her simple hand written construction paper and *done* version.
My tweaking is just that-- minor changes to questions, phrasing and pictures. Therefore the only credit I am claiming to this is the organization and printability of the file, as well as the included original artwork. (Which isn't anything special, but at least you won't have to search around for a few of your pictures!) I have to give total credit to Shannon Makes Stuff for the bulk of this activity idea.
She noted that for her group the activity took 90 minutes. For my group of 8 girls, even with:
A) our usual opening exercises (prayer, work on article of faith, announcements, activity introduction) which takes about 10 minutes... and
B) a little history on the Articles of Faith (also included in the file, and simply excerpted from lds.org Primary Manual 5, lesson 36) so that the girls could answer the "General Questions" category... and
C) a fair amount of time spent trying to get the girls on equal teams, explaining the rules, having to buzz in for some questions multiple times, and etc.
WE WERE STILL FINISHED PLAYING AND HAD 20 MINUTES OF ACTIVITY TIME LEFT TO GO.
We ended up playing Never Have I Ever using the thumbtacks from the bulletin board as 'markers' to fill the extra time. :P It worked out, it was fun! But... obviously this takes different amounts of time for different groups. Gentle reader: have an extra activity on standby!
My suggestion (which I would have used if I had thought of it on the fly) is SPARKLE. Everyone lines up or stands in a circle. Usually you are doing this with spelling words or math facts, but for this activity, I would name an Article of Faith, and everyone takes a word. "We" says person 1. "Believe" says person 2. "In" says person 3-- and so on till you get all the way through "the same organization that existed in the Primitive church, etc." When the Article of Faith is finished the next person says SPARKLE and then the person on their right (who hasn't gone yet) is OUT. Play continues with different Articles till only one person is left. Also, if the person says the wrong word, or doesn't know the word, or takes too long... they're out. Sparkle can be brutal. :)
Also, do your history lesson (included). It was good information. :D
Here is the link to the printable: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9ltWADMnsx7V0xiWHcxQVpxU28/view?usp=sharing
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