I'm not sure if I originally saw this idea HERE or not, but we did this at Girl's Camp a few years ago. We bought a paper punch LIKE THIS ONE and punched CUTE PAPER to make our ornaments. We used a PAPER PUNCH to put holes for RIBBON and made these cute ornaments. When the YW would perform service at camp, they would write their service on one of the ornaments and hang it on our tree. They worked really hard to get our tree decorated!

We used a large punch and actually decorated a tree outside. If you have good weather, this works well! Our ribbons were the value colors!

This would also work really well at Christmas time to decorate a Christmas Tree!

*This could be adapted for a Value Project idea!!

Here's an idea for a thank you gift or as a craft to take as a service to people in the Ward who may need a pick-me-up. Simply purchase some glass vases and fill them with the candy of your choice (Skittles, Jolly Ranchers, M&Ms, whatever!) and add some silk flowers. There are many different looks you can achieve.

Another idea is to get a soup can and use double-sided tape or hot glue to attach candy sticks around the can and then put live flowers inside. You can do this with candy canes for a festive Christmas look or just use regular candy sticks.

Recently we had a sister in our ward come visit with the YW about homemaking skills. She talked with them for a few minutes about how everyone has different talents, etc. and we don't all have to do all of the homemaking crafts. She talked about cooking and cleaning and their importance and then discussed other skills.

Then we all went upstairs and tied lap quilts. The Sister who spoke helped the YW with the quilting instructions. We borrowed frames from the Relief Society.

We had set up two frames and had the edges already bound so that once they tied them, they were finished. The YW them presented these quilts to the two graduating seniors. These quilts could be given to new mothers in the ward or donated to a local shelter.

There are several areas of Personal Progress where the YW could use this skill, including Knowledge Experience #2.


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Lap Quilting Lives!

I called the children's social worker at our local hospital and asked what kinds of things we could do to help the children's unit there. First of all, there may or may not be a children's social worker or child life specialist at your hospital. You may have to speak to someone else. But, there are always kids in the hospital who need things to help entertain them!

Our project was to make activity bags. We sewed double handled bags and collected books, coloring books, crayons, and puzzles to put in them. The hospital may have recommendations or requirements for what kind of things you can put in. We also read books on cassette tapes (this was several years back) and had the book with the cassette.

Another thing you can also do is either collect stuffed animals, or teach the girls how to sew them to donate to the children there. You could do a movie drive where you collect VHS or DVD movies for kids and their families to check out while they're in the hospital. Again, check with the hospital for what they need.

We made these adorable baskets. They are super simple to make and they take about the right amount of time for the length of one mutual activity night.

We purchased some $1 t-shirts from a local thrift store, but you could have the YW bring old t-shirts for a recycle project and then they would be free!

All you need to make this craft are old t-shirts (clean, of course), scissors, tacky glue (we actually made ours without doing the glue step and they worked fine) and 12" embroidery hoops.

To make the baskets, follow the easy instructions at Family Fun (one of our favorite places to find awesome, simple craft ideas)!

Last night the laurels made these amazing no fail chocolate chip cookies for the priests in our ward and then hand delivered them. This was an activity based on this article in the New Era and was an idea from the same New Era for a youth activity. As the YW made the cookies, we talked about the article, specifically we discussed this section...

Be friends first and sweethearts second. University professor Lowell Bennion once said that relationships between young men and young women should be built like a pyramid. The base of the pyramid is friendship. And the ascending layers are built of things like time, understanding, respect, and restraint. Right at the top of the pyramid is a glittering little mystery called romance.

Now, you don’t have to be very smart to know that a pyramid won’t stand up very long if you stand it on its point instead of its base. In other words, be friends first and sweethearts later, not the other way around. Otherwise, people who think they are sweethearts may discover they can’t be very good friends, and by then it may be too late.

We talked about how doing things like baking these cookies was a way to foster friendships and build the base of the pyramid. The laurels had a great time and it was a simple, low-cost activity.