When the LDS Church published Joseph Smith’s journals, I read them from cover to cover, thinking that it would be a profound spiritual experience to study the life of our founding Prophet. The things I found in his personal accounts were disturbing, confusing, and highly contradictory to modern church teachings. I could not maintain my integrity while also continuing to teach the specious modern narrative of Joseph Smith’s life to these precious girls. So, in June 2017, I resigned from my calling with a very heavy heart. I am still willing to post new activity ideas from whoever wants to contribute. I appreciate your compassion and understanding in this matter.
This section is dedicated just to talent exploration that you can do in the span of 1-2 hours on a weeknight in your LDS Church building (usually using either the gym or primary room). Daytime/Saturday activities can be found in the “Other” section.
For the star colors, green = completely planned, blue = link to another site, red = just an idea.
A 
MEANS THE COST IS LESS THAN 25 CENTS PER KID!
The Arts
Analyzing Advertising 
Artist
Graphic Artist: Screen Printing
Save Outdoor Sculpture (sculpture creation, appreciation, and preservation)
Instrument tour (have members from the ward come and play a song and talk about why they love playing an instrument)
Many girls are shy about singing, but almost everyone loves to lip sync! Do some lip syncing that includes both popular tunes and well-known hymns.
Make instruments
Photography
Science of Music
Do an “Art Gallery Tour” of the artwork hung up in your church building. (Find out the names of the artists and the stories of the paintings beforehand.)
Hold an “Art Show” where the girls show off their arts and crafts. Invite several talented adults to also bring their hobbies and take a few minutes to explain what they do and how they do it.
Career/Education
Healthy Eating
Home Skills
Textiles (weaving, knitting, sewing)
Using Tools
Babysitting Kit and 2, 3, and 4
Budgeting/Tithing
Chickens
Gardener
Household Elf
Pet and Veterinarian Exploration
Build a Lemonade Stand, discuss tithing, donate proceeds to charity
Financial Literacy
Pet store tour
Learn how to properly paint a room and then do a service project painting a room for someone.
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Literature and Writing
Book Binding
“Book Club” Ideas
Calligraphy (And here)
Comic Artist
Library Tour
Learn about poetry and how to write poems. Write a poem for a loved one – you could put one in a greeting card for Mother’s Day. (Haiku are great poems for this age group, because they are short and don’t need to rhyme.)
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Outdoor
Compass treasure hunt
Geocaching
Kite flying
Letterboxing
Urban Forestry
Fire making
“Grill Scouts” – learn grill safety and how to grill some healthy food.
Night hike
Performing
Class Talent Show Do a (short) theater production of a common fairy tale from start to finish – write the play together, make some props and set pieces, create the costumes, learn stage makeup and lighting, rehearse, and perform! Perform for ward talent show “Skit night” with cub scouts or YW. Preparedness/Safety
Sports/Fitness
(see Learning and Living the Gospel)
Social Studies – America
Your Flag Black History (#7 about kazoos would be a good one!) Do You Want Slavery With That? Historic Preservation Inside Government Invite a woman from the military to talk about her career (and also possibly show them some fitness exercises).
Social Studies – Cultural Exploration
Being LDS During World War II 
Women, Voting, and the Suffrage Movement
Archaeologist
Discover Hispanic Heritage
Kids Around the World
Religions Around the World
Cultural Exchange with a ward in another country
Chinese New Year Party
Games from Around the World
Invite several women in the ward who have visited other countries, from other countries, or been on missions from other countries, to teach a simple recipe from that foreign country while sharing what that other country is like.
New Food Party – Go to a foreign grocery and buy a bunch of weird snacks (you can also ask the girls to bring strange foods too). Try each one and rate them from 1 to 10!
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STEM
Catapult Battle! (small) Catapult Battle! (big) Cryptology and a Secret Message Card (you can also use Article of Faith 4 in morse code: key and code) DNA Jewelery (or ornament) Energy Exploration Engineering Aid Drop Packages* Engineeering Bubble Wands* Engineering Earthquake Resistant Buildings* Engineering Flying Technologies* Engineering Recycled Racers* Engineering Rockets and Rovers* Exploring Sound: What Does Sound Look Like, How Do Dolphins See Underwater, and What Makes Things Louder? Flextangles Flower Science Food Security and Climate Change Forestry Exploration LED Circuit Greeting Cards Marshmallow Guns and Physics Computers Robotics RocketryOther
Aware of the Air
Learn about signal flags and create a banner of each girls’ name in nautical flag symbols.
Paper Making (recycled paper)
Young Eagles – free airplane flights in your area for kids 8+, great for learning about careers in aviation!
Chess
School Project “Show and Tell”
*Activities with an asterisk are VERY long lesson plans (several sessions) and definitely need some sifting through! I plan on doing this in the future but want them up in the meantime in case you want to look through them yourself!
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Thanks to everyone who has contributed ideas to this website. Please contribute your ideas, too! We are stronger when we work together.
