I've been so excited about the LDS Youth Theme for this year. For one - it's an easy scripture to memorize. haha. Actually, it's just such a great reminder for life!
Our ward has never done a lot with the youth theme. We recite it, but it hasn't really been incorporated into our focus or our activities. So when our class was in charge of the combined YW this week - I threw together a Youth Theme Kick-off Night. Here's what I did and maybe what I wouldn't do next time!
We started with a 5 minute discussion about the new theme and what the stacked rocks are - CAIRNS. I shared a story of when I was 17 and got lost hiking. I was with a friend and we were on a wide path with other hikers. My friend turned around before I wanted to. I continued to the end before turning around. Too much time had passed, and I noticed there were not hikers on the trail any longer. I realized that I missed my turn back to camp. Even though I was on a maintained trail - I had missed my turn. There was no sign directing me back to camp. And that's what cairns are for. We think of them as fun stacked rocks, but they are used to mark paths. We briefly talked about the different stones in our cairns that help keep us on the right path. Then we split up into our 3 classes and rotated through 3 stations.
STATION 1 - MORSE CODE BRACELETS
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S T R E N G T H
I printed some large Morse code sheets for STRENGTH. The girls loved the idea.
It says it makes 20 bracelets, we made 27 with leftovers. I precut ten strings in each color. I did 12" long and no one needed a longer string (but I had some with me incase).
TIP: Tie a knot at 8" where the beads will end. Then add liquid glue to the other end to help with fraying - before your activity. I didn't have liquid glue at home so I used a glue stick. It helped but liquid glue will stiffen the edge better so it can go through the beads easier. The idea is to make the end stiff with glue - like a needle. An old trick from my childhood that no other leaders knew about.
NOTE: we had issues with the string fraying and not going through the beads easily. Some girls had no problems while others had lots. This could have probably been avoided if I used liquid glue beforehand. We did use it during the beading to help.
TIP: there's a lot of ways to finish the bracelet off. First tie another knot at the other end of the beads to keep them in place. Next, do two simple slip knots on opposite threads to allow the bracelet to be adjustable. It's only one knot - don't do a double knot. This is so easy and fast, but it was mostly the leaders who tied the knots to help the girls finish quickly.
This Morse Code bracelet kit was recommended on a FB group - I haven't researched others. This worked great for our needs and was about $13.
STATION 2 - MINI ROCK CAIRNS
We made mini rock cairns to help remind the girls about markers in our lives that keep us on the right path. This was the station I was most worried about. I also don't have a lot of pictures - because when I went to check on the girls (and leaders) in this group I would stress. haha. Glue - so much glue!
I bought these rocks at Joann's - with a 40% coupon they were about $3. And it was plenty for our 30 girls. I counted them before and it would have made 45-50 cairns with 5 stones. I used to be able to find them at Dollar Tree, but not this time.
TIP: don't use gorilla glue or E6000. It takes way too long to dry. We did super glue and that worked. But it was not great for our girls under 14/15 years old. I had a hot glue gun as a backup and the leaders used that with the younger girls - after a lot of struggling. Hot glue doesn't work great with rock, so it's not ideal. But it worked enough. I put plates out for the girls to work on. But many did not. I would suggest a plastic table cloth or something that covers the entire table.
STATION 3 - CAIRN STACK CHALLENGE
I love challenges and the girls did too. These wooden "rocks" are part of a PERCHED set that belongs to my mom. The girls each had 30 seconds to stack as many rocks as they could. We kept track on the whiteboard of each girl and how many stones they got. No one got all 9. I saw someone who made something similar for her girls to paint. I love the idea, if you have a belt sander to easily make all the angles. Possible activity for my class in the future.
While the girls stacked stones, the rest filled out a card with who and what the marking cairns are in their life. Because that's the whole reason for the symbol!
FREEBIE
I wanted to share this little MY CAIRNS sheet. I had a larger one designed, but decided to make this small enough to glue to the back of the Morse Code sheets that came with the bead set. The girls were instructed to write words inside the rocks, a lot of them went to full blown coloring of the rocks, but still filled them out. Download below.
STICKERS
Last - I gave each girl a water bottle sticker. A lot of them said their water bottle is full and they will put it on their chromebook for school - even better!
These stickers are in my store, along with other items for this theme. Click below to see what's available.
FREEBIE
To remind youth and parents, I sent out a quick invitation. Personally I think invitations show extra effort has been put into an activity AND it's a visual reminder that we have something on the calendar.
This invitation is a free canva template. You do need a canva.com account, but it's free. Click below to use this template. The date and location can be edited.
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