Teacher Gifts

I found lots of fun teacher appreciation ideas, but went with a simple strawberry theme this year. Strawberry freezer jam and hand soap. So berry easy, what's not to love?

Egg Carton Craft

After Easter we had a lot of egg cartons laying around. We turned them into playmates thanks to the great ideas we found here.

Easter Countdown

Some crafts are fun, some are meaningful, when you find one that is both, it's even better. Love that this countdown celebrates the real reason for Easter. It is a 12 day countdown, with Bible verses surrounding the last days of the the Savior's life (from Garden of Gethsemane to Resurrection) and a symbol to go with each.

All the Bible references are already listed here, you just have to copy, paste, and print.

Most of the symbols are everyday things you can find around the house.

Put them in an egg carton and attach a label and you're ready to go.

Custom Bleach Shirts

This activity was a trial run with my kids, for a mutual class activity. It was very easy and produced immediate results, which made it a hit with the little ones.

I cut shapes out of freezer paper and ironed them on to the shirts. Make sure to iron long enough so the shape is really stuck on or the bleach seeps under. And even when the shapes are ironed on securely, depending on the shirt and the amount of bleach, the bleach still travels underneath your shape. This happened to 3 of the 6 shirts we tried.

Then I let my kids spray them with bleach and depending on the quality of the shirt and type of fabric, you will end up with an assortment of finished products, quiet possibly in a variety of colors. But I guess that is half the fun.

Lucky

There are so many easy things that make a little holiday like St. Patrick's Day a big deal.

Lucky charms for breakfast and a green lunch.

Making leprechaun traps, complete with gold for enticing and signs that those naughty leprechauns will never follow.

And even when you don't catch them, they sometimes leave you clues for a little treasure hunt.

And if those clues lead you to their gold, so what if you didn't catch a leprechaun?

And top it off with Leprechaun Pie.

Note to self for next year: pistachio pudding was not a hit, but they will still dig through it if you tell them it's worth it.

Marshmallows

I love to find ideas that make being a mom/wife more fun, like a marshmallow attack. We posted a sign on the garage door to give dad a sporting chance and my kids were talking about it for days.

Just a warning, you'll probably be picking up marshmallows that landed in odd places for days too.

Come One, Come All!

We put on a carnival for our combined young women activity that focused on individual worth. I saw the idea and added a few more booths, a little carousel music and it was enough to put any circus to shame.

The picked out a disability (no thumbs, no arms, blind, one leg) at the ticket booth. Then took a game card and had to complete each of the 8 booths with their disability.

Ball Toss (ping pong balls into cups)

Chopsticks (transfer beans to a cup using only chopsticks)

Balloon Darts

Hole in One

How Many? (guess the number of candy, marbles, etc in the jar)

Fortune Teller (this is our cute YW president who dressed up as our darling palm reader)

Ring Toss

Photo Booth (this was a hit, thanks to the talented leaders who photographed and made a the backdrop for the girls to clown around with)

We had lots of treats (cotton candy, popcorn, snow cone cupcakes, circus animal crackers).

Everyone earned a unique award presented by the carnies, I mean, leaders. Then we sat around the shared our fortunes. The girls loved this. These are a few of my favorites.

And then we got a little spiritual and discussed some of the things mentioned by Jean, focusing on the worth of souls and seeing others as the Savior sees them, despite any disabilities they may have. We encouraged the girls to work on Individual Worth experience #3 .

Homemade Valentines

We decided to go homemade this year when my sister showed me these superhero lollipops. They are so cute, it was no brainer.

They exchange Valentines at school, but no candy allowed, so we made conversation heart pencil toppers.

Arise Shine and Sparkle

I recently started working with the young women and just in time for New Beginnings. The mutual theme for the year is Arise and Shine Forth. When I found the idea to make it Arise Shine and Sparkle, we kind of went nuts. Sparkle and bling are pretty much everywhere and we found lots of inspiration for decor and delicacies.

Thanks to a little help from my friends at Sisters in Zion, the invitation was pretty dazzling.

We had round tables with easy center pieces (thanks to my mom for sharing pretty much everything), which were inspired by Better Homes & Gardens.

The refreshments were divine and looked almost too good to eat. Edible glitter is my new favorite thing.

We gave the girls sparklers in DIY custom holder with the theme on them...never mind that they are illegal here.

With lots of white lights, lots of tulle, and battery operated tea lights, the girls introduced themselves and told in one sentence how they arise and shine forth and then all sang Arise and Shine Forth by Joan Sowards beautifully.

It was fun to incorporate the sparkle and easy to get carried away. But even better was seeing these young women anxious to shine and know that they can be "...a standard for the nations."

Valentine's Craft

I found this Valentine's craft that I actually had all the supplies for....just had to dig through the trash to find that paper towel roll I'd thrown away. It is a perfect independent craft for 7 and up, but my 5 year old did it with a little help stringing.

I cut up two paper towel cardboard rolls (that made plenty) and we just used spray paint, much faster and easier.

Shaped them into hearts.

Poked them top and bottom with a tack.

Chose from my random collection of beads.

We used fishing line and it was sturdy enough that we didn't have to use a needle. I had them loop back through the bottom of the bead to hold it in place and help keep the heart shape.

Not quite as fancy as theirs, but still very festive.