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 .