A Primary Activity to help meet spiritual goals: scriptures, service and fun!

Our guest author Jen H. is back with a fantastic Primary Activity idea and outline!

Our presidency has lots of little goals for our sweet Primary.  One of them is to have the children use their scriptures each week in Sharing Time.  Another goal is for the Senior Primary children to engage and apply the scriptures in their daily lives.  We also want our Primary to do more active service for our ward family.

In the past, we have found that having each presidency member in charge of a portion of the activity makes everything run much more smoothly.  Another thing that helps activities go smoothly is to have the children rotate through different activities, each lasting 20 minutes or less.

So, with those goals and past experiences in mind, we planned a short activity for a Saturday morning.  We began with a song and spiritual thought.  Teachers stayed with and helped their class as they went through each activity.  We planned four activities:

1. Scripture bags
2. Scripture journals
3. Card making
4. Game

Scripture Bags: This activity was for Junior Primary children. One presidency member planned and prepared for the scripture bags.  We ordered the bags and used permanent markers to have the Junior Primary decorate them.  We had them work around long tables that were covered in craft paper to minimize the mess to clean up after.  Each child also got their own Book of Mormon and a copy of this Mormonad inside.  The last thing that they did was make a keychain with a picture to attach to the scripture bag.

Scripture Journal: While Junior Primary worked on the scripture bags, Senior Primary was with another presidency member making their own scripture journal using stickers, pens, markers and quotes to decorate them.  Each week in Primary, we will have a thought, scripture or picture/quote for them to add to their journal.

Afterwards, we combined Junior and Senior Primary and divided them into two groups.  The older children helped the younger ones.  We asked the Activity Day girls to plan and carry out these last two activities.

Card Making: One group worked on our service project: making cards for two widows (We made valentines because our activity was in February but any type of card will work).  Our secretary took a picture of each child to add to their card so these sweet sisters would know who they’re from.  We set out pre-cut hearts, stickers and markers.  One presidency member worked with this group but the Activity Day girls managed it.

Game: The other group was in the gym for a scavenger hunt game.  Our Activity Day leader and girls led this.  Scriptures are used as clues to race around the building.  The final clue leads them to a treasure chest with treats.

Our secretary was in charge of the snack at the end.  Store-bought muffins, cut into fourths is an easy and delicious option.  We also had grapes and strawberries and served water too.  We served these in the Primary room during the last 15 minutes of the activity.

Download the timetable schedule for planning your own Primary Activity!

~Jen H.

Other Related Posts: Scriptures in Primary: Raising the Bar and Addressing the Boredom Challenge, Actively Getting Children into the Scriptures in Primary-sharing time ideas