Zoo Trip

We like to have one all day field trip every year. This year we decided to go to the San Francisco Zoo. Even though Sacramento is closer to us, it is not as nice and we thought it would be worth the little extra time in the car.

If you are going on field trip, be sure to get permission from your bishop and have permission slips for each girl attending.

It is also a really good idea to make some kind of lanyard with your contact information on it, just in case someone gets separated from the group.

Be sure and go over the rules with the girls about staying with the group and what to do if they get lost.

I had each girl bring a sack lunch with them and I had bottles of water in a back pack for each of them. 

Then just enjoy the day together.

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Father / Daughter Water Games

BBQ + water + dads + girls = too much fun to handle!!!

We started off the evening with hamburgers and goofing off (I had one dad in a tree...sent photographic evidence to his wife). Then the real fun began.

We had three events:

First:
Super Soaker Fill Up
Each father/daughter team is given a large water gun and a cup. They each stand about 8 feet apart and they have 30 seconds to shoot as much water into the cups as possible. Since the giant water guns were pretty heavy when full, the dads shot while the girls tried to catch the water in their cups.

Second:
Water Ball Toss
I found some balls that soak up water really well. Fathers and daughters were spaced about 12 feet apart. The girls had to toss the balls while the dads caught them in a net. First team to catch 8 balls wins.

Third:
Water Cup Relay
Split into two teams. One team member at a time fills up their cups then, while holding the cup on their head, run to the other end of the course (about 20 feet away) and pour the water into a bucket (cup remaining on their head the whole time) then run back to their team. First team to fill their bucket wins.

We ended the evening with ice cream sundaes and continued water ruckus. SO MUCH FUN!

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Flower Headbands

I had several design options for the girls but all gravitated toward this one...

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/284078688965234307/

We kept it simple, just a few different colors and patterns of ribbon and a few different colored headbands.

Simple...easy...done!

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Mother / Daughter Pajama Party

PAJAMA PARTY!!! You know any time you get a bunch of girls together in their pajamas, there is fun times to be had.

We began with pizza and pajama ballets. I handed out ballets to each person and had votes for both moms and girls. There were categories like "best animal print" "most fuzzy" "best themed" etc.

Once pizza and ballets were finished we had three games.

First:

Tin Foil Dresses

Each girl got a roll of tin foil and had to make a dress for their mom. There were some pretty wild designs.

Second:

Bedtime Relay

We divided into two teams. I set up two laundry baskets that each had a towel, a bathrobe, and a pair of slippers. One person from each team would run to the basket and put on all of the items and run back to their team then take everything off and hand it to the next person who then had to run with those items and drop them back into the laundry basket before putting them on themselves. The first team to have all of their members run wins.

Third:

Marshmallow Catch

Each girl would toss marshmallows to their mom who had to catch them with a bowl. Whomever has the most marshmallows in their bowl after 30 seconds wins.

Finally, each of the girls gave their moms the necklaces they made for them. I also handed out awards to everyone based on the voting earlier.

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Mother's Day Gifts

I have some really creative girls. Giving them free reign over their project can be both scary and exciting at the same time. We decided to make necklaces for their moms to give them at our Mother/Daughter activity. I had a variety of beads and a few examples of what they could do and asked them to keep in mind that these were for their mom and not themselves but basically make what you want. We had some pretty amazing creations come out of it.

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Easter Scrap Wreaths

Decorating for any holiday can be fun. Personal touches are even better. Since it was coming up on Easter, I wanted to do something both easy and pretty. Easter scrap wreaths seemed the perfect idea. The instructions can be found on pinterest here:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/518758450802893792/

I cut all the fabric ahead of time so all that had to be done was tie the fabric strips to the wreath hoops. The one that I did was like the instructions and it took me about 2.5 hours to do. After learning how long it would take to make, I decided to have my girls do much smaller ones. None of them finished while we were together but they took them home and finished them on their own.

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Gardening (again)

There were a few activities that I did with the older girls when were split into two groups. We have since recombined into one group and the older girls have either graduated into Young Women's or have moved away. This gives me an opportunity to revisit some activities and do a bit better the second time around.

In my home, early spring means preparing the garden. We weed and lay down compost and once it gets warm enough, we start planting. Learning how to garden is a very important part of both food storage and self reliance. It is important to begin learning these skills at an early age. Even if you live somewhere that does not have a yard, potted plants can produce quite a bit of produce while only taking up a small space.

I made a gardening book for my girls to take home and use for a reference. If printed front to back, the pages should be in the right order. The link for the gardening book and cover are below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6-SGz_Y1u-jY0FsbHM2TUwyTUk/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6-SGz_Y1u-jcGZ4U3p4RTFpWmc/view?usp=sharing

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