How do I help some of my girls get along? 

(The following ideas are taken from the Primary Page)

You may want to try the same thing the scouts above have... Make a "Standard of Conduct" and let the girls help you decide on consequences, then stick to it like glue. Once the girls understand you are serious and you keep your word, they may toe the line in order to participate in the activities. HEIDI in Louisiana

I try to involve the girls as much as possible in the leadership roles within our Activity Day Group, by having them conduct our meetings, take rolls and keep records. Also I try to put the girls who seem to have the most problems getting along together working on a special project. Sometimes this helps them develop great friendships. Any way...good luck. Girls this age can be very difficult.

Have them draw names within your group for "Secret Sisters". Have them find creative ways to share their friendship in a secret way that is known only to them. The more nice things they do for each other the better they will feel.

  Good News Minute
 

On Time - Our Activity Day leaders have the "Early Bird" or "Early Bird Special". All girls arriving on time get to put their names in a hat and one name is drawn for a small prize (candy bar, pen, etc.). I know this really works for my daughter- she puts the pressure on me to get her there on time. (Idea shared by Shelly Townsend)
 

Journal -  Spend a few minutes at each activity with the girls journaling a few thoughts since the last activity.
 

  Recognizing Achievements - In my stake, I've come up with 'trading card' sized certificates for each goal they accomplish. They are color coded to the various goals - including the 13 Articles of Faith. At recognition night, they get these cards when their goal accomplishments are recognized. The leader writes what goal they did in either from Learning and Living the Gospel, Serving Others or whatever, dating, and signing it.  It's a cheap way to recognize them as they don't need to feel obligated to keep them. I'm letting each ward add to these, if they so choose. (Idea by Lorena Brown)

Having a Hostess  - I have one girl act as hostess each time. It rotates, starting with the oldest to the youngest and I rotate the snack that way too. The hostess is to call and remind all the rest of the girls a few days before our activity and remind them of where we will meet, when, and what to bring if needs be, etc. I give the hostess a written reminder on the Sunday before at church as a reminder that it is her turn to call. She gets to mark the roll that week and then chose someone for the Opening Prayer.  We do not keep these things reverent at all. In fact I believe the critical factor is for the girls to have fun and become friends before they move on into Young Women. I feel a good activity is one where I leave 15 minutes for them to play/talk with each other.  So our schedule goes like this: 4:00 - 4:05 wait for stragglers 4:05 - 4:15 Welcome, Hostess takes roll and then calls on someone for opening prayer. We write in our booklets what we will be doing this time. Instructions are given on what we will be doing.  4:15 - 4:45 Activity  4:45 Snack person gets to hand out their snack  4:45 - 5:00 We play/talk with each other either inside or outside till parents come. Works out great for us. (Idea by Cary)

Working with the inactive girls  -  Six of my nine girls are *INACTIVE*... Before our wards merged into one, both sides of primary and bishoprics said, "Don't be surprised if you only get four girls.  You will be lucky if you do."

I am happy to say, we have all 9 girls coming!!!  

I went to each girls house individually, to introduce myself.  I made our first event at my house as a Halloween Party (painted pumpkins, popcorn gloves, etc), they loved it.

I wear a heart on my sleeve, to see and meet and be humbled by several
of these single

My number one concern is to make it fun, to keep them coming back.. I give no pressure to church, and let them know I care about them and want them to come for some great activities, fun, and making friends.

I think of it as GIRL SCOUTS, with a BETTER SPIRITUAL TWIST.  We have spiritual lessons every time we meet, we dedicate about 10minutes to memorizing Articles of Faith.  (I made punch cards, and they got excited about that!!) and I reward a candy for each one memorized.

SO my suggestion is don't forget your inactives, they are such sweet spirits and you are missing out if you don't pursue it.  We also asked for the support of the ward and ask if they have any crafting materials to offer to our program, due to the limited budget. We also do make folders for each girls (inactive included) with their faith in god booklet, articles of faith cards, a phone list, a prayer chart, and anything else along the way.  We let them plan their own Holiday Party. And they are sooo excited. Getting are inactives to come to church may take time, but
they know on a continual basis they are loved and thought about!!

We just made fleece scarves and loved this to pieces.  As an added note, one of our inactives, has a wonderful mom, that has become such a wonderful helper, they are also coming back to church now--, simply because they were befriended!! So keep plugging away!!  We also share snacks each week.

We are also doing charm bracelets-keeping it simple. www.vistaprint.com has been helpful at making invites and postcards (pay shipping only depending on promo) for making reminders for the girls and mailing them out. As for schedule, I am going around my grad school schedule and around family activities, and even a little girl who is with her mom every other week, --so we just do ours every other Wednesday --- and go figure, no one has had this calling in our ward for over two years (from both wards) and I think it's great!!  (Idea by Trina)
 

Personal Items - I use to have a problem with the girls bringing their personal possessions (toys, sunglasses, cell phones, purses, stuffed animals, etc.) to Activity Days.  This was very distracting and on occasion would lose their items in my home.   It is frustrating having to look for a lost item.  I know some of the items (i.e. stuffed animals) provide comfort to the girls at times.  To avoid anymore mishaps, I am designating one table where all the "personal items" go. Then they can get the item at the end.  That way it is a standard for all of the girls and we don't lose things anymore.  It has worked well.

We seem to have one girl in the 10-11 yr group that the other girls aren't real nice to or don't include...what should I do?   We had the same problem with our group of girls so we spent one day making friendship bracelets with the girls and what we did was get different color beads and let the girls choose what color they wanted to be and then before they could put the beads on their bracelet we had them go around the room and say one thing nice about the other girls and by the time they were done their bracelets went from being just wire to really pretty bracelets and we explained that there is always something nice in everybody and just like the different color beads, each person helps make the world a more beautiful place - this really helped break the ice and helped the girls appreciate each other a little more. (Idea by Wendy Chapman)