"When you save a young woman, you save generations."
-President Gordon B. Hinckley   

Young Women Church Headquarter Information:
Office of the Young Women General Presidency
76 North Main Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84150-6030
Direct Number: (801) 240-2141
Toll Free (takes you to an operator): (800) 453-3860
e-mail: youngwomen@ldschurch.org

Joan Sowards has written a song to go along with the Young Women Theme
entitled "Let Virtue Garnish Thy Thoughts". It is free to download
the Mp3 and print the sheet music in solo, SSA, or SATB.
Click here to see her Young Women Page.

Manual 1 2009 Curriculum My Lesson Helps

Manual 2 2007 Curriculum   My Lesson Helps

Manual 3 2008 Curriculum

2008 Helps:

2008 Mutual Theme - The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve have approved the following as the Mutual theme for 2008: "Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works" (Mosiah 5:15).
Lesson Schedule for 2008 - The first is an Excel spreadsheet with two worksheets within.  One is for mutual and one is for lessons for 2008.  Go to the bottom of the spreadsheet and click on the second tab for the lesson schedule.
Magnet with 2008 Theme by Amy Formenti



Click here for Activity Ideas
Activity Reminder Calls - Our Beehive leader has done something that I thought was really neat.  The have a phone tree set up. The Beehive President calls her two counselors and secretary.  Each one of them has a couple of young women to call. The last young woman on the tree list calls the leader to let her know they have been called. If the leader doesn't hear from the last young woman at the end of the list she knows the ball has been dropped somewhere. (Idea by Jennifer Erickson / ga12052006)
I am the young women secretary in our ward.  In order to help prepare the young women for their meetings, activities and upcoming events; I started emailing our girls weekly. Since I started doing this, our girls come more prepared to activities and meetings and attendance count has gone up on a regular basis.  (Idea by Renee M. Martin / ga09262007)
Unity Activity Ideas
Young Women Retreat - Fishers of Men (Credit Unknown - transferred from lds-yw files)

Activity Planning Information:

Instead of the usual planning meetings, I decided to write out lots of different activity ideas such as; hiking, volley ball, ironing service project, recipe book making and so on.  I grouped them all into categories, for example; homemaking, sports, spiritual and educational etc, I put all of the groups of ideas into individual balloons and blew them up.  I separated the girls into two groups, so I had prepared two sets of balloons.  I then pinned them to a dart board one at a time and had the 2 teams take turn in throwing a dart at them until it popped.  In their groups they then decided which activities they would like to do, ones they didn't mind and ones they wouldn't want to do.  This was a great activity and kept them entertained.  To finish the planning session I kept them in their groups and gave them party whistles to blow when they had an answer, I then said a word, for example; 'sausages' and the groups had to come up with the best activity involving 'sausages' or something they related to the word 'sausages', one group came up with a BBQ on the beach and the other came up with food hygiene and learning to cook meat.  It was a great way to get the girls thinking and we came up with lots of new ideas that they hadn't done before. (Idea shared by Hannah Hart / ga11082007)



Some Birthday Ideas
 

In our ward, we have the YW do the bulletin board. One girl at a time does it for a Personal Progress Project. For 6 months, the young woman is in charge of decorating the board. The rules for the bulletin board are: the board must look clean, neat and attractive; the board must be about one of the values; the board needs to teach about the value in some way; and the things that go on the board must be church approved (pictures come out of church magazines, or picture packets, or things that the church provide. Push pins, background paper, staples, etc. are the exception).  This has been a very fun project so far. The girl who is working on this project right now has done an amazing job. For faith, she had the board decorated very simply, white paper background, and some quotes and she also had 'read me' envelopes attached to it. In the envelopes, she had slips of papers with scripture references and quotes about faith. I loved this idea! I saw some of the girls from our ward take slips out and read them. It was so neat. For Divine Nature she posted pictures that went with the value and also put blue snowflakes (to get the color in). I love the creativity and enthusiasm that the young women have. (Idea by Susie)
In our ward, we highlight a theme each month and then decorate the room for the theme.  We take pictures of the girls at activities and pin them up. As well as a calendar of upcoming activities.  Any one, girls or leaders, who has a birthday in that month brings in a baby picture to also pin on the board. The girls love trying to figure out each others baby pictures and seeing pictures of themselves at activities. (Idea by Jolene)

Calendars:

Holly's experience and learning curve with calendars
Printable Calendars



Candy Bar Wrapper - Designed especially for when a YW graduates from Beehives to Miamaids, from Miamaids to Laurels, etc.
Lifesaver Wrapper
Stand ye in holy places
Standing as a witness of God (blue)
Standing as a witness of God 1 (pink)
Young Women Values



Are you getting the right message? (August 2007 Mormon Ad)
How do you deal with cell phones? by Lori Webb
I asked one of my Mia Maids to take 5 minutes in opening exercises and talk about how distracting the cell phones are. She came up with this idea on her own and it really made an impact. She called a few of the girls in the ward and asked them to bring their cell phones to church for a demo. She asked each girl beforehand to call each other as soon as she started talking. She got up in front with her scriptures and started reading a scripture that was on a different topic. Of course cell phones started ringing, buzzing, and vibrating throughout the room. She even had one girl say, "Hang on just a minute this is really important." After about 2 minutes of her trying to discuss a scripture and being interrupted by cell phones she came to her point. She pointed out how the cell phones took away from the spirit, were distracting, and especially rude to the other girls and leaders. We haven't had a problem since.  (Shared by Susan Wilson, Stephanie Griffiths Idea / ga10232007)
Keep texting from taking over
The Cell Phone Basket by Amy Pratt
The Vacation Basket by Jana Galloway



Flowerpots with different colored flowers (representing the different value colors)
Value Centerpieces  



I am giving my girls those jumbo peppermint sticks (also crook'less!) for Christmas and
attaching a little card that says something like, "This peppermint stick is to remind you to "STICK TO IT" on your Personal Progress! The holiday season is the perfect time to feel the SWEETNESS of setting and achieving some great goals!" (Credit Unknown)
I bought each girl a pair of those cheap stretchy gloves and I am attaching the saying, "If all that you gave was the gift of pure love it would fit everyone like a hand in a glove." (Idea by Sally Sansom)
Scripture Candle
Value socks  - Give the young woman a copy of this poem along with Young Women value socks.

This is the season for Christmas you know
And with Christmas comes coldness and lots of snow
There's the chilly air that reddens your nose,
And sometimes it feels like you have frostbitten toes!
To help you out, we got you some socks
We're sorry our budget could not afford Docs!
And when you stand in these socks we ask you to remember,
What you have learned from January through December,
To stand as a witness in all you do,
And in the daily things that you pursue!
When you stand in these Socks,
And if you choose the right,
Your days will always be merry and bright!



Activity Planning Form
BYC Outline by LeNore Merritt (transferred from lds-yw files)
BYC Outline (Credit Unknown - transferred from lds-yw files)
Class Conducting Sheet (Credit Unknown - transferred from lds-yw files)
Class Leadership (Credit Unknown - transferred from lds-yw files)
Class Presidency Agenda (Credit Unknown - transferred from lds-yw files)
Mid-week Activity Conducting Sheet (Credit Unknown - transferred from lds-yw files)
Planned Activity Approval Sheet (Credit Unknown - transferred from lds-yw files)
Responsibilities of Class Presidency (Credit Unknown - transferred from lds-yw files)
We created the attached folders to orient our new class presidency. The theme for our training is L..et the spirit guide you. E...xemplify the Savior. A...ccept each young woman. D..elegate opportunities to serve. LEAD!. We included a sheet from www.lds.org Young Women site outlining class officer duties; a roster, a conducting agenda sample and the article by Elder Eyring, "Rise to your Call." We put these in a clear plastic folder so the LEAD would be visible. I think it went over well.... (Idea by Christy Corbett / ga07232007)



            
Click here for YW clipart from Later-Day Village

Beehives from lds.about.com - (Black/White) or (Color)
Logo - (Beehive), (Miamaid), (Laurel)
Medallions - (Miamaid), (Laurel), (YW Medallion)
Miamaids from lds.about.com - (Black/White) or (Color)
Laurels from lds.about.com - (Black/White) or (Color)
YW from lds.about.com - (Black/White) or (Color)
Young Lady and Christ
Young Women Logo
YW Clipart and Fonts





For the Strength of Youth Jeopardy
Mad Libs
Scriptionary Game
Scriptural Squares
Young Women General Presidents Who am I game? - This game is from lds-yw.com.  Just scroll down and look for this game under "Class Activities". 





Candy Gram Bye!





2007 Theme Handout
Be an angel and give a thoughtful gift
Handouts for Manual 1
Handouts for Manual 2
Handouts for Manual 3
Value Mix
Young Women are like Jelly Beans (from Jenny Smith)
Young Women Shrinky Dink Key Chains
Young Women's Theme - Bookmarks
Young Women Theme - Sign
 

Chocolate Chip Cookies DVD by Janelle Heath
Find the Loose Brick by Brad Wilcox - This story is great and helps illustrate a good point when working to bring inactive Young Women back to church.
Ideas for Activating the Youth from Jill's Young Women Page
Ideas for contacting those that are inactive or not members
L.A.M.B. - Less Active Members Back from Latter-Day Village
L.A.M.B. - Less Active Members Back from Young Women Connection
Lights Out Handout from The Idea Door - great for encouraging missionary work!
Love 'em and Lead 'em
Retention and Activation - How to get them coming and stay coming
You could have everyone make Valentines for those not in attendance and mail them a few every day for a week.



A brand new forum for Young Women Leaders
A years worth of planning - organizing your activities for the year
7 keys to being a successful leader
Budget Planner for the Year - Helping you budget your money throughout the year.  No surprises!
Budget Planner (Credit Unknown - transferred from lds-yw files)
Calling Request Form - This form is used to call new teachers to Young Women's.  Just give this form to the bishop so he can review their responsibilities with them. 
Calling Request Tracking Sheet
CIA Leadership Lesson: To be used to train a new class presidency or it could be used to train the entire Young Women group on how to be an effective leader. From Latter-Day Village.
Class Presidencies
E-Vite - If you have the e-mail addresses of your young women, this is a free service that allows you to create a customized e-mail to send reminders for activities, camp, BYC...you could even send them to your presidency to remind them of your presidency meetings, etc.
Effective Class Presidency Meetings
Expense Voucher
Here's an idea I've used in every organization where I've served, whenever I have a presidency meeting. I print out the agenda with the items that need to be discussed so we know how to divide our time and then at the bottom of the paper I write "ACTION ITEMS" where everyone can write down what they specifically need to do after the meeting. That way they'll remember details and what their stewardship is. It also helps to divide labor and help account for what happened at the meeting next time you get together. (Trina Boice)
Individual Information Sheet
Leadership Management
Mutual Agenda Opening Exercises
Opening Exercises on Sunday
Opening Exercises Agenda Form
People, not programs by Maryanne Snell - great idea for a Young Women Mailbox
Survival Kit
Welcome letter for new Beehives from Latter-Day Village
Welcome to our class - Kit you can give the girls advancing into your class. 
Welcome to Young Women's from July 2006 Friend
               Your First Sunday
               The Young Women Theme and Values
               Personal Progress
               Activities and Firesides
               Camp
                Wait, There’s More!
               A Young Woman Wherever You Are
               Welcome to the New Era
Young Women Organization: The Responsibilities of the Young Women Presidency Divided Out.
Young Women Supplies - Purchase YW Supplies directly from the Distribution Center online. 
Youth Leadership Training Outline - (Credit Unknown) transferred from lds-yw files
YW 3 T's : This is a mini lesson to help the presidency and all Young Women leaders keep focused on what is most important for the Young Women. From Latter-Day Village.



Christmas Lesson Ideas
Lesson Helps for Manual 1 & 2 have been moved.  Links are now on top of this page by pictures of Young Women Manuals.
Pop Quiz - a fun way to ask your lesson questions 



Planning with a purpose
Sample Meeting Agenda



Selected Young Women Music (English, Spanish, Portuguese - MP3 & PDF)
We, the Youth in Zion's Army, September 2001, New Era
Young Women Music Director



Adopt-A-Beehive - For each beehives that comes in, assign another young woman or several young women to do secret service for her for the first month in young women's. 
New Beehive Birthday - For a new girl coming into Beehives, we give the girl a balloon bouquet with each of the value colors.  Attached is a large bag of skittles (it's the only candy that has all the value colors except white).
New Beehive Welcome Ideas
New Beehive Letter from http://www.lds-yw.com/
New Beehives from The Idea Door
Take Note 
The Saturday after her birthday, as a class, go and "kidnap" the new beehive. Of course clear it with the parents beforehand and make sure that it's okay. Go over to her house in the morning, trying to arrive before she's awake if the parents think it's okay. Then, depending on the new beehive's personality, either go in her room and wake her up, or simply wait on the porch while the parents let her know we're there to kidnap her. Then take her back for breakfast. Try and plan a fun activity after breakfast. This is a great way to integrate the new young woman into the group and help her to get to know and feel comfortable with the other young women.





Sample Newsletter (scroll down)
Here are several templates you can download and use to create a newsletter.
Newsletter Idea by Mary Dahl
Young Women Newsletter Template - 2 pages (Winter Theme) 



Grain of Sugar, Skittles and DumDum - To help them to understand how a little participation on their part can greatly increase their understanding of the gospel and make young women's more than just a "place to be".  
Serving in Young Women's
 

1916 Beehive Requirements
Blank box or cube pattern
Conducting Sheets [Mutual] and [Sunday Opening Exercises] by Brenda Pulsipher
Easter Egg Thank You (Teacher Appreciation at Easter Time)

Good News Minute 
Graduation Gift Ideas
Handmaiden - the story of the girl on the Young Women Medallion
History of Symbols and Colors
History of the Young Women Theme - how it came about
Idea on how to get the Young Women more involved...
I'm pocketing my values! - An idea especially for YW and Personal Progress Leaders
Letter to Parents
Nurturing better relationships among the Young Women
Online Young Women Resources
Outgoing Presidency Gift Ideas
Priest & Laurel Retreat
Secret Sister Idea by Kathy Macloed

Small Gift Ideas
Special Needs Girls in Young Women's
Spotlight Forms - by Brenda Pulsipher / ga11132006
Stake Dance Song Play list
Unity Idea - Why not start a small scale visiting teaching program in your young women program if there are problems with unity?  The Young Women President and Beehive, Miamaid and Laurel class presidents would meet together to prayerfully assign partners.  It would work just like the visiting teaching program does currently.  The companionships could give their own messages from that month's New Era (they can choose).  The partners would report to their coordinator (class presidents) and they in turn would report to the Young Women President.  It would give the youth practice for when they enter Relief Society and would  help to unify, increase love and possibly reactivate some of the inactive.
Value Centerpieces  
Value Quilt
Young Women Cross Stitch Patterns
Young Women Key Tag Chains - Color and Laminate as key ring holders

Young Women President can request Letters of Recognition for YW that receive their Medallions

Young Women Personal Progress Book
Young Women Stationary
Young Women Value's Booklet





A fine line
As Young Women's Ends (Poem for those entering Relief Society)
For the new Relief Society Sister (Could be given to Young Women advancing into Relief Society)
Values Like Stars 



Quote directed to Young Women from President Hinckley
Quotes for Lessons in Manual 1

Quotes for Lesson in Manual 2



Got Reverence? by Paula - Great idea for helping girls be reverent
Have young women wait in the hall while leaders set up room and someone plays the piano while they walk in... we tried it on Sunday and it ran SOOOOO smooth. (Idea shared by Brittney Rivers)
Reverence Help - We are having a member of the bishopric come in and participate during opening exercises each week.  This really helps with the reverence problems and also helps both the girls and bishopric know what's going on.  (Credit Unknown)



Young Women Tracking Sheet



Young Women Values Pageant Skit



Click here for ideas and scroll down to "Standards Night Ideas"



Class Journals - At the beginning of the year, I give each young woman in the class a journal (an inexpensive notebook will do).  At the end of Sunday lesson, pass your the journals to the girls and ask them, "After today's lesson, what do you think the Lord would most want me to do or learn?"  They write their responses and give them back to you.  During the week you read them and write a little comment back about what they wrote.  It can be as simple as, "I enjoyed your comments" or "I'm working on that too!"  If someone isn't there that day you can write, "I missed you today".  You can also tell them they can write about things they disagree with or have questions about.  Sometimes the girls might not feel comfortable asking a question or making a commend in class, but they will in the journal.  This helps you clarify what you taught and gives you the opportunity to develop a closer relationship.  Another way to do this is after the lesson, ask the girls to write down some of the things they learned during the lesson or thoughts that they had.  Tell them that you're going to call on a few of them to share with the class what they wrote.  This gives them time to dig a little deeper and to focus their thinking so they have something concrete to offer the class.  You'll know who to call on and the others you can read at home and again make comments in the journal.  At the end of the year or when you are released, you give the journals to the girls to keep.  (Idea by Missy Huller)
Table Centerpiece - There are always those lessons where you need a pen to have the girls write something right?  Well, you'll always have pens with this centerpiece.  You need a large terracotta pot (few dollars at Wal-mart) flower arranging sponge, Spanish moss, green floral tape and a silk flower in each of the value colors.  The dollar store is a great place to get pens, flowers, etc.  You put the stem of the flower along side the pen and wrap the green tape around it, all the way to the end of the pen.  So the pen looks like a stem and the flower is at the top of the pen.  Then you put the flower arranging sponge in the pot and cover it with Spanish moss.  Then you arrange all of your flower pens in the pot by sticking them in the sponge.  Tie a bow around your pot and your finished.  This works great and you'll always have a pen handy as well as a cute centerpiece for your lessons. (Credit Unknown)



Charming Gifts - website advertising LDS pins and charms for around .69 cents each.  Zipper pull is .10



“Why Your Daughter Needs the Young Women Program,” Ensign, Aug. 1978



Ideas for encouraging or thanking leaders or teachers
Substitute Teacher Thank You Ideas
Teacher Appreciation or Thank You Ideas



Thank you card with flowers
Thank you pass along cards






Tracking Sheets for Bishops - Jeanne Kluse created this one of a kind tracking sheet.  They are helpful for bishops to keep track of each youths progress, staying on top of interviews, seminary, Duty to God and YW Recognition Awards.  The first document is for Young Men and the second document is for Young Women.
Young Women Everything Tracker
Young Women Tracking Forms 



Our young women have been meeting with the Relief Society once a quarter on Fast Sunday.  This is when they has their presidency message, so they teach the Young Women lesson that is scheduled to the Young Women and Relief Society. This has worked out very well for us. We had two graduating Laurels last year when they turned 18 and three this year that will do the same.  (Idea by Kathy Hitz)

Transitioning into Womanhood from the Church's website


 

Faith
Divine Nature
Individual Worth
Knowledge

Choice & Accountability
Good Works
Integrity



A calling to serve - A bishop extends a call to a new Young Women president. This video was originally presented in the January 2004 Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting. 3:54 min
Daughter of a King Video by Jenny Phillips - If you go to this website and scroll down to the very bottom of the page, the last paragraph is a link to this video clip.  It shows Young Women from around the world reciting the YW Theme and reminds us of our royal nobility. You can view the video clip at the above link.  If you'd like to purchase a DVD of the "Daughter of a King Video", click here.



A brand new forum for Young Women Leaders
CHECK OUT THIS SITE!  It's called Posteriza - allows you to design your own big posters and signs from any digital photo with your home printer! Four steps: Type in text (up to 4 lines per poster), insert picture, choose border and choose poster size...and it's free. Just click on the link at the top that says, "download."
Helpful websites for Young Women Leaders


 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LDS_Young_Women/ - Moderated by me...come join us!

Young Women Theme in Sign Language