Battle of the Sexes by Randi Harris

Book of Mormon Read-a-thon by Andrea Lewis

Stump the Bishop by Celeste Casey

Ice cream sculpting by Sam Cousins

Jeopardy by Mimi Petty

Get a clue by Barbara Clarke

Faith Factor by Jenny Anderson

 Iron Chef Cookoff by Jeannie
 

The Luau of Life by Wendee Nelson

Putt Putt Golf by Angela Cannon

TV Commercial Activity by Desiree Crosby

Single Sisters Dinner

Prison Walls

We had two identical Lego structures with two people in the gym who could see it. Then we had two people they explained it to. Those two explained it to two others. Those two explained it to two others who tried to build it at the other end of the hall with a set of Legos. It was hilarious to see what they came up with. (Idea by Stephanie Thomas / ga04062007)

Battleship - Credit Unknown (transferred from lds-yw files)

Video Scavenger Hunt

Laurel and Priest Date Night by Taina Gardner

Polaroid Scavenger Hunt - The youth were divided into groups and each group had a Polaroid camera and a list of items they were to take pictures of. For example: someone going down a slide at a park. Since there are only 10 pictures to a roll we only gave10 things to take pictures of. Each picture was worth a certain number of points. The more difficult ones had more points (a convertible Volkswagen...a red one!) Candy prizes were awarded at the end for the group that got the most points!

Scavenger Hunt Activity - Credit Unknown - transferred from lds-yw files

RAK Challenge

A walk with Joseph Smith

Language of the Spirit - FANTASTIC activity idea on being in tune and learning to hear the language of the spirit.  In a day in which we have cell phones, video games, and i-pods, we are constantly surrounded by outside noise. Are our youth taking a "time out" from the noise, enough so to hear the promptings of the spirit?

Fear Factor Activity

Is Fear a Factor?

Young Men and Young Women Activity Ideas from Feb. 2002 New Era

Scripture Clue Night at The Mall - We divided the girls into groups at the church, gave them a small set of scriptures and scripture references. The girls were to look up each scripture and determine what store in the mall it matched. They were allowed to start looking them up in the car. For example: Genesis 1:10 "And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good." This matched a store in the mall called "Beyond the Beach". We had about 18 clues. We gave them 30 min. and met at a certain spot. We then went back to the church to see who won and had refreshments! It was a fun way to learn some of the scriptures.  [For similar activity, click here]

Missionary Care Packages - Each youth was to bring an item on our list (gum, candy, macaroni, cup-a-soup, etc.) to send to the missionaries serving from our ward. We had 11 at the time so we needed a lot of stuff! The response was great. The kids brought lots of stuff that wouldn't spoil in the mail. The leaders did get more things as well. They each signed a card that we enclosed in the box. Our plan was to send them in time for Christmas. To keep the kids busy when they weren't helping with the care packages; we had a volleyball game going on in the cultural hall. It turned out great!

$100,000 Pyramid

Spiritual Crocodiles Fireside

Family Feud 

Life-Size Monopoly - We did the life size "Monopoly" game using a large roll (5 foot tall) paper, donated by a paper company. Each square was large enough for "a team," as this would take a long time to play. We taped it down on the cultural hall floor, divided it into spaces (as the game), and substituted the names of the streets, railroads, taxes, jail, etc., for more celestial names'; i.e..  Tithing, missionary fund, spirit prison, etc. We had made up "blessing cards" and "choose the right" cards instead of "chance" and "community chest". Their minds just raced and they really came up with some darling ideas. They sure had fun and we had popcorn for them to eat at any time which they wanted, so none were too bored waiting for their turn.  (Idea by Joy Wilhite)

Giant Snakes and Ladders

The Amazing Race 

Scripture Dodgeball - You divide into teams and play dodgeball.  As they get out they have to answer a question about the gospel, whether its church, scripture, past prophets, anything. When they get one right they can go back in.

Ice Cream Sculpturing

LDS Family Feud - transferred from lds-yw files

Progressive Dinner - We arranged for 7 homes (within building boundaries) to help us out. The kids were divided into 2 groups (because of # youth). They each had to walk to the first house for appetizers, the second house for salad and bread sticks, the third house for lasagna. The leaders provided all the food and prepared it ahead of time. Both groups then met at another home for swimming and dessert. This was a lot of fun and we had a huge turn-out.

Let the Laurels and priests do a “senior year” workshop for the younger youth in your program.

Go for the Gold

We separated the youth into groups of about 10 each and gave them markers and poster board. We had a whole bunch of the New Era MormonAds posted on a board in the cultural hall. We also had a large table in the middle full of misc.. props (i.e. boas / hats / broom / scarves / fake flowers / shoe boxes / yarn....etc.)  We then gave each team 45 minutes to create their own MomonAd and corresponding commercial/skit. We taped their skits and let them explain their poster. Then at the end of the night -- while eating cookies and punch we watched the skits and each team showed their posters. (Idea by Clover Alexander)

It was a joint activity with the Young Men, and we played miniature golf. Each group was assigned a hole, which they had to make out of materials that they had at home. Some used rain gutters, lots used 2 x 4 lumber, one was a round sled turned upside down with a hole cut out of the middle and cardboard ramps going up to the hole. It was pretty interesting to see the creativity. We had nine holes in all, and we put the youth in teams of four to go through the course, which was set up in the cultural hall and the primary room. The putters came from a local miniature golf center, who let us use them for free (they had broken rubber, etc., but no one cared). We handed out score sheets and let them go to it. It was a lot of fun, although they (especially the Young Men) need to be firmly reminded about safety and respect for church property. Also a demo about how you need to hit the ball GENTLY would be in order. We had a leader at each hole to monitor the safety, etc. We didn't have an award for low score at the end, but decided that if we did it again we would try to find an old golf trophy for the winner.  For refreshments, we had green frosted cupcakes with green tinted coconut on top. A golf tee (found cheap at any Wal-Mart type store) was stuck down into the middle, and a white powdered doughnut hole was stuck onto the tee with a dab of frosting. They were very cute. A few tips, if you plan to use the cupcake idea: don't overfill the cupcakes - the tee should go to the bottom and still leave about 3/4 inch above the cake, otherwise the "ball" almost sits right on the cupcake. Also, the powdered doughnut holes have a hard time sticking to the frosting (although we only had 3 out of 40 fall off), so you might want to try to wipe off as much powder as possible from the spot that you are going to stick.  The activity was a hit, and it was held at a very low cost. We're already talking about doing it again next year. (Credit Unknown)

Temple Pictionary - Played just like pictionary except you use temple words like: font, chapel, baptism, white clothing, slippers, song book, kleenexes, temple recommend, scriptures, families, marriage, couple, mom, dad, children, wedding, eternal, alter, mirrors, oxen, cafeteria, front desk, genealogy, family files, celestial room, prayer, sealing, etc.

Napoleon Dynamite

Service Scavenger Hunt

Book of Mormon thon - Give everyone a copy of the Book of Mormon from the library and assign each person ten or so pages to read. That way, depending on how many youth and leaders you have, together you can read the entire Book of Mormon in one night. Discuss what you read.

Candy Bar Concentration from The Idea Door (www.theideadoor.com)

Combined Young Women / Young Men Activity Ideas

Around the World - Prior to the activity we gave each individual a ticket for the Around the World trip.   All the leaders dressed up in air hostess uniforms and we transformed our very small clerks office into the inside of an airplane.  The youth had to remember to bring their tickets and suitcases (that was optional!) We stamped each ticket before they boarded and then placed them in their seats. Once they were all boarded we did the emergency evacuation procedures. We then showed them a clip of video (only about a minute long) of the first country we were flying to. Then all the youth got off the plane and went into a room which represented a county. We learned about the countries flag, food, language and traditions and then did a small activity that was relevant. (for example Korea, we had to take our shoes off before entering the room, we learned how to say hello and my name is, and then we had a food competition with chop sticks. New Zealand, we learnt about the Maori traditions and what their face marking meant and then we learned the huka).  Once we had done one country we all went back on the plane, showed another video clip and then took them to the next country. We did 4 countries total, taking 15-20 minutes each. It was really good fun and helped each of the youth appreciate other peoples cultures and traditions. It does help if you have someone from your ward who has served a mission in a different country or who is from a different country come and up arrange something for you.  (Credit Unknown)

Market in Zarahemla

Hollywood Squares - We recently did a spin off of Hollywood Squares as a joint activity. We divided the youth into 2 teams. We asked parents to be the "Celebrities".  We set the room up as such.... 3 rows of chairs on the floor of the  Cultural Hall, then 3 chairs directly above on the Stage floor and then we set up two 8' tables side to side to make a platform and set 3 more chairs on top of the tables (put lightweights up there!). This built our Hollywood Squares. Each Celebrity was given an "X" and an "O". They were asked Book of Mormon questions, which they could either make up funny-no truth answers to or tell the true answer. (That way you didn't have to be a Book of Mormon expert) The youth were then asked if they agree or disagree. Either an "X" marked the spot or an "O" marked the spot. Whoever got tick tack toe would win the game. We used parents that we thought would have a great sense of humor and they all dressed the part. It was quite hilarious! The youth had a great time! And it was amazing watching the team work! (Credit Unknown)

Pizza Scavenger Hunt - This is an activity we did last year. The Branch President made a list of members homes to go to, he had spoken to the members previously.  The youth were put into teams of four with an adult. Each team is responsible to top their own pizza. They do this by going to church members homes (ones on the list) and have to perform any tasks they are asked to do, and then the member will give them an item for the pizza.  Team members must take whatever item the member gives them.  The teams were given 1.5 hrs and then came back to my house to make their pizzas. We also made cookies to take back to the members homes who had been so kind to help the youth.  (Idea by April)