Card Games...Part 2

As promised here is the other came that I was telling you about. Please see previous post or part 1 to read a quick little note and to learn about SPAZ Uno.

So as mentioned before, some people have a problem with standard playing cards or poker cards as they are known as. If this describes you, you might want to stop reading now. 

Also, some might find the name of this game offensive, it was what I have known it as but it also has different names. I learned it as being called Egyptian Ratscrew but I have heard it called Egyptian War or ERS. Call it what you will... I won't judge ya.

However, because this game can be a bit confusing to some, I am going to send you to a link that explains this game perfectly. Please note, to make it simpler I have only played it with the Double Slap rule enforced. The website will give you other options you can add in as well but that is up to you. I like this game because its fun and no one is ever truly "out" because you can always slap in but again, its a player with all the cards wins. Enjoy!

Click HERE to be redirected to the rules of play.

Taken from Pinterest. Link followed to Wikihow.

Card Games Part 1

Man, I feel like I am on a roll today. I had a lot of inspiration while I was at work today and you guys are getting to reap the benefits of it. 

So these are a couple of games that I use to play in groups and the first game is one that I taught my girls up at girls camp when I was a fellow camper and then again a few years later when I was a leader. 

All you need for these games are a couple of decks of Uno cards and regular playing cards (one deck will do if you have a smaller group but you'll needs more than one if its a larger group. Also, with Uno cards unless they are different versions (like years that they were produced) they might look the same so you will want to mark one set a bit differently so that when you are cleaning up, you can get the right cards with the right deck.  Also, some leaders or camps might frown on having playing cards (you know poker style cards with face cards), we had a camp director one year that was staunchly against having those kind of cards around even though we played fun games with them. So please, no judgmental comments here-follow your camps rules, this is only a suggestion on some fun.

So the first game that is fun for all ages and requires the Uno cards is a game called SPAZ Uno. Player beware this game can get intense and painful because it is all about speed.

So the premise is to get all the cards BUT first things first. I gotta tell you what the cards mean. In a typical Uno deck you have your basic number cards with instructional cards. We are going to ignore the numbers and words and just focus on the colors:

Green=place your hand on the surface (being a table if you are playing at a table or the ground if you are sitting on the floor). To remember this think of GREEN being GRASS. 

Red=hand across your heart. This should be pretty explainable. Red for heart.

Yellow=Hand at forehead. Now this has a couple of references, YELLOW fever or if you have a bright idea.

Blue=sky. Again, pretty easy. Blue as in the blue, blue sky.

Now come the tricky part. The Wilds. These cards you have to keep an eye out for the two different wild cards:

the standard Wild card you do all four actions in order. Green, Red, Yellow, Blue. 

the DRAW 4 WILD card you have to do all four actions and back down again. So Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, Yellow, Red then Green. 

Now, remember I said the premise of the game is to get ALL of the cards. How do you do this? The person who does the action the fastest wins the cards that have been played. 

Here is how you play:

You deal all the cards out. The cards are to remain face down. First place goes to the person on the right of the dealer. They take the top card of their pile and place it face up in front of them. Then the next person goes. What you are looking for is doubles (for example two reds in a row or two blues in a row, etc.). When a double comes up, EVERYONE needs to perform what ever action correlates to that color (two reds mean you need to race to be the fastest to put your hand on you heart).  Fastest wins all the cards that has been played so far and collects them and places them face down under their stack of cards. The winner of that round begins next play. If at any time a WILD is played EVERYONE does the actions that correlates to the type of wild card that was played. Winner takes all the cards and they start the next round. Doubles are counted as the card you play and previous card that was played.  When you run out of cards you are out of the game. Last person standing wins. 

Photo from Vanilla Sky

Part 2 to learn about the other game go HERE

A Game of Chance...

Hello! I promised that I would post a fun activity tonight that would work for any group! This activity would be perfect for Activity Days, Mutual (especially a YM/YW combined activity) and even a daddy/daughter or mother/daughter activity night. 

I was at work when the idea hit me but I had come across some Youtube videos of it (google it and you will find some funny videos) and then I remembered the time that this happened to me. I was at my now ex sister laws house and this was just when Harry Potter was coming out and getting big and they came out with the Bertie Bott jelly beans. UGH! She had taken a bag of those and mixed them in with two bags of regular Jelly Bellys. Talk about mean! 

Anyway, if you haven't guess by now, I am talking about the Bean Boozled game/challenge (seriously, if you don't know what I am talking about google it). Now, I have found some stores in my area carry this game but I have also seen online where you can just buy the bags or boxes of beans for relatively cheap (again, another quick search on google will give you several options). 

Grab two beans of the same color (example: sour milk and coconut, vomit and peach, etc.) and put them in a container. Condiment cups are perfect for this and number them. You'll want to keep track of what flavors are in which cup. Then have some willing victims participants and have one of them pick a number. Then they each grab one bean. Who ever gets the normal or good flavor gets a point. Now if they both get the good flavor they both get a point if its the bad flavor-no points. You will probably want to have a garbage can readily available and some bottles of water to help those who loose their round. 

This makes for a fun night of laughter and entertainment so make sure you get videos or pictures!

Tic Tac Toe- Article of Faith Style

 As promised on my Facebook page, here is one of the two activities that I promised could be used for a time filler or for an entire activity if you wanted. All you need is some cards and chalk and chalkboard.

I got the idea off of an idea that I came across on Pinterest. You can read about it HERE. I thought it was a great idea but I am going to take it a few steps further.

So I started by created my word lists. This combined the numbers and key words of each of the Article of Faiths. You can download a copy of my list as a word doc by going HERE.
Once I had my word strips printed and cut, I cut out 26 pieces of card stock that measured roughly 4 1/4" x 2 3/4" and attached a word to each card. Note that this was the size prior to laminating them (which in the picture they are not laminated) which is optional but I find that things that are last a bit longer especially when it comes to games. 

Once you got your cards done, you are ready to play. Here is the rules to my version of the game but feel free to adapt to what ever fits your needs.

Start out by dividing the group into two. Make sure you have a good mix of older and younger girls that way the game doesn't become so one sided. Now in my ward in Primary each Sunday the kids all recite an article of faith, which ever is the one for the month, in hopes to help the kids memorize them. So even though you have some younger girls, unless they are non members, all of the girls should be a little familiar with them.

So like the blog that I saw the idea, I had one person from each side play rock, paper, scissors to see who went first. The team that didn't win the draw picked if they were going to be X's or O's. 

Have one girl come up and draw a card. Here is the twist, the team then decides if they want to play or pass it to the other team to see if they can recite it as best as they can. If the team that drew decides to play, they must pick someone to recite the article of faith (if they are picked to recite once they can not recite again until others on their team has had a chance as well-this is up to you on to how many that is). If they get it right, they can either place their team symbol on the board or they can erase a symbol from the other team (but NOT both). If they get it wrong, the other team has a chance to steal for a play on the game board. If the stealing team gets it right they get to either play on the board or erase a symbol from the other side. 

Keep in mind this is Tic Tac Toe so the object of the game is to get three in a row either up or down, left or right or diagonally. Play then goes to the other team where the above game play happens. Repeat until there is a winner. 

New Theme and Expansion

So in my absence so much has been going on. I am still working on familiarizing myself again with Come Unto Me curriculum while also trying to come up with new activities. It is a lot easier to come up with them when you know you actually have to do them ;)

Anyway, have you heard what the new mutual theme for next year is? I LOVE IT and wish I was in YWs again to take advantage of all the cool things that can come from this theme! If you haven't read about it, you can go HERE and fins out all about it!

I have switched software, again, for making handouts and everything, so you should start to see some things coming out for this new theme. Hopefully, this new program makes it a little easier to create again. My last one was taking FOREVER to just create the simplest things.

Anyhoo, as you read in the title of this post, I am talking about an expansion to this blog. If you have followed me on FB, you would have already read about it (you can like my page by going HERE). I have just been called as an Activity Day Leader (for the girls in primary ages 8-11) and I couldn't be more excited. Now, you are thinking great how is this going to help me in planning my activities for YW? Well, this is my answer. I consider, after doing so research, that Activity Days is like mutual/YWs on Sunday, rolled all into one-just on a mini scale. A lot of the activities that can be done for one groupe can easily be adjusted to fit the needs of either group. So starting in the next few days, you will start to see a little bit more on the activity side for ideas and possibly handouts. 

Thanks for your continued support and patience. Being a part time working gal while being a full time wife and mother has been a challenge at times and since this is my first go at motherhood, it has definitely been a learning experience.

To close, I hope you enjoy the new theme that the church announced and embrace this new change in my life. I know it will be great for both organizations! See you soon!!

image from Melonheadz LDS Illistrating =) 

Have Creative Youth? Sure You Do!!!

Photo taken from HERE

I don't know if any of you have noticed this announcement posted around your ward building. Ours is posted on our bulletin board next to the bishops office (you know the place where you can occupy your time when you are waiting to get in). 

This was mentioned at our stake training meeting last month and I forgot to post about it. The church is offering an international art competition for youth ages 13-18 to create a piece of art that goes along with the 2012 Mutual theme.

This would be a great opportunity to get your youth to create something that shows what the theme means to them and I am sure that somewhere it could go towards personal progress. Click HERE to get more information and the requirements for the competition. Good Luck and Have Fun!!!

PPW...a day late!!!

Sorry that I missed yesterday...it was crazy!! If you have been following this blog then you would know we had our YWIE last night and I spent most or rather a good chunk of the last two days (maybe 3) preparing for it. Which I will blog about in a different post. 
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I finished my Book of Mormon reading yesterday (Wednesday 11/2) at 2:30 pm. It was a bit of a challenge at times but it really was a worth while experience. I did learn a lot, not only about the people in the BOM but also about myself. 
I learned that the Lord does really look out for those that are faithful to his commandments and that follows his example. I have learned that greed and power are easy ways for Satan to take hold of our hearts. I learned that through true repentance that we can be saved and that if we have enough faith and are righteous that the Lord will bless us with what we need. 

I mentioned a while back about parable of the olive tree that was taken from the bible but can be found in Jacob chapter 5. As a leader of our ward's YW, I found this particular story to hit home. I learned that as a leader I am the person who tends the garden. It is my job to help see that the trees grow to the best of their ability. That they bring forth much fruit that they are capable of. I learned that each of my girls that I am asked to lead are a tree and there are those who are active (the good productive trees) and those who might be less active (the trees that produce but not as much as they could) and then there are girls who have been planted in bad soil and not tended and they are in a way "dead." As a leader it is my job to help those girls who are struggling to be the best of who they were meant to be, to reach out and graft together their branches with those of the gospel. To help their testimony grow and to let them know that they are of worth and they are Princesses and future Queens, that they have a father in heaven who loves them. 
It sounded better in my head 2 weeks ago but this is part of the things that I learned. It truly is a true book and another testament of the savior. He really does love us and knows us and wants us to be eternally happy not only here on this earth but in the life to come. I know that the teachings the book holds are true and that they are just as relevant today (if not more) as they were in the day that they were written. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God who was called to bring back the restoration of the Lord's church on the earth today. I know that President Monson is a true prophet that he has been called to lead the church today. I know that we are  also capable of receiving personal revelation if we have the faith and are righteous enough to receive it. We have the power to be examples of Christ and to bring others back to the fold. We might not all be called as missionaries to go to various places in the world but we can be missionaries here in our own ways. Whether it is by being called as a teacher or even if it is just leading by example. If we live the way we should we will allow others to want to know Christ as well. 
As for the rest of my personal progress goals, I did achieve my goal and earn my gold ribbon for virtue and my green ribbon for knowledge. My other two value projects are completed, I just need to finish the experiences to go with them. I still haven't finished my faith requirements that I have been working on...I got lazy and busy...oh ok...I got LAZY and put them off. I am going to set another goal to have earned my YW medallion before our New Beginnings (which I think is in Feb/March) so I will be looking at my goals and start completing them. 
How is your personal progress coming along? I would love to hear about your achievements (or lack of...if your like me sometimes) or any ideas that you might have or are doing currently to get your YW to work on Personal Progress. 

Personal Progress Wednesday!!

So here is my first progress report for Personal Progress Wednesday (PPW):

I am currently working on my Virtue Value Project: Reading the Book of Mormon. 

This is the only thing that is holding me back from earning my gold ribbon in two weeks (I really want the book mark!). I started this project back in November 2010 and since that time (up until a few weeks ago, I was stuck in the first few chapters of 1 Nephi. 

I made my self a goal to earn that gold ribbon by our YWIE night and I am going to hit it. I have 12 days to do it in (that way I can have it done by the last Sunday of the month to report on my progress) which means from the place that I left off in my reading I have to read 34 pages a day or 16 chapters. Yeah I know that is a lot but I know I can do it. Especially if I have any more nights like last night and couldn't sleep until 4 in the morning.

Right now I am in the middle of Jacob chapter 5 which means that I should be reading Helaman chapter 11 when I check back in with you next Wednesday. Yikes! That is a lot but you know what I can do it. I know what you are thinking, how can you possibly learn anything by reading that fast through the Book of Mormon. Well, I have learned a lot in just the few books that I have read and have been able to apply stories and teaching to my life. (Soon there will be a post in the next day or two to show case one of my analogies...ok it might be a common one but hey...I will take it).

Other than the Virtue value project, I am working on the Faith value experiences value 1 and 3 ( I already completed #2). So this is my project and goal. I hope to have at least experience #3 passed off by the next PPW. 

I HAVE BEEN DARED....NOW I AM DARING YOU!!

If you are a fan of my FB page, you will have seen me post about my friend Krystle and her dare to the world about reading the Book of Mormon.

I think this is a great thing and so I am going to pass along her dare to you....to read the Book of Mormon.

Check out her FB to learn more:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-dare-the-world/201043896583613?ref=ts