Individual Worth Experience #3 and Candy Ball Activity

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Individual Worth Experience #3

Read Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 and 121: 45. Do all that you can to build others and make them feel of worth. Everyday for two weeks, notice the worthwhile qualities and attributes of others. Acknowledge them verbally or in writing. In your journal write what you have learned about the worth of individuals and how your confidence grows when you build others. 

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So we have been having a hard time with the way the girls treat each other. The way that they talk to each other has been awful lately. With this on my mind, I felt like this was a great way to teach a lesson on how to treat others while passing off Individual Worth Experience #3.

The Lesson

- Read Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 and 121:45

- Talk about how we are daughters of Heavenly Father, who knows us and loves us. He feels the same about all his children.

- Read John 13:34:”A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

- Ask the girls how we can love others as the Lord loves us. Discuss how we have to see others the way the Lord sees us.

- It is important to get to know people as they really are. Do not assume that there is nothing of worth there just because you can’t readily see it. The same goes for yourself. You have gifts that are yet to be discovered.

- Looking at this ball you can only catch a glimpse what is inside. You have to take time and dig in to really discover what is in there.

- Share a story about how getting to know somebody better changed the way you saw them. Ask the girls if they have any experiences to share.

- Challenge the girls to really dig to get to know people this week. Talk about some ways you can do that. Talk about how this will help them see people the way the Lord sees them.

Making the Candy Ball

Candy balls are a lot of fun. We did one at Christmas with my husband's family and there were a lot of laughs to be had. This was a perfect thing to go with this lesson, as you have to dig into it to see all the goodies inside. What I did was make this handout for the girls. You can print them here. 

I printed off the amount I needed and then stuck them down inside a mason jar. I then used that mason jar for the center of my candy ball. Then I started wrapping. I started with pieces of plastic wrap that were about 20 inches in length and then started wrapping them around the mason jar, sticking pieces of candy in the wrapping as I went. This took a really long time. The trick is to use pieces of plastic wrap and not just one long piece as you wrap. You want this to be a little difficult or the game will go too quickly. 

Mine ended up looking like this. It was about the size of a volleyball. I am doing this activity with only four Beehives so I didn't want it to be super big and have the girls be going home with tons of candy. When I do this activity in May however, I will be doing it with the Mia Maid class and there are eight of them so I will double this size for that. 

As you can see, you really cannot see what is inside. Once I had the amount of candy I wanted to use, I started wrapping several layers of just plastic wrap so you couldn't see what was inside. That is the whole point of the lesson. 

Playing the game

After the lesson, pull out the ball and it is time to play!

Sit on the floor in a circle and have everybody roll a pair of dice to see who starts. The person with the highest number is first. Hand her the ball and let her start to try to remove as much candy as she can. But she can only use her hands. No teeth, scissors or other tools.

At the same time, the person to her left will start to roll the two dice to see if she can get doubles. I brought a pie pan for them to roll into so that the dice wouldn’t go everywhere. Once she gets doubles, she gets the ball and the person to her left starts to roll. The ball keeps moving around the circle from player to player until there isn’t any candy left.

Once we got to the middle with the handout, we talked about how the candy ball was like getting to know somebody. It was fun to see some of the parallels the girls made. I then encouraged the girls to continue to do the second part of the Personal Progress Experience on their own. Be sure to follow up!

This was a great activity and I am excited to do it with the other classes as well. I hope that they learned something from it and they will all think twice about how they speak to others from now on. 

2017 Personal Progress Kick Off Activity

My very first activity that I was in charge of after I was called, I wanted to be something that the girls would really enjoy and that could be a really fun way to get them excited about Personal Progress. This was not a night that I wanted to pass anything off or be focused on any one experience or value. That was for later. This was something that I wanted to do with the girls to introduce them to me and have a great time. 

These were the invites that I made and gave out the Sunday before. 

I got each of the leaders to bring a pie for that night and made sure I had my Leader Sheets updated to what they had on theirs. Before the activity, I made sure that the records were all updated online as well. 

I wanted to have some big game that all the girls could do together and have a good time. I found this Clue game here. It was perfect. Everything was all done and I just put it together. I assigned each one of the leaders a character and gave them their clues and directions. In our ward we don't have enough leaders for the amount of characters that the game called for. So for those that I didn't have a leader for, I just made envelopes and taped them up. Then I decorated each room with signs and streamers; each color representing their value. 

I also made a banner that I could reuse for each time I put on a Personal Progress activity. I told the girls each time they see it that they would know that it was a Personal Progress night. 

When they all got there and after opening exercises, I gave each girl a "notebook" and told them to pair off. 

Each leader was given a headband to match their value and were sent off to their designated rooms to wait for the girls to come and ask them questions. I then explained the rules to the girls and set them off to play. 

At they end they were all excited to see who won. The winning pair got a big candy bar and a cute banner that I found in the dollar section at Target. The girls all said that they had a great time and all the leaders thought it was a blast too. 

While we all ate our pie, I was able to outline our plan for 2017 and tell the girls what they could expect. They all seemed really pumped by it and were all excited to see what else I would have in store for the year. Overall the night was a huge success! 

Drive By Personal Progress Interviews

Each quarter my plan is to do Personal Progress Interviews. These are important for me to connect to each of the girls and to make sure I am updated on where they're at, I can update my sheets, and they can set goals on what they want to accomplish for the quarter. 

A fun thing that the Young Women's Presidency and I came up with was Drive By Personal Progress Interviews. I send a sheet around in Young Women's on a Sunday and they sign up for slot. Then on their day and time, I drive up to their house, they come out with their books, and we sit and chat for 15-30 minutes. The good thing about doing things this way is that I can talk to these girl uninterrupted by their families or mine. Also these girls can open up to me in a place that they know someone cannot come walking in at any point. 

I did these right after I was called, to get to know each one of the girls, see where they were in their books, what they wanted to accomplish, and ask them what I could do to help. These were so great and worked out so well. I really felt like I connected to each one of them. 

My Plan for the Year 2017

After I was called to work with the Young Women in my Ward as the Personal Progress Adviser a month ago, I started searching and searching for ideas and meeting with the Young Women's Presidency to get their thoughts and ideas, I made the following plan for our 2017 year. 

1. Rewards

I have found working with the youth in Sunday School, that a great motivator for them is candy. I wanted a way to reward the girls with something every time they completed one of the value experiences. They have to complete 6 experiences in each of the 8 values and at times it can be hard to keep these girls motivated. So I made this chart to help with that. I went to Target and got a candy that represented each value (orange was the hardest, but I ended up going with Dum Dum suckers after taking this picture), a shoe organizer, card stock paper, and found that the best way to attach the labels was Velcro. 

I bring this every Sunday and hang it up for the girls to see. So every Sunday, whatever the girls have completed that week and have had it signed off by a leader or their parents, gets to go and get their candy. 

The next thing that we will do is the scripture ribbons that are put out by the church for completing each value. I really love that this is in place. I think that these scripture ribbons and clips are beautiful and a great reminder to the girls each time they use their scriptures. The girls get one of these ribbons each time they fully complete a value with each of the 6 experiences done and the project is also done. 

One of the big things for me as a Young Women going through the program, was that once it was completed there was not much excitement from the leaders or parents on accomplishing this amazing goal. I do not want these girls to feel that what they have done is not amazing. So I came up with putting together a special gift from the leaders that is presented to them in Church after completing the program and receiving their medallion from the bishop. We invite their parents in to Young Women's and make it a little presentation. They share what they learned through their journey and then I will give them their gift.  This is something that I am still working on and will do a post on it once I have it all completed and put together. 

Just like receiving their medallion should be recognized and celebrated, accomplishing their Honor Bee should also be something that is celebrated. Again this is something that I am still working on, but will share once I have it. 

2. Focus and Follow Up

One of the big things that was stressed to me when I was called, was that while the leaders encourage the girls to work on their Personal Progress, there is not much follow through as the leaders each have other things they have to focus on as well. That is why I was called. They wanted someone who's sole focus was this program and all it had to offer for these girls. I wanted a way to help these girls keep their goals and to be able to follow up with each of them weekly. I made the following spreadsheet here that was very easy for me to keep track of what each girl was working on for that week and then I will also be able to follow up with them to see how they did that week and if they accomplished it. This gives the girls someone who is encouraging them and following up with them to see how it is going and if they need any help. Already by doing this for only two weeks, I have been able to help them sign off things. One girl was trying to do Knowledge Experience #5 but didn't know how to contact a marriage counselor (the chosen career of hers) to talk to. By talking with her, I was able to find this out and helped her find someone to talk with and sign off this experience. Hopefully this is something that can help you as well. 

Also one of the big things that I implemented was that the leaders all do the program with the girls. I added them to the bottom of my spreadsheet and do the same thing with them as I do with the girls; call and follow up. I really believe that having the leaders do this with the girls, will encourage everyone to be more focused on Personal Progress. 

3. Once a Month Activities

Once a month, I will be with a class during their class activity for mutual. During this time I will be doing a personal progress activity with them. This is a fun way to be with the girls each month and to help them sign off on some goals. These activities will vary depending on the class needs. There will be posts on each of these activities that I do with them. 

4. Once a Month Handout

I wanted a way to remind the girls each month to do their Personal Progress. This is just a fun handout they receive from me that gives that little encouragement. I decided on doing these on the 2nd Sunday of each month (so it is not Fast Sunday because I like to include a treat). This month I did this one that I got here.

This was a super easy one as all I did was make a bunch of chocolate chip cookies and put them in baggies and attached the handout. The girls loved the cookies and I hope that they were reminded to do their Personal Progress. 


So this is my plan. I am hoping to find out what works and what doesn't in these first few months and tweak my plan accordingly. I love these Young Women and am looking forward to my year with them. I am also hoping that this helps you all in your own Personal Progress journeys.