Mixers and Getting To Know You Games

How well do you know your classmates???

Back to School and Back to Seminary call for mixers, icebreakers, and getting-to-know-you games.

Many teachers ask their students to complete a form with information such as name, birthdate, contact information, etc.

I take this a few steps more and ask for where my students were born, the number of siblings they have, and what some of their favorites are such as candy bar, cereal, food, holiday, color, season, sports team, hobby, book, movie, school subject,person in history, etc. I ask them about their hopes, dreams, and goals.

Rather than file these forms away, I use the information for getting to know you games and activities. One example is:

I call 3 (or any number) of students up to the front and ask the class, "What do these students have in common with each other?" 

Even the students up front don't know the answer.

The class members start asking questions of the students up front and eventually they figure out the answer.

In this case, the answer was that all 3 of the students were born outside the USA.

The answers will be as varied as your students, for example, all of them like pepperoni pizza, all of them want to travel to Europe,  all of them have 4 siblings, etc.

Happy Back to School!

Latter-day Prophets Line-up

This is a fun and effective way to review the names of the Latter-day Prophets:
Place the name of one of the Latter-day Prophets on the back of each student.
(if you have less than 16 students, double up the names, i.e. place two names that are next to each other in succession on the same person's back-if you have more than 16 students, have the students without names coach the players with names on their backs to get in the right place)

Without talking, have them line up in order starting with Joseph Smith and ending with Thomas S Monson. Then have them check themselves.
Once they are lined up, sing the Latter-day Prophets Primary Song.
It is fun to watch them work together to get all the names in chronological order.

Skateboards and Scriptures

This idea was posted on Facebook by Thomas Mark Olsen
It is a Human Hungry Hungry Hippos game.
I used his idea and off I went to plan and set up the details for a super fun Scripture Mastery activity.
I call it Skateboards and Scriptures.
Who knew...Skateboards and Scriptures would be so fun together!!!
(On another note, this may be adapted for a party-scavenger hunt clues, etc. 
Adapt the balloon colors to match different holidays, seasons, etc. I used Valentine colors)

Other Adaptations for filling the balloons:
Cub Scouts-words to the Cub Scout Promise
Young Men/Boy Scouts- Scout Oath, Law, Promise, etc
Young Women- Young Women Theme
Young Men/Young Women- use the Scripture for the annual theme
Activity Day, Faith In God Activity, Primary Activity: Article Faith words 
Parties: Words to songs, Scavenger hunt clues, clues about the guest of honor's favorites, etc.

Because this is "Love One Another" week in our class and we are studying the
Doctrine and Covenants this year, I used D&C 25:13 as the verse and added two extra papers (see below) for a total of 18 balloons with papers in them.

This activity took about 25 minutes.
Everything was set up the night before
Set up was much easier than anticipated.

See the photos at the end of this post
Materials Needed:

• 1 Skateboard per team
• 1 Small-Medium laundry basket
• Rope - to attach to skateboard. (Use the same length and type for each team- I got 50' nylon rope at the Dollar Store)
• Balloons- enough for one word per scripture verse (1 color per team) 
• Tape for marking off "Team Box" on the floor in the room
• Scripture verse word strips to fill the balloons
• Treats or prizes 

Set up and advance preparation:

• Tape off the corners of the gym to make a "box" for each team to stand inside.
• Choose a scripture verse and write or type it out. (I used the words from D&C 25:13 along with a fill-in-the-blank strip of paper for them to write the reference  "D&C _____:_____" and a strip of paper with the question "To whom was this scripture specifically given to?")
• Cut the verse up so each word of the verse is separate. (I had 18 balloons per team)
• Roll up one piece of paper (with one word on it) and place it inside a balloon, then blow it up.
• Tie rope on to each skateboard
• Before team members go to their "boxed off" areas, place the laundry basket and skateboard with rope tied to in inside their box
• In the center of the room, scatter the colored balloons all over.
• Divide players into teams and have them report to their boxes after you have reviewed the rules for play.

Method of Play:

• When it is time for play, the first player lies belly-down on the skateboard with the laundry basket in hand. 
• They push off and capture a balloon of their team's color. 
• The players in the box hold on to the rope as the player pushes off and captures the balloon. 
• Once the player has secured a balloon,  the team members pull him/her back to the team box where they deliver and pop the balloon, saving the paper inside.
• As the team members pop the balloons. they begin to put the words in order to form a scripture verse. 
• I did not allow them to use their scriptures or Scripture Mastery cards. Once they were done, they called me to ask for me to check to see if it was correct. If it needed to be changed, I  told them, but did not give them a clue as to why/where. Once it was correct, then they could look in their scriptures.
• As the words come in, they are able to figure out the reference and answer the question that is in one of the balloons
• Once all the words are in order, the scripture reference is named, and the question is answered, the team calls out "DONE" and the teacher or leader checks their work. If they struggle to complete, have them use their scriptures as a reference.
• Prizes were given for each team. (I had a large bowl of treats. 1st place chose 4 treats, 2nd place chose 3 treats,  3rd place-2 treats, 4th place-1 treat) 

Rules:

• No touching the balloons with your hands until they have been retrieved with the basket and delivered back to the team box.
• Only one balloon at a time may be retrieved
• Player must remain on skateboard, "belly-on", when searching for and capturing a balloon.
• Basket must be turned upside down- with the open end flat on the floor with the ballon "trapped" inside as the player is pulled back to the Team Box.
• No team member may have a turn twice in a row, yet not all players must take a turn
• Balloon must be retrieved with the basket
• Balloons may be kicked out of your box with feet, but not touched by hands (if balloons from other teams float in to your space)
• If the rope is too short for the player on the skateboard to reach,  the players in the box must form a "human chain or rope" to extend the length of the rope, with one player always in the box. The entire team cannot leave the box all at one time, one person must remain in the box as the connection to the person on the skateboard and those holding the rope and linked together.

At the conclusion, we discussed the application of this scripture and reviewed the counsel from Elder Richard G Scott that to memorize a scripture is to gain a new friend.
Regularly, I encourage them to surround themselves with positive friends and the best friends they ever have will be the scriptures.

There was a concern regarding marking or scratching the wood floor when I was first considering this activity. As I talked with my leaders and a few other people, I came to the conclusion that the wheels on our skateboards are rubberized, just like the wheels on the chair cart that is rolled across the floor regularly. In addition, the tables and chairs are set up on the wood floor regularly and have rubber caps on the bottoms of each leg. I watched carefully, and with confidence, I can say that the floors were not harmed by the skateboards rolling on them. The kids weren't using the skateboards to do jumps or tricks, etc.

A safety note: I did not use helmets, but recommend using them. It was a detail I did not think of, but will add the next time I plan this activity. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Thank you Thomas Mark Olsen for this amazing idea.

Questions: Contact me at shaunahh @ gmail . com
#Seminaryactivity
#Scripturemasteryactivity
#skateboardsandscriptures

Scattergories

Second Coming "Scattergories" (see end of post for other adaptations)

We are studying the signs and events, listed in Doctrine and Covenants 43 and 45, that will take place before Jesus Christ's Second Coming. 

• Preparation in advance (not necessary-but helpful) the day before, I assigned the students to read D&C Sections 43 and 45 and note the signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ for the next class. (About half of my students did this and they are the ones who got the most out of this activity, but everyone participated and learned more than they would through just reading in class and making lists in their journals, etc)
• I divided my class in to teams. ( I suggest teams of no more than 3-4)
• Each team had a rolling chalk board that was out of the other teams' view. (you can give each team a large piece of poster board and that would be easy to place them side by side at the end)
• Based on D&C Sections 43 and 45 (where our lesson was from) they were to list as many signs of  Christ's Second Coming as possible in 15 minutes (this gave time for reading and discussion amongst team members)
• Instruct them to write neatly and make lists in neat lines/rows 
• I told them that once they listed the signs from those sections, they were also allowed to list any other signs from any other scriptures, just be prepared to name the source.
• When the time was up, they rolled their boards side by side.
• We started with one board, reading their list and comparing the other lists. Anything that was a duplicate had a line drawn through it.
• We went through all the lists and the team who had the most signs listed that the others did not list was the "winning team"
• We then discussed the signs that were most interesting, surprising, the ones that have happened already, etc.
• They chose the top 4 signs that they want to learn more about-which is where I will focus more time as we study. 

This was a very effective way for the students to dig in and study the different signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I was very impressed with how interested they were and it helped me to know where to focus our lessons and discussions.

It was interesting to note the teams who figured out the use the footnotes to find other signs of the Second Coming. They used the Topical Guide and their "True to the Faith" books as they made their lists longer and longer. 

Going forward:
There is a list of 51 signs of the Second Coming in Bruce R Mc Conkie's book, Mormon Doctrine, under the heading, "Signs of the Times" pp 715-738. This will be helpful to use some of this as we study these lessons.

Other adaptations: 
I used this when we studied the names of Christ. They were not allowed to use their books for this one.  ( I think I gave them about 10 minutes)

With or without looking in their scriptures, have each team list the names of people in the Old Testament, New Testament, or Book of Mormon. I am going to do this with people we have studied in the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History after a few more people are introduced. (again, give a time limit-usually 5-10 minutes is good but I gave more time of the signs of the second coming as they had to read)

If they use their books, it is good to have them be prepared to state the reference or location. 

Lehi's Vision Activity

I adapted this activity on one I have used in the past.

Click HERE for details

Today, it was all about avoiding the Large and Spacious Building (aka-the floor)

If you look closely, they are all standing on a paper plate

 When my students entered class, they had a paper plate and a marker at their seat. As we discussed ways to protect ourselves from being  distracted by the world, staying focused on the Tree in Lehi's Vision (God's Love and the Atonement of Jesus Christ), etc.,  I had them write those things on their paper plate. Some of them took it very seriously and wrote specific things like what type of friends they need, who they should/should not date, caution in media choices, etc. Once we were done, we went into the Cultural Hall for this game. I altered it by requiring them to keep their arms linked to the people on both sides of them. This made them work together and support each other on their journey through the mists of darkness and finally to the Tree of Life. At the end, we returned to the classroom and discussed the parallels of this activity to real life, staying close to positive peers, staying on the path, focusing on the end, avoiding the distractions of the world, etc.

Happy Teaching