Primary Activities Journals--A Craft All The Girls Will Love

Primary Activities Leader was probably one of my favorite callings, but it can also be challenging at times to come up with activities that build on gospel principles and teach the kids what they need to know. I knew that I wanted to have the activities be meaningful and not just fluff, and luckily there are a lot of ides floating around out there.

That's why I want to share this idea with anyone struggling and looking for ideas.

I have another post about creating an easy DIY journal out of a composition notebook, and it is such a simple process that the girls loved that many of them went on to make more books at home for other purposes. I will add a link to that post below:

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You Might Like: The Easiest DIY Journal You'll Ever Make!

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In that post I mentioned that I went looking for an easy method to make one so that we could use it for Primary Activities and the girls would be able to do them easily without a lot of help.  It was one of the BEST decisions ever. The girls loved them!

If you're a Primary Activities leader you're probably well aware of the chaos that ensues before you start the activity.  It's not quite as bad as what happens in Cub Scouts, but similar. You may have looked for a way to capture the girls' attention as soon as they arrive.  This, right here, is the answer you've been looking for.

First, make the journals

We used making the journals as an activity itself, but this was the activity that kept on giving.  I bought a couple of pads of scrapbook paper at Walmart and let them each choose the three coordinating pages they wanted to use.  I used my paper cutter to do the cutting, but after that, it was on them to make the books! You can get the detailed instructions here

I had three pages for the girls to glue into the front of the books:

• Why it's important to keep a journal along with tips about how to make your journal special
• About Me
• My testimony

We encouraged the girls to fill out the About Me page at the activity, but told them they could go home and think about their testimony and write it when they were ready. I will share a link with these three pages plus some special journal pages that you can download for free below.

You could print them on paper and just cut them out and glue them, or print them on my very favorite sticker paper. You could also mount them on colored cardstock or add ribbons or buttons to dress them up!

Second, bring the journals to Activity Days

Each time the girls came to Activity Days, they were to bring the journals with them.  They were free to write in them whenever they wanted, and we even encouraged it, but whether or not they did, we wanted them to bring them each time.  We also let them know we'd never read what they wrote, so they could write whatever they wanted.

Third, use journal prompts.

I had journaling pages each time they came for them to glue into their book.  I had markers, pens and colored pencils for them to color them and fill them out. Instead of sitting around waiting for the activity to begin, they could pull out their journals and start working on them as soon as they arrived.  It was a great beginning to each activity and the girls loved them!

The idea behind the pages was to teach the girls how to look for things to write about in their journals.  I'd seen journals used before and watched the girls flounder a little as they tried to figure out what to write about.  Learning how to keep a journal is an important skill and I really feel that sometimes it seems like a lost art.

This idea could be adapted to any group of kids!  You could use it for your own kids if you're homeschooling, for their scripture study, or just for a fun summer project!

Want the journal pages?

I also have some sample pages available if you'd like to check them out. These pages are available to download in my FREE Resource Library! The free download will include the three sheets I talked about above as well as some sample journal pages to use. These pages are unique from the ones sold in the kit, so even if you buy the kit, you can also grab the free pages!