Communication and Relationships
Building self-confidence
Purpose
Improve confidence in a selected area.
Description
Ask the youth to identify qualities that would help them grow temporally or spiritually and that they also would like to strengthen in themselves. Have each youth write an individual plan to increase ability and strengthen weaknesses in that quality. Have the youth take turns sharing with the quorum or class what they want to improve. Then invite quorum or class members to offer ideas and suggestions for how each youth can meet his or her goal. Follow up with encouragement and reporting among the quorum or class members. Consider incorporating some of the new or improved qualities and talents into future youth activities.
Friends of other faiths
Purpose
Strengthen relationships with friends and neighbors of all faiths.
Description
Identify other faith groups in your area. Host an activity for multiple faith groups to come together in a spirit of unity. This could be a service project, a shared meal, an outdoor activity or sport, or another event. Work with the bishop to meet with leaders of these congregations and coordinate efforts to appreciate one another and serve the community together.
Circle of trust
Purpose
Learn the importance of teamwork and letting others help you accomplish goals.
Description
Have the youth form one or several tight, closed circles with each youth facing inward, shoulder-to-shoulder. Each of the circle participants must commit to being completely trustworthy and totally willing to physically support another youth inside the circle. Have one youth stand in the middle of the circle with his or her eyes closed, arms crossed over his or her chest. At the appropriate signal, this youth is rotated and moved around the circle while his or her feet remain in the center of the circle. Repeat the activity with each youth who wants to have the experience of trusting others. Some youth may wish to observe rather than stand in the circle.
Follow the game with these reflection questions: How did it feel to be on the inside of the circle? What can this circle represent? When will we need to rely on and trust in others in our lives? How can we become trustworthy? How can we build our trust in the Savior? Note: Emphasize the importance of being safe during this activity. Individuals with back problems or other related health conditions should not participate.
Daddy-daughter/mother-son date
Purpose
Practice dating etiquette in a fun and safe environment.
Description
Have each young man invite his mother (or a sibling, aunt, etc.) and each young woman invite her father (or a sibling, uncle, etc.) for a group date held at the meetinghouse. The youth should escort their dates, treat them with kindness and respect, and pay attention to their date’s needs. Activities could include dinner, watching a Church video, playing games, learning a new skill (such as a particular dance), or having a speaker discuss dating etiquette. After the date, the youth should thank their dates for spending the evening with them.
Dating panel
Purpose
Encourage a healthy attitude toward dating and provide some guidance concerning relationships.
Description
Organize a panel to answer questions that priests and Laurels may have about dating and relationships. Consider including a mix of older couples, newly married couples, and young single adults on the panel. Youth could write questions ahead of time to allow panel members to prepare better. Youth and panel members could study the “Dating” section in For the Strength of Youth beforehand.
Floating your solutions
Purpose
Learn principles of teamwork.
Description
Form teams of two or three. Provide each team with 10 straws and about 25 inches of masking tape. Instruct each team to build a raft to support small coins. Tell each team that they have 5–10 minutes to construct their penny-carrying raft. Tell them that they may not pretest the ability of their raft to float. The rafts are placed in a large sink or pan for the testing. Float the rafts for 5 minutes and then begin to place coins one at a time on the rafts. The team with the raft that supports the most pennies without sinking or tipping wins.
Once all teams have had an opportunity to build and test a raft, they are allowed to reconstruct their rafts for another try. Each team uses the same straws but is given a new piece of masking tape.
Follow the game with discussion questions. What made designing the raft easy or difficult? How did you come to an agreement on how the raft should be built? Did the second raft perform better than the first? If yes, why? Were you tempted to see what other teams were doing while you were designing your raft? How is building rafts like working in family, quorum, or class? What principles and behaviors make problem-solving work well in families or groups?
Follower and guide
Purpose
Build leadership and communication skills.
Description
Form teams of two. One team member is a guide and the other is a follower. The follower is blindfolded. The guide leads the follower through an obstacle course. After some time, the youth reverse roles and repeat the process.
What did it feel like to be the follower? What did the youth learn about leading? What did they learn about following? What does this activity teach them about developing faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?
Get to know your bishop
Purpose
Become more comfortable approaching the bishop and seeking his counsel.
Description
Spend an evening learning about your bishop or branch president. Invite him to talk about his calling, his role as a father, his work and other duties, and his testimony. Then play some interactive games. Invite him to share what he has learned about leadership though serving in his calling. Consider having the activity in a casual setting so the youth feel comfortable getting to know the bishop.
Getting to know each other
Purpose
Get to know the other youth.
Description
Before the activity, ask the youth to bring three items that represent them. Give each youth a bag at the beginning of the activity. Have the youth place their items in the bag, and then mix the bags up. Randomly select the bags one at a time, and reveal the contents inside. Ask the youth to guess which of their peers those items represent. When each youth is correctly identified, invite that person to share his or her favorite scripture or hymn and why it is a favorite.
Getting to know the adults
Purpose
Learn how to interact with people outside of your own peer group.
Description
Seat youth on one side of a set of tables and their parents or other adults from the ward on the other side. On the tables, provide lists of get-to-know-you questions. Give each pair (one youth and one adult) a few minutes to ask each other questions. Then signal when time is up and have the youth move to the next chair, pairing up with a new adult. Consider pairing the young women with members of the Relief Society (or young men with members of the elders quorum) to help them become more familiar with these organizations, which they will soon join.
Greater than the sum of the parts
Purpose
Realize the great good the youth can accomplish as they work together as a quorum, class, or group.
Description
Ahead of time and with as little explanation as possible, assign each youth to bring a different ingredient needed to make a recipe they will enjoy (for example, have someone bring one egg; another, one teaspoon of salt; and so on). Gather for the activity in a home or another location where you can cook or bake. Ask the youth if they’d enjoy eating the ingredient they provided by itself or if it might be better combined with other ingredients. Then ask what you could combine the ingredients into. After some discussion, provide the recipe and explain that just like ingredients are better when combined, we are also blessed as we organize ourselves and become unified quorums or classes. Work together to prepare the recipe, and let the youth eat and share the results.
Group date ideas
Purpose
Come up with fun and appropriate dating ideas and put them into practice.
Description
Ahead of time, have the priests and Laurels brainstorm fun and creative date ideas. They might consider some ideas such as an indoor beach party during winter, a Christmas party in July, a game night in which the youth play playground games from their childhoods, a luau, a fiesta, and so on. Help them plan and carry out the evening. If possible, begin by having all or a group of priests pick up each Laurel and escort her or several Laurels to the location and then home again. If there are activities during the date that require pairs, switch pairs frequently so each young man and young woman interacts with everyone and the date is truly about having fun as a group. Review the “Dating” section in For the Strength of Youth and discuss what you’ve learned about appropriate dating.
Lines of communication
Purpose
Develop communication and leadership skills.
Description
Create teams of four, and blindfold each youth. Give each team a long rope tied in a loop, and give them 30 seconds to form a square with their rope without speaking to each other (or have them accomplish a different task that requires teamwork). What challenges did they face making a square?
Let them try again, but this time let one member of each group take his or her blindfold off (still, no one is allowed to speak). How was their experience different this time?
Let them try a third time, and allow the person who is not blindfolded to talk. How was the experience different this time? Discuss the importance of vision (perspective, foresight) and communication in leadership. What does this activity teach the youth about the role of prophets, seers, and revelators?
Finally, repeat the exercise, this time allowing all members of each group to see and speak. How did they feel now that they were all able to see and contribute to the solution? How does this activity apply to the way quorums and classes should work together?
Manners dinner
Purpose
Learn to be courteous to each other and show proper respect in different situations.
Description
Hold a dinner in which young men and young women practice interacting with good manners and respect. Before the dinner, discuss and demonstrate examples of proper and improper etiquette. In this activity, consider referring to “Dating,” “Dress and Appearance,” and “Language” from For the Strength of Youth.
No bullying
Purpose
Learn appropriate ways to prevent and respond to bullying.
Description
Invite a guest speaker to discuss bullying—why it happens, the different forms it can take, the consequences, and what to do about it. Invite the youth to role-play scenarios and determine what they would do if they or someone they knew were being bullied. Consider showing the video “No Cussing Club” or sharing other personal experiences about standing up against bullying. Discuss the commandment to love one another and Christ’s love for us (see John 13:34). How does this affect how we treat each other?
Ready, aim, fire
Purpose
Learn principles of goal-setting and teamwork.
Description
Divide the youth into pairs, and give every pair several small balls (or crumpled paper) and a bucket. Have the youth try to throw the balls into the bucket from several feet away and keep track of how many times they are successful. Then let them try again with one member of the pair holding the bucket and moving it as necessary. What do the youth learn about achieving goals and working together from this activity?
See-tell-create
Purpose
Learn good communication skills and cooperation.
Description
Make an arrangement of various objects (such as blocks, school supplies, or household items) without letting the youth see it. Divide the youth into teams, and give each team the materials needed to create the same arrangement. Allow one member of each team to see it. This team member can describe the arrangement to a second team member but to no one else. The second team member can communicate with the rest of the team only by answering their yes-or-no questions. If necessary, the second team member can return to the first team member for more information. When all of the groups feel they are done, they compare their arrangements to the original. What can this activity teach the youth about leadership and communication? How might it represent prophets and revelation?
Service auction
Purpose
Create unity among a class, quorum, or group as the members serve one another.
Description
Have members of your class, quorum, or group (or adults in the ward) list services they are willing to provide for others (for example, I will help you with your math homework, I will iron your church clothes, I will make you breakfast before school, and so on). During Mutual, have the youth answer questions to earn points (for example, you might award points to everyone who has his or her homework complete, everyone who studied the scriptures that day, everyone wearing blue, and so on). When each person has a point total, auction off the services, paying for them with points. Give the youth a deadline by which the services they are providing to one another must be completed.
Thank-you notes
Purpose
Think of others and express gratitude and appreciation.
Description
Secretly visit the homes of ward and branch members to write notes of thanks or encouragement on small slips of paper, and leave the notes at the door. Discuss the teachings in the “Gratitude” section of For the Strength of Youth to learn more about feeling and expressing thanks.
The art of conversation
Purpose
Become better friends with the youth in your ward.
Description
Have the youth sit in two rows facing each other. Before the activity, review the “Friends” section of For the Strength of Youth to learn ways to act in building friendships. Introduce a discussion topic, and have the youth seated across from each other discuss it. Change topics every few minutes, and with each topic change have one row of youth rotate so that everyone has a new discussion partner. Topics could include favorite hobbies, family traditions, goals for the future, creative dating ideas, what qualities you like in young men or young women, and so on.
Unbirthday party
Purpose
Get to know one another while honoring each youth.
Description
Ahead of time, have all the youth fill out a simple survey about their favorite colors, foods, hobbies, and so on. Mix up the surveys and randomly give each youth the survey belonging to someone else. Have the youth bring to Mutual (without spending any money) a homemade card, note, or small gift for the person whose survey they received. During Mutual, play traditional children’s birthday party games and have traditional birthday party treats, explaining that you are celebrating everyone’s birthday with an “unbirthday” party honoring everyone. Conclude by having each person introduce the person whose survey he or she received (using the survey responses) and give that person his or her “unbirthday” card, note, or gift. Or, names could be left off of the surveys and the youth could guess which person each survey describes.
Web of gratitude
Purpose
Recognize the love and service of others in the class, quorum, or group.
Description
Have the youth sit in a circle with one person holding a ball of yarn or string. Have that person identify a trait, experience, or act of service involving someone else in the circle for which he or she is grateful. Holding onto part of the yarn, he or she then tosses the yarn ball to the person identified. That person then repeats the process, also holding onto a portion of the yarn. Continue to play until a web is formed, connecting the group. (See Kristin W. Belcher, “Web of Gratitude,” Ensign, June 2006). Talk about the ways that we become unified as we love and serve one another. You could also show youth.lds.org videos about service to quorum or class members.