We focused on demonstrating different types of service
- service to community,
- to Church,
- to God,
- country,
- to family/friend,
- etc.
Our goal was to get them thinking about different types of
service and how they could provide service everyday in one way or another.
- We had it on the same day that our stake was doing a
food drive and we asked that each child each bring in at least one
nonperishable food item. We then gathered them around the collection and
explained that the food was going to be donated to a local homeless
kitchen...that there are people and children that don't have enough money
for food. We tried to make it "real" so it wasn't just a
food drop. So they knew it was going to help people living close by
that went hungry.
- We had a station where the kids wrote cards to our
missionaries. We talked about how missionaries are serving God and the
Church. We talked about how writing to the missionaries was supporting
their service to God and the Church. If we had had more time, we would
have done something for the building as a service to Church ~ plant
flowers, pick up litter, straighten hymn books/clean pews etc.
- Country. They were all aware of the war that had
just started. We talked about how men and women were serving their
country. We made a banner (large muslin, grommets) where they put
there handprints in red and blue around the edges with fingerpaint. We
wrote a message to our troops. Transferred on two photos -- group shots of
the kids, and mailed it off to a local unit. You could also talk about what
"being a good citizen" is and doing something as an example (e.g.,
picking up litter nearby). We had them make Easter cards for local
nursing home patients (you could have the Sr kids write the letters to the
missionaries and the younger ones do the cards ~ all at the same time)
- Family - we talked about how serving our family is not
only doing what is expected of us, like our chores but doing "extra"
things for others. We had the kids raise their hands and tell how they
had done something recently for their family or friends.
- We taught them and sang the "Give Little
River" song.
We wanted to keep an emphasis on service through out the
year, so we made a "Service Rainbow" chart on poster board. Each
stripe of the rainbow is made up of little uncolored blocks. During
opening/closing exercises each week we invite a few kids to describe some sort
of service they've done during the past week. We emphasize it has to be
something "extra" that they don't usually do or are expected to do.
Those kids then color in one of the small blocks in one of the stripes (so the
rainbow keeps it's colors right). The rainbow ends in a pot of gold.
When the rainbow reaches the pot of gold, we'll have a special treat (don't know
what yet). We'll emphasize then that service isn't about the "goodies"
(the pot of gold) but about serving God by serving others. We explained how the
chart worked at the Activity day and had some of the kids start it off when they
shared a service they had done.
The "service rainbow" was something that one of
our Primary Counselors remembers from her Primary days with fond memories.
So we knew it "worked". It has been a good thing too. It gives
us a chance to let the kids "live" service by sharing and then we
reframe what they say and emphasize why it is (or isn't) service.