Activity Day: Ceramic Tiles

This week for activity day (church group of girls ages 8-11) we discussed President Monson's talk from the April 2012 Young Women's conference about how living the gospel and obeying God's commandments makes our lives easier.  I highlighted this quote:

Obey your parents. Obey the laws of God. They are given to us by a loving Heavenly Father. When they are obeyed, our lives will be more fulfilling, less complicated. Our challenges and problems will be easier to bear. We will receive the Lord’s promised blessings...  You have but one life to live. Keep it as free from trouble as you can.

Next, we discussed some specifics. For instance, how would making the correct choice not to steal make their life easier?  They could see how stealing could lead to loss of trust, loss of friends, and even legal consequences, etc.  We also discussed choosing not to use drugs- how would that choice bless them? Etc.

Then we painted ceramic tiles as a reminder to always choose the right.  We used small ceramic tiles from Habitat for Humanity Restore and Folk Art Enamel Paints.  Ahead of time I cleaned the tiles with rubbing alcohol and then traced CTR (choose the right) onto the center of each tile.  The girls wrote their names on the back of each tile in pencil- important since the tiles won't be ready to take home immediately.  Then the girls painted the "CTR" letters and embellished the remaining area.  I baked the tiles to set the paint and then later delivered the finished tile with a little easel to each girl.  I found the easels in a bag of twelve in the fine art section at Michaels... on clearance :o)