Scripture Power Carnival and Primary Program

A carnival wouldn't be a carnival without popcorn and cotton candy!

2000 stripling warrior face painting
noah and the ark's balloon animals

adam and eve's apple bobbing

jonah and the whale's fish pond

knock samuel the lamanite off the wall

children of israel manna toss

scripture treasure chest jewel toss AND

daniel and the lion's den bean bag toss

pin the rock on goliath's head

sailing to the promise land boat race

king noah's bouncy castle

(and my wonderful counselor and her son!)

the theme for primary this year is "I know the scriptures are true." we have had so much fun learning about the scriptures. each month the children have received a reading chart so they can mark off the days they read the scriptures. at the end of the month, they draw a picture or write about something they learned that month in their scripture study and bring their paper back to primary. as a reward for bringing their paper back, the children get to put a "jewel" (a sparkly fuzzy) into the scripture treasure chest. they can also put a jewel in the box each time they bring their scriptures to church, are reverent in primary, or memorize a scripture.

our primary program was held in september. the sunday before the program, the primary children filled the treasure chest with jewels! to celebrate, we held a SCRIPTURE POWER CARNIVAL!!! on saturday, we met in the chapel and practiced through the program. after we were done practicing, each child decorated a prize bag and then went into the cultural hall where we had lots of carnival games, prizes, face painting, popcorn, and cotton candy. members in the ward volunteered to run the games so that the teachers could enjoy the time with the children in their classes and not feel like they had to help out with the activity. we also had the cub scout boys help out by making signs for all the games and helping clean up. all of the games were related to a story in the scriptures. the highlight was the large "king noah's" bouncy castle! everyone had such an amazing time! there was so much help that it wasn't a stress to plan, execute, or clean up. in fact, the whole carnival was cleaned up in twenty minutes because everyone pitched in.

the carnival was a great motivator for the children to sing and do well in the primary program and then on sunday in primary i used the carnival as an object lesson. i told the children that they were rewarded with a carnival for reading and bringing their scriptures to church, listening, and being obedient. if they remember to do these things throughout their life, then Heavenly Father will bless them abundantly...even more than a carnival!

i am so grateful to all the ward members that were so willing to help out. it was so fun to see all the children having such a great time. i forgot to take pictures until the very end of the event and had my husband hurry and snap a few. i wish i had more pictures of the children participating in the games and activities. it was an activity i hope they will never forget!