Primary Time: Primary Quarterly Activities

by Miriam Caldwell | More from this Blogger

30 May 2006 08:13 PM

Once every quarter your Primary should be holding activities during the week for your Primary children. These are called Primary Quarterly Activities. Usually these are held on a Saturday, because it is easier for everyone to attend the activities. They are fun activities. One each year usually involves some sort of service. It is a great opportunity for your children to learn during the year.

The activities are based around gospel principles. The activities are usually planned with several different types of activities or games in mind. Usually there is also some type of refreshment that is available at the end of the activity. The hardest thing for me is to remember that the activity is taking place. Currently my ward has the Primary teachers call and remind us about the activity sometime during the week.

As a child I was very shy, and the activity days put me outside of my comfort zone. It really helped to have my sister tag along with me for the day. You can ask that your children be placed in the same group, if it will help a more reluctant child stay. You can also stay in the building, if you have a young child or a reluctant child that way if things don't go well, you can be there to help your child out. I personally stay for most of the activity because the drive is long enough that I don't want to go back out to pick up my daughter.

As you drop your children off be sure that they understand the expectations of behavior during the activity. Make sure that you arrive on time. Please be sure to pick up your child on time. The Primary leaders also have a busy Saturday, some of which they have sacrificed for your children, don't take up anymore of it than you have to.

My strongest Primary activity memory is the Pioneer trek we went on. We marched through are whole ward (I grew up in Utah) pulling wagons behind us. We were allowed to eat hard tack (yuck) and beef jerky (double yuck!). We sang "Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked" as we walked and walked and walked. I am sure there was more to it than that, but that is what I remember. Do you have any Primary activity memories to share?

Learn more about Miriam Caldwell

Miriam is a SAHM mom of three children. She has a daughter who is seven, and two sons, four and two. She loves being a parent and spending time with her children.

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primaryleaderidaho (167) 23 Jan 2007 12:46 PM

Just a help that the presidency I'm in now learned from the past presidency - a Primary program practice on a Saturday morning that ends with a pizza party. This turns a necessary practice into a quarterly activity. It helps us limit the times that we are taking the children away from their families. When you schedule a child, you schedule a family. We want to help preserve some of the time a family has together, yet still give the children wonderful quarterly activities. After the practice in the chapel, they eat pizza in the gym, then they run and play until the parents arrive. We really need the extra practice in the chapel before our primary program, because our ever expanding ward uses every classroom including the gym and chapel during all three hours on Sunday.

Miriam Caldwell (8030) 23 Jan 2007 09:16 PM

Great idea. When I was in the primary presidency a few years ago, we did this as well. The food is a great motivator for the children to actually come out to the practice!