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General Conference is one of my favorite weekends of the whole year. It happens twice a year and it’s full of messages about Jesus Christ our Savior, and of hope, love, strength and peace. It somehow always comes at a perfect timing that I always need some heavenly guidance and inspiration. If you’re interested in tuning in you can find more about it here.
It’s a time to reflect, study and listen many speakers. Which can be really hard for younger listeners! Honestly it’s hard for older listeners sometimes too! haha A few years ago I was telling Brittany, my older sister about how frustrated I was with how I couldn’t listen to conference with little Liv. She constantly wanted attention and I never got anything out of it! She introduced a new tradition that our family now loves!! General Conference Bags!
They don’t have to be big or fancy, mine started out as little lunch bags. I did realize how nice it would be to have handles on the bag and have them a bit bigger for all different sized activities! THESE work perfectly for general conference after general conference!
After you get your bags, you can choose to print pictures of the quorum of the 12 Apostles and First Presidency, a total of 15 bags. Glue the picture to the bag and write the name of the person under the picture. This works perfectly no matter the age of the general conference listeners!
Brittany also stream lined this and created a printable that has the picture along with the name write on it! So all you have to do is print, cut and glue! She gave me permission to share it with you, I’ll link the free printable below! As a thanks for her being so sweet, I’m sure she’d love for you to check out her Teachers Pay Teachers Store! Look around and grab some things to fill your bags! You’ll already have some activities covered!
Now is the fun part, or the tricky part depending on how many times you’ve done activity bags. haha! To prep the activities! You’ll need 15 activities for the bags, but I’ve noticed it’s nice to have extras for other speakers, if activities finish up quickly or if someone doesn’t like a specific activity. I’ll share some activity ideas that you can add to your Walmart grocery pick up order this week so you can be set for this weekend! Add bags to your grocery order and shop your own house first, you could be surprised with what you can already find in your home!
I started the activity bags back in 2020 when Liv was just 3. She loved the activities! In some ways I think she like sitting and structured activities even more than she does now! haha
She was always so sweet and proud with what she finished and would show Dallin and I her completed projects. You can find a lot of inspiration for activities on Pinterest! While you’re there take a look at my boards and if they interest you I’d love a follow!
The activities don’t have to be hard, elaborate or expensive. You might just have these things already in your house! Simple threading activities are so fun for little ones, pipe cleaners and beads, General Conference themed coloring pages, Fruit Loops and yarn necklaces with a CTR shield on it, and puzzles.
Something I always try to do is stop at Dollar Tree the week before General Conference and grab some cheap and fun new toys, activities and fun new things for my girls to enjoy during conference! You’d be surprised by what you can find there!
Some things I do buy online like Kinetic Sand, I’m planning on making bracelets with Liv this time, special markers, and so on.
I always like to include making or eating a few snacks, a late breakfast or lunch. It’s always a fun way to pass the time!
Seasonal crafts are also really fun! For the October conference we do anything fall or Halloween themed! This little monster craft was so much fun. Another Brittany idea! She really is so creative!
Here are some activities that we’ve had in the past!
-match the stickers
-fall coloring book
-my grateful tree-glue leaves on the tree and write what you are thankful for
-make a paper plate truck
-pumpkin patch for kinetic sand
-paint a wooden pumpkin
-Halloween themed perler beads
-fall themed sand art
-paper threading, you can buy lacing cards HERE
-make the easiest pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, recipe HERE all you need is a can of pumpkin puree, spice cake mix, and chocolate chips
-church related coloring sheets
Other ideas for activities could include:
-make sugar cookies and decorate, I’ve got the best recipe!
-make notes or print out and cut some love notes from my older blogspot then run to neighbors in the middle or after conference
-make pizza that is shaped like pumpkins
-make waffles with this cute mini pumpkin waffle iron
Like I mentioned before it’s nice to have a few extra activities in a basket just in case if activities go faster than others, speakers that don’t have a bag or listeners don’t like specific activities. Think more general larger activities like coloring pages, clay, paint, and individual General Conference notebooks, one activity could even be to decorate their notebooks.
Just grab some bags and start thinking of activities that would work for you and your family!
Grab the printable below, cut and glue then fill your bags and your ready for this general conference weekend!
You can find the free printable for the pictures of the Apostles and First Presidency HERE! Thanks again to my sister Brittany for the printable! Be sure to check out her Teachers Pay Teachers store and fill your bags with some of her amazing resources for activities!