Activity Days: Cleaning the Nursery Toys

For Activity Days last month we decided to do a service project.  My partner, Mechelle, and I both have little ones that go to nursery.  And as many moms out there know, the nursery toys get gross.  Fast.  We figured they hadn't been cleaned in a while, so we worked it into our Activity Days plan.

One of the goals in the Serving Others section of the Faith in God books is to read and discuss the parable of the good Samaritan as told in Luke 10:30-37.  Plan and complete a service project that helps a family member or neighbor.  After completing the project, discuss how it helped your faith grow stronger.

We went to the church and inventoried the situation in the nursery.  And as we expected, the nursery toys hadn't been cleaned in a while.  We told the girls to look at the nursery and smell the nursery and tell us what they thought.  They thought it could use a good cleaning.  Then we discussed the parable of the good Samaritan and how it related to us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After the lesson, we got to work.  We gave each girl a cloth and had a bucket of cleaning solution to use.  We removed each toy from the cupboard and scrubbed.  We had to change the cleaner in the bucket several times because the toys were so dirty. When all the toys were clean, we wiped down the cupboard where they are kept and also all the tables and chairs.  We then organized the toys in the cupboard.  When we finished the nursery looked and smelled great!  The girls were really excited about what they'd done.

For this activity you'll need:

• Scriptures
• Rags or cloths for cleaning toys
• A bucket with a cleaning solution that doesn't require rinsing  (That is very important since many nursery toys end up in children's mouths)

We felt like this was a great way to encourage the girls to give service and teach them how important it is.



Goals Completed:  Serving Others #1