Good Works 3 - Fear Factor - LDS Style!

Value experiences: Good Works 3

Date: July 23, 2014
Leader: Sis. Fife
Participants: Teagan, Hailey, Brittany, Ashley, Emily, Sarah, Caila, Heidi, Erin, Rachel, Kylee, Mikayla, Maddy V., Hannah Y., Shanarah, Sandra, Sis. Warner, Sis. Fritzler

 What we did: This has probably been one of my most favorite activities we've done so far! This was so much fun! We started out in the RS room talking about Good Works and bearing one another's burdens and about what drives us, our fear or our faith. I assured them that I would never do anything to them that was bad, that if they had faith in their leaders, that we would never do ask anything bad from them, everything would be okay through the game...I wanted them to know that I wasn't going to ask anything of them that was dangerous or unhealthy (unlike the real Fear Factor game!) Then we went into the gym for our Fear Factor game. I had all the stations covered with tablecloth so they couldn't guess what the challenges were going to be until we got to each one and revealed it. The girls were divided up into four teams (Spiders, Scorpions, Bees, and Roaches) I had 6 game stations set up around the gym and we went through them one by one. Three were all plays and the others only needed two girls per team. I made sure the girls knew they never had to do anything they didn't want to and could back out of any task they didn't want to do. We encouraged the girls to bear one another's burdens and comfort those who needed comfort during the challenges. (Yeah, it might have been a stretch to get it to fit in with this value, but I really wanted to do this activity with the girls!) 

The different challenges are listed below. Each girl that participated and completed the tasks below got a point for her team. If they couldn't swallow or backed out of a challenge no point was awarded.


 Accomplished at the Activity: 
        * We discussed what meant to bear one another's burdens and comfort those who stand in need of comforting.
        * We read Mosiah 18:7-10


Still need to do:
   * List in your journal three ways you can comfort others or help them bear their burdens.

   * Do the things on your list and tell a leader or family member about it and how your attitude and understanding have changed.

I had planned on doing this game outside but it ended up raining all day and night, so it was moved inside. I cancelled this challenge due to space. This was going to be a trust fall type of game.

The first challenge was The Yolk's On You. This was an all play. I had two dozen eggs and the girls didn't know which ones were cooked and which were uncooked. Any girls that wanted to came up, chose an egg, and were going to to crack them on their heads at the same time. About half came up. I had plenty of paper towels and spare towels for the girls to use and assured them that I would clean up whatever messes there were. On the count of three they all slammed their eggs on their heads and found out that I had cooked all the eggs - no one got slimed :-)

The second challenge was The Baby Food Buffet. I brought some baby food from home and took the wrappers from them so you couldn't see what they were. I brought green beans, mixed veggies, peas, and chicken. This was a challenge for two girls from each team. Each team chose one bottle of food and had to take a spoonful of it and swallow. Each girl that swallowed her baby food got a point for her team.

 Team one chose chicken, which in my opinion was the worst flavor there! I think they agreed!

The third challenge was Canine Cuisine. I made it look like two girls from each team were going to have to eat a spoonful of dog food. I had bought a dog bowl prop from the dollar store and a can of dog food, but what I actually put inside the bowl was corned beef hash...it looks and smells close enough to dog food that it was convincing to a lot of the girls!

Our fourth challenge was Go Fetch. We don't have pictures of this one, but it was a relay for all the girls on the teams. I had two tables set up and they had to relay race from one to the other. On the first table was a dog treat (a Slim Jim cut into 2" pieces) that they had to pick up with their mouths, run over to the second table across the gym and put it on there, and then run back and tag their waiting teammate so she could go. Most of the girls knew they were Slim Jims and not dog treats and many ate their piece once they had run their leg of the race!

The fifth challenge was where we started getting more difficult. This was Troubling Taste Testers. I had a long table set up with 6 covered foods. This was an all play again and the teams lined up (there were four girls in each team so the first player on each team came first, then the second player of each team tried the second food, and so on. Two girls from each team had to go twice since there were six foods to try) and a YW leader drew a number from a basket that determined which food that wave of girls would be asked to try. Most of the foods came from my pantry so they weren't anything really weird, but we do eat a lot of oriental foods, so the girls were weirded out by some of the foods! 

 We had pickled okra...the girls were scared of it at first, but then Kylie went back for seconds, thirds, and then tried walking off with the whole jar! Those were a hit :-)

 The squid was weird for everyone except Teagan who eats it as a snack at home. We did have some girls opt not to try this one!

 The third food was seaweed and while most girls who tried it were afraid of it at first, I had a lot of girls come up and ask for some after the challenge was over.

 The fourth food was lychees - an oriental fruit. It looks weird, like sheep eyeballs, and has a unique texture similar but are delicious! Some girls opted out of this and were sad once they saw how much the other girls enjoyed them.

 The fifth food was cooked chicken liver. This was a food that I don't keep at home and I had to buy...I'm not a liver lover and neither were any of the girls!

The last food was cooked chicken hearts. These are a snack at our house and many of the girls backed away from them.

Our last challenge was the hardest for most girls. It was our Creepy Crawlers station. I had a container that had plastic flies on the bottom and each girl who could reach in and take out one fly would get a point for her team. Crawling around on those plastic bugs were live crickets and meal worms!  This was an all play for whoever wanted to do it. It was interesting to watch the girls' reactions to this challenge. Some of the girls who had no problem trying squid or dog food or any of the other odd foods had a hard time with this challenge while others who opted not to try some of the foods picked them up with no hesitation. (Most of them had lizards or snakes at home that they fed crickets to anyways, so touching crickets was nothing new to them!)

Over all I think all the girls had a great time. This was one of a few activities that I can remember where ALL the girls stayed focused and active throughout the whole night. No one wandered off or went for water breaks. All the girls were great in supporting each other, whether you accomplished a task or backed away from one. They all cheered and chanted their support when one of them had a particularly difficult time at a task she really wanted to finish. They comforted each other well! 

I made each girl a medal of honor for participating in the activities and told them that the refreshments were whatever foods that were left that they wanted to eat! I came home with the squid, livers, hearts, and corned beef but all the rest were eaten! They loved eating the eggs, okra, lychees, seaweed, and Slim Jims!!