Primary Girls Activity Day - the sling

I searched a little on the web and found an idea for Primary Girls Activity Day that sounded really good to me. It fulfills two requirements. The first is from "Learning and Living the Gospel". It is "Tell a story from the Book or Mormon that teaches about faith in Jesus Christ. Share your testimony of the Savior." The other one is from "Developing Talents". It says "Write a poem, story, or short play that teaches a principle of the gospel or is about Heavenly Father's creations."

A few meetings back, we started talking about Book of Mormon stories that teach about faith in Jesus Christ. My girls did not know the Book of Mormon stories very well at all. I had to basically go through and tell them the stories so that they could pick one that they would like to focus on. When I explained that we were going to do a play for our parents, they decided that they would love to get their arms chopped off. So we chose the story of Ammon and the Lamanites.



We spent several weeks writing the play. We've practiced it a couple of times now. We still need to make props, costumes, and sets. Yesterday, I thought we could branch out just a bit and make slings for all the girls. That way Amman could learn how to "kill" a Lamanite with a sling. What fun we had!

I went to the local leather shop and bought a bunch of leather scraps for $4.



I also bought some camo cording at Walmart (I found it in the hardware section). It was about $4. I made a cardboard pattern that was 2"x4" and used my ruler to mark the center of the cardboard just about 3/8" from the ends. I used my Big Bite to punch a hole at those marks.



I then marked the leather using the cardboard pattern and cut the leather pieces out. I did that myself because I didn't want to waste any leather. I also marked the position of the hole. The cording was cut into 48" lengths.



When the girls got to the meeting, they cut the cording in half.



I had them burn the ends of the cording to stop the fraying of the cord. Because it is a plastic-type material, this is the best way to stop the fraying.



They then punched a hole in the leather using the Big Bite.



Now we tied the cording onto the leather and made a slip knot in one end to hold the sling securely on one finger.





And voila! the finished product complete with our stone of choice... a large marshmallow.



The girls had a blast trying this new toy out. Since we have Activity Day at my home and it is so hot outside, a marshmallow worked great. If our Ammon ever gets good enough to actually use the sling with the marshmallow, it won't hurt the Lamanite too badly. I didn't think to take pictures while we were actually doing this activity, so I've recreated what we did and included a clip from Youtube that shows how to use a sling.