The Enrichment Cottage

We have 2 groups that cater to mothers of young children; both meet weekly. One is “Potluck, Projects and Play” where women bring projects to work on (scrapbooks, mending, etc), everyone brings something to eat and the children play. It’s been at one woman’s home but while she was recuperating from having a baby, they held it at the church and both locations work well.

The other is a “Park Playgroup”. They rotate each week between our three neighborhood playgrounds. They just come and visit while the children play. Since e are in Arizona we don’t do it in the summer. We’ll switch it to “Swim and Play” or something since so many people have pools. Both have been very successful in allowing the sisters to connect with each other.

-dkhays 77

by: Stacy (taterhopp)

I’m the Midweek Enrichment Leader in our ward. We’ve got about 20 groups going currently. We have 3 different FHE groups right now. I just sent a sign-up sheet around to see who would be interested in packet swaps and the response was wonderful.

We’ve got about 10-12 sisters in each group. Everybody makes the same packet for each member of the group, then they get together and exchange each other’s packets and at the end of the evening, they each have 10-12 different themed packets. Here’s the instruction sheet I give each member. I ask one sister in each group to be the “group leader”. She’s in charge of getting everybody together initially, then setting a time limit to get packets done, keeping tabs on progress, then getting everybody back together to exchange packets. It works out really well.

“FHE Packets”
Packet Contents:

1. The group leader keeps a list of people and packet theme they are working on, so as not to duplicate.

2. Family Home Evening packets must contain song, scripture, lesson, story, pictures, game and treat idea.

3. The entire packet should go in a 10″x 13″ manila clasp envelope with the name of the lesson on the top of the outside. Also put your name on the bottom so we know who made it.

4. Any copies of games, pictures, etc, must be on cardstock and laminated! The cardstock can be white or colored, and you may do any coloring with markers, pencils or crayons. It must then be laminated to preserve and protect the paper.

5. You must also enclose a black and white original of the lesson and ideas
so if we want to make more copies in the future we have the original to do so.

6. Any material to be used (i.e., string, buttons, Popsicle sticks) that can
be enclosed in the folder should be included so that the whole packet is ready to open and use. If there are materials that cannot be put in the folder (i.e., a tennis shoe, a glass of water, food) a list should be made on the outside of the folder of the materials needed to be added for the packet to be complete.

Lesson Ideas:

Christmas Tithing Laws
Thanksgiving Priesthood Blessings Gratitude
Mother’s Day Being a Peacemaker Charity
Father’s Day Follow the Prophet Faith
Easter Word of Wisdom Kindness
4th of July Lehi’s Vision Modesty
24th of July Opposition in all things Sharing
Gift of Holy Ghost Missionary Work Caring
Articles of Faith, 0ne per person The Second Coming Scriptures
10 Commandments, one per person The Sabbath Day Cooperation
Family Preparedness Music Appreciation Testimonies
Prophets Stories from the B of M, pick one Honesty
Book of Mormon Heroes The Sacrament Happiness
David & Goliath Love at Home Reverence
Making Choices Loving our Neighbors Hard Work
Daniel & Lion’s Den Building Self-Esteem Example
1st Vision Courageous Pioneers Integrity
Prodigal Son Forgiveness Cleanliness
2,000 Warriors Obedience _____________
Anti-Nephi Lehies Prayer _____________
Service Jesus is Heavenly Father’s Son _____________
Baptism First Aid _____________
Abinadi Families _____________
Temple Marriage I Am A Child of God _____________
Manners Being Responsible _____________

These are suggestions shared by many women on our HFPE Group. Feel free to share your ideas too. Don’t forget to purchase our Cooking group ebooks to make your job easier!

Our cooking group is really a “taste and take the recipe” thing. We did have demo on how to make a basic cream base for soups but most of our women know the basics of cooking, they just don’t have a large collection of recipes they like and they are afraid to try new ones at home. So we pick a topic each month and have the sisters, who would like to, bring a sample and the recipe. That way you get to try it and if you like it you have the recipe right there. It’s been a lot of fun and we’ve gotten a wide age range of sisters attending. I’d have to say it’s one of the more successful groups yet!

-Karisa Walker

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We had it at the home of one of our sister’s. 3 sisters were asked to demo a signature dish. (one’s that they are known for, or that are their favorites). They did their demos and had samples, and basically just visited after that. We have a sister who is the leader for the group, and she coordinated and scheduled it.

-Robyn Jensen

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We had our first “Spoonie Loonies” group. It is a cooking and recipe exchange group. We had 10 sisters attending last night (pretty good since this is a long week-end here and many are out of town).

One of us prepared poached salmon and quinoa for the demonstration and everyone else brought a little something to taste and a copy of the recipe.

We had a great time, laughed a lot, chatted about food and nutrition and passed the baby around .

We will be meeting again on the last Friday of every month and have decided that we would like to make extra dishes for compassionate service as well as help prepare the food for the Christmas Social and the Anniversary Dinner in March. We will be compiling all of our recipes and cooking tips and later on we may make up a recipe book for the other sisters in the ward!

~*Lynn Lomon

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We have a cooking group going in our ward and it is doing great. The sister in charge is less active and she has it in her home. There is an average of about 8 sisters that go. We have a small ward so we are pleased with that. There are less active and non-members that go to it. The sister in charge decides what she would like to teach each month.

This month she did things to do with leftover turkey. In October she did fun Halloween ideas for kids. I know in January she is planning to do Chinese food. She has at least 3 easy recipes each month. She them splits the group into smaller groups and each smaller group prepares the recipes. She has everything pre-cut and pre-measured. She also has copies of the recipes for each sister to take home with her. After the recipes are prepared and cooked we all sit down and eat and evaluate them. It has been a lot of fun.

This month she also sent around a sheet that we could all suggest things that we want to learn how to cook. We have felt that this has been a great success in our ward. I hope this helps.

Thanks, Sarah Lee