Activities for LDS Youth

As leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have an incredible opportunity to lead, inspire, and teach the youth. However, helping our youth come up with activities (particularly meaningful ones) week after week after week can be EXHAUSTING.

Many of our youth are struggling with their testimonies, improving their mental and emotional health, creating healthy relationships with their peers, making important decisions, and more. As a life coach I have spent numerous hours studying these topics (and how they relate to the gospel) and I have put together some PowerPoint presentations you can give during your weekly activities. There are also some free resources for you at the bottom of this page so make sure you scroll all the way down.

Activity-in-a-(Drop)Box

When you purchase an activity, you will receive an email with a PDF that includes the link to all the PowerPoint slides and exactly what to say for each slide. The handouts you need for each activity are here on the website as free downloads. These activities are packed with important information about:

• understanding our emotions

• teen development

• the gospel and how it relates to youth

• developing a relationship with the Savior

• personal development

• improving our health

They are interactive with places to stop and discuss questions and topics. They take about an hour to present, depending on how quickly you speak and how long you stop for discussions. Each one is $5.99 and there are currently three available:

• Joseph the Teen: Harnessing Your Unique Abilities to Serve God (currently free)

• Being Guided by the Lord: Learning to Use the Gift of Agency

• Improving Our Mental Health

I am planning on making four more presentations on:

• Loving our bodies/body image

• Understanding our emotions and improving our emotional health

• Goals, procrastination, and motivation (and how they relate to the Children and Youth Program)

• Using screens as tools and how to keep technology in its proper place

If you would like to join an email list to be informed when the new ones are finished, click here.

Joseph the Teen: Harnessing Your Unique Abilities to Serve God

We have often been reminded that Joseph Smith was only 14 when the First Vision occurred, but have you ever considered how being a teenager might have affected his experiences?

Teenagers are in a unique stage of development and they can use that stage to connect with Heavenly Father in extraordinary ways. In this presentation you will use Joseph Smith’s experiences as a teenager as you discuss three important topics:

1) “Choosing for yourself” - you will talk about Joseph’s confusion before the First Vision, the amazing teenage brain, and how teens can find truth in the middle of so much noise.

2) “Learning to communicate” - you will briefly discuss the time right after the First Vision, why it’s hard for teens to communicate sometimes, and how learning to really pray can change their lives.

3) “Finding belonging” - finally, you will talk about the way Joseph was treated after the First Vision, why it’s so important for teens to feel like they belong, and discuss some ways teens can find real belonging.

I have given this presentation almost thirty times (mostly over zoom during the quarantine) and you can read a few reviews if you scroll all the way to the bottom of this page past the free resources. It is an absolutely amazing activity that will stay with you and your youth for a long time.

Download the handout that goes along with with this presentation here.

Being Guided by the Lord: Learning to Use Our Gift of Agency

Our youth are facing some very important decisions and many of them feel overwhelmed and confused by all of the options out there.

In this presentation you will discuss integrated decision-making and how our bodies, hearts, minds, peers, and the Spirit can all affect the decision making process. You will briefly talk about:

• Sleep, Maslow’s hierarchy, and our physical needs

• What emotions are and how to resolve them

• Fear and how it impacts our decisions

• ANTS - Automatic Negative Thoughts and cognitive distortions

• Peers and peer pressure

• The social feedback loop and the Imaginary Audience

• God’s feedback loop

• Heavenly Father’s blueprint

• And more!

Here are the two handouts you will need during the activity:

Physical Needs Checklist

15 Cognitive Distortions

Print one for each youth and have it ready for them when you do the activity.

Improving Our Mental Health

Many of our youth have a lot of questions about their mental health, so this is a much-needed presentation that can open up important conversations. In this presentation you will discuss:

• What mental health is and isn’t

• How to recognize mental illness and when to seek help

• The pros and cons of stress

• How to deal with overwhelm

• How to turn off your anxiety alarm

• Depression and how to recognize it

• Screens and social media and how you can keep them in the proper place in your life

• Ten things you can do to improve your mental health

• How Heavenly Father shows us He cares about our mental health

I have put together a special page with PDF’s, videos, scriptures, talks, and other resources that can help your youth learn more about mental health. You can share it with them over text or email.

https://www.theinspiredteen.com/youth-resources

Here are the handouts that you can print to go along with this presentation:

50 Coping Strategies

9 Ways to Improve Your Mental Health - this has the website link on it, as well, so your youth will have it to take with them when they go home.

Learning to Love Your Body

Coming soon!

PDF’s that could go along with this activity:

65 Compliments (that have nothing to do with your body!)

Physical Needs Checklist

23 Body Facts

 Reviews

“Thank you for the lesson! I learned a lot. One of my favorite parts was when you explained why Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ came to Joseph when he was a teenager. I think that is very interesting!” Connor, YM

“That was so great! I learned so much!! I have always wondered why Heavenly father chose a teenager, but it all makes perfect sense now! Thank you so much for enlightening us all!!” Shelby, leader

“Thank you for such a wonderful presentation! I love the connections you drew between Joseph Smith and what our awesome youth might be going through/feeling/thinking. I feel enlightened myself and feel like I learned some things to help me with my calling and my own kiddos.” Tami, leader and parent

“I learned more about Joseph Smith. You said interesting things. Thanks for spending time to do this. I did not know that Heavenly Father needs teenagers.” Eric, YM

“Thanks for the excellent fireside. Your slant on a young Joseph Smith and the teenage mind gave me a different insight on his challenges. Keep up your good work with the rising generation. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge, skills and testimony with our youth.” Ken, Bishop

“I really liked how much variety there was in activities and topics. Even though it all came together in the end, I didn’t feel like something was talked about for too long. My favorite part was learning about the Imaginary Audience and how it affects decisions I make.” Alyssa, YW

“This was well made. I understood everything, it wasn’t boring, and I learned a lot of things I didn’t know before about making decisions, like how to think smart before doing or saying something.” Aaron, YM

“I was in search of a youth speaker that would be inspiring to the teens in our ward. I discovered Rachelle Sorensen by googling "inspiring teens." I was thrilled to read her blog and feel her sense of high value she placed on youth. That is exactly what the youth need, someone that believes in them. After researching a bit, I reached out to Rachelle and invited her to speak to our youth. She was very responsive and made it easy to work with her. She was very accommodating to our schedule, even though we had to push things around a bit. When she came out to give the presentation on "Joseph the Teen" she came prepared and early. Her presentation was wonderful, it was very interactive with our youth. She was able to get their attention and hold it throughout. Some youth gave talks in church a few weeks later and referenced a few things from her presentation about the Book of Mormon and how their testimonies were strengthened. That is the goal of every youth leader. I am grateful to Rachelle for sharing her talents with us.” Teresa, leader