Welcome to the Beginner Level of Picture Perfect YOUth! Enjoy the journey of personal growth as you explore the personal development project. Let's get started!

 

Leader Guide -- Project leaders, teen leaders and parents are encouraged to print this manual. This resource provides many ideas to help enhance the project.

 

Picture Perfect YOUth Beginner Level Project Manual -- Print this manual for each member in the project group or if you plan to complete as an individual study project.

 

EVALUATION: Educators and volunteers are encouraged to use the Common Measures evaluation instrument to evaluate the Personal Development Project. Whether you are teaching Picture Perfect YOUth, Heritage Scrapbooking or Scrapbooking, this instrument will work! Common Measures Evaluations.

 

Tips on Using the Project Manual

• Manuals are divided into four sections centered around the four H's -- Head, Heart, Hands and Health.
• Some lessons have a section called "Developing the Picture" which is information about fair projects. Be sure to review this information and the activity associated with the fair project. Look for the blue ribbon!
• Every lesson has a section called "Panoramic View." This information includes links to videos, websites or suggested activities youth can do to learn more about the topic covered in the lesson. Some suggestions are great leadership and citizenship opportunities youth can do in the area of personal development to help them grow their project work. Those items in the "Panoramic View" section are provided below to make it easier to access the links.

 

Check out the extended activity links and project activities below for each lesson in the Beginner Project Manual.

 

Head: Managing and Thinking Lessons:

 

Let's Take a Goal Setting Ride

• Print and complete the Better Work Habits worksheet about things that distract you.
• Watch the CashVille Kidz episode 11 to learn about goals and goal setting.

 

Listen Up! Write It Down!

• Watch the YouTube video on Exam Strategies: Study Skills. Make a list of the strategies and try to use them when you are studying.
• Having a good place to study is important. These are some of the things that are key to a good study area: desk, comfortable chair, school supplies, computer, printer, files or bins, calendar, bulletin board, assignment notebook. Draw a picture of your ideal study area where your best studying might happen. Share your ideal study area with your parents and see if you can improve your actual study space at home.

 

Get On Track!

• Watch a video and read a little more about time management for kids.
• This website has 101 ideas of things you can do instead of wasting time! most are games you can play with family and friends. Pick out some of these activities and do them with your family or friends.
• Make a list of other things you can do to replace time wasters. Space is provided in the manual or you can record in a journal.

 

Stop, Look, Think, Decide

• Practice good decision making skills with your friends while playing board games. Games could include Monopoly, Battleship, Life, etc. Your decisions affect the outcome of the game.
• Keep a personal log (for a day, a week, two weeks, or whatever time frame you choose) of decisions you have to make throughout your day. After your chosen time frame is completed, review the list of decisions you made and see how well you have been doing. You can use this activity to improve your decision making skills.
• Read books that have scenarios of good decision making such as The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald or Tilt Your Head Rosie the Red by Yvonne Cathcart.

 

Heart: Relating and Caring Lessons:

 

Who am I? Who are You?

• Forever Friends Online Activity, University of Illinois Extension.
• Make a friendship bracelet for your best friend or group of friends. Give the bracelet to them as a gift with a note telling them how much their friendship means to you. A tutorial video with five different patterns demonstrated to get you started.
• Make a work of art for a family member or friend creating a name acrostic. Each letter of their name will be the first letter of a quality or characteristic that you like about that person. Give the name acrostic to your family member or friend as a gift. Review the examples on page 34 in the manual to see how to arrange the letters of the name. The description can be just one word or a phrase.

 

Getting Along

• Play the game "Compliments Tag" with your friends or class. Instructions on how to play.
• Create a "Bucket Filler" station at your home. Have a container or bucket for each member of the family with their name on it. Place a stack of small papers or sticky notes and a few pens or pencils near the "Bucket Filler" station. Talk to your family about writing compliments to each other and placing them in their bucket. At the end of each week, meet together and share the compliments that each person received. An picture of an example "Bucket Filler" is provided in your manual on page 39.

  

Manners Matter: That's Write!

• Explore the website, 40 Ways To Say Thank You.
• Take a look at the Examples of Thank You Notes posted by the Huffington Post.
• Here are a few more Examples of Thank You Notes.
• Thank You Card Templates
• Use scrapbooking skills to create stationery or note cards. Stamping is a great method to use. Visit a local scrapbooking store and ask if there is a workroom where you can use their equipment for a small fee.

 

It's Not Only What You Say

• "For The Birds" Pixar Video -- Observe the many different non-verbal communication examples used in this video.
• Review the video about Hand Gestures Around the World.
• Check out the video, Non-Verbal Communication with Ben and Austin.
• Explore the article from HelpGuide.org called Nonverbal Communication.

 

Hands: Giving and Working Lessons

 

Every-BODY Working Together

• Visit the Teampedia website and explore games that promote team building for small, medium and large groups.
• There are lots of other websites that have teambuilding games. Do a search and see what you can find.

 

Motivation Matters

• Discuss motivation with a parent or grandparent. Find out what motivated them when they were your age. Were there rules in their house that helped them decide how they were motivated such as allowance, chore list or other?
• Set a few goals for yourself on things you will do around the house without being told. Use the Motivation Grade activity sheet as a starting point. If you graded yourself low in an area, that might be one of your goals! Practice your self-motivation to get int he habit of doing the right thing.

 

Helping Hands in Action

• Explore what it means to do service learning. Find out what the steps are to completing a service learning project.

 

Health: Living and Being Lessons

 

Sometimes I Feel...

• The Elementary School Counselingwebsite has a lot of different activities on expressing feelings. You can try different activities on your own.

 

Better than Okay

• Kids Health: Information on Self-Esteem for Kids
• Consider a woodworking or art project in which you use a statement that reminds you to be a true friend to yourself and others. Here's an example: "The only way to have a friend is to be one." Ralph Waldo Emerson. Find quotes on friendship.

 

Gotta Have Friendship!

• Bruno Mars' song, Count on Me, is a great song! Check out this video or use your technology skills to create your own video.
• Watch this video called Friendship Soup Recipe. What ingredients would you include in YOUR friendship soup?
• Go to your local library or school library and check out the book, How To Lose All Your Friends by Nancy Carlson. Think about the bad behaviors described in the book. Do you act like that sometimes? What can you do to change your behavior into a more positive example?
• The Kids Health: Learn about Friends and Friendships

 

Stress Less

• Brainsmart, BBC has a video on managing stress.
• Kids Health: Information on Stress and Teen Health
• West Virginia Cool Kids Tool Kit is a coloring and activity book about stress.

 

Safe In My World

• The Safe Kids Worldwide has information on many areas of safety. Check out the website and choose at least three topics to review. What can you change to be more safe?
• Kids Health: Information on Staying Safe