I would love to tell you about our Bahá'í children's carnival because it was so much fun," reported Kathy Richardson, a Bahá'í from Grand Junction, Colorado and creator of the idea. "I thought that kids love to do things that are a little more active and carnivals seem to really appeal to them. Tangible little prizes that kids win at each game give them an opportunity to share some of the things they did with others."

The Bahá'í Carnival had many entertaining games. Each had a spiritual theme with prizes. The carnival was set up during the Salt Lake District Convention. Children were busy playing the games while the adults prayed, voted and consulted.

One of the games was "Liang the Lion, Bean-bag Throw." Liang was made from plywood, drawn and painted by Cyndie Hogan, also a Bahá'í from Grand Junction.  Liang had 4 different holes. One hole was an oval that was Liang's mouth as if he were singing. His belly had the largest hole and his feet had the smallest most challenging holes. Liang's crown was decorated with gold glitter and a heart on the crown shimmered with red glitter.

"I personally think the children had a good time because they were contributing to the Chile Temple," said Cyndie. Instead of taking prizes home, you won the right to give! If you threw a beanbag into a hole, a certain amount of money would be donated to the Chile Temple. What you would have won was donated to the Chile Temple instead.  Kids received a scroll with a quote and a picture of the Chile Temple that stated, "I gave to the Chile Temple," as a prize for participating.

Children could fish with a pole and line. The prizes were beautiful seashells with quotes from the Bahá'í Writings.

Another game was a pond with lily pads and frogs had to land on them. Children had to snap the back of the frog to make it jump. Flashlights with quotes about light were popular prizes.

How many stars could you throw into a bucket? Bahá'ís are the stars in the heaven of understanding. Neon-light bracelets were won for a lucky toss.

A virtues game with nerf balls shot into targets was enjoyable. The prizes were "dog tags" with various virtues written on them. Why dog tags? The theme was about being a soldier in God's army and spiritual soldiers wear virtue dog tags!

A matching and guessing game could be played with the theme, "We Are the Flowers of One Garden and the Beans in One Jar." Did the flowers match in the garden? How many beans were in the jar? Plastic jellybeans that opened were won and inside a prize was revealed. Candy bars were a treat!

The Virtue Spin was like a wheel of fortune. Whatever virtue you landed on was the virtue sticker you were given. Pencils with Ruhi quotes on them or buttons with quotes were also prizes given.

All the children received colorful bags that had the words, "No room in my heart for prejudice," written on them. The bags were useful to collect their many prizes!

There were all age groups from toddlers to teens participating in the Bahá'í Carnival.  The children loved it! Wouldn't you love it too?