Foundation of Faith

I posted a year ago about displaying pictures of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve during General Conference. As April's General Conference ended, my husband and I decided that we didn't want this to be a twice a year event. We decided to teach our kids FHE lessons based on General Conference talks during the next six months and pull out the picture of the speaker to help them remember their faces.

My kids are 4 and 2.5, so this is pretty basic, but I covered President Eyring's talk (Mountains to Climb) last week. I focused on having a foundation of faith. First we discussed what a foundation is. I used some blocks to build first an unstable and then a stable foundation under their playhouse. Then we looked at each of the blocks in the foundation and gave ideas for what they could represent: personal prayer, family prayer, reading the Book of Mormon, memorizing Articles of Faith, sharing, forgiving, etc. As we named them, we used them to build a foundation and then put the house on it to see how stable it was.

Foundation of Faith

Families are Important

Cousins with their Grandpa

My husband and I both have big families and many of them don't live nearby so our children rarely see them and have a hard time remembering them. I decided to make a picture album with a picture of each family.

After I made this album we showed it to our children for FHE and emphasized the importance of our families. We talked about how important it is to help each other out and pray for each other (among other things). We talked about how we are sealed together as a family and can be together always. We then went through the photo album and looked at each family and named everyone off. We tried to talk about past experiences with certain cousins and/or aunts and uncles so that our children would better recognize and remember them.

We now keep the photo album in our living room for our children to look at. We look at it on occasion and go over everyone with our children. Our kids have a lot of fun looking at it. We also try to send home made birthday cards to family members when it is their birthday. When doing this we refer to our photo album so my kids have a better understanding of who they are making the card for.

Song Ideas: A Happy Family, Families can Be Together Forever

Families are Important

I am thankful for the earth

For FHE a couple months ago my family decided to go up the canyon to take a look at nature. We brought dinner and had a picnic and then after dinner went on a hike. 

During the hike we talked about all the beautiful things we saw and how Heavenly Father made everything on the earth. We emphasized how we need to try to be thankful for everything he has given us. We had our three year old point out all the things he could see in nature. He got really into it and was super excited as he walked by and pointed out every tree and rock and bush. We had him try to figure out what his favorite thing in nature was. It also started to rain which was another learning opportunity for our kids. Being in Utah, it was raining and sunny at the same time...

Just the other day we did something similar to this but went to cascade springs and walked around. We once again talked about all the beautiful things in nature and how heavenly father made them for us. We encouraged our children to be thankful for all these things. Since the leaves were changing colors, we also gave a little lesson on the season fall.

Hiking with young children is very possible. We do it all the time, lasting several hours sometimes. All you need is a good  baby/toddler carrier and you are set!

I am thankful for the earth

Quick and Simple Lesson Ideas

Sometimes the simplest lessons are the best...and the easiest when preparation time is tight!

• If you teach church, teach your children the same lesson on Monday that you taught on Sunday. If you are a primary teacher you might not need to make any adjustments to the lesson!
• Choose an article of faith to talk about and possibly memorize. You can also do a discussion of the articles of faith as a whole.
• Choose one of the commandments to talk about and memorize. You can also do a discussion of the commandments as a whole.
• Pick a favorite church song and talk about the words in it or learn a new church song that you can discuss as you learn it.

Quick and Simple Lesson Ideas

Because I have Been Given Much

Opening Song: Hymn #219: Because I Have been Given Much

Scripture: Mosiah 2:17  And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn ^awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the ^bservice of your ^cfellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

It is important for children to not only learn about service while they are young, but to actively take part in serving. Whether it be others in your immediate family, a neighbor, friend, relative or even a complete stranger, it is vital to their understanding it's importance. There are many ways you can encourage service. Here is one example we are working on currently in our little family.

In our neighborhood there is a family who is expecting their first child within a couple weeks. They are not currently active in the church. The husband has been out of work for at least two years, maybe longer. They have very little, especially considering the needs of a new baby.

As luck would have it, they are expecting a baby girl. We have two girls and have been blessed with much in way of clothing for our children. So, although we may not be able to help this family out monetarily we can give them some of our childrens clothing. For our FHE activity we went through our overflowing boxes and put together a couple large bags full of clothing. Although we have never met this couple, it gives us great joy and satisfaction know we can serve them. It is wonderful to be able to include our children in this service and to see how willing they are to give to those in need.

Because I have Been Given Much

Scriptures Stories

This is an idea my husband picked up from our Ward Conference back in February. This is seriously one of the best ways we have found to really teach the scripture story for Family Home Evening. Our kids are currently 5, 4, and 2.

You get a large sheet of paper and cover your table with it. My husband got this at a local copy shop. 

You then gather around the table and everyone has crayons. You choose a scripture story or scripture figure to talk about. My husband went with Nephi. 

My husband just started drawing a scene from one of his favorite stories of Nephi from the Book of Mormon. As he did so, he asked our oldest what he liked about Nephi. Our son's favorite is Nephi building a boat, so he drew a boat. The picture below is in the middle of the lesson; there are a lot of things to draw about Nephi. 

This was great. Kids listen while coloring. It gives you the chance to talk about the stories and the great things you learn from the stories, and it is all in a very casual way--it didn't feel forced at all. It gives kids a visual, and it also connects the learning with physical movement, which helps solidify learning.

I can see this being done for various holidays and celebrations. Maybe for the days leading up to the Ressurrection. Maybe during July as you talk about the Pioneers. Perhaps around Christmas and talking about Christ's life. 

This one is definitely a keeper!

Scriptures Stories

Easter Week

The April 2011 Friend has a wonderful way to learn about what Jesus did during the 8 days leading up to Easter. You could read this all at once, or you could read them the 8 days leading up to Easter. To find it, go here.

Easter Week

The Importance of Work

This lesson was inspired by Chapter 27 of the Gospel Principles manual entitled, "Work and Personal Responsibility."

We discussed how it was important to work and how Heavenly Father and Jesus worked to create the world. Then when Adam came to the earth and was sent out of the Garden of Eden, he and Eve were commanded to work. We talked about how if they didn't work, how would they get food for their children? or have clothes?

We talked about how as a family, mothers and fathers are commanded to take care of their children, and thus they need to work.

We also brought up a quote from the Gospel Principles manual about how "Children should do their part in the work of the family." We discussed how they needed to help with things that they are asked to do, and even things that they are not asked to do. We had this head into introducing our new job chart, but you could talk about anything.

Stories that you could use are Nephi and obtaining the brass plates, parable of the talents, stories about pioneer ancestors working hard, etc.

We also talked about how working brings us joy and helps make us happy because we are improving ourselves. We also talked about how working helps us to enjoy when we do not work.

Based on what you include you can tailor this to any age group.

The Importance of Work

Prioritizing Things that Matter Most

This lesson stems from Elder Dallin H. Oaks conference address "Good, Better, Best," , October 7, 2007 found here.

Another good reference is Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk "Of Things That Matter Most," during the October 2, 2010 found here.

 Goal: To teach children the importance of doing the things that matter most first.
Things needed for object lesson:
-Jar or see-through container of some sort
-a few larger objects like pink pong balls, rocks, tennis balls -depending on the size of your container
-Lots of little items to fill space such as dry rice, dry beans ect.


There are so many things to do in our day to day that sometimes we forget to do the things that matter most. Discuss with your children the most important things we do each day. Some answers may include: pray, scriptures, journal, family time, family meals, ect.

Then you can discuss some other less important activities that can be done each day.

There is an "oldie but goodie" object lesson that works really well. Take your jar and list with the kids the non-important things we can do each day that fill our time. Pour the smaller objects into the jar. Then talk about the important things we should be doing each day and try to then put the larger objects in. They do not fit! Then do this activity the other way around. Putting in the most important things first, then the lesser important, and they all fit perfect!

Teach the children that when we do the things we should each day, our Heavenly Father will help us make time for everything else. If you want you can write on your golf balls (or other objects) what the most important things are, then leave the jar somewhere where people can see it throughout the week.

Quotes that go along with this from Elder Oaks talk are:
"We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for doing it. The number of good things we can do far exceeds the time available to accomplish them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.

As we consider various choices, we should remember that it is not enough that something is good. Other choices are better, and still others are best. Even though a particular choice is more costly, its far greater value may make it the best choice of all."

Prioritizing Things that Matter Most

Friendship

My daughter is just getting into that age where I will find her speaking not-so-nice to her friends sometimes. I know from here, it only gets worse (especially with girls!). So, I thought it would be good to have a lesson on friends and how important and special they are but also how we should treat them.


Make a heart (perfect for Valentine’s Day!) with either the word FRIENDSHIP or a picture of friends on it. Underneath write the scripture: “A friend loveth at all times.” Proverbs 17:17. Attach 4 or 5 strings around the heart. On a corkboard (or something similar) use thumbtacks or tape to attach the strings and hang the heart up (don’t attach the heart itself).

Sing “Love one Another”

Ask the children who some of their friends are. Tell who some of yours are too. Ask them questions like what fun things do they do together, why they like them, ect. Ask them how they feel if their friends are mean to them. Explain that friendship is a great blessing Heavenly Father has given us and we need to treat it that way. Just like we don’t like when our friends are mean to us, we need to remember to act nice to them as well.

Activity: draw attention to the heart and strings. Explain that you are going to tell them some stories about different friends. (I have a few, but come up with some of your own that may be specific to your child)

1. Susan and Anna are playing together. Anna starts making fun of Susan. They start calling each other names and their friendship is broken. (Cut one of the strings)

2. Jimmy pushed Alan because he wanted to go first. The first push led to another and soon Alan and Jimmy were hitting and hurting each other. Another friendship is broken. (cut another string)

3. Milly had a bad of candy but wouldn’t share with Justin at all. After a bug argument over sharing and selfishness, Justin went home. Their friendship is hurt. (cut another string)

Continue sharing stories till only one string is left. Tell the kids that when we do mean and selfish things, we can lose or ruin friendships.
Discuss what things we can do to strengthen friendships and make them stronger. I wanted to teach my kids that they need to try and always be the person that will stand up for other people and be nice to everyone. Read the scripture on the heart and remind them that how we act towards others shows them how we feel about them.

Friendship

Garden Tile Stone Activity

After Christmas and New Years is a great time to stock up on stuff for future birthdays OR FHE activities! The other day I went to our local mall where they had a ToysRUs Express. This means the store only comes in during the holidays and then after the holidays are through they sell whatever is left at a highly discounted rate. So I decided to browse. I found a "do-it-yourself" garden tile stone kit designed for children. I picked one up for $2.50 and can't wait for spring when I'll use it for an FHE activity.

I am not sure as of yet what the lesson will be, perhaps I'll post on that when I figure it out, but I can't wait to have my husband and our children put their hand prints on it, along with other decorations and put it in our garden. Keep an eye out for special sales and keep FHE in mind, you mind be surprised what you find!

Garden Tile Stone Activity

Jesus' Birth Story

This year I bought a little people nativity for my 2 year old to play with . We keep it by the christmas tree and he has been told that this is a special Christmas decoration just for him to play with.  I have tried to make these toys seem extra special and fun so that he is sure to play with them!

Shortly after getting the toy I had an FHE lesson about Jesus and his birth. I used the nativity set I had just bought to act out what happened during Jesus' birth. For older children children you could read the scriptures that go along with this (e.g. Luke 2:1-20).

After the lesson I encouraged my son to play with his new toy. I pointed out the names of the toys and mentioned things about the nativity story we had just gone over while he played with his toys. I continue to do this when he plays with the toys in hopes that when he plays with them in the future (hopefully year after year) this story will come to his mind.

Jesus' Birth Story

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a great time to get together with family and celebrate the many things that you are thankful for. There are a lot of different, fun activities that you can do on thanksgiving day with your family to help you remember the things you are thankful for. These are especially fun to do while everyone is sitting around the table eating dinner and talking.

*Thanksgiving bingo (a favorite for my family)
*Thanksgiving pictionary
*Go around the dinner table and have people say 5 (or however many things you want) things they are thankful for this year
*Go around the dinner table and have people
*Make a thanksgiving snack mix where each item in the mix represents something you are thankful for
*Have young children color a picture of something they are thankful for
*Sing some thanksgiving songs
*Volunteer at a food bank etc.
*Go shopping on black friday for items to donate to an organization/family in need

Thanksgiving

Honesty

Topic: Learning to distinguish between telling the truth and telling a lie

Scriptures:
Phillipians 4:8
Alma 27:27
D&C 98:10
Article of Faith 13
Other scriptures about Honesty found here

Song Suggestions:
I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus, Children's Songbook 78
I Believe in Being Honest, CS 149

Lesson:
-Ask if your child understands what being honest is. Explain that being honest is telling the truth and not making up a story.
-Give some examples of being honest and telling a lie (ie. If you tell someone that you made your bed, but you didn't, is that being honest? If you tell someone that you cleaned up your room, and you really did, is that being honest?)
-Read a scripture or two and talk about how the people were trying to be honest, and that Heavenly Father is happy when we are honest and wants us to find these things
-Read the story, The Case of the Broken Mirror, from the January 2010 Friend magazine
-Talk about how you feel when you are honest, and that it makes you happy inside

Activity:
We played a game where the children stood across the room from the parents. Examples of being honest and dishonest were shared. Everytime an example of being honest was shared, the child got to move forward. If the example was someone being dishonest, the child stayed where she was. You can have the children answer the same question, or move from child to child with different examples.

I am sure that there are other activities that you can use, but I ran out of time (and energy) to make the board game about honesty that I wanted to.

Honesty

Getting Closer with your Family

As I thought about what I wanted to write about this month I started thinking about the Family Home evenings I had with my own family growing up. We had the standard lessons with a song and a treat, but we often would sit down and play a game together, make cookies together, or go on walks together. I loved these home evenings. Looking back I don’t think this was an easy out for my parents. It was on these nights that we really got to know each other. We learned how to have fun together and to appreciate each other. So that is my challenge, at your next FHE don’t worry so much about what the lesson is going to be about. Plan something that will allow you to get to know your kids, and let them get to know you. Play a game and ask questions. Find out what they want to be, do, and see. You’ll love to watch your kids interact and become closer to one another and you’ll LOVE getting closer to them!

Getting Closer with your Family

Keeping a Journal

My grandmother (Norma) has kept a journal practically every day of her life. She has shelf upon shelf of journals old and new. If you want to confirm an event or the weather of a particular day, go to grandma. She could find the information in her journals.

Grandma as been an inspiration to me of record keeping since I was little. I got my first journal when I was about 6. I wrote in it nearly every day. It is fun for me to look back and see what I wrote about. It is telling of what I thought was important at the time.

Make a FHE activity out of it.

It is evident that keeping records is important. Take the Book of Mormon and share a family favorite story. Share your testimony that the things written in the BofM are not just stories, but rather a record that people kept of events that actually happened. What if people hadn't written about when Jesus came? What if we don't write about our lives?

If you haven't already introduced journal writing to your family, now is a great time to start. Even if you have children who are too young to write, you can write for them, and have them draw a picture to go along with what you did that day/week/month.

Give each child who is old enough a piece of paper or a special notebook just for them to write about their day or about a particular activity they participated in recently. Encourage your children to write often their thoughts, feelings, testimony, daily activities ect.

Don't forget to do this yourself too! You may think you'll remember all the fun things your kids and your family does, but you may find that you don't and you'll wish you had written things down!

Happy writing!

Keeping a Journal

I'm Sorry, Please Forgive Me

Topic:
We should say "I am sorry" when we make mistakes and "I'm sorry, please forgive me" when we do something wrong purposefully.

Scriptures:
James 5:16
3 Nephi 12:23-24

Materials:
Scriptures
Children's Songbook
Four pieces of paper
Picture of Jesus
Pictures of people (optional)

Song Suggestion:
I'm Trying to be like Jesus (Children's Songbook, 78-79)

Lesson:
Show picture of Jesus. Jesus wants us and others to be happy. He has taught us some ways to make ourselves and others happy. One of these ways is to say we are sorry and to ask for forgiveness.

Whenever we make a mistake we should say we are sorry. Whenever we do something wrong purposefully, we should say we are sorry and then ask for forgiveness from the person we wronged (this second idea is just a suggestion).

When we say these kind words to others we make ourselves and others feel happy. Have everyone repeat after you, "I'm sorry and if you want, "I'm sorry, please forgive me". Emphasize that there is no reason to feel embarrassed to say "I'm sorry". We are a bigger person for doing this and should feel proud not ashamed.

Next you can tell of a story in the scriptures where someone did something wrong, felt bad about what they did, apologized, and then were happy. You could also tell of a personal experience where this happened.

Activity Ideas:
Gather four pieces of paper. On one piece draw a smiley face, on another draw a frown, on another piece write "I'm sorry" and on the last piece write "Please forgive me". Depending on your number of children old enough to participate either give all the pieces of paper to one child, or hand them out to different children. Tell of some stories of people making mistakes or doing something purposefully wrong (show pictures of people if desired). When you get to the sad part where someone does something wrong, have the child with the frown hold it up. When you get to the happy part, have the child hold up the happy face. Continue from there with the other pieces of paper.

Have your children act out different situations where someone makes a mistake or does something wrong making sure that they say the words "I'm sorry" and "Please forgive me" where appropriate. Discuss how they would feel (sad/happy) if these situations really happened to them.

Weekly Challenge:
Challenge your children to say "I'm sorry" and "Please forgive me" when appropriate this week.

I'm Sorry, Please Forgive Me

Individual Worth

Purpose: to help each child know they are special and of worth to our Heavenly Father

Materials: Mirror, magnifying mirror (or some kind of mirror that distorts the reflection), scissors, paper, crayons or markers

*Have each child cut out a snowflake with the white paper (you can have them color/decorate it too)

Discussion: snowflakes are wonderful. Each is beautiful and yet not one is the same. (Have each child show their snowflake and how different it is but how they are all beautiful).

Just as snowflakes are beautiful but different, so is each of us. As children of God we are very important and precious. We are also different from each other. We have different thoughts, ideas, talents, and needs. We can all be different and also be important.

Lesson: Pass both mirrors around for the children to look at themselves. Explain that the magnifying mirror gives a distorted image of ourselves. If we thought we looked like that we would become very discouraged. The ordinary mirror reflects the true image.

Liken the magnifying mirror to how the world can make us see ourselves. It’s a distorted view but if we believe it, like relying on other people’s opinions about us we would become discouraged. People can be negative, critical, and untruthful. The world will tell us that we need to dress and act in ways that don’t reflect our values and standards in order to fit in.

Heavenly Father offers us the true reflection of ourselves like the ordinary mirror. He sees our strong points and our talents. He loves us for who we are and who we can become. He wants to help us in all we do.

Conclusion: Read Isaiah 13:12. Help your children understand that they are very special in Heavenly Father’s sight. His opinion of them is the one to value.

Individual Worth

I Have a Family that Loves Me

Recently my husband and I thought it was a good idea to teach our oldest (I can say that now that I have two children :) what his last name one. We thought it would be a good idea in case he ever got lost somewhere or something like that. In the process, we started to teach him that mom and dad have the same last name as well as one set of his grandparents. We then taught him that his other set of grandparents had another last name. This is pretty simple for an older child to understand, but for a two year old it can get a bit confusing. We decided a FHE lesson on families might help explain things to him.

First we drew a picture of a family. We showed him a mommy and daddy and some brothers and sisters. We named off these people explaining their relationships to each other (brother, sister, daughter, son etc). We then went around our family and named everyone and talked about their relationship to each other. This talk can of course be adjusted to fit any type of family. If my son was older I would probably have gone into more detail about how some families have step parents etc. But this would probably have confused him out of his mind at the age of 2.

After talking about family member relationships we talked about how families love each other. We then went around and told everyone that we loved them. We would have given hugs too except my toddler is anti-hugs much of the time :)

I Have a Family that Loves Me

Resources for Enhancing your FHE Lesson

If you are looking for a way to enhance your lesson or activity I found this resource through The Friend website.

They have an activities archive where it has a list of different coloring pages, activity pages, flannel board art, hidden pictures, etc. They are listed according to topic and have quite a few. You do have to be careful if you think your activity might be a two page activity. I have found some that are missing the second page. Sometimes by looking at the link though, you can figure out the year and month that the activity was originally included in The Friend and get the second page.

You can get to the archive by going directly to http://www.friend.lds.org/ and on the right hand side you'll see the link or you can click on this link here to go straight to it.

Below the link to the activities archive is an archive of Friend stories by topic. This way if you need story for your child for a specific topic you can look one up there.

Resources for Enhancing your FHE Lesson