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

Tender Moment

Last night was one of those payoff moments you get in parenting and in diligently doing what you have been asked.

A couple of months ago, I shared how we started having our kids teach the lesson in a way they can prepare and give themselves (see http://fheforchildren.blogspot.com/2011/02/favorite-scripture-story.html). Last night, our five year old Brayden taught the lesson on Jonah and the Whale.

He did a super job--I was a bit shocked at how well he did. He has obviously been thinking about this since he last did it and has made major improvements.

But the best part was at the end. He turned to a picture of President Monson and quizzed his sisters on who it was. Then he bore his testimony! He told us that he knew President Monson was a true prophet. It brought tears to my eyes to hear my little boy spontaneously bear testimony. What a great blessing!

Tender Moment

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

Everyday is April Fools to Satan

Today is April Fool's Day... I am sure every kid knows about april fools and tries to come up with the best prank. I found this cute idea from pettiskirtsandmudpies blog and thought it was so clever! So, I'll share it with you.

FHE lesson....Satan is deceiving....

I was laying in bed thinking about April Fool's Day....which I love...
and I thought of a perfect Family Home Evening Lesson to go along with all the April Fool's pranks!

I started off with sponges....from the dollar store...and I cut circles...
I have to admit, my circles where far from perfect...but the kids did not notice!

I stacked them three high...and hot glued them so they would hold together.

I bought some gum, and wrapped it to look like a little purse, and wrote on the back...."Chews the right!"

I started the lesson off with a pack of gum that I had emptied, and replaced with white card stock, that had scripture references on them.

I asked them to take a piece of gum and pass it around!
They were so excited to be getting gum right in the beginning of FHE...

I was happy to see, that they were equally excited to have scripture references to look up! =)

We read 10 scriptures about how Satan wants to deceive us and lead us away from Christ!

They thought my false pack of gum was the punch line....so they were NOT prepared for my delicious looking mini layered cakes!

I also made cupcakes which I offered them. I tried to encourage them to take a cupcake, they know I make good cupcakes...but I have never made these mini cakes!
They could not resist the mini cakes!

They took their butter knifes and started to cut!

Brooke, being the oldest, and strongest, decided to take over the cutting!

OH! They were so excited to reach blue cake....they couldn't believe it...but they needed a sharper knife!

Chelsea could not wait any longer, she took her fork and dug in...taking a big chunk of sponge along with her butter cream frosting!

"YUCK!!!!"
"We've been tricked!!"

They understood perfectly what I was trying to teach them.
Satan will try to tempt us by creating a picture of joy...fun...excitement...and make the ways of Christ seem boring...ordinary...and plain!
We must be close to the spirit to recognize and avoid his cunning ways!

The truth of Satan's path is that once your in, you realize You've been tricked!!!

I ended the evening with the gum handouts...

****************************

Isn't that a cute idea? I love it. Happy April Fools Day! Don't get tricked!

Everyday is April Fools to Satan

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

General Conference Prep

General Conference is next weekend! We started a new tradition where we use FHE on the Monday before Conference to prepare our kids for it.

We bought 8x10's of the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 (less than $1 each through store.lds.org), put them in plastic sheet protectors, took some framed art off the wall, and as part of the lesson, we reviewed each person's name and taped them all on the wall.

During the week, we briefly reviewed their names here and there. When the weekend came, we had our daughter match the face of the person on the screen with their picture on the wall and reviewed his name again. The next Monday, we did a final review and took them down. Within that week period, our 2.5 year old could name all 15 men.

October 2010

We found this to be a fun way to help her learn the names of our prophets and apostles.

What ideas do you use to help your kids be engaged during General Conference?

General Conference Prep

Great FHE Resource Online

I have found (been told about) this great resource for Family Home Evening ideas. It is here: http://familiesinzion.com/. On the left, you will see a link to FHE Lessons. They are grouped by topic and are a lot of fun! I think you will love it!

Great FHE Resource Online

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

Favorite Scripture Story

A couple of Sundays ago, I was teaching the twelve year olds in Sunday school. I was explaining to them how much more you learn when you are the teacher instead of the student because you spend time in preparation and think about it a lot more. I pointed out that as 12 year olds, they likely really only got this opportunity to teach a lesson in Family Home Evening. I encouraged them to really take the time to study when preparing a lesson for Family Home Evening. I promised them it would help them build their own testimonies on the subject.

This comment got me thinking about my own children.

We like to have them take a turn sharing the lesson every so often. We have really had some learning curves along the way.

The first time we did this and Brayden was old enough to have real opinion on the direction of the lesson, we ended up with him "teaching" us for an hour. Not kidding. We have it on video. It really was funny and one of those priceless moments, but the whole thing wasn't really the direction we thought was appropriate :)

After that, we guided the study and the lesson, but it really ended up being more of me teaching while Brayden parroted what I said. This isn't necessarily bad, but I also felt like it wasn't best.

Especially after I got thinking about what I had taught the 12 year olds.

I spent some time pondering the matter and I was finally struck with some inspiration. I decided to have Brayden share his favorite scripture story.

So I told Brayden what he would do. I then asked him what his favorite scripture story is (even though I already knew...unless he had changed his mind of course :) ). He told me Daniel and the Lion's Den. So we went to the scriptures and read the story in the scriptures. Then we went to the children's scripture stories they sell at Distribution and read about Daniel and the Lion's Den in there. We then found a picture for him to use during his lesson.

I explained to him that for his lesson, he would tell us the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den.

That night, he was able to hold the picture up and share the story of Daniel all by himself. Not only was he able to learn the story well, he was able to actually give a lesson on his own, which is very exciting for a child.

Favorite Scripture Story