family night

Come Follow Me Family Home Evening for Little Ones Nov and Dec 2020

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The end is in sight! 2020 is almost done, and for all it’s crazy and inconsistency, I’m glad that this one area- Book of Mormon Family Home Evenings- has been our one constant.

I figured life doesn’t get any less busy and crazy through the holiday season so I’m just going to finish out the year right here.

Side note- sorry that the songs and Book of Mormon Stories don’t have links- I’m struggling with getting those pages from the Church Website to load- have been for a few weeks???? Other things load fine, but not those.

Nov 2-8 “I Speak Unto You As If Ye Were Here”

Scriptures: Nothing specific for this week

Song: Book of Mormon Stories- 119, The Books in the Book of Mormon- 118, The Books in the New Testament- 116, The Books in the Old Testament- 114

Materials: World Map, Pictures of Book of Mormon and Bible Stories

Post a world map on the wall. Put a picture of the Book of Mormon by the Americas and a picture of the Bible by Israel. Or just use the printout from Come Follow Me for Primary. Print or pull pictures from the Gospel Art Book and help the kids to sort the stories into the Bible or Book of Mormon by hanging them on the wall on the side of the Earth they came from. Talk about the different stories. Explain that while there are different people and stories because they happened on different parts of the Earth, they both tell us about Jesus and how much he loves us.

Nov 9-15 “Rend That Veil of Unbelief”

Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories Chap 50-51; Book of Mormon Stories for Young Readers Traveling to the Promised Land; My First Scripture Stories The Jaredites, Shining Stones; Heroic Stories from the Book of Mormon The Brother of Jared

Song: Faith 96

Materials: glow in the dark paint, rocks (or just glow in the dark rocks), blocks, popsicle sticks (or other boat making materials)

Do some activities to discuss the events at the beginning of Ether. Build a tall tower out of blocks or legos and explain that they were trying to build a tower to get to Heaven instead of keeping the commandments. Knock over the tower and then begin saying phrases in languages that the kids don’t understand (or just gibberish). Discuss what it would feel like if we couldn’t understand each other in our own family. Explain that the Brother of Jared was commanded to take his family and righteous followers across the sea. Build some small boats. Discuss the darkness inside and tell the story of Jesus touching the stones and making them shine. Either paint rocks with glow in the dark paint or give them a glow in the dark rock (glow in the dark stuff should be easy to find on clearance right after Halloween!) Save the rocks for next week!

Nov 16-22 “That Evil May Be Done Away”

Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories Chap 52 (first 4 frames); review last week’s

Song: Thanksgiving songs

Materials: Glowing rocks, boat

Go in a dark room with your glowing rocks and pretend you are on a boat. Discuss the preparations that the Jaredites made to cross the ocean- the things that they did on their own or had to figure out and the things that the Lord did for them. Then “arrive” at the promised land and sing their favorite Primary songs as hymns of praise. Then ask the kids if they can think about any other groups who crossed the ocean by boat to get to the promised land (Nephites and Pilgrims!) Make the Thanksgiving connection by talking about the Pilgrims coming to America for religious freedom. Then talk about our own journeys and how we can work hard to prepare ourselves and also watch for how Heavenly Father helps us.

Nov 23- 29 “By Faith All Things Are Fulfilled”

Scripture: Book of Mormon Stories Chap 52

Song: Our Primary Colors 258

Materials: identical boxes/containers, weights

Find identical boxes or containers. Put weights or other heavy objects in one and leave the other empty. Have the kids try to lift the heavy box (try to make it heavy enough that they can not lift it). Explain that they are too weak to lift it because their bodies are still growing. Sometimes we have things that are hard for us to do that don’t have to do with lifting. Discuss some things that can be difficult for everyone in the family. Then explain that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can make weak things strong. Give the kids small hand weights or cans and take turns calling out things we can do to strengthen our spiritual muscles (church, pray, read, temple, FHE, listening, etc.) lift the weights as you call them out. Now ask the kids if they think they are strong enough to lift the other box. Mom and Dad can take a turn and make it appear that they are struggling to pick up the box so the kids feel extra strong when they pick it up with no problem.

Nov 30- Dec 6 “To Keep Them in the Right Way”

Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories Chap 53

Song: I like My Birthday 104, I Love to See the Temple 95

Materials: Covenant PathDownload

Use the Covenant Path printable to discuss the covenants and ordinances Moroni discusses- plus the temple. You could create an actual path around your house for the kids to follow. The full size sheets are the ordinances, the smaller pictures are the promises, blessings, and opportunities that come from the ordinances.

Dec 7- 13 “May Christ Lift Thee Up”

Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories Chap 49 (the end goes over Mormon’s teachings recorded by Moroni)

Song: Christmas

Materials: Service Project materials

Have your kids repeat the phrases “Charity is the pure love of Christ,” and “Charity never faileth.” Talk about what it means to have charity. Show love by completing a service project to get ready for Christmas. Some ideas to help get kids involved:

-If you live close to a giving machine let them pick out an item

-Grab a Christmas Tree Angel

-Make cards for elderly members of the ward

Dec 14-20 “Come Unto Christ”

Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories Chap 53 (the end)-54; Book of Mormon Stories for Young Readers Moroni’s Special Promise; Heroic Stories from the Book of Mormon Moroni; My Book of Mormon Friends Me

Song: The Golden Plates 86

Materials: Cake, licorice, yellow frosting, Black frosting (to write Book of Mormon on the the cake), Gifts of the Spirit supplies

Stealing this idea from my in-laws. When my husband was growing up, every time they finished the Book of Mormon as a family they would have a Book of Mormon party. They would make the gold plates out of cake by putting two cakes next to each other, frosting them with yellow frosting, and then using pull and peel black licorice to connect them to look like the rings the plates were bound with.

I’m going to add gifts to go along with the gifts of the Spirit described in Moroni 10. Gather little items and wrap them up:

Teaching– pencils or other school supplies

Great faith– a pocket sized picture of Christ

Healing– fun bandaids

Miracles– something color changing, or the markers that only work on certain paper (like Melissa and Doug Color Blast- there’s a few different types made by other companies- these are perfect for the church bag!)

Prophesy– something to help them follow the Prophet- like something small for the 72 hour kit (whistle, mini flashlight, pocket poncho, etc.), or a scripture marker, pocket sized scriptures, etc.

Tongues/ Interpretation of Tongues– a treat from a different country

To make the party extra fun you could make other treats to go along with different stories. Here’s some ideas I thought of with help from Pinterest and my Sister-in-Law:

-Honey with sopapillas for the Jaredites

-White treats to represent the fruit from the Tree of Life- divinity, Oreos dipped in white chocolate, etc.

-Pretzel rods for the Iron Rod

-Rare steak for dinner- for when they were able to eat raw meat in the wilderness

-Sunflower or other seeds for the seeds of faith

-Something with peanut butter or other high protein snacks for all of the stories about strength

If you come up with other cute ideas please share!!!!!

Dec 21-27 “He Shall Come Into the World to Redeem His People”

Scriptures: Book of Mormon for Young Readers Samuel Teaches about Jesus; Book of Mormon Stories Chap 40; My First Scripture Stories Samuel the Lamanite; Heroic Stories from the Book of Mormon Samuel the Lamanite;  Book of Mormon Stories Chap 41; My First Scripture Stories Jesus is Born

Song: Christmas Songs

Materials: Costumes or toys for acting out the Nativity

Act out the Christmas story using costumes, figurines, or pictures. Make sure to include Samuel and the Nephites side of the story. Check out my Christmas countdown post when it’s up for more ideas on making Christmas Christ centered throughout the month. You can start perusing old ones if you want for ideas:

2017

2018

2019

Come Follow Me Family Home Evening for Little Ones- Oct. 2020

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October 12-18 “Ye Are Children of the Covenant”

Scriptures: Young Readers Faithful People Followed Jesus; Book of Mormon Stories Chap 46

Song: Family History pg. 94

Materials: Family Tree flashcards, time capsule items

Combining two corresponding topics from this week- Turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and fathers to the children, and Christ asking to see the records.

Last year I made two sets of family history flash cards using pictures going back to my kid’s great great grandparents. These come in handy for a lot of lessons so if you haven’t made some I definitely encourage you to do it. I made them using publisher, but word or paint would probably work as well. We like to play a matching game with them.

Create a time capsule with information about your family. Have the kids create pictures of the family and what they like to do. Older kids could write a little about the family and their interests, their testimony, what it’s like living during the pandemic and presidential election, etc.

If you want to get fancy here’s a cool idea. When I was in young women’s for an activity one of the leaders brought in #10 cans for us to fill with a questionnaire and anything else we wanted to bring. They then took the cans and sealed them up for us to open 10 years later. I found mine again right before we moved, it ended up being just shy of 20 years. It was less cringy than I thought it would be to open it and go through everything. But I have no idea where you actually go to get #10 cans sealed, so I’ll probably just use an empty container.

Oct. 19-25 “There Could Not be a Happier People”

Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories Chap 47-48; My First Scripture Stories The Three Nephites

Song: I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pg. 77

Materials:

Straight and Narrow Path GameDownload
Name of Church PuzzleDownload

Game Day! Play hide and seek to talk about 3 Nephi 27:30-31 “none of them were lost.” Play the Straight and Narrow path game to discuss the principles taught in 4th Nephi that righteousness leads to happiness and unity and wickedness leads to sadness and contention. Use the name of the church puzzle to help the kids learn the full name of the church.

Oct 26- Nov 1 “I Would That I could Persuade All to Repent”

Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories Chap 49; Young Readers Mormon Writes on the Golden Plates; My First Scripture Stories Mormon; Heroic Stories from the Book of Mormon Mormon; My Book of Mormon Friends Mormon

Song: Seek the Lord Early pg 108

Materials:

Mormon TimelineDownload

Make a timeline for the events and opportunities that Mormon had at a young age. Make similar timelines for yourself. Have the kids make a timeline up to now and then have them put future goals as well such as baptism, priesthood, mission, college/ career training, future family, etc. Crepe paper could make an excellent timeline, then use the pictures in the printable to match with ages or hopeful age ranges.

I tried to make the printable pretty generic but there’s a few things that are specific to our family as far as college (Go Cougars!) and careers. I’m a former teacher, my husband is a computer programmer, my son wants to be a farmer, and my 4 year old daughter wants to be a doctor. You can search for pictures specific to your family!

Come Follow Me Family Home Evening for Little Ones- June 2020

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Happy June! Sorry this is late but…. I had a baby last month!  She sleeps really well at night- but not so much during the day.  Which obviously if she’s going to have a hard time sleeping I would rather it be during the day, but it makes it hard to get much done.IMG_20200510_170702

 

June 1-7 Have Ye Experienced this Mighty Change in Your Hearts?

Children’s Scriptures: sorry I got nothing

Song: Family History pg 94

Materials: Pictures of Ancestors

Get together pictures of Ancestors.  I made flash cards with names and pictures going back to our great grand-parents (great great for the kids).  Have the kids pick out pictures and talk about that ancestor and share stories of faith, courage, etc.  If you feel up to making them into flash cards, I made two copies so we can play an ancestor matching game.

 

June 8-14 Jesus Christ will Come to Redeem His People

Children’s Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories chap 22; My First Scripture Stories– Zeezrom

Song: I will Follow God’s Plan for Me pg. 164

Materials:Plan of Salvation Printable

Review the Plan of Salvation.  I paste my kids’ faces on the blank “gingerbread” man to be their physical bodies

 

June 15-21 Enter Into the Rest of the Lord

Children’s Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories chap 22; My Book of Mormon Friends- Alma and Amulek; My First Scripture Stories– Alma and Amulek in Prison

Song: Faith pg 96

Materials: Showing and Strengthening Faith

Tell the story of Alma and Amulek in prison.  Emphasize that they were strengthened to break out because of their faith.  Make a prison out of couch cushions or boxes, etc.  Use the printable above to discuss ways we show and strengthen our faith.  Have the kids pick out some of the pictures then when they are “strong enough” let them break out of their prison.

 

June 22-28 I will Make an Instrument of Thee

Children’s Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories chap 23-25; Book of Mormon for Young Readers Ammon’s Good Example, Abish Shared the Gospel; Girls Who Choose God– A Lamanite Queen of Great Faith, Abish the Daring Missionary; My Book of Mormon Friends– Ammon, Abish; My First Scripture Stories– Ammon and King Lamoni, King Lamoni’s Father, Lamoni’s Father’s Conversion; Heroic Stories from the Book of Mormon– Ammon, Abish

Song: I Want to Be a Missionary Now pg 168

Materials: Ammon Sequencing Abish Sequencing

Read/watch/tell the stories of Ammon and Abish.  Then cut out the sequencing pages and have the kids put the stories together and tell them in their own words.

 

This is not so much for the kids, but the woman who plays Abish in the new Book of Mormon videos made a video about the thoughts and insights she gained as she prepared for the role.  I have always loved Abish, but after watching this, I love her even more!

 

June 29-July 5 They Never Did Fall Away

Children’s Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories chap 26, Girls Who Choose God– Mothers of the Stripling Warriors; My Book of Mormon Friends– A Lamanite Mother; My First Scripture Stories– The People of Ammon

Song: I’m Trying to be Like Jesus pg. 78

Materials: Bury Swords

Read/watch/tell the story of the People of Ammon burying their swords.  Using the bury swords printable discuss ways that we might hurt other people.  Talk about ways to stop doing those things, model and talk through good behaviors.  Then go outside, dig a hole, and bury the swords.  I left one page with blank swords so you can add more that you think about, or adults and older kids can think of their own things to bury.

I included a sword specifically for racism besides exclusion and mocking (which certainly go hand and hand with racism.)  This is a difficult topic to discuss with young kids, and typically I try to just focus on positives, but I feel like that just isn’t enough.  We need to be having deeper talks.  I found three books read on Youtube that work well for younger kids:

Something Happened in Our Town

The Day You Begin

We’re Different, We’re the Same (best for toddlers)

Come Follow Me Family Home Evening for Little Ones- May 2020

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I am SOOOOOO pregnant right now.  For the record, I do not recommend homeschooling while pregnant during a pandemic and then selling your house on top of that.  But here we are!!!!  Baby is coming super soon, really tired, and to be frank, very grumpy.  So, this month’s ideas are going to be much simpler than others, but I figured I needed a plan or else it won’t happen so I’m getting something together and sharing it.

All the good birthing thoughts, prayers, and vibes would be much appreciated!

 

May 4-10 A Light that Can Never Be Darkened

 

Use the 10 Commandments printable to go over and teach these concepts.  You could cut out big heart shaped tablets to glue them on so we can keep the commandments in our hearts.

I used a picture of fighting for “thou shalt not kill” because on a kid level they need to understand more that we don’t use our bodies to hurt other people.

To explain “thou shalt not commit adultery” go back and review the concepts from the law of chastity lesson– we don’t keep secrets; if someone touches you in a private place tell them to stop, get away, and tell an adult right away; grown ups who are married may share their private places only with each other.

 

May 11-17 We Have Entered into a Covenant with Him

 

Sing a few of the baptism songs from the Children’s Songbook.  Use the Baptismal Covenants printable to discuss the covenants we make when we are baptized and how they can start preparing now.

 

May 18-24 They Were Called the People of God

 

Probably just going to watch the video on Living Scriptures.  Could be fun to pull out some makeshift costumes and act it out after watching the video or reading the story.

 

May 25-31 They Were Steadfast and Immovable

Use the activity page at the end of the Come Follow Me for Primary lesson for this week- but cut out and discard the distractors.  For young kids, well, they’ll just be distracting, especially for toddlers and preschoolers it’s better to just focus on the right things to do.  Have them pick a few that they want to include and color and paste them on a paper.  Have them practice talking about them in their own words and make plans for them to share at a family testimony meeting for the upcoming Fast Sunday.

 

This activity is a good example of something that works really well for multiple age groups.  For your emerging talkers, they could just identify the pictures.  For your toddlers they can give one liners.  Preschool and early elementary could explain a little in their own words.  Upper elementary could differentiate what does and does not belong in a testimony and then write theirs out a little more.  Teenagers could write out their own.

 

Come Follow Me Family Home Evening for Little Ones- April 2020

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Soooo…..how’s quarantine going???  Anyone else going crazy yet?  Anyone else have cute Easter outfits hanging in closets that will only be seen on Social Media?

I’m gonna come right out and say it- I’m not digging this whole quarantine thing.  I’m respecting it, I understand the need, but I am a pretty social person.  Also I’m pregnant and I specifically planned this pregnancy around the school year so I could have a break from my older kids.  So…..Covid-19, you are kinda the worst.

I’m going to try and give a few ideas for activities each week now that we have a lot more time to fill.

 

March 30- April 12 Easter: He Shall Rise with Healing in His Wings

Children’s Scriptures: New Testament Stories Chap 44 (begins the last week of Christ’s mortal life)- 54; Book of Mormon Stories Chap 42-47; New Testament Stories for Young Readers Jesus Taught about the Sacrament, Jesus Gave Us the Sacrament, The Easter Story; Book of Mormon Stories for Young Readers: Jesus Visits the Nephites; My First Scripture Stories: The Last Supper, The Atonement, The Crucifixion, The Resurrection, Jesus is Crucifies, Jesus Visits the Promised Land, The Three Nephites; My Book of Mormon Friends: A Young Girl in Bountiful; Girls Who Choose God: Girls and Boys Blessed by Jesus

Song: Easter Hosanna pg 68

Materials: Ingredients for Resurrection Rolls (start putting in a grocery order early in case things are out of stock so you can try again-One can of crescent roll dough, 8 large marshmallows, Melted butter, Cinnamon sugar), selected movies, glove, Gospel Art Book

-Make Resurrection Rolls, and tell the Easter story as you do it

-Easter Movie Night, we will probably watch To This End Was I Born, and one of the VeggieTales Easter shows

-Use a glove and your hand to explain the Resurrection.  Explain that your hand is like your spirit, wiggle it and talk about the pre-earth life.  Show a picture of Christ’s birth and explain that when you are born you receive a body, put the glove on your hand- the glove is like your body.  Show that they can now wiggle and move together.  Show a picture of Christ when he was grown and explain that our bodies grow with us.  Show Christ in the garden, explain that sometimes our bodies feel pain and that we can use our bodies to pray.  Show Christ on the cross and explain that he died for us.  Take the glove off and put it in a tomb (under a bowl or something), explain that when we die our body stays here on earth and can’t move anymore but our spirit goes to Heaven and waits.  Show Christ resurrected, explain that after 3 days Christ was resurrected and because of that, someday (a long time from now) everyone will also be resurrected, put the glove back on.

-Book of Mormon connection- watch videos depicting Christ’s visit to the people in America:

  • Testaments Of One Fold and One Shepherd (this is over an hour long so kids might have a hard time sitting through it, you might just want to show some highlights)
  • Living Scriptures Savior in America- if you have the subscription watch the whole thing there, but there are also some clips available on Youtube
  • Mark Mabry Photography slideshows:
    8 minutes all still images from his Another Testament Shoot- very thorough representation of 3rd Nephi
    7 minutes images and video from his Reflections (New Testament) and Another Testament shoots set to my FAVORITE song pretty much ever

 

April 13-19 Filled with Love Towards God and All Men

Children’s Scriptures: Book of Mormon for Young Readers: King Benjamin Teaches his People; Book of Mormon Stories Chap 12 (first half); My First Scripture Stories: King Benjamin; Heroic Stories from the Book of Mormon: King Benjamin,

Song: When We’re Helping We’re Happy pg. 198

Materials: tent or fort making supplies, service project supplies, Natural Man-Saint Printable

-Set up a tent in your living room and watch videos about King Benjamin- Book of Mormon Stories for Young Readers, Book of Mormon Stories, Book of Mormon Videos

– Discuss some ways you can serve people while still social distancing.  There’s a lot of projects that can be done from home based on age and skill level

  • older kids (and if you know how to sew- which is not me) could help with making masks or hospital gowns
  • draw pictures or make cards to mail to people
  • draw pictures and/or write inspirational sayings on the sidewalk in your neighborhood

-Use this printable to discuss the natural man vs. a saint

 

April 20-26 A Mighty Change

Children’s Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories Chap 12 (second half)

Song: I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus pg 78

Materials: Steps of Repentance, Grinch book or video, candy or other treats

  • Use the Grinch to help children understand repentance and a change of heart.  Read the book or watch the movie (the old classic one is available on YouTube).  Then use the Grinch steps of repentance printable to talk about the steps of repentance and having a change of heart.
  • Give a parent a bag of candy or plate of treats, don’t share them around yet.  Have the kids take turns asking for treats.  Explain that in life some people have more than others, and people with less sometimes need to ask for help.  What should we do when they ask? Find a way to help.  Discuss different ways your family can help- donate fast offerings, donate old toys or clothes that you aren’t using, etc.  If possible make a donation or pick something out to donate. (Some places are not accepting donations in kind right now, but you can still do some spring cleaning and hide it until things open back up, or select a group to make a monetary donation to.)

 

April 27- May 3 In the Strength of the Lord

Children’s Scriptures: Book of Mormon Stories chap 13

Song: Latter-day Prophets pg 134

Materials: looking devices, toilet paper rolls, tape, picture of Jesus, People of Zeniff Preparations printable

  • Gather whatever devices you can- glasses, binoculars, telescope, microscope, magnifying glass, anything that helps you see things you couldn’t otherwise see.  Make binoculars out of empty toilet paper rolls.  Use the devices you can find to look at different items.  Explain that these help us see things on Earth and in Space that we couldn’t see without them.  A seer is able to see spiritual things that Heavenly Father needs us to know.  Use the binoculars you made.  When the kids put them on put a picture of Jesus in front of them.  A seer uses his gifts to help us come closer to Jesus Christ and do what He wants us to do.
  • Use the People of Zeniff Preparations printable to discuss what they had and did in their battle with the Lamanites and what tools we have today to be safe in our battles.

 

Consolidated Materials List:

Ingredients for Resurrection Rolls (One can of crescent roll dough, 8 large marshmallows, Melted butter, Cinnamon sugar)

selected movies

glove

Gospel Art Book

tent or fort making supplies

service project supplies

Natural Man-Saint Printable

Steps of Repentance

Grinch book or video

candy or other treats

looking devices

toilet paper rolls

tape

picture of Jesus

People of Zeniff Preparations printable

Come Follow Me Family Home Evening for Little Ones- November 2019

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How is it already November???  I’m excited for the Holiday season approaching and for keeping FHE an integral part of our Holiday prep.  Be on the lookout for my Thanksgiving countdown for this month as well!

 

Nov 4-10 Jesus Christ, “the Author of Eternal Salvation”

Song: If I Listen With My Heart

Materials: sponge, rock, water

Cut out a heart from a sponge.  Try to find a rock or something else hard (and water proof) that is heart shaped.  Explain that Heavenly Father has asked us to have soft hearts.  That means that we are willing to listen to Him, do what he asks, and change things from how we want to do them.  Having a hard heart means you just want to do things your way, and you don’t want to let in what Heavenly Father has to say.  Pour water on the hearts to see which one soaks in and gets softer.  Talk about important ways you can have a soft heart (listening to parents, being kind and patient with siblings, listening to teachers at school and at church, reading the scriptures, etc.)

 

Nov 11-17 An High Priest of Good Things to Come

Song: Faith pg. 96

Materials: pictures from Gospel Art kit or online, props for Noah, Moses, and Jericho

Using pictures and/or props tell or act out some of the stories from Hebrews 11 about faith.

By faith we believe in the creation

Noah– this could be fun to act out with toys

Moses parting the Red Sea- this could also be acted out using sheets or towels to represent the water

Walls of Jericho- build a wall with legos or blocks, walk around it 7 times then shout at it while you knock it down

It could be fun to follow up with some scripture videos on these stories.  I like the VeggieTales for Noah and Jericho.

 

Nov 18-24 Be Ye Doers of the Word, and Not Hearers Only

Song: The Sacred Grove pg. 87

Materials: First Vision video

Ask your kids if they have ever been confused or had a question they couldn’t answer.  Talk about what they do when they have a question.  Talk about Joseph Smith’s question.  Think about ways he could find an answer to his question.  Read James 1:5 together.  Help break it down- if you lack wisdom that means you don’t know something.  Ask God- how do we ask God questions?  He gives to all men liberally and ubraideth not- that means he’ll give you an answer and he won’t be upset with you for asking.

Watch a video depicting the First Vision.  Depending on attention span there are a lot of options:

Ask of God: Joseph Smith’s First Vision– this one is a little over 6 minutes, live action, and very thorough.  The depiction of being overcome by Satan might be disturbing for little ones

Joseph Smith– 2 minutes, live action, video taken from the longer Restoration movie.

Joseph Smith’s First Vision– 2 minutes, taken from Doctrine and Covenants Scripture Stories book for kids, still illustrations turned into a video

Jesus Visited Joseph Smith– 1 minute, this is from the Young Readers collection, definitely the simplest one, still illustrations turned into a video

Living Scriptures The Joseph Smith Story Chapters 12 and 13– these clips are on YouTube, but if you happen to subscribe to the Living Scriptures you would have access to the whole video.  The two clips together come out to 3-4 minutes.  This is fully animated so probably the most entertaining, but the wording is not directly from the scriptural account.

 

Nov 25- Dec 1 Rejoice with Joy Unspeakable and Full of Glory

Song: For Health and Strength pg. 21

Materials: Thankful leaves, Thankful Tree, pictures of Ancestors

With Thanksgiving this week talk about how being thankful can help us feel joy even when we are going through hard things.  Write down or color pictures of things you are thankful for on leaves, then cut them out and put them on a tree to make a Thankful tree.  I created a Thankful leaves printable with a few common “thankful for” items ready to color and some blank leaves so you can fill in your own.

I found a nice free-standing Thankful tree at Target a couple years ago.  If you’re one of “those” people who likes to pull out Christmas before Thanksgiving, then you could use your Christmas tree.  Or you could use butcher/construction paper to make one to put on your wall.  You might want to start this earlier in the month and add to it throughout the month and then look over everything you wrote down for this activity.

Then if you want to be a super-duper over-achiever, you could also add in some pictures of ancestors and make it a Thankful AND Family tree to discuss Peter teaching about Christ visiting the spirits in the Spirit World.

 

 

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

Come Follow Me Family Home Evening for Little Ones- September 2019

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Welcome back!  I hope August went well for everyone and if your kids started school that everything is going well.  I now have a kindergartner and a preschooler which means 3 days a week I have almost 2 hours to myself.  It’s AMAZING!!!!

Funny story from last month.  I guess it was the end of July when we did the story about the snake biting Paul, but Paul wasn’t hurt.  The kids have LOVED playing this over and over and over again.  They were playing it together and my son said to his little sister, “I’ll be Paul, and you can be…John.”  She responded, “No, I’m Mary!”  And then they proceeded to bite each other with a snake toy and shout, “Ahh….go away snake!”  As they shake it off their arm unharmed.  We’ve had a few discussion about how we need to make sure we are still safe and careful around snakes in the wild, but it’s so great to see that this is actually sinking in- even though they frequently grump about getting started!

I stopped adding the section with corresponding children’s scriptures.  Sorry about that.  There’s just nothing available 😦  We’ve started just reading either a Book of Mormon scripture story at night, or reading from the friend, or just whatever the kids request.  There is a Friend Jr. story on Paul’s letters in the September Friend so definitely check that one out.

September 2-8 God Is Not the Author of Confusion, but of Peace

Song: I Lived in Heaven pg. 4

Materials:  Plan of Salvation Printable

Explain the plan of Salvation using drawings.  There are a lot of examples online, you can draw as you go, or I’ve created a very simple printable for you.  Emphasize the degrees of glory described in 1 Cor 15:40-41.

Before you get started, have them draw clothes on the blank (physical body) person, and consider putting their picture on the face.

Pre-earth life- Put the little spirit character on the Pre-Earth cloud, explain that we were spirits living with our Heavenly Father, but in order to become like him we would need to gain a body and make good choices.

Earth- Heavenly Father and Jesus created the earth for us so that we could gain a body, put the physical body on top of the spirit character, then explain that while we are here we need to make good choices.  Talk about a few good choices you need to make (baptism, going to church, hands to self, listening to parents, etc.)

Death- Some day we will die and our body will stay in the ground (put the grave next to the earth and the body there) but our spirit will go to the Spirit world (move the spirit to the spirit world) where we will wait to be resurrected.

Resurrection- move the body and spirit back together and explain that when we are resurrected our bodies will be PERFECT!  No more sickness or pain.

Judgement- explain that Heavenly Father and Jesus will ask us how we did listening to them, following them, and fixing things when we make mistakes.  That will determine where we go.

Celestial- if we do the best we can do with Jesus helping us then we can go to the Celestial Kingdom to be with Heavenly Father and our families FOREVER!  It’s so beautiful Paul said it was like the sun.

Terrestrial- this is for people that were very nice but didn’t follow Jesus all the way.  It’s still really lovely there, but not the best.  Paul related it to the moon.

Telestial- this is for people who made bad choices and didn’t try to fix them.  They will still be happy, but not as much as the other two.  Paul said it was like the stars.  Talk about how the Sun, Moon, and Stars give off different amounts of light.

Side note- you can help kids remember the order with Sea Turtle- C Ter Tel

 

September 9-15 Be Ye Reconciled to God

Song: Faith pg. 96

Materials: Blindfold, objects such as toys, treats, scriptures, picture of Christ

Hide a few items around a room- some things just for fun and some things like scriptures, picture of Christ, etc.  Take turns being blindfolded and having the other family members tell the person blindfolded where to go to find the objects.  Explain that while we are on earth we can’t see Heavenly Father or Jesus, but if we listen to the Spirit, and the words of the Prophets then we can find our way back.

 

September 16-22 God Loveth a Cheerful Giver

Song: Army of Helaman pg. 172

Materials: Fort building materials (couch cushions, chairs, blankets, sheets, etc.), Nerf guns and/or other soft ammo (pillows, paper airplanes, crumbled paper rocks, etc.) Righteous ammo printable

Explain that we are in a war against wickedness.  Wickedness is making choices that go against what Heavenly Father wants for us like taking bad things into our bodies, using our bodies to hurt people, hurting our own bodies, not listening to our parents, making things more important than Heavenly Father, etc.  Talk about what we can do to combat the bad things.  Reading scriptures, going to church, serving people, listening, watching good shows, etc.  You can either just show the Righteous ammo printable or cut out the pictures and tape them to your ammo. Build a fort together and talk about how we want to make our home like a fort against bad things in the world.  Gather in the fort together but leave one parent out to be the opposing side.  Use your righteous ammo to defend your fort and take down the “bad guy.”

Additional Activity: To go along with the ammo of helping people, think of someone you can serve CHEERFULLY!  This could be as simple as coloring a picture for someone in the ward who is sick, lonely, new, etc.  Or taking some donations somewhere.  Always good to find a simple service project for the kids!

September 23-29 Walk in the Spirit

Song: The Holy Ghost pg. 105

Materials: 9 pieces of Fruit (try to get a good variety, but you might want to go ahead and double up on some favorites), other ingredients for your fruit salad/pizza/smoothie, Fruits of the Spirit

Use the Fruits of the Spirit printable to label fruit with the different fruits of the spirit discussed in Galatians 5:22-23

Talk through the different fruits and what they mean:

Love- we feel and show love for others when we are kind to them and serve them.  What makes you feel loved?

Joy- joy is happiness and a good attitude when things don’t go your way

Peace- we use kind words without yelling, we listen to others when it is their turn to talk

Longsuffering- we are patient, we wait our turn

Gentleness- we use our hands for helping not for hurting, if you or someone else makes a mistake we let them fix it

Goodness- we keep the commandments from Heavenly Father and follow the rules at home and school

Faith- we believe in Jesus and keep learning about him

Meekness- we are willing to listen and fix things when Mom or Dad or a teacher tells us how things need to be done, even if it’s different than how you want to do it

Temperance- we take good care of our bodies

Now use the fruit to make something yummy like a fruit salad, a fruit pizza, or a smoothie.

 

September 30- October 13 For the Perfecting of the Saints

I’m going to actually post the specifics of this with October, especially since this covers 2 weeks because of General conference.  But you’re going to need some supplies so you might want to start thinking about that now.

This chunk will cover the Apostasy and Restoration- you’re going to need a Jenga tower that you don’t mind writing on.  I found an adorable miniature one at the dollar store a couple weeks ago in the toy section.  So be on the look out, it’s probably something you can find at a thrift store as well.

It will also cover the Armor of God.  I’m really hoping to find a suit of armor to use, which might be easy with Halloween coming up!

 

Consolidated Materials List:

Plan of Salvation Printable

Blindfold

objects such as toys, treats, scriptures, picture of Christ

Fort building materials (couch cushions, chairs, blankets, sheets, etc.)

Nerf guns and/or other soft ammo (pillows, paper airplanes, crumbled paper rocks, etc.)

Righteous ammo printable

9 pieces of Fruit

other ingredients for your fruit salad/pizza/smoothie

Fruits of the Spirit printable

 

Be on the look out for a Jenga tower and suit of armor!

 

 

Image by HeVoLi from Pixabay

 

Come Follow Me Family Home Evening for Little Ones August 2019 (part 2)

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August 19-25 Be Perfectly Joined Together

Song: I Love to See the Temple pg. 95

Materials: red, yellow, and green construction paper, pictures of foods and drinks, pictures of the temple, picture of kid in swimsuit, Friend Activity

I feel so strongly about focusing on 1 Corinthians 6:19. It’s related both to physical care of our bodies as well as the law of chastity. I would suggest splitting these activities up into two sessions.

Word of Wisdom/ Physical Care

Find pictures of a variety of foods and drinks from grocery store ads and/or print your own. Also include pictures for bathing, washing hands, brushing teeth, exercising, etc. Use the green, yellow, and red construction paper like a traffic signal. Explain that green means we can have a lot of it, yellow means we should be careful about how much we have, and red are things that we do not touch. Go through the pictures and glue them on the respective sheets.

Law of Chastity/ Consent/ Physical Safety

Explain the difference between secrets, surprises, and sacred or private things.

Secrets can hurt people, we don’t tell or keep secrets. If someone tells you something or does something to you and tells you not to tell mom or dad tell that person that we don’t keep secrets and make sure to tell mom or dad or another grown up what happened.

Surprises are when we don’t tell someone something right away because it will be more fun if we wait. This is like when we buy someone a present, we don’t tell them what it is until they open it.

Sacred or Private are things that we only share with a few people. Show a picture of the temple. Explain that the temple is sacred so you have to have a temple recommend to go there. Show them your recommend if you have one and explain what you have to do to get one and that it is permission from Heavenly Father to enter his house. Our bodies are temples and someone has to have permission to touch your body. If someone wants to give you a hug or a high five and you don’t want to you can say no thank you, if they don’t listen then you can move away from them. If someone uses their body to hurt you, tell them no, get away, and tell a grown up. We have parts of our body that are private. Use correct names and/or explain that private places are where a swim suit covers. We keep our private places covered, we don’t talk about them unless we need to tell mom, dad, or a doctor about something, we don’t show them to people, we don’t look at them on other people, and no one has permission to touch them unless mom or dad is helping you in the bathroom or a bath, or if a doctor needs to check and make sure everything is healthy. If anyone tries to touch you in a private place you yell at them, “No, don’t touch my_____,” you run away, and you tell a grown up right away. If anyone tries to show you their private places or a picture of someone with their privates showing, do the same thing- Yell no, run away, tell a grown up right away.

(Depending on the age and maturity level of your kids you may explain that when you are an adult and married then you may also share your private places with your spouse.)

This month’s Friend magazine is a great resource if you need more help thinking how you will explain this to your kids, there is also a great game!

Aug 26- Sept 1 Ye Are the Body of Christ

Song: Two Little Eyes pg 268

Materials: Body of Christ puzzle

Talk about how our bodies work together to do important things.  Play a game coming up with silly things that your body can’t do without all of it working together.  Try to get across the room without using your feet, try to eat a snack with your hands tied behind your back, try to sing a song with your mouth closed, etc.  Explain that in the scriptures it says that we are the body of Christ.  That means that we all have different responsibilities or things that we are good at, but when we all work together following Jesus we can do great things.  Use the body of Christ printable to show this with your family and with the church (the blank copy is so you can add pictures of your own family).  Cut along the lines to create a “puzzle” and help the kids put it together to create the body.  Talk about how your family can work together and how we can work together at church. 

 

Come Follow Me Family Home Evening for Little Ones- August 2019 (part 1)

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Sorry I’m getting this out in parts this month. Good stuff coming up I just know it’s going to take a little more time to get together and wanted to make sure I at least got this out for this week!

I did some searching and asking around for Bible Story resources- and while there are a few that include a little more than the New Testament Stories published by the church, none of them had enough to justify the cost of buying them for me. So I’m including things that cover similar principles as our weekly readings. If anyone has any bright ideas I’m super open to them. I’m seriously considering creating a children’s book that is devoted to the epistles so in 4 years when this comes around again there will be an actual resource. I’ll just add that to the long list of projects…. But, hopefully I’ll actually get through some more projects coming up, one kid is starting kindergarten and the other kid will be in preschool, so a few days a week I’ll have some time to myself. Number one project will be to finish up August’s FHE ideas!

August 5-11 The Power of God Unto Salvation

Scriptures: New Testament Stories for Young Readers- Jesus Was Baptized, Friend Magazine- Jesus Said to Share the Gospel (to go with not being ashamed of the gospel), Paul Repents

Song: When I am Baptized pg 103

Materials: baptism pictures

Discuss baptism with your kids. If possible take them to see someone be baptized. Show pictures from when you were baptized. If you and/or your spouse served a mission show pictures of your converts at their baptisms. There’s a cute video from the One in a Million series of a girl talking about her baptism.

Explain that when we are baptized we come out fresh and clean from our mistakes. Paul says that we are like new people. Review the song from above about the earth being clean after rain.

Side note- Paul’s analogy also refers to our old self dying- I personally didn’t feel like that would be an age appropriate discussion for my kids especially considering they watched 2 great grandmas and a few ward members die over the course of 13 months. We’ve been very matter of fact in discussing death with them, but I think at this point where their brains are still so concrete, especially my 5 year old would think that he would die when he got baptized- not an association his little brain needs right now.

August 12-16 Overcome Evil With Good

Scriptures: New Testament Stories for Young Readers- I want to Follow Jesus

Song: Fun to Do pg 253 (sub dancing a dance instead of singing a song)

Materials: dance music

Dance Party! Explain to the kids that in order to return to Heavenly Father we need to keep the commands AND have faith- or believe in Him. Keeping commandments is like dancing and having faith is like the music. Try dancing without music- (mom and dad make sure to be really boring)- it’s not a very good dance party. Then everyone sit down and turn on music and just listen to it. The music is nice by itself, but just listening to it doesn’t make it a dance party. Now turn on the music and dance like crazy together. Discuss how dancing without music is like keeping the commandments but not believing- it’s boring and hard to know what to do. Just listening is like believing but not keeping the commandments- you don’t get very far. We need to have both for it to work!

Come Follow Me Family Home Evening for Little Ones- July 2019

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This month has a running theme of yummy treats and service! You’ll want to identify two families and/or charitable groups to work with this month. I included some charitable organizations at the bottom to consider.

I included Children’s Scripture Resources again, but I’m running out of chapters in the books I know about. Seriously after this month there is only one more chapter in the New Testament Stories book and one in the My First Scripture Stories book…for the REST OF THE YEAR. Anyone have any bright ideas or other resources to help with the epistles we’ll be starting soon???? I’ll be doing some research this month, but please share if you know of anything!

July 1-7 Ye Shall Be Witnesses Unto Me

Children’s Scripture Resources: New Testament Stories Chapter 55, 56, beginning of 57; My First Scripture Stories– Jesus Teaches the Apostles; New Testament Stories for Young Readers- I Want to Follow Jesus, Jesus Said to Share the Gospel

Song: Give Said the Little Stream pg 236

Materials- ingredients for a treat already measured out

Help children begin to understand sharing and the law of consecration discussed in Acts 4. Prepare the ingredients for a favorite treat by measuring everything out into small bowls or baggies. Give each member of the family a set of ingredients to be in charge of. Divide them out unevenly so some members have large amounts and others have very small amounts (for example one family member might have a few cups of flour and the eggs while another family member only has a few tablespoons of baking powder). Explain that Jesus asks us to give EVERYTHING to Him, no matter how big or small and then he will give us back something wonderful. Ask each family member to give everything they have to make the treat. Once the treat is made ask if the person who had the little ingredients should get less of the treat. Explain that even though what someone gives may seem smaller than someone else, it’s still important to the Lord just like how the small ingredients are still important to the recipe, and that as long as we give our personal best the Lord will give us something equally good.

July 8-14 What Wilt Thou Have Me Do

Children’s Scriptures Resources- New Testament Stories- Chapter 57, 58, 59, 60; My First- The Epistles of Paul (most of the content is actually from Acts)

Song: I Feel My Savior’s Love (vs 4) pg. 74

Materials: scriptures, materials for service project

Tell the children about Tabitha, New Testament Stories Chapter 60 is a good resource. Discuss how Tabitha helped bring people to Christ first because of her service and then because of the miracle performed for her. Talk about nice things you can do for people each day and then plan a small service project you could do in your ward (for the families you minister to, a new family, or someone going through a trial) or community.

July 15-21 The Word of God Grew and Multiplied

Children’s Scripture Resources: This is a stretch, but- Jesus Loves Me

Song: I’ll Walk With You pg. 140

Materials- multi-colored eggs, ingredients for a treat, matching game

Find eggs with different colored shells. You can typically find brown eggs in regular grocery stores, but I also have some friends who raise backyard chickens and they have given me eggs in a whole range of colors- the more colors the better, but at the very least get some brown and white. Or I guess you could pull out some Easter supplies and dye them ahead of time, but don’t boil them.

Show the kids the multi-colored eggs and ask them to describe them. Talk about how people are all different as well, we look different, our skin is different colors, we come from different places, etc. Then crack each egg into it’s own bowl. Each egg looks basically the same on the inside. Help them understand that while we look different on the outside we are all the same on the inside and we are all children of God. He loves all of us the same! You could then use the eggs to make a yummy treat (do you see a pattern here??) and explain that when we all work together we can do great things.

While the treat is baking you could play this matching game of kids from around the world.

July 22-28 The Lord Had Called for Us to Preach the Gospel

Children’s Scripture Resources: New Testament Stories Chapter 61, 62, beginning of 63

Song- your favorite Christmas song

Materials: Christmas decorations, Christmas cookie ingredients, gifts for your chosen person or group, wrapping paper

Christmas in July!!! Yes! Pull out some simple Christmas decorations. Sing some carols. Bake some Christmas cookies (I really don’t know why this month is all about food, but why not???) Maybe even watch a Christmas movie. Then read Acts 20:35 “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” Take “Christmas presents” to someone in need (bonus points if you wrap them in festive paper!). Maybe someone in your ward going through a rough time. Maybe to a charity (I’ll list a few below the materials list). A homebound sister or brother. A new family in your neighborhood. Think and pray about who could use some Christmas in July.

July 29- Aug 4 A Minister and a Witness

Children’s Scripture Resources: New Testament Stories Chapter 63

Song: Love is Spoken Here pg 190

Materials: toy snake

No stuffed sheep today- this time you need a snake toy. If you don’t have one- I mean how would you not have one??? But if you don’t, you can find them at the dollar store for, well $1. Explain the promises Jesus made in Mark 16:18 then act out the stories in Acts 28:1-9. Discuss Priesthood blessings for healing and times you have seen the Lord fulfill promises.

Consolidated Materials:

ingredients for a treat already measured out

scriptures

materials for service project

multi-colored eggs

ingredients for a treat

matching game

Christmas decorations

Christmas cookie ingredients

gifts for your chosen person or group

wrapping paper

toy snake

Charities to consider for Christmas in July

Gathering Humanity– AZ based, this group assists recently arrived refugees and asylum seekers. They need household items to set up apartments for newly arriving refugees and back pack kits to give to asylum seekers. They keep a list on their website of needed items.

Maggie’s Place– AZ based, this organization provides housing to pregnant women who have nowhere else to go. They provide them with education, tools, and resources necessary to get on their feet so that they can provide for themselves and their baby. They take moms at any point in pregnancy and allow them to stay in the housing up until the baby is typically about 6 months old, additionally, they continue to reach out to assist alumni moms. They can use women’s clothing (especially maternity and interview appropriate clothing), anything and everything baby related, cleaning supplies and hygiene items (full size not travel size), and toys and books for young children.

Your local NICU- I was only a NICU warrior momma for 10 days, some of those families are there for months. Those 10 days were very lonely and hard so you can imagine how exceptionally lonely and difficult it must be for those with a much longer stay. Each year at Christmas we take treats and a card to the NICU for the current families, but how awesome to get something at a random time of year. Some small things that would mean a lot to NICU families- gift cards to local fast food restaurants (hospital food gets real old real fast- and again I’m saying that after only 10 days), pocket size hand sanitizer (don’t want to spread any germs to the littles!), lotions (be careful about scents as little tiny babies can have super delicate skin), puzzle books or adult coloring books, little treats, etc. You would probably want to call ahead to find out how many families to plan for and to find out specific policies. Know that your children would likely not be able to enter the NICU (when we drop things off my husband keeps the kids where they can look through the window at the babies in the nursery), and you will probably either leave the items with the desk or in the family break room.

For the record my NICU baby is totally fine- she’s almost 3 now and has had no lasting issues. If you want you can read our story.

Image by Melissa Etheridge from Pixabay