Printables

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- January 2020

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Did we all survive the holidays???  Whew!  Ready to refresh, renew, re-evaluate and read the Book of Mormon?!

What do your New Year’s Resolutions look like?  If one of them is about engaging more in Come Follow Me especially having FHE with the kids, then you have come to the right place!

I’ll be posting monthly with simple ideas to teach concepts from Come Follow Me to young kids.  My own kids are 5 and 3 and I’ve got one more coming in May!  I used to teach special education so I have a passion for breaking down concepts and making them more concrete.

You’ll find a month’s worth of FHE ideas, including materials so hopefully you can get those prepped once a month and not have to worry about too much throughout the month.  Periodically there will be free print outs available.  I will also be posting corresponding Children’s scriptures to go along with the assigned readings each week.

Here’s the Children’s books I’ll be drawing from:

  1.  Book of Mormon Stories (this is the one you can get from Church distribution and on the Gospel library app)
  2. Book of Mormon for Young Readers (available on the Church website and through the Gospel library app)
  3. Scripture Stories from the Friend
  4. My Book of Mormon Friends by Alexis Merril (available on Amazon or Deseret Book)
  5. My First Book of Mormon Stories by Deanna Draper Buck and Jerry Harston (available on Amazon as a Board Book or for Kindle and at Deseret Book) *there’s a second addition with more stories from the Book of Mormon, but I don’t have it…yet.
  6. Girls Who Choose God: Stories of Strong Women from the Book of Mormon by McArthur Krishna, Bethany Brady Spradling, and Kathleen Peterson (available on Amazon as a Hardback Book or for Kindle and at Deseret Book)
  7. Heroic Stories from the Book of Mormon by Shauna Gibby and Casey Nelson (available on Amazon and Deseret Book) This one is a flashlight discovery book, similar to the Usborne Shine a Light books

 

Dec 30- Jan 5 Another Testament of Jesus Christ

Corresponding Readings: Book of Mormon Stories chap. 1, My Book of Mormon Friends intro pages

Song: Book of Mormon Stories pg 118

Materials: Gospel Art book

Get your kids excited about reading the Book of Mormon this year.  Play or sing the Book of Mormon Stories song using the corresponding pictures from the Gospel Art book.  Show them the different sets of scriptures you’ll be using- a quad, your phone, the Book of Mormon stories book, and any other books you have.  You may want to get them a little pocket sized Book of Mormon to have for themselves as well.

 

Jan 6-12 I will Go and Do

Corresponding Readings: Book of Mormon Stories chap 2-5; Book of Mormon Stories for Young Readers Journey to the Promised Land; Friend Magazine Nephi gets the Brass Plates; My Book of Mormon Friends– Nephi and Sariah; My First Book of Mormon Stories– Lehi was a Prophet and Nephi had Faith; Girls Who Choose God– Sariah, the Matriarch; Heroic Stories- Lehi

Song: Nephi’s Courage (vs. 1) pg 120

Materials: Tasks to complete

Read 1 Nephi 3:7 together, explain that Nephi said he would go and do what Heavenly Father asked and he knew that Heavenly Father would make it possible even if it was hard.  Have a few tasks to complete around the house that are a little difficult for the kids to do on their own- reaching something high, reading something, finding something, etc.  Remind them how Nephi approached things that were difficult for him so when they are asked to do something they say, “I will go and do!”  Let them get started and then help them complete it so they can see that Heavenly Father will help them.

 

Jan 13- 19 Come and Partake of the Fruit

Corresponding readings: Book of Mormon Stories chap 6

Song: The Iron Rod Hymn 274

Materials: rope or pvc pipe, a bin or something similar to hold icky water, a cardboard box or lego building, a tree (or a picture of one), a yummy white treat (white chocolate macademia nut cookies, marshmallows, donuts with white frosting, etc.)

Use a rope or pvc pipe to represent the iron rod leading to a tree- maybe a tree in your yard or just a picture of a tree in the house.  Have it lead past some murky water and a “great and spacious building” made out of a cardboard box or legos and maybe some other obstacles.  At the tree have some sort of yummy white treat.  Have the kids follow the “iron rod” to the tree, have one parent at the tree beckoning them and the other trying to get them to let go.  Enjoy the treats together at the tree.

 

Jan 20-26 Armed with Righteousness and with the Power of God

Corresponding reading: Re-read Book of Mormon Stories chap 6

Song: The Iron Rod Hymn 274

Materials: Same as last week, Tree of Life Interpretation Printable

Use the same course you set up the week before or just a picture representing the Tree of Life Dream.  Use the Tree of Life Interpretation printable to label the aspects of the dream.  Enjoy treats again 🙂

 

Jan 27- Feb 2 I will Prepare the Way Before You

Corresponding reading: Book of Mormon Stories chap 5, 7-9; Book of Mormon Stories for Young Readers– Nephi’s Family Crosses the Ocean, My First Book of Mormon Stories– The Liahona and Nephi Builds a Ship; Girls Who Choose God– A Strong Wife Calls on God, Heroic Stories– Nephi

Song: Nephi’s Courage (vs. 2-3) pg 120

Materials: Scavenger hunt prizes, directions, compass

Set up a scavenger hunt with simple prizes- a few toys and treats as well as picture of Christ, scriptures, a picture of the Prophet, etc.  Give the kids instructions on what they need to do to find them.  They would probably enjoy holding a compass and pretending to use it- or if you are super ambitious you could actually use the compass to find things (if you’re into geocaching you could plan a geocaching adventure).  If the kids stop listening then take away the compass and stop giving instructions.  Once they start listening again get them to their prizes.  Explain that the Liahona only worked to show them the way when they were listening to Heavenly Father.

 

Consolidated Materials list:

Gospel Art book

Tasks to complete

rope or pvc pipe

bin or something similar to hold icky water

cardboard box or lego building

tree (or a picture of one)

yummy white treat (white chocolate macademia nut cookies, marshmallows, donuts with white frosting, etc.) x2 weeks

Tree of Life Interpretation Printable

Scavenger hunt prizes

directions to prizes

compass

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- April 2019

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President Nelson promised us that if we would really dive in to this home based church supported thing that it would “unleash the power of the family.”  I saw that really clearly at the end of February.  President’s Day weekend we went to have dinner at my parents’ house while my aunt was visiting.  My grandma was not doing well and my aunt had come to see her.  After dinner we gathered my little family, plus my parents, aunt, and my little brother into my Grandma’s living room to do Family Home Evening.  We discussed John 3:16 and while my Grandma couldn’t say much, her attitude and the way she lit up as the kids made Valentine’s for Heavenly Father was a quiet way for her to bare testimony of God’s love, and the importance of family.  Guys, that’s the last time I saw her alive.  She passed a week and two days later.  And while part of my grieving process is asking myself why I didn’t just make the drive over there one more time, I am also so grateful that that was our last moment, and her last moment with my kids.  Our last earthly experience together was spent following the prophet, learning of Christ, serving her, and just loving.  That’s the power of the family that we need to unleash.  So keep going, you never know which week is going to have an eternal impact on your family.

April 1-14 Thou Art the Christ

Prep Materials: Keys (house, car, filing cabinet, etc.), Priesthood keys (either print the printable or gather up some extra keys), Pictures of Priesthood Ordinances (printable or Gospel Art book)

Song: The Priesthood is Restored pg. 89

Teach children about Priesthood keys.  Show them your key ring and let them use the keys to open the front door, turn the car on and off, open filing cabinets, etc. (whatever keys you have lying around).  Explain that these are things that are special and important to your family so they need to have keys so not everyone can get inside.  Talk about what might happen if you didn’t keep them locked.  Have a different set of keys (either from the printable, baby keys, or just some extra keys from around the house) explain that Heavenly Father refers to the Priesthood power as being keys to things that are special and important to him, and that the Prophet who has all of the keys has the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Gather pictures (either from the printable or the gospel art library) of baptism, confirmation, the temple, temple marriage, and the sacrament.  Explain that these are the things that are special to Heavenly Father that you need his special keys- the Priesthood- to perform.  Match the key to the ordinance.

Priesthood Keys Matching

 

April 15-21 O Grave, Where is Thy Victory

Prep Materials: Glove, Pictures of Christ (Gospel Art Book)- birth, adult, Garden, Cross, Resurrection

Song: Pick one of the Easter songs, they start around page 64- my kids’ favorite is Easter Hosanna pg. 68

I love using the glove and hand object lesson to teach about death and the resurrection.  We starting teaching our son this idea at Easter 2 years ago and then reviewed it when we realized my Grandma’s death was imminent a little over a year ago.  I was surprised then, at 3 1/2 how much he understood and how it helped him process what was going on.  My other Grandmother passed about a month ago and he has been using this analogy on his own to explain what is happening.  I do make sure as I’m explaining this concept that while Jesus came back to life after 3 days, our loved ones will come back to life and we will see them again in the Resurrection, but that will not be for a very long time.  One of my Grandpa’s died when I was 5, and I knew that he would come back to life so I didn’t understand why everyone else was so sad.  I remember a few years later realizing that he hadn’t come back and honestly feeling a little betrayed.  It’s a wonderful, beautiful, and comforting thing to understand the Resurrection, but I think it’s also important to help children understand that it is sad when someone dies because we won’t see them for a long time.

Sorry about the tangent, if you haven’t done or seen the hand and glove thing here’s how it goes.  Since it’s Easter have pictures of Christ’s birth, Christ in life, in the Garden, on the cross, and the Resurrection on hand- the gospel art book has these.

Explain that your hand is like your spirit, wiggle it and talk about the pre-earth life.  Show the 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 grown 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) we will also be resurrected, put the glove back on.

 

Click for my post full of Christ-centered Easter ideas

 

April 22-28 What Shall I do to Inherit Eternal Life?

Prep Materials: Props for Good Samaritan (bandages)

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

Help the kids act out the story of the Good Samaritan, break out the doctor kit for some bandages to put on the injured person.  Take turns acting out the different roles.  Talk about ways we can help people and be good neighbors to everyone.  Make plans to do something nice for someone who needs it.

 

April 29-May 5 I Am the Good Shepherd

Prep Materials: Stuffed animals (lambs), any other props to help be a shepherd, wolf, or robber

Song: Little Lambs so White and Fair pg. 58

More acting practice!  Grab some stuffed animals to be your lambs and put them somewhere they can be “guarded”.  Take turns being the shepherd (guarding), wolf and robber (trying to get the animals).

 

Materials List:

Keys (house, car, filing cabinet, etc.)

Priesthood keys (either print the Priesthood Keys Matching or gather up some extra keys)

Pictures of Priesthood Ordinances (printable or Gospel Art book)

Glove

Pictures of Christ (Gospel Art Book)- birth, adult, Garden, Cross, Resurrection

Props for Good Samaritan (bandages)

Stuffed animals (lambs)

any other props to help be a shepherd, wolf, or robber

 

 

 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay