Thanksgiving

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- 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

For The Beauty of the Earth- Thanksgiving Countdown 2019

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Here we go for another round of Thanksgiving prep!  Confession time- I’m not like a real adult, I have never made the Thanksgiving feast.  I take charge of one dish and one dish only.  Candied yams.  No one else really likes them, but they are my FAVORITE!  It was my Grandma’s thing and this year that’s extra special because this will be our first Thanksgiving without her.  Looking back, I think I’ve spent far more Thanksgivings in my life WITH her than without.  Between losing my Grandma earlier this year and some other trials we’ve faced this year I’m holding on to Thanksgiving and focusing on blessings to help give me a pick me up to get me through.

  1. Day of the Dead- I love learning about different cultures and teaching my kids about how other people celebrate.  I think it’s really important to help them understand and respect diversity.  Watch Coco!  Here’s some free and simple masks to color and cut out!  Then take some time to talk about your ancestors and why we are grateful for them.  Tell stories, maybe make some foods that they liked (I’ll hold off on the candied yams until it’s actually Thanksgiving, but might have to make some Root Beer floats in honor of my other Grandma- and yes I did say with her Southern Utah accent!)
  2. Find a pumpkin patch/ corn maze or farmer’s market.  In Arizona I really like Tolmachoff Farms for the North Phoenix area, and Schnepf Farms for the opposite side of the Valley.  Talk about where our food comes from and how grateful we are to farmers who grow food for us.  Have fun and buy some farm fresh items!
  3. We are grateful for the Pilgrims who came to America for Religious Freedom.  Attend church.
  4. Teach more about the pilgrims.  Make some pilgrim hats and either make a Mayflower boat or just sail a toy boat around in the bath tub, sink, or water table.  Perk for living in AZ- it’s still warm enough to use an outdoor water table in November (downside- we had to get through summer to get to this point!)
  5. We are thankful for the sunshine!  Get outside and get some sun.  We’ll be going to play at the park!
  6. We are thankful for animals- zoo trip
  7. We are thankful for our home- do some extra chores to show respect to your home
  8.  Hand Turkeys
  9.  We are thankful for our potential to change and grow- We’ve got tickets to Butterfly Wonderland, so we’ll be heading there, but you could also just talk about and read books about butterflies and talk about how we can make changes and grow into spectacular things
  10.  We are thankful for Jesus Christ- discuss the Sacrament or Communion before, during, and after church
  11.  We are thankful for veterans- Color pictures/ write notes for Operation Gratitude
  12.  Beautiful World action poem
  13.  We are grateful for Daddy’s job- visit daddy at work for lunch
  14.  We are thankful for our food- share with others by donating to a food drive or provide a meal through Gathering Humanity
  15.  We are thankful for the temple- walk around the temple
  16.  We are thankful for cousins- color pictures to mail
  17.  We are thankful for friends- make a treat to take to a friend
  18.  We are thankful for our access to food- color pictures for the cashier
  19.  We are thankful for school- color pictures for teachers
  20.  We are thankful for our minds and our imagination- Children’s museum
  21. We can show our gratitude for the earth by picking up trash- go for a walk and find some trash to pick up
  22.  We are thankful for those who keep us safe- drop off treats to the police or firefighters (or both!)
  23.  We are thankful for Primary/Nursery- color pictures for teachers
  24.  Thankful tree
  25.  We are thankful for our bodies- go for a walk
  26.  We are thankful for Grandparents- color pictures for them
  27.  We are grateful for our toys- clean them up and choose a few to donate to a charity (get things cleared out and ready for Christmas!)
  28.  Thanksgiving feast!  Try to let the kids help make something
  29.  Visit Native American ruins- explain how the Native Americans assisted the Pilgrims

 

 

Image by Biljana Jovanovic from Pixabay

Thanksgiving Activity List

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It’s that time of year again! Time for another round of holiday circle activities!  A lot of these are similar to last year where I also gave an in depth explanation of why and how I do this.  But to sum up I make a calendar using muffin tins and have an activity each day for my 2 and 4 year old kids.  This helps make our holiday prep and observance more deliberate and meaningful and to prevent going straight from asking for candy to asking for presents and forgetting to be thankful in between.

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I live in Phoenix, so the outings are naturally Phoenix based, but they are pretty easily adaptable to wherever you live.  And if you do live in the Phoenix area then I would LOVE to have you join us on any of our outings.

Thanksgiving Activities 2018!

  1. The Pilgrims came to America in a boat called the Mayflower- I think I’m going to be brave and try to fold boats out of paper this year- but if I chicken out or if you’re just not that brave either then just use a bath toy.  We have a water table so we’ll float a boat in that on the back porch, but it’s also fun in the bathtub, sink, or a large tupperware.
  2. Hand turkeys
  3. Pilgrim coloring page (I’ll be at Time out for Women so this will be an easy no prep activity for daddy to handle)
  4. The Pilgrims came to America for religious freedom, they wanted to go to the church they felt was right without being persecuted- go to church
  5. We are thankful for our bodies- go for a walk
  6. We show gratitude for our food by sharing with those in need- donate food- depending on the schedule we will donate to a food drive or take a meal to a refugee family through Gathering Humanity, maybe both 🙂 that link will take you to their sign-up genius where you can sign up to deliver a prepared meal for a family’s first night in their new home, purchase two weeks worth of groceries (both of those can be done using Wal-Mart pick-up if your schedule doesn’t allow for drop off, or you can sign up to set up an apartment or help in the warehouse- this has been an amazing and simple way to serve the community
  7. Begin Thankful Tree- I bought a thankful tree last year at Target, it has paper leaves to write on, we will start it today and then add to it throughout the month
  8. We are thankful for cousins- color pictures to mail to cousins
  9. We are thankful for animals- go to the zoo
  10. We are thankful for Primary/ Nursery- color pictures for their teachers and deliver them the next day at church
  11. We are thankful for the brave men and women that keep our country safe- color pictures for Operation Gratitude, this group sends care packages to active duty soldiers and veterans, they have some specific guidelines so look them up before you start
  12. We show gratitude for our home by keeping it clean- pick a chore
  13. We are thankful for our food- color a picture for the cashier (we’ve done this a few years in a row and they are always surprised and so grateful)
  14. We are thankful for Preschool- make a card for the teacher
  15. We are thankful for our minds and imagination- go to the Children’s Museum
  16. We are thankful for Grandparents- color pictures for Grandparents
  17. We are thankful for the earth- go to the Botanical Garden
  18. We are thankful for the temple- walk around the temple grounds
  19. We are thankful for friends- make a treat for a friend
  20. We are thankful for daddy’s job- take him lunch at work
  21. We show gratitude for our toys by cleaning them up and sharing with children in need- pick up and select toys to donate (bonus of getting ready for new toys coming in a few weeks for Christmas)
  22. Thanksgiving feast!
  23. The Native Americans helped the Pilgrims- visit Native American ruins, we’ll be heading up to Wupatki National Monument near Flagstaff (it’s connected to Sunset Crater National Monument so you get to see a volcano while you’re at it!)
  24. We are grateful for our family- fun family outing, for us this is going to be attending a horse race- I tried to find a way to make horses fit into Thanksgiving but all I could come up with was family time 🙂

 

You may be wondering how we afford the Zoo, the Children’s Museum, the Botanical Gardens, a National Park, and a horse race all in one month.  We’re not rolling in the dough, and those that know me know that I’m pretty cheap.  So here’s how we make it work- the kids get a zoo membership from Grandparents as their birthday present and the Children’s museum as a Christmas present.  For the Botanical Gardens, I watch for a culture pass at the library which gets two adults in for free so we’ll only have to pay for the 4 year old (they also have a free day once a month but it’s a Tuesday and I wanted to go as a family so we’ll use the culture pass to go on a Saturday).  The National Monument is $15 (per car) for both the ruins and the volcano and the horse race is only $2 admission.  So we’ll be able to do all of these things in one month for about $35 out of pocket.  While we’re thankful for daddy’s job and the financial security it brings, we are also thankful for all the money saving ideas we can find!

Thanksgiving “Advent” Activities

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Last year as the holiday season was approaching I felt strongly that I wanted to do a Christ-centered advent activity calendar for my then 2 year old.  As I was collecting ideas…in October…don’t judge I was sick and had a lot of time to scroll Pinterest…I realized, why not do the same for Thanksgiving.

Fun fact- Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday.  It’s like the underdog of the Holiday season, and I feel like it needs way more attention than it gets.  When trying to shop for Thanksgiving related items towards then end of October there’s like 5 double sided aisles dedicated to Halloween, there’s already several dedicated to Christmas, but Thanksgiving gets this tiny little display that takes up part of one side of an aisle.

I mean what gives!  We go from dressing up and asking for candy straight to asking for gifts and forget to be grateful in between.

So in an attempt to give Thanksgiving it’s due attention, and to help teach my son about gratitude, “circles” were created.

Pinterest has tons of ideas for super cute and creative ways to make advent calendars.  As mentioned in previous posts, I like to follow the KISS method- Keep it Simple Stephanie (or stupid, or smarty, whatever is appropriate for the given day).  I went to the dollar store and bought muffin tins, so $4 total right there.  Then I cut circles out of construction paper and put a slip of paper and a piece of candy in each of the sections and use double sided tape to attach the colored circles over the tins.  It’s pretty simple, keeps me organized, and my son LOVES the candy…and the activities, but the candy definitely helps keep the motivation.

For my list of ideas I scrolled through Pinterest for inspiration but couldn’t find any specific posts that fit us exactly so a lot of things I came up with on my own.  I’m not super crafty and I hate messes so I don’t pick a lot of the craft ideas, when I talk about coloring pictures for people, I happened upon a pack of cute Thanksgiving coloring pages last year at Goodwill, so sorry, no link for those, but if you are reading this blog then chances are you may have been introduced to this thing called the internet which contains Google and Pinterest, between the two of those you can pretty much find anything your little heart could desire.  Now if you are one of those crafty sorts of people and you don’t mind chasing feathers around your house, then you could definitely incorporate some pretty cute crafts into these ideas to give away to people.

Another thing to keep in mind with this list is that my kids are currently 3 and 1 so this is very much targeted towards that age group, mostly the 3 year old.  I also try to incorporate activities we already do but find a way to make them focused on the holiday.  So when you see things on the list like, going to church or tee ball, and you think, “wait, that’s cheating!”  Not cheating- simple, smart, resourceful.

Thanksgiving Activities:

  1. Heavenly Father led the Pilgrims to America so they could go to church how and where they wanted.  Make a Pilgrim Hat.
  2. Pilgrims came on a boat called the Mayflower.  Float boats in water (I have a little bin I use for water play on the back porch, or you could do this in the bathtub or sink).
  3. We show gratitude by serving.  We will be visiting an older lady from church who recently had surgery.
  4. We are grateful for our bodies.  Go to tee ball with Daddy.
  5. We are grateful for Grandparents.  Color pictures for Grandparents.
  6. We are grateful for nature.  Go for a walk, pick up trash if we see any.
  7. Family Home Evening- begin Thankful tree (we will add to this each week for FHE).  I bought a Thankful Tree from Target, but there are also a lot of cute ideas on Pinterest for making your own.
  8. We are grateful for Nursery.  Color a picture for Nursery leaders.
  9. We are grateful for books.  Go to story time at the library.
  10. We are grateful for animals.  Go to the zoo.
  11. We are grateful for the temple.  Visit the temple grounds.
  12. We show gratitude to Heavenly Father by going to church.
  13. We are grateful for cousins.  Color pictures and mail to cousins.
  14. Continue Thankful Tree.
  15. We show gratitude for our food by sharing.  Donate food (either to a food drive or make a meal for someone who is sick or a refugee)
  16. We are grateful for friends.  Make a treat for a friend.
  17. We are grateful for our minds and imagination.  Go to the Children’s Museum.
  18. We are grateful for Preschool.  Color a picture for teacher.
  19. Learn Thanksgiving songs and hymns.
  20. We are grateful for our food.  Color a picture for the grocery store cashier.
  21. Continue Thankful tree.
  22. We show gratitude for toys by cleaning them up and sharing.  Clean up and clear out play room (also helps get ready for Christmas gifts coming in and toys to donate to toy drives).
  23. Thanksgiving feast!
  24. Talk about first Thanksgiving, watch video, and visit Indian Ruins.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope this list helps you get some ideas going on how to teach your children about gratitude and give Thanksgiving the hype and attention in deserves!

I’ll post my Christmas ideas as well as we get a little closer.