Object Lesson - How The Book of Mormon was originally printed

I am very spatially challenged so this was a good thing for me to try.  This object lesson shows the printing method for The Book of Mormon in the olden days.  It could also show how other book were printed in that time frame of the 1800's.


This is directly taken from lds.org (see link at end of post):

Have each child fold a piece of paper into eight sections (see illustration). Then have the children unfold their papers and write numbers on each side as illustrated:

Make sure the children write 15 on the back of 16 and 10 on the back of 9.

Have the children refold their papers: first so that 14 and 15 touch; then so that 12 and 13 touch; and finally so that 8 and 9 touch. Each paper should look like a small book, with 1 on the front and 16 on the back. With scissors or a paper knife, cut the top and right edges of the pages so that they open like a book. Have the children turn the pages so they can see that the numbers are in the right order. (Practice this activity before class so you can show the children how to do it.)

Explain to the children that this is the way the pages of the Book of Mormon were printed: pages were arranged in a certain order and then printed on one large piece of paper. The large piece of paper was then folded and trimmed so that all the pages were in the right order. Many of these small “books” were then combined to make the Book of Mormon. Some books are still printed today using this process.

I teach the younger kids at church (age 8) so I designed my own form so that the kids could just fold the paper and cut.  I thought it would be too challenging for them to have to figure out how to write all the numbers in the right places.  Here are my pages below.  If you print them out, be sure to do them double sided and have the right pages match up on the back.  Believe it or not this was a challenge for me.  I'm glad my children inherited their dad's spatial skills and not mine.

Front side:

Back side:

Click HERE to read the Primary lesson that goes with this object lesson.