Primary Music Leader Training

We had a fun Stake Primary Music Training in our stake recently.  All of our ward Primary Music Leaders came and shared their ideas.  I wanted to share the information from that night.

Sing Your Heart Out

Music Leader Training Get-together

“We care so much about you and about the children you are teaching. Prepare well to bless these little ones.  Give it your best effort.  Your influence will - quite literally - affect these children for eternity.  Enjoy the assignment that you have, and discharge it faithfully.  However much we love and admire children, I am certain we underestimate who and what a child is, and what in the hands of God he or she may become.  May God bless you always in your sacred opportunity to help save the children of this Church.”   

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Leadership Training Library, “Supporting the Primary Music Leader”

“We are able to feel and learn very quickly through music...some spiritual things that we would otherwise learn very slowly.”  

-Boyd K. Packer, “The Arts and the Spirit of the Lord,” Ensign, Aug, 1976, 61

PLANNING MUSIC TIME

Know the Song

Before you can teach a song effectively, you must know the song yourself. Become familiar with the words and melody by playing the song on the piano or listening to the music on the Church music website.

·         Do I know the song well enough to make eye contact with the children?

Use the Scriptures

Study the song to learn what message the words convey. Use the scripture references at the end of the song in your preparation or in teaching the song.

·         Do I connect the doctrine to the words the children are singing?

Sing, Sing, Sing

Children learn to sing a song by hearing it sung and by singing it themselves. Spend more time singing than talking during music time.

·         Do we sing more than we talk or play games?

Capture the Children's Attention

Engage the children's attention with an object, a picture, a scripture, an experience, or simply a whisper.

·         Do the attention-getters that I use enhance the learning experience?

Include Different Learning Styles

Use a variety of approaches to involve as many of the senses as possible.  Seeing, speaking, moving, and doing, as well as hearing, will help children better understand and remember the songs.

·         Do I vary my teaching plan to include different learning styles?

Direct Children's Listening

Ask questions that will encourage children to listen to the song and help them understand the gospel message. For example, ask—What? Where? When? Why?—and state the question in such a way that children can discover the answer as you sing the song.

·         Do I ask questions that encourage thinking?

Involve the Children

Create opportunities for children to participate. For example, invite children to improvise actions, assign small groups to sing different sections, ask for ideas to vary the styles of singing, or give them a picture or object to hold to remind them of the words to a song.

·         Do I use activities that involve all of the children rather than a few?

Bear Testimony

Bear your personal testimony or read testimonies recorded in the scriptures. As children hear the testimonies of others, they will be strengthened.

·         Do I bear brief testimony of the doctrine taught in the song?

Reverence Ideas               

 Bubbles in cheeks (Junior Primary)

To fold arms with choices (jets or fish, in lap or on chest)

Stand up/Sit down

Proximity Control

“If you can hear me ______.”

“To Catch a Butterfly”

https://www.lds.org/friend/2001/05/to-catch-a-butterfly?lang=eng&query=butterfly+reverence

Positive Reinforcement - “I” statements    

• “I’m looking for…”
• beautiful eyes
• big smiles
• chins up
• mouths moving to sing
• “I noticed…”
• Include specifics
• Whole group, class, or individuals
• Use a variety
• Praise around

           

• “I give ______ to those who ______”  
• thumbs up, smile.
• winks, look at me.
• pats on the back, sit up straight.

• Silent cheers

Old Reliable! (Games for THOSE weeks)

From The Barefoot Chorister, Stacy Sanchez

http://barefootchorister.blogspot.com

1. Hide the Note/Hot and Cold

2. Name that Tune (Notes, humming, rhythm, etc)

3. Stump the Chorister

4. Pop the Balloon

5. Skittles Challenge

6. Who's Missing

7. Something's Different, Sister ________

8. Swat Team

9. 4 Corners

Choose and Review games

From Kathleen Mower

http://thechildrensing.blogspot.com

1. Everyone who…

2. Three in a Row

3. Scrambled Word Puzzle

4. People in the Scriptures Made Good Choices

5. I Spy With My Little Eye

http://www.twoladiesandablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/roll-and-blow.html

Roll ‘em and Blow “em

Cut the Bishop’s tie

Roll/Spin Mix ‘n’ Match - Fun Ways to Sing

http://afprimarysingingtime.blogspot.com/2010/09/fun-ways-to-sing.html

http://kamisprimarymusicideas.blogspot.com/2014/04/review-activity-ways-to-sing-cards-more.html

http://teachldschildren.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Fun-Ways-to-Sing.pdf

http://primarysingingtimewithmatilda.blogspot.com/2015/01/20-minutes-for-singing-time-what-should.html

Battleship

Children can put their arm into the elephant's trunk and practice leading the song.  A simpler version could be an apple with a worm sticking out of it (if you don't want to try drawing an elephant).

Candyland 

Wiggles and Giggles - Children can pick one of these cute things out of the jar and there is a fun song attached that they can sing.  Great idea to pull from when you see the kids need a little break and some movement.

 Roll the dice to see what style to use while singing the song.  Kids love that!  

Uno Game to learn a song. 

This was a fun idea.  One binder contained a copy of the Primary Children's Songbook that she had taken apart and put in sheet protectors.  The other binder had the plan for the month.  Great way to be organized and what a fun theme.

This was the treat table for our training.  Our theme was Sing Your Heart Out since we held it a few weeks before Valentine's Day.  Who doesn't love sugar cookies and chocolate?

This was the table of things we gave our music leaders. 

Here's a link to a folder which includes some documents such as fun ways to sings songs and our training documents.

Primary Airlines Activity

We did this fun "Primary Airlines" activity for our Primary Sharing Time for the children right after they finished doing the Primary Program at church.  We wanted to do something fun for them to show them how grateful we were for all of their hard work.  They memorized their lines, sang songs, and recited scriptures in front of a few hundred people (something many adults are afraid to do).  It was impressive!

Before the children arrived, we set up the Primary Room to look like an airplane.  A few printed airplane windows on the walls, chairs set up like airplane rows and aisles.  In the front of the room we had a big "Primary Airlines" sign.

We had the children line up in the hallway in front of a poster sized boarding sign and gave them each a boarding pass like this.

One of the gals and her family made a video that was projected on a screen in the room.  There were airplane sounds and the pilot spoke to the passengers throughout the movie.  They felt like they were on a flight.  There was even some turbulence and lightning along the way to add excitement.  We stopped at various countries and showed bits and pieces from this "One in a Million" page on the lds.org website.  For instance, for Australia, we would have the captain announce where we were landing and then we'd play a little show about a child from Australia.  It was a big hit!

Part way through our "flight," we served snacks and drinks on a cart, going up the aisles.

The theme of the month was missionary work, so we discussed that and as the children exited the flight, they received a "pass along card" to share with a friend.  They also received a pair of plastic airline wings with sticky tape on the back that were donated by SouthWest Airlines.

I'm sure the kids will remember this for a long time.  It could also work as part of a quarterly activity :)

Primary Sharing Time - The Templewed Game

Our Primary President is SUPER creative and designed a fun game to do in Sharing Time this past Sunday.  THE TEMPLEWED GAME (based off the Newlywed Game but way more rated-G). She had three couples who had been sealed in the temple come in to the Primary Room.  She sent the men out and had the women answer questions and they had to answer how they thought their husband would respond.  They wrote their responses on paper (attached to a clipboard) and then when the men came back in the room they were asked the same questions.  They got 5 points per question if they had the same answer as their spouse.

Here are a few questions that I remember:
What date did you propose?
What was the weather like on your wedding day?
What is the date you were married?
Where were you married?
What is the most important part of a marriage - trust, laughter or friendship?
What is the greatest blessing about being married in the temple?

They all received prizes at the end.  The kids loved it and it was nice to have some examples of happily married couples in the room.

Reverence in Primary

Reverence is sometimes a hard thing to find in Primary.  Primary should be fun, but not crazy and chaotic.  There needs to be a balance.  It is important for the kids to learn how to be reverent so that they can feel the Holy Ghost.

Here are two ideas to help kids understand the importance of this concept.

"TO CATCH A BUTTERFLY" METHOD

When I was Primary President, we told a story about reverence, using butterflies as the object lesson.  Then I attached a realistic (but fake) butterfly to the end of a dowel and would have the butterfly land on each reverent child while we were waiting to start Sharing Time.  This worked especially well in Junior Primary but the older kids liked it more than I thought they would.

I read a story called "To Catch a Butterfly" from the May 2001 Children's Friend magazine (click HERE to read it).   In this story a pair of rambunctious twins learn the secret of catching a butterly.

“Reverence is a lot like these butterflies. You don’t catch a butterfly. You let it come to you. You don’t catch a reverent feeling, either. It just comes to you when you are quiet. It’s the warm feeling you are feeling right now. You can also feel it when you think about Jesus Christ or anything else wonderful. When you are in Primary next Sunday, think about how quiet you had to be to have these butterflies in your hands. Then think about Jesus, and see if you get that same reverent feeling.”

Click HERE for an action rhyme describing what butterflies can teach us about reverence.  (Good for younger children)

"EVEN THE PRESIDENT MONSON HAD THE WIGGLES" LESSON

This is a picture of President Monson when he was 10 years old.

Click HERE to read about how President Monson's childhood Primary President enlisted him to help solve the reverence problem in their ward.  I think it is good for the kids to know that even our prophet had a hard time being reverent sometimes.  (Hey, I'll admit it that I am even tempted to talk too much at church!)

Primary - Captain Righteousness

The second counselor in our bishopric is a great sport.  He dresses up as CAPTAIN RIGHTEOUSNESS and pops in to surprise our Primary group during singing/sharing time about once a month.  Before he comes in, the lights are all suddenly turned off and a flashlight is turned on and focused on a small CTR sign on the chalkboard.  Then the kids get excited because they know a special visitor is coming.

He calls one class up to the front of the room and asks each child to tell something that they have done to Choose the Right recently.  Then he gives them a CTR ring to remind them to continue to choose the right.  The kids LOVE it and I must admit it makes me giggle too.

What a great tradition that kids (and teachers) will surely remember.

Primary - Book of Mormon Lessons

I came across a website called teachldschildren.com that has some wonderful lesson tips for teaching Primary lessons on the Book of Mormon.  Check it out!

Story - Preserving Jam and Families

This is a great story from the Friend magazine that I used in a Sharing Time about temples and uniting families for eternity. It is from the July 2004 Friend.

(Based on a true story)

The great work to be done in the temples of the Lord … for … the sealing of the children to their parents (D&C 138:48).

The raspberries were red, ripe, and juicy. Whitney had never seen quite so many. Mom had bought several large containers when they were on sale, and now she wanted Whitney to help her make jam. Whitney loved jam on toast in the mornings or on hot rolls when they came out of the oven. Her mouth watered at the thought of the treat.

Mom lifted a sack of sugar out of the storage bucket. “Start putting the raspberries in the strainer,” she instructed. “Then run them under the water in the sink until they’re clean. Be sure to pick out any bits of leaves you find.”

Whitney filled the strainer, cleaned the berries, and dumped them into a big bowl. She refilled the strainer and went through the process again and again. It hardly felt like work to her.

After Mom finished measuring the sugar, she took lots of clean jars out of the dishwasher and stacked them on the countertop. Once the dishwasher was empty, she pulled several more jars out of a cardboard box and placed them in the dishwasher.

“Why are you doing that?” Whitney asked. “They don’t look dirty to me.”

“Some of the jars have been sitting on the shelf downstairs for a while. I just want to make sure that they are all clean before we fill them with jam.”

Mom and Whitney worked together for several hours before Dad and Wendee, Whitney’s sister, came home. “Put on some aprons and come give us a hand,” Mom called to them. Dad started mashing up the last of the berries while Wendee began labeling the finished jars.

“Honey, before you put away those jars, make sure all the lids are sealed,” Mom said to Wendee.

Whitney stopped stirring and laughed. “Sealed?” she asked. “Are they getting married or something?”

Now Dad, Mom, and Wendee laughed.

“Well,” Whitney said defensively, “Mom told you to make sure the lids are sealed. So what are you going to do? Take them to the temple?”

Wendee picked up a jar and showed her younger sister the lid. “See, the lid has to seal to the jar so the jam won’t spoil. If the lid doesn’t seal, the jam won’t last. We’re not talking about the temple.”

“Well,” Dad said, “maybe we are. Think about it—isn’t it the same with families? The ones sealed in the temple by priesthood authority can last forever. Those that aren’t sealed aren’t going to last.”

“Keep mashing the rest of those berries while you preach your sermon,” Mom said as she started spooning finished jam into the jars. Whitney reached out to steady the jars while Mom worked.

“I thought getting sealed just meant getting married,” Whitney said.

“Not exactly,” Mom explained. “A man and a woman can get married anywhere, but when they marry outside of the temple, it’s only for this life. Couples married, or sealed, in the temple can be married forever.”

“Now who’s preaching?” Dad asked with a smile.

“Sealed means linked together or hard to break apart,” Mom explained. “When you get married in the temple, you are linked eternally to your spouse and your children. We seal the lids to preserve the jam. Being sealed in the temple preserves families.”

“These berries are all mashed. What’s next?” Dad asked.

“Just take those last few jars out of the dishwasher.”

“I feel another lesson coming on,” Dad said. “See, Mom cleaned the jars before she filled them with jam. Sealing jam in a dirty jar would not work. It’s the same way with the temple. We have to be clean and worthy to enter the temple. That’s the only way the sealing counts.”

“I’m impressed,” Wendee said. “Dad, you’re pretty good.”

“So is this jam,” Mom said. “Now, who wants some before we put it all away?”

Over the next few weeks, everyone in the family enjoyed the jam. Whitney liked it best of all.

One Sunday Sister Garcia assigned Whitney to give a talk in Primary the following week. Whitney didn’t usually like giving talks because she never knew what to say. But this time was different. Whitney could hardly wait to get home and begin writing.

“What are you supposed to talk about?” Wendee asked on the way home from church.

“Well,” Whitney said, “Sister Garcia said the theme should be ‘families are forever.’ The way I look at it, forever families are a lot like making raspberry jam!”

Primary Sharing Time - The Fall & the Atonement

Sharing Time – The Fall & the Atonement

Who were the first people on the earth? Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden and Heavenly Father visited them.

He taught them many things like how to take care of the garden and how to take care of the animals.

Heavenly Father also taught Adam and Eve that they should not eat the fruit from a certain tree.

Primary Sharing Time - Sharing the Gospel

Primary Sharing Time - Sharing the Gospel

Brief Description/Purpose:
We never know what may become of our efforts to share the gospel with others. We may be planting seeds that will flourish later.

Objects Used/Preparation:
small pieces of candy, such as chocolate kisses, enough for everyone in the group

Lesson:
Before beginning the lesson, pass out the candy and say "I think we need a little treat before we begin", or whatever you feel is appropriate to let the class know that it is fine to eat the candy at that time. It is also helpful to eat one yourself. Begin teaching and ignore the candy for a while.

At the appropriate time in the lesson, ask how many didn't take a piece of candy, how many ate the one they took, and how many are saving theirs for later. Relate this to sharing the gospel with others. Some people will simply not be interested, some will take it in right away, and some will "save" what we have told them for later.

Have the Missionaries come in and talk about different ways to share the gospel with friends, neighbors and family. Have the missionaries role play with the children how to Prepare, Invite, Follow-up, Resolve Concerns.

Sing Call to Serve (Have the missionaries join in)

Share a short story how you, or someone you know has shared the gospel with someone.

Read or share from memory D & C: 4.

Testify

(Thanks to Michelle Walton for this neat Primary Sharing Time)

Primary Sharing Time - I Can Be a Missionary Now and Can Prepare for a Future Full-time Mission

Primary Sharing Time Idea

Presentation:
Show the children the jar of water. Ask them how many drops of water they think are in the jar.

Ask them, “If you were one drop of water, could you make a difference to the rest of the water in the jar?” Illustrate how one drop can make a difference by adding a drop of dark food coloring and pointing out how it flows through the whole jar. Help the children understand that what they do influences others.

Discussion: Discuss with the children things they can do today to be missionaries and the things they can do now to prepare to serve a full-time mission. Divide them into four groups. Using stations have the children learn a missionary skill from each adult leader.

Divide the classes into groups: Give them 2 minutes to talk about this topic and have them share.

Station A:
Full-time missionaries memorize discussions about the gospel. Have the children memorize an article of faith and repeat it to the group. They may do this in pairs or with the whole class.

Station B:
Missionaries read the Book of Mormon. Have each child choose a GAK picture representing his or her favorite story from the Book of Mormon section. Help the children locate the stories in the scriptures and retell them to the group.

Station C:
Missionaries give talks. Help the children practice giving a talk by using this four-step process: 1) choose a scripture, 2) tell what the scripture means, 3) relate a personal experience or scripture story that illustrates the point, and 4) bear testimony about it. If necessary, have the leader give an example, using these steps. Have the group choose a scripture. Ask someone to tell what it means. Have a second child share a personal experience or tell a scripture story about it. Have a child or the leader bear testimony of its principle. (For example: 1 Nephi 3:7 means that whatever the Lord asks me to do, I will do because I know that He will help me do it. One time I was invited to go to a birthday party on Sunday, but because I knew that the Lord wanted me to keep the Sabbath Day holy, I didn’t go. I felt good because I knew that I was being obedient. I know that when we keep His commandments, even when they are not easy to keep, we will be blessed.) Suggest using these steps to give talks in Primary now as preparation for speaking as a missionary in the future.

Station D:
Missionaries often lead music. Have the music leader help the children learn to lead music. See CS, p. 301 for diagrams of the beat patterns. Turn your back to the children and beat a 3/4 pattern. Have the children copy the motion. Sing “I Love to See the Temple ” (p. 95), and have the children lead the song. Sing other songs that have a 3/4 pattern. Teach a 4/4 pattern in a similar manner, and have the children sing and lead “The Lord Gave Me a Temple ” (p. 153) and other songs with a 4/4 pattern. Note that both of the songs mentioned begin on the upbeat (beat 3 or 4, respectively).

Summary: Share your testimony.

(Thanks again to Michelle Walton for contributing great Primary Sharing Times to the blog!)

Primary Sharing Time - I Can Be a Missionary Now (Puzzle)

Sharing Time - Missionary Work

Prepare:
Get a picture of Christ being baptized by John the Baptist. Cut it into the appropriate amount of puzzle pieces depending on how long you want the sharing time to be. Number the puzzle pieces.

Write the following on various puzzle pieces - 2-3 missionary songs, 2-3 stories from the scriptures or Book of Mormon reader, 2-3 missionary scriptures, 2-3 role playing situations. After the puzzle pieces are prepare and written on, put them under the children's chairs in the Primary Room.

Object Lesson: Stand in front of the primary room (standing or sitting) and start eating some of your cookies from the bag. Talk about how yummy these cookies are. Describe the cookies in detail, like how the cookie melts in your mouth, how you can taste the yummy chocolate chips etc. Talk about it being the best cookie you have ever had. Then while you're still finishing up with your cookies talk to some of the primary children how there weekend was or if they are having a good day.

After all the cookies are gone, stop and say "oh did you want one? Maybe I should have shared some of my cookies with you."

Boys and girls just like these yummy cookies that taste and look so good, did you know each of you have something better? We all have the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and we don't want to keep it to our self like when I was eating the cookies, we want to share it with others.

Tell the children to look under their seat to find a puzzle piece. Once they have found it remind them to sit up straight and get ready to help put the puzzle together.

Start calling the numbers in order. Try to get through all of them.

After you put the puzzle together, ask them what the picture is. Tell them the story in your own words.

End with your testimony of missionary work how it has blessed your life. Share a personal experience if you have enough time.

Ideas for puzzle pieces:

Songs:
Called to Serve (Hymn Book #249)
Scripture Power

Role Play Situations:
How to invite a friend to a Quarterly Activity, Scouts or Activity Days.
How to invite a friend to church.
Welcome a new child who is visiting Primary.

Storytelling:
Alma Teaches and Baptizes (from the Book of Mormon Reader. Pages 43-44)
Samuel the Lamanite tells about Jesus Christ. (from the Book of Mormon Reader. Pages 111-113)
The Sons of Mosiah Become Missionaries (from the Book of Mormon Reader. Page 53)

Scriptures:
D&C Section 4
D& C 18:15

Object Lesson - Tug of War Temptations

This can be used for a Primary Sharing Time, FHE lesson, etc.

Tug-of-war temptations

Show a picture of a family and explain that there are three important things we have been asked to do regularly to strengthen our family. They are scripture study, family prayer, and family home evening.

Then we had 4 children come up, 2 girls & 2 boys, and hung signs on their necks that said Dad, Mom, Brother, Sister. We also had two signs that said Temptations of the world, which we had male teachers wear. Then we had the "family" do a tug-of-war against "temptations". Naturally, they lost.

Then we had 3 more teachers come up and wear the signs we made for Scripture Study, Family Home Evening, and Family Prayer. They joined the children representing the family and had another tug-of-war against "temptations and this time were successful!

The children loved it and it was a great visual for them.

(Thanks to Michelle Walton for this great object lesson!)

Sharing Time - I Will Do Family History Work So My Ancestors Can Receive Temple Blessings

Sharing Time - I will do family history work so my Ancestors can receive temple blessings.

Set Up:
Set up a table like you’re having a birthday party. Cake, plates, napkins, streamers, balloons, table cloth, center piece etc. Even have a present wrapped. Ask the children to close there eyes and imagine they’re getting ready for a birthday party tomorrow and they have been planning for weeks. Talk about all the fun stuff you get to do to plan for it. The fun games you will play etc. Talk about some of the friends they would invite. Have them open their eyes, "I'm so sorry, but there's been a change of plans. We aren't going to have your birthday party tomorrow. We'll have it sometime, I'm just not sure when." How would that make you feel?

Share with the Children:
Imagine now being in the Spirit World. The missionaries have taught you the gospel and you accept it. In order to progress you need to be baptized....but wait, you can't. Why? What do you have to do? You have to wait until someone does it for you.

Share with the Children:
In order to help our family members who have passed on, we must first know who they are. Draw a pedigree chart on the board with spaces to fill in three generations (child, parents, and grandparents). Share with them your 3 generation chart. (Have it pre-done.)

Sing “Families Can Be Together Forever” (p. 188).

Share with the Children:
Talk about your three generations. Talk about some of the traits you have that are similar to yours. Show some pictures of your three generation chart. Talk about there three generations. Who might they look like? What talents that have been passed down. Whose personality they might have? You can add whatever you like.

Sing “I Am a Child of God” (pp. 2–3).

Share with the Children:
Share a story from one of you ancestors that has passed on. And why they’re so important to you and why? Tell the children that through temple ordinances our families can be together forever.

Testify:
The importance of temple work and how I’m helping them to return back to Heavenly Father etc.

(Thank you to Michelle Walton for contributing this sharing time to the blog)

Primary Sharing Time - Dancing Raisins & Faith

I used this for a Primary Sharing Time at church, but it can also be used as a family home evening lesson.

DANCING RAISINS & FAITH SHARING TIME
Welcome to my laboratory!
I am a scientist and you are my assistants.
Today we are going to do an experiment.
Scientists learn how things work by doing experiments.
They usually have an idea, but have to try it out before they can know for sure.
I am going to tell you what will happen in the experiment, but only by DOING the experiments will you know if it works or not!

I want these raisins to dance! Let’s see if I can take these ingredients and make them do it.
Add 1 cup water to glass
Add one tablespoon of baking soda and stir it up.
Drop several raisins into the glass
Are they dancing???
Pour vinegar into the glass until it bubbles
Wow! Look at them dance!
Mixing vinegar and baking soda together forms a gas called carbon dioxide. Bubbles of carbon dioxide stick to the sides of the raisins, act like air bags, and float the heavy raisins to the surface. At the surface the bubbles break and the raisins sink. Then the process starts all over again.

Show a picture of Alma.
Alma was a great prophet in the Book of Mormon.
He taught his followers about a different kind of experiment.
His experiment teaches us how to have faith in Jesus Christ.
Just like combining ingredients in the glass creates a reaction, if we combine the parts of Alma's experiment we will have the reaction of a testimony.

Post the word strip WANT TO BELIEVE.
The first ingredient in our faith experiment is wanting to believe in Jesus Christ. Even when we don't know, we need to have a desire to believe.

Post the word strip READ THE SCRIPTURES.
When we combine wanting to believe with regular scripture study a reaction starts to take place in our hearts. The scriptures contain many testimonies of Jesus Christ. The prophet Alma called the scriptures "the word." They are inspired by our Heavenly Father, and when we read them we can learn many things.

Post the word strip OBEY THE COMMANDMENTS.
When we do the things that Heavenly Father wants us to it is like adding another ingredient in our experiment. Alma called this "nourishing" our faith, which means feeding it good things.
Post the word strip PRAY IN FAITH
When we pray and ask Heavenly Father to help us, we are promised in the scriptures that we will know the truth.

Post the word strip = and then FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.
Faith in our Savior is the result of the first four steps.
Just like the "dancing" raisins are the result of the science experiment, when we perform an experiment of faith we are blessed with a testimony of Jesus.

The more we perform the experiment, the greater our faith will become.
I know these steps work because I have performed the experiment myself.

Challenge the children to try the experiment in their own lives and with their families.

Song Ideas:
"I'll Follow Him in Faith" (Friend, Jan. 2003, 24)
"I Pray in Faith" (Children's Songbook, 120)
"The Fourth Article of Faith" (CS, 124)
"Faith" (CS, 96)

Follow the Prophet - New Verses

Every week our family sings "Follow the Prophet" for our closing song at Family Home Evening. We grew tired of the same verses, so I wrote some additional ones to add some variety. Enjoy!

President Hinckley was a prophet
He taught the six Be’s
Built so many temples
To give the people peace.
Run away from evil,
Shun it from your mind.
Always share the gospel.
Be good and be kind.

Nephi was the prophet
Tried to get the plates
From the wicked Laban
Inside the city gates.
Laban would not give them
Took their gold instead
Nephi was commanded
To chop off his head.

Lehi was a prophet
Served the Lord so well
Sailed over the seas
To promised lands to dwell.
Used the Liahona
Had visions from our God
Tried to teach his family
To hold the iron rod.

Enos was a prophet
Went to hunt a beast.
Prayed all day and night
Had a spiritual feast.
He asked for forgiveness
Cried with all his soul.
His sins were forgiven
His faith had made him whole.

Ammon was a prophet
A missionary man
Went to teach the gospel
In another land.
He served King Lamoni
Guarded all the sheep
Chopped off arms of robbers
His promises to keep.


Joseph Smith was a prophet
Prayed to know the truth
He received an answer
From Heaven in his youth.
He restored the gospel
To our dreary earth
Brought the Book of Mormon
And spiritual rebirth.

President Benson was a prophet
He said pride was bad
If we compare to others
Then we will be sad.
Read the Book of Mormon
Share it with a friend
Study everyday the
Promises within.

King Benjamin was a Prophet
Worked with his own hands.
Following the Savior
Not the natural man.
Humble, meek and patient
Children we should be
Love and help each other
Serving cheerfully.

Alma was a Prophet
Converted as a man.
Left wicked King Noah
And his evil clan.
He taught many others
Baptized many too.
Prayed for his son Alma
For knowledge of the truth.


Jacob was a prophet
Warned of broken hearts
Of tender wives and children
When wickedness we start.
Seek not after riches
Or things that can be bought.
The kingdom of God
Is all that should be sought.

FHE Idea - Family Prayer

PROPHETS HAVE TOLD US TO HAVE FAMILY PRAYER

Choose a child to come up and tell them we are sending them out in the wilderness where it is really cold and they have snow. Tell them we care about them so much that we want to make sure they are really warm--put on them snow hat and parkas, mitten, scarves, etc. Then have one more child come up, and tell him that we are going to send him too, but that we are not going to give him any warm clothes.

Summarize quote from talk in 2001 February, Ensign by Kent Rappleye " Wise parents will recognize the protective power of regular family prayer. President Kimball taught: "No mother would carelessly send her little children forth to school on a wintry morning without warm clothes to protect against the snow and rain and cold. But there are numerous fathers and mothers who send their children to school without the protective covering available to them through prayer--a protection against exposure to unknown hazards, evil people, and base temptations."

Ask the children to name things we can pray for in family prayer: safety, have the spirit with them to make good decisions, family harmony, desire to study the scriptures, patient with brother or sister, keeping family rules, go on missions, get married in the temple, etc.

Hold up some medicine (wrapped with a label that says "Family Prayer") and tell the kids that you know a kind of medicine that President Hinkley says the our whole society need--that medicine is Family Prayer. Quote from 1991 February, Ensign talk by President Hinkley. "I submit that a return to the old pattern of prayer, family prayer in the homes of the people, is one of the basic medications that would check the dread disease that is eroding the character of our society. We could not expect a miracle in a day, but in a generation we would have a miracle."

For older children, you could also have them do a scripture chase for 3 Nephi 18:21 Explain the setting--where Christ was on Earth teaching the Nephites. "Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed." We didn't even need a prophet to tell us to have family prayer, because Christ himself to us to pray in our families.

Note: We have been having family prayer and scripture study everyday for about 4.5 years now and our family has become a lot stronger. Before that we were "hit and miss" but then we made a decision that we could not afford to deprive our children or family of this principle. I challenge everyone to pray as a family daily and to study the scriptures daily as well.

FHE Idea - Creating a Strong Foundation

FHE Idea - Creating a Song Foundation (based off a Sharing Time by Michelle Walton)

Have the mom or dad dress up as a builder. (Have a construction hat, tool belt and an apron that is orange. Have 2 long rolled papers as your blue prints.) Hi. My name is _______ the Builder. I’m an architect in your neighborhood. I have come to your home to find 2 builders to help with 2 homes I have to build.

Call up your 2 builders. (Give each helper a hat and an apron) Hand them each a bag with materials and the blue prints to build one of the homes you have for them. (Tell them they have 1 minute to build. Set the timer!)

Note: As the two houses are being build, talk about what the home might look like and how much fun it will be to live in it, etc.

Home #1: The first home will be built with toilet paper rolls. (Have an adult do this one) Have a 9 x 13 pan and put sand in it. Have the adult build this house on the sand.

Home #2: The 2nd will be built with bricks (Give this one to a child) Have a 9 x 13 pan and put a flat rock. Have a child build this house on a rock. After they are done building there home, talk about how nice it looks etc.

Note: Share with them, that in life we will have trials. These trials are like, a raging storm with wind, lighting and darkness.

Question: How strong is your home?

Turn on CD player with a CD that has sounds of a storm (or just make your own storm noises) and turn off the lights.

Discussion: As the CD is playing, share temptations that they might face: Listening to bad music, being immoral, having bad friends, breaking the law, being disrespectful, stealing, not coming to church all the time, drugs, alcohol, smoking, cheating, yelling, fighting, anger, watching bad movies, pornography on the internet, being in modest, dishonest, selfish, etc.

Demonstration: Turn on the fan towards the 2 houses and then pour water over both.

Question: Why did the first house fall?

Answer: Because it wasn’t build with strong material or a strong foundation. This house represents those of us who don’t live the commandments and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. (These are the temptations we talked about we might face)

Question: Why did the second house stand strong?

Answer: Because it was built on a strong foundation. This house represents us as we live the gospel and do all we can to be like the Savoir. (Going to church, paying tithing, living the word of wisdom, service, keeping the Sabbath day holy, being modest in our dress, watching good movies, scriptures, prayer, FHE, telling the truth. You might want to add if you want!) Share thought and scripture:

Let us be sure the spiritual foundation of each home is the rock of our Redeemer, as Helaman taught his sons: "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." (Helaman 5:12.)

Building our third home.

Today we’re going to build our Celestial home. We will need to find another architect.

Show a picture of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is our Master architect of building our celestial home.

Start Building: Have the children pull out a piece of the puzzle from the bag and read it. Have the put it on the board. The rest of the children will do the same. When all the pieces our put together, it will be the temple.

Scripture: D&C 88:119
"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." (D&C 88:119.) A House of Prayer and Fasting - To make our homes become houses of prayer and fasting, we "pray always, that [we] may come off conqueror; yea, that [we] may … escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work." (D&C 10:5.)

Have personal and family prayer.

Fast for a purpose

A House of Learning and Glory - Every home is a house of learning, either for good or otherwise. Family members may learn to be obedient, honest, industrious, self-reliant, and faithful in living gospel principles, or they may learn something else.Learning the gospel in the homes of Church members should be centered on the scriptures and on the words of latter-day prophets.
The Lord has commanded parents to teach their children. King Benjamin instructed parents: "Ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil. …
"But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another." (Mosiah 4:14–15.)

The ideal way to transform your home into a house of learning is to hold family home evening faithfully. The Church has reserved Monday evening for that purpose. In 1915, the First Presidency instructed local leaders and parents to inaugurate a home evening, a time when parents should teach their families the principles of the gospel.

The Presidency wrote: "If the Saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations which beset them."

A House of Order

To instill order in our homes, parents should be in charge and exercise parental authority in righteous dominion and establish acceptable standards of behavior for their children, setting limits and adhering to them consistently. They are to teach and guide their children "by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; by kindness.”
Other safeguards of order in our homes include assuring that children are blessed, baptized, and sons ordained to the priesthood. In addition, they should be worthy to enter the holy temples, become missionaries, and receive the crowning blessing of an eternal marriage.

A House of God

If you will make your home a house of prayer and fasting, faith, learning and glory, and order, it can become a house of God. If you build your homes on the foundation rock of our Redeemer and the gospel, they can be sanctuaries where your families can be sheltered from the raging storms of life.

TESTIFY

FHE Idea - Abrahamic Covenant

Here’s a great object lesson that my sister-in-law did for her seminary students.

Abrahamic Covenant FHE

Today we had a great day in seminary. I told the students there were 4 parts to the Abrahamic covenant, then I wrote the first 3 on the board (1. Land-Celestial kingdom; 2. Posterity; 3. Gospel/Priesthood). Then I told them I needed a quick little snack before giving them the 4th promise. At that point I whipped out a placement, huge bowl of ice cream, chocolate and caramel toppings, sprinkles, and spray whipped cream. I made myself a massive Sundae, spraying whipped cream into my mouth and ooohing and ahhhing the whole time. Then I put on an old Bugs Bunny baby bib and dug in. The boys started protesting that they wanted some, and why wasn't I sharing. About the time they were ready to lynch me, I told them to guess what the 4th promise is. They figured out that it's the opportunity to spread the gospel to all nations/missionary work. I explained to them that it's not okay to sit in front of everyone else with all of these great blessings and not share. And I pointed out that while we generally think of missionary work as our big favor to Heavenly Father, he is actually giving the opportunity to us as His gift to us. It was grand fun, and now I have to do the same lesson 2 more times tomorrow. I still have a stomach ache (I only ate the whipped cream and toppings--I'm using the same bowl of ice cream for all three classes, so I'll probably only gain 30 pounds from this object lesson).

FHE Idea - Armor of God

We had an awesome group family night that included 4 families with kids ages 1-15 years old. It was about the Armor of God. This could also be adapted easily to be a Primary Sharing Time.

First we talked about the parts of the Armor of God listed below:

"Loins girt about with truth". The loins are the area between the ribs and the hips, the most vulnerable area, Being girt with truth means to know right from wrong and to love truth. Knowing the truth will help us make righteous decisions.

The Breastplate of Righteousness protects the heart. Many of the decisions we make are guided by the feeling and emotions of our heart. The Holy Ghost also speaks to our heart. If we protect our heart with the breastplate of righteousness, then our actions will be pleasing to Heavenly Father.

Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Learning and understanding all parts of the gospel, (faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, prayer, fasting, etc.) and putting them into action in our lives. This will help us to walk the strait and narrow path of the gospel and keep us on the "right foot".

The Helmet of Salvation – We should focus on things Heavenly Father would have us think of. We need to grow in our knowledge of the gospel.

He gave us:

1) The shield of faith- having faith in Jesus Christ and believing that he loves us and watches over us gives us peace and protection.

Notice, Paul says "ABOVE ALL having taken up the shield of faith." The shield of faith protects us greatly. We normally think of a shield as a small round dish, However, in Christ's time, a Roman soldier had a shield that was rectangular in shape and as tall as he was. This provided for a great covering to the soldier. When the soldiers were fired upon with flaming arrows, they were all able to crouch down behind the shields creating a barrier that would be almost impossible to penetrate.

2) The sword of my spirit -- a sword cannot only defend us but can be used as a weapon against our enemies. The Holy Ghost acts the same way. He is there in our time of need to help us make correct decisions. He also warns us against dangers. We can have the spirit with us as we study the scriptures regularly.

Then we did this object lesson which was very cool:

Armor of God Object Lesson

Need 2 oranges, clear jar

The orange represents a person with the "Armor of God". Put the first orange (skin and all) in a your container of water. It will float. Then take the second orange and peel it. Each piece of the peel you take off would represent something that separates us from God... As you mention what each piece represents throw the peel in a pile. When all peeled talk about how things just don't seem to hold together well without a complete set of spiritual armor. Break the oranges into pieces and drop them in the container of water and each one will fall to the ground. We are lifted up by God's armor and protection. We can rise above the trials that come our way with His help. He will not let us sink unless we do not do our part and protect ourselves.