Family Home Evening

2013-04-13T13:44:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone!
Just wanted to let you know that Natalie emailed me the other day and the second volume in her interactive Book of Mormon Stories is done!
Yay!!

Check it out:

Ok, that's the first volume. For some reason I can't get blogger to find the second volume from youtube, but here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSGIlY8n09E&feature=youtu.be

And here's the link for her Etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BookofMormonforKids?ref=seller_info

I'm so excited about this. My boys loved the first volume, and now they can have the second volume as well!

Great FHE Resource

2013-03-16T00:39:00.002-06:00

I've recently been perusing my copy of this handbook and I just wanted to draw your attention to what I think is an excellent resource for Family Home Evenings.

This book provides an overview of gospel principles and is used to instruct new converts or those recently re-activated.

(Gospel Principles)

I love that the lessons are fairly simple so they'd be a great way to teach your kids all the gospel basics, not to mention that they make great refresher courses for personal study.

Seriously, there's about a years worth of lessons inside.

You can order a copy for yourself or just visit lds.org and you can view all the lessons on-line.

Bible-themed crafts and games

2013-03-11T17:16:00.000-06:00

I just found a website full of Bible-themed crafts and games that would be great for family home evening. You can see it here:

Danielle's Place of Crafts and Activities

I also pinned several of the activities to our FHE board on Pinterest, so feel free to check it out if you don't have time to browse the whole website.

Call for contributors

2013-03-06T15:08:00.002-07:00

You might have noticed that posting around these parts has been a little spotty lately (okay, well, for the past few years!).

We're busy! We'd love to add a few more authors to this blog. If you're interested, and you think you can manage one post per month (or more), please drop me an email at mrs [dot] mordecai [at] gmail [dot] com.

Feel free to pass this notice along to your creative friends!

New FHE Pinterest board

2013-03-06T15:04:00.000-07:00

We have a new group board on Pinterest for Family Home Evening ideas. Feel free to follow. If you know of other great FHE boards on Pinterest, please leave the address in the comments so we can all share even more great ideas!

Alternate giveaway winner

2013-03-03T10:41:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to take a quick minute and announce an alternate winner for the giveaway.
Sorry Kiama, you never responded. :(

Our alternate winner is::::::

LiziBates!!!

Please, contact me Lizi at firelein06(at)cox(dot)net so I can forward your information to Natalie and she can get you your download.

Congratulations Lizi!!

Book of Mormon for kids giveaway winners

2013-02-26T17:33:00.001-07:00

Oh my goodness, I almost forgot to draw a winner.

Well, I did forget to draw a winner, thank goodness Natalie has your back guys!

She reminded me.

So, without further ado, our two winners are::::

Jonna Pantelis

and

Kiama Dawson

CONGRATS!!!

Jonna, I 've emailed you and Natalie with your contact information. Natalie will email you your download.

Kiama, please email me at firelein06(at)cox(dot)net with your contact information so I can forward it to Natalie.
She will then email you your download.

If I don't hear from you in 72 hours, I'll draw another winner.

Thanks for playing guys!!!

Our first giveaway!!!

2013-02-19T12:06:00.001-07:00

We were recently contacted by Natalie from Book of Mormon for Kids regarding a giveaway.

She has a really great product available which we think is a wonderful Family Home Evening tool.

She sent me a copy of the PDF, and I have to tell you, I just love it.

What a fun way to teach your favorite Book of Mormon stories to your little ones.

I took it to my local copy place and had it printed out.

I've decided to make mine into file folder games.

Helping Nephi dress in Labans clothes.....

What a fun and interactive way to teach scripture stories during Family Home Evening!

And afterwards, it makes a wonderful quiet book for Sacrament meeting.

Double score!

You can do whatever you'd like with it...laminate it and make it into a spiral book, file folder games or even just slip the pages into page protectors and put it in a binder.

Here is Natalie's instruction video. You get a great feel for the whole thing here.

I love this!

This Book of Mormon for Children is a PDF that you can print and create for your own family. There are 9 stories in Volume 1:

1. Lehi's Family Leaves Jerusalem
2. Nephi and The Brass Plates
3. Nephi Builds a Ship
4. Enos Prays All Day
5. King Benjamin
6. King Noah and Abinadi
7. Alma Teaches the Nephites
8. Alma The Younger and The Sons of Mosiah
9. Ammon & King Lamoni's Sheep

...Aaaannnd ...

Volume 2 is coming soon! It will include the last 9 stories of the Book of Mormon...

-The Anti-Nephi-Lehi's
-Captain Moroni
-The Stripling Warriors
-Samuel the Lamanite
-Birth of Christ
-The resurrection
-Jesus blesses the children
-The Brother of Jared
-Moroni buries the plates

Now, the fun part! Natalie has offered to give away two free downloads for our readers!

All you have to do is comment before next Monday, Feb. 25th and you've got a chance to win one!
Be sure to stop by Natalie's Etsy shop for a second chance to win. Just be sure to post a second comment letting us know you visited. The awesome thing is that even if you don't win, she's selling the download for just $9.99. You can still win!

Courage

2013-02-04T16:57:00.000-07:00

For the next two months, my family will be learning about courage, as inspired by Teaching Your Children Values by Linda and Richard Eyre. I was planning to spend just one month on each value, but I found so many wonderful stories and materials, I went ahead and planned out eight lessons.

There are many wonderful scripture examples of bravery, so we will focus on one story each week.

Please help!
There are many movies and books with examples of courage. I would love if you would leave your favorites in the comments so we can supplement with them in the coming two months!

———

Songs
Just as we did last year, we will continue to choose one song each month to sing each night. This month we will be learning "Dare to Do Right." Next month we will learn "Nephi's Courage."

Week 1

Use the lesson plan "Jesus' Courage" to show ways Jesus showed courage during his life.
Play the game "Carrying Beans" and explain that Jesus didn't listen to others' taunts, but did what he knew was right. Explain that we can do the same.
Award medals from the lesson "Jesus' Courage" and tell our children something brave they've done lately that makes us proud.
Quote: “Inner courage is a necessary virtue of those who follow the Lord.... I should like to say to members of the Church, particularly to young men and women of the Church, that I hope you may come to know inner personal courage as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For this is the requirement of the Lord as we journey through our mortal probation, as we show to Him and to ourselves that we indeed ‘love the Lord [our] God with all [our] heart, and with all [our] soul, and with all [our] mind’ and that we ‘love [our] neighbour as [ourselves]’” (Matt. 22:37, 39). Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Sept. 2001
Quote: “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what." —Harper Lee, Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird
Scripture: "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." —Deuteronomy 31:6

Week 2

Tell the story of Samuel the Lamanite (Helaman 13–15). Discuss whether he was afraid. Discuss how he showed courage.
Scripture: "And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the ^ctemptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction." —1 Nephi 15:24
Discuss what the fiery darts of the adversary are. Just as the people of Samuel's time shot arrows at him, Satan tries to shoot us down with his temptations.
Play the arrow game with each of the children.

Week 3

Tell the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17).
Tell the diving board story from p. 61 of Teaching Your Children Values (a story about a girl who was afraid to go off a diving board, but did it anyway).
Quote: “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” ― Mark Twain
Discuss things that are hard or scary in life, for example: going off a diving board, getting a shot, giving a talk, talking to someone new, running a mile.
Make lists of what each family member is good at. (p. 68 in Teaching Your Children Values). Discuss how that makes you feel about yourself. You are unique and no one else is just like you. You are special, and you can have the courage to do hard things.
Scripture: "Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." —Deuteronomy 31:6
With God's help, we can do even more things than we can do by ourselves.

Week 4

Tell the story of King Noah and Abinadi (Mosiah 11). Emphasize that the king wanted to kill him, but he went back again to preach.
Sometimes it takes courage to go back and try again.
Tell the story from page 60 of Teaching Your Children Values, about a child who fell from his new bike, knocked out his teeth, and got back on again the next day to try again.
Discuss situations in which we may fail, and when we should try again.
Remove training wheels from son's bike and give it a try—and another!

Week 5

Tell the story of Daniel and the king's meat.
Do you think it would have been hard to eat different food when everyone else was eating the king's meat?
We should do what is right, regardless of what our friends want us to do.
Read the story "It takes real courage to be a chicken" from p. 56 of Teaching Your Children Values.
Discuss situations in which friends might tempt you to make a wrong choice, and what you can do.
Play the game "Carrying Beans."
People know you mean what you say when you look them in the eye. Practice having conversations while keeping eye contact (p. 63 from Teaching Your Children Values).
Quote: “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Week 6

Tell the story of Nephi and the boat.
Scripture: 1 Nephi 3:7.
It takes courage to obey God's commandments.
Talk about the tools from the lesson "Nephi's Courage."
Play matching game with the tools.
Make "banana boats" (banana splits) for treats.

Week 7

Tell the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den.
Do you think Daniel was afraid to pray?
Quote: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that
something else is more important than fear.” ― Ambrose Redmoon
Why do you think Daniel decided to pray to God even though he could die?
Talk about making decisions in advance, so it will be easier to make the right choice when it comes up. Write lists of decisions. (p. 71 from Teaching Your Children Values)
Role-play being confronted with each of the choices on your lists, and practice making the appropriate response.

Week 8

Tell the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3).
Why did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego choose not to pray to the idol? What was the consequence for not praying to the idol?
God helps those who have faith in him.
Play the red-yellow-green game from p. 66 of Teaching Your Children Values. (Present situations, with red, yellow, and green answers: red for courageous, yellow for average, green for cowardly.)
Discuss the "Hard and good" principle from p. 69 of Teaching Your Children Values. (The right choices often tend to be the hard choices.)

Honesty

2013-01-07T18:16:00.000-07:00

This year my family is focusing on a different value each month from Teaching Your Children Values by Richard and Linda Eyre.

I am glad the first value is honesty, because my three-year-old has proved to me recently that she has very little concept of truth vs. lie.

There are four Mondays this month. I have divided the topic of honesty into four short lessons that I hope will stick with my three-year-old and six-year-old.

Week 1: What is truth? What is a lie? It's okay to have opinions. God is a God of truth.

Ether 3:12: "And he answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie."
Alma 7:20: "I perceive that it has been made known unto you, by the testimony of his word, that he cannot walk in crooked paths; neither doth he vary from that which he hath said; neither hath he a shadow of turning from the right to the left, or from that which is right to that which is wrong; therefore, his course is one eternal round."
"Truth or lie?" game: make several obvious statements and let family members decide whether I am telling the truth or lying.
Elder Marvin J. Ashton: “A lie is any communication given to another with the intent to deceive” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1982, p. 10; or Ensign, May 1982, p. 9).
Discuss that it is okay to have opinions, and that not all questions have a right or wrong answer. (Examples: What do you think of this broccoli? What is your favorite movie? Do you want to clean your room or go to the zoo?)
Tell story "The Lie."

Week 2: Lying is wrong. Acting a lie or telling a partial truth is wrong. Lying can hurt you and others. Satan is the father of lies.

Moses 4:4: "And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice."
2 Nephi 28:8: "And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God."
“Those who choose to cheat and lie and deceive and misrepresent become [Satan's] slaves” (Mark E. Petersen, in Conference Report, Oct. 1971, p. 65; or Ensign, Dec. 1971, p. 73).
The Boy Who Cried Wolf (link goes to story and audio file)
Ask a family member questions. This family member has been notified ahead of time that he or she is to answer only in lies. Wrap thread around the person's wrist every time a lie is told. Have him or her try to break free. Discuss that many little lies can hurt us over time, even if each one seems harmless.

Week 3: Telling the truth can be hard, but it is worth it.

Tell the story from p. 41 of Teaching Your Children Values.
2 Corinthians 4:1–2: "Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God."
Make index cards with situations that might lead us to be dishonest. Discuss the consequences of responding with either truth or lie.
Tell the story from p. 49 of Teaching Your Children Values.
Tell the story from p. 54 of Teaching Your Children Values.
From Gospel Principles: "People use many excuses for being dishonest. People lie to protect themselves and to have others think well of them. Some excuse themselves for stealing, thinking they deserve what they took, intend to return it, or need it more than the owner. Some cheat to get better grades in school or because “everyone else does it” or to get even. These excuses and many more are given as reasons for dishonesty. To the Lord, there are no acceptable reasons. President Kimball taught that when we excuse ourselves, we cheat ourselves and the Spirit of God ceases to be with us. We become more and more unrighteous. (See Faith Precedes the Miracle, p. 234.)"
President Joseph F. Smith: “Let every man’s life be so that his character will bear the closest inspection, and that it may be seen as an open book, so that we will have nothing to shrink from or be ashamed of” (Gospel Doctrine, p. 252).

Week 4: Other ways of being dishonest: cheating, stealing, breaking promises, exaggerating.

D&C 136:25: "If thou borrowest of thy neighbor, thou shalt restore that which thou hast borrowed; and if thou canst not repay then go straightway and tell thy neighbor, lest he condemn thee."
D&C 136:26: "If thou shalt find that which thy neighbor has lost, thou shalt make diligent search till thou shalt deliver it to him again."
D&C 136:20: "Seek ye; and keep all your pledges one with another; and covet not that which is thy brother’s."
Exodus 20:15: "Thou shalt not steal."
Discuss situations in which it might be tempting to be dishonest (see Teaching Your Children Values, p. 54).

Easter FHE Ideas

2012-04-07T09:11:00.000-06:00

Here are some ideas for an Easter-themed Family Home Evening—or just a quiet Sunday family learning time.

Symbolically leaving your sins at the cross
A scriptural summary of Christ's last week on Earth
Ideas for holding a Christian Passover celebration
A scriptural Easter egg activity

Do you know of any other Easter-themed FHE ideas? Please leave them in the comments.

Displaying the apostles before conference

2012-03-19T15:05:00.000-06:00


Image courtesy ldsapostles.org

I have a friend who displays pictures of the First Presidency and the apostles in the few weeks before conference every year. I stole the idea from her, and I hope it will help my kids be more interested in conference when it comes around. It is already working—my two-year-old has already chosen her personal favorite "bishop," Elder Anderson.

To get my five-year-old son more interested, I printed out a picture of the apostles in order and gave it to him. He got to put the pictures up on the wall in the right order.

Yesterday the kids each chose an apostle from the wall, and we used the information on the back to learn a few things about them. Tonight for Family Home Evening, we will each teach about an apostle, and we will learn a little bit about their titles (President/Elder) and about the organization of our church leadership.

If we do it again next week, we'll have covered 8 of the 15. Guess I need to get the pictures up a little earlier next conference!

Thank you to ldsapostles.org for sharing their picture. Feel free to click on the picture above and print it out for your own use. You can also click through to the site for lots of information on the apostles.

You can buy pictures of the General Authorities here. You can also read biographies about the General Authorities and print off high-quality pictures here.

Learning songs at home

2012-03-18T10:17:00.001-06:00

The part of Primary that has stuck with me the most over the years is the songs. If I am looking for answers or having a hard day, often I will receive comfort from a Primary song running through my head.

I want to give my children (ages 2 and 5) the same blessing. I want to get as many Primary songs and hymns into their heads as possible before they grow up and go their own ways.

This year in January, the idea came to me that we could focus on one song each month this year. We took a few minutes during a Family Home Evening to come up with a list of songs we'd like to focus on this year, with suggestions from everyone. The kids suggested a few songs that they already know, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to review them and learn additional verses. My two-year-old now knows three verses of "I Am a Child of God."

We sing the songs during Family Home Evenings, every night when we do scripture study and prayer, and before naps and bedtime. The kids soak up the songs like sponges and learn the words within a week.

Here are some resources to help you choose and teach songs in your home:

2012 Outline for Sharing Time (this would help you reinforce at home the songs being taught in Primary this year)
Interactive Church Music Player (see most of the Hymns and Primary songs; play them; transpose them; print them)
Download recordings of Church songs
Learn Primary songs in sign language
Download additional music published in Church magazines

New Family Home Evening Website

2011-01-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

The church has launched an updated Family Home Evening website.

You can find tips, suggestions, ideas and counsel about the importance of Family Home Evening. There is even a lovely feature where members from all over the world share memorable Family Home Evenings.

Check it out.

{Edible} Tower of Babel

2010-11-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

What you need:
Scriptures (Genesis 11 and Ether 1:33)
Tower of Babel coloring page
Sheet cake cut into approximately 3x3 pieces (any cake recipe or a box mix will work)
Frosting (again make your own or buy a tub)

We showed our kids the coloring page and gave them a brief intro to what the Tower of Babel was. They colored the picture while we told them more of the story, including about the Brother of Jared and a discussion about how we get to Heaven.
After that we had some real fun making our own Tower of Babel out of cake and frosting.
I handed everyone a piece of the cut up cake (bricks) and we all took turns adding frosting (morter) and stacking them together.

This was a lot of fun and of course the kids loved eating the tower after it collapsed.

Baptism

2010-07-22T17:59:00.000-06:00

Choose any or all of the following to share with your family for this lesson.

1. Tell some interesting facts about John the Baptist
--ate locusts & honey
--lived in wilderness
--was Jesus' cousin
--baptized Jesus
--was later beheaded

2. Show some pictures from Gospel Art Book
--#35 John the Baptist Baptizing Jesus
--#76 Alma Baptizing in the Waters of Mormon
--#103 Young Man Being Baptized
--#104 Girl Being Baptized

3. Have other family members share remembrances of their baptisms.

4. Activity:
Baptism is the first ordinance that gets us on our way back to our heavenly home. This can be demonstrated using a ball of yarn. Before FHE designate a spot in your house as the final destination of Heavenly Home (you can make a sign saying so). Take a ball of yarn and create a trail throughout many rooms of your home. Leave one end at the heavenly home and one end for the starting point. When you do this activity, each person should follow the yarn trail until they reach their heavenly home. Along the way, talk about other ordinances or things that we need to do to keep following our way back home.

5. Ask some questions:

Why was Jesus baptized?

By what authority was Jesus baptized?

Why are we baptized?

How was Jesus baptized?

What does Immersion mean?

What is a covenant?

What are the promises made by Heavenly Father at baptism? (D&C33:11, D&C 20:37, 3 Ne 11:33)

What promises do we make?

What does born again mean?

What does the sacrament have to do with baptism?

What does it mean to stand as a witness?

When we take upon His name, what are we doing?

How many witnesses are needed at a baptism? Do they need any special qualifications?

Can a twelve year old baptize someone? What level of priesthood is needed to baptize?

6. Activity: How can we get ready for baptism?

{I got this idea from somewhere online and now I don't recall where. If you know, comment to leave the person credit, please.}

Cut out two giant steps from construction paper. Hold up the first one and ask, "What is the first thing that happens to us on earth?" The answer, of course, is birth.

Write birth on one giant footstep. Now write baptism on the other giant footstep. Place the two steps too far apart for someone to actually step from one to the other. Let family members take turns trying to get from one to the other. It isn't possible.

We need to take some more steps to make it from birth to baptism. Have family members name things that we can do to prepare. Have 8 (baptism age), or as many as you want, small footsteps cut out and write down the things that are named. After you write them down, place each small footstep between the two giant footsteps and then let each person take all the steps from birth to baptism and explain how it works much better with all the little steps in between.

Examples of steps to take between birth and baptism:

1. Pray about being baptized

2. Read scriptures daily

3. Have faith

4. Be honest

5. Go to church

6. Serve others

7. Learn Primary and other good songs

8. Know the law of tithing

7. Have a child nearing baptism age share a favorite story he/she read about baptism from the friend. My child chose this article by Mark E. Petersen.

8. For a John the Baptist FHE treat, serve honey stix--can often find them at farmers markets and health food stores. It simply looks like a straw that is sealed at both ends and is filled with honey. Sometimes you can find flavored ones. If you can't find this, fix a treat that has honey as a main ingredient.

Lesson recycling

2010-07-07T10:28:00.000-06:00

Our family home evening lessons lately have been coming from Primary lessons we've taught. We don't even have a class, but we substitute quite often, and usually we can find some little tidbit of the lesson that will apply and appeal to our family. It's too easy: the lesson plan is right there in our bag from yesterday, it's fresh in our minds, and all the props and papers and extra coloring sheets are still out.

Do you ever recycle lessons?

Reverence

2010-07-05T06:52:00.000-06:00

Cut out each of the objects from the picture at the bottom of this page and place in a paper bag.

Have your children draw out the objects one at a time and discuss what these parts of our bodies should be doing when we are reverent or when we are praying (ex.: arms folded, feet still, ears listening). Practice doing the appropriate things with your bodies as you discuss.

Discuss how being reverent is showing love and respect for Heavenly Father and Jesus.

Worth and outward appearance

2010-06-28T18:39:00.001-06:00

Lesson
Hold up a dirty coin and a shiny coin of the same denomination (dimes, for example). If necessary, explain the value of the coins (ten pennies each). Ask the children if one is worth more than the other. Discuss that even though one is prettier and shinier than the other, they're both still worth the same.

Explain that even though people look different and have different strengths and weaknesses, Heavenly Father loves us all very much. This might also be a good time to explain that as parents, you will always love your children for who they are, and not for what they do.

Related scriptures
D&C 18:10: Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.
1 Samuel 16:7: The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

Related article
Canaries with Gray on Their Wings

Another year of primary-themed FHEs

2010-05-30T06:00:00.001-06:00

Earlier this year, Marika posted a year of FHE lessons themed for Primary. Here's another!

Heavenly Father hears us pray

2010-05-23T13:05:00.000-06:00

1. Review the structure of a prayer: opening, thanking, asking, and closing. Use this handout as a visual aid or to color, if you like. (My son doesn't enjoy coloring much so I think we will ask him what he's thankful for and write the items in the blank spots.)

2. Discuss that when we pray, we're talking to Heavenly Father, and he hears us every time we pray.

3. Ask or tell about a time you said a prayer and Heavenly Father answered it.

4. Talk about things we can do to show respect to Heavenly Father when we pray, such as kneel, fold our arms, and close our eyes. Practice.

5. Make a paper-bag prayer puppet.

Easter Lesson

2010-04-12T11:47:00.004-06:00

Even though it is beyond Easter for 2010, this might come in handy for someone sometime in the future. This FHE idea combines scriptures, songs and activity into one. I found and modified an idea I found online that I thought was cute (Sorry, can't remember original source).

Get up to 9 Easter eggs to hide before FHE. Words in bold are things to find while preparing each egg. In each egg is something to do with the true meaning of Easter, a song to sing and a scripture to read. Number 9 is probably a good one to end on. You can gather all the eggs and do them in order, or do them as found, or however you want. The songs included are either about Christ, Easter specific, or Springtime songs.

1. Matthew 26:26-28 a small piece of bread (stands for the sacrament bread) I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ, 77

2. Luke 22:44 a band-aid (to stand for blood) He Died! The Great Redeemer Died—hymns 192

3. Mark 15:15 a picture of a whip Popcorn Popping—Primary song 242 (Spring a good reminder that life begins anew) p.s. when looking for a picture of a whip, you might try searching cat of nine tails instead. When I searched for whip, I got mostly food items with whip cream!

4. John 19:17 a cross made of two toothpicks He Died That We Might Live Again—Primary song 65

5. John 20:25 Nails He Sent His Son—Primary song 34

6. Luke 24:2 Rock Wise Man and Foolish Man, 281 (Jesus is the Rock upon which we should build our foundation and a stone was rolled away from the sepulchre.)

7. Mark 15:17 small picture of a crown of thorns Primary song--Did Jesus Really Live again, 64

8. Mark 15:17 piece of purple cloth for robe On a Golden Springtime—Primary song 88

9. Luke 24:6 Empty Christ the Lord is Risen Today—hymns 200

Allow for discussion about the pictures and scriptures with each egg opening.

If you want more ideas of things to put in eggs, see Mrs. Mordecai's post and the link that mentions Times & Seasons.

FHE ideas for Easter and Passover

2010-03-28T16:02:00.001-06:00

Just a quick little post with some ideas for Family Home Evening tomorrow (thanks to Mrs. V for the links). I want to do them both, but I'll probably go for the egg activity, because I think it will hold my three-year-old's attention better.

At Times and Seasons: Ideas for filling plastic Easter eggs with small, symbolic objects that teach about Christ's death and resurrection.

At The Voice: Ideas for holding a Christian Seder, or Passover dinner. My husband and I attended one of these in the past and really enjoyed it. We've been wanting to do our own ever since.

What ideas do you have for teaching our children about Easter?

Great idea for General Conference!

2010-03-25T10:27:00.003-06:00

My friend Ashlee told me about a great idea that they do with their kids for the Saturday morning session of general conference. They set up a dome tent in their family room and turn the door of the tent towards the television to watch the first session the Saturday general conference representing when the people of King Benjamin came to the temple with their tents to hear him speak. I thought this would be fun to try with my kids. We are going to read the account of this story found in Mosiah about 30 minutes before conference starts and then let them watch the first session of conference from the tent!

Scripture: Mosiah 2:1-22
Materials needed: Gospel Art Picture #307, King Benjamin Addresses his People

This would make a great family home evening idea for the younger kids too. I think even my 12 year old would have fun with it.

What are you thankful for?

2010-03-15T09:02:00.002-06:00

Song suggestions: Count Your Blessings, Children All Over the World

Treat suggestions: Popcorn or other movie theater favorites

Activity: As my family and I watched the above movie yesterday, I thought that it would be fun for a family with older kids to do something like this for Family Home Evening—to make their own movie of what they're thankful for. I imagine they would enjoy interviewing each other and then watching it together afterward.

See full-sized movie here.