THESE ARE FAST, LOW COST, AND LAST-MINUTE LESSONS FOR YOUR TODDLER you can put together in hopefully a creative way so your child(ren) can learn about the gospel!


I know I am not the first mom to think, Wow, my oldest child is a Sunbeam in primary, or I have a toddler, and our family really needs to start having actual FHE lessons! But what kinds of things can we do with their level of intelligence and attention span?


I've done research on Pinterest and Sugerdoodle and found many moms with their own blogs saying the same things. I have decided to reiterate and solidify what my son is learning in Primary Sharing Time because it will help him learn to go over what he learned the day before again. At this age, repetition is key, right?!


Saturday, April 27, 2013

Joseph Smith Translated the Book of Mormon and Restored Gospel Truths

This week in Primary they are learning about Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon and restoring gospel truths.

They talk a little about role play so I decided to do one! But more entertaining than having one person play Joseph Smith and talk about abstract things the sunbeams don't necessarily understand. Don't get me wrong. They SHOULD be exposed to abstract principles of the gospel...they've gotta learn sometime! This is for your home to reiterate and encourage understanding.

For this FHE we are taking it to a whole nottha level!

SONG: "Reverently, Quietly"

What you need:
-White bedsheet
-Rope or cord to tie bedsheet around “Moroni”
-Flashlight
-3D glasses (If you can't find any in time, try this: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-3D-Glasses...and you can probably use regular packing tape with colored markers...as long as the 3D glasses are RED!!! To tell you the truth, they will only need to look through the red side.
-Some sort of rock you can place the plates and glasses under
-Printout code to put inside the golden plates FREE PRINTOUT HERE (Make sure to click on "view the PDF version")
-Homemade golden plates (you can use my print out, or cover a book with yellow paper...however you want/can)
-Bed or sofa...something for a "hill"
-A "rock"

Actors:
Joseph
Moroni
Joseph's Father (Joseph Sr.)...this can be played by the same person as Moroni with a little creative costume change



Joseph Smith and the Angel Moroni

Setting: Joseph is about to go to bed. The lights are off.

Joseph: 
My name is Joseph Smith. It is dark outside and I am tired. Time to go to bed!
(Kneels down to pray)
Dear Heavenly Father, I know sometimes I do not obey you, or my parents, and I'm sorry. Please help me be nice to people and share with them. Please help me be nice to my brothers and sisters. And please help me to know that I am a Child of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Enter Moroni. Flashlight shines on Moroni, covered in a white bedsheet for his white robes; Joseph gasps.

Moroni:
Joseph, I am the angel Moroni and I am a messenger from God. I am here to let you know you are a Child of God. Heavenly Father wants you to do a BIG work for him!

Joseph:
Who, me?

Moroni:
Yes. There is a hill, and you are going to go up the hill and under a rock, you are going to find the golden plates! It's a book that has all the things written by the old prophets before and after Jesus came, inside. It is in a secret code! And you need the Urim and Thummim to read it! The Urim and Thummim can be made into glasses to help you see what Heavenly Father wants you to see! But you can't show them to anybody! You have to keep it sacred and secret!

Flashlight turns off and Moroni steps away.

Joseph:
Wow! Jesus loves me and I am going to do a BIG work for Him!

Moroni enters again and flashlight shines on him.

Moroni:
Joseph! 

Joseph:
What?!

Moroni:
I am the angel Moroni and I am a messenger from God. I am here to let you know you are a Child of God. Heavenly Father wants you to do a BIG work for him! There is a hill, and you are going to go up the hill and under a rock, you are going to find the golden plates! It's a book that has all the things written by the old prophets before and after Jesus came, inside. It is in a secret code! And you need the Urim and Thummim to read it! The Urim and Thummim can be made into glasses to help you see what Heavenly Father wants you to see! But you can't show them to anybody! You have to keep it sacred and secret!

Flashlight turns off and Moroni steps away. Joseph lays down on his bed.

Joseph:
Wow, 2 times, the angel came. I really need to go to the hill and get that special book! I need to find the secret code!

Moroni enters again and flashlight shines on him. Joseph sits up in his bed.

Moroni:
I am the angel Moroni and I am a messenger from God. I am here to let you know you are a Child of God. Heavenly Father wants you to do a BIG work for him! There is a hill, and...

Joseph:
Wait wait wait! Didn't you already say this?!?!

Moroni:
Yes! But you need to hear it again! Because there will be BAD people will want to TAKE the special book away! You are going to go up the hill and under a rock, you are going to find the golden plates! And you will find the secret code with the special glasses! 

Flashlight turns off and Moroni steps away. A rooster crows and the lights turn on.

Joseph:
It's morning already? I didn't even sleep! I'm soooo tired! But I better go help my dad work in the garden.

Joseph walks up to his father who is working in the garden and starts helping him.

Joseph:
I don't feel so good...I'm so tired! Joseph falls over.

Joseph Sr.:
Are you alright, son?

Joseph: 
Dad, an angel came to me last night. And he told me I have to find the golden plates to help bring back the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Joseph Sr.:
Well, son, you better go an look for them!

Joseph gets up and walks away. He finds the "hill." He walks up to the rock.

Joseph:
This looks like the rock the angel told me about! Let me lift it up. Aaaaarrrrrrgh! Wow! Look at what is inside! The golden plates and the Urim and Thummim! I will do the BIG work for Heavenly Father and Jesus and find the code.
Will you help me?

End scene.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it sounds like a TV show like Dora...I just read over it and realized. But it makes sense! That's what they know at this age. :)

Now, inside the plates, you should have put the printable code inside. Because my son doesn't even go to preschool, he doesn't know how to read squat. So I thought pictures would suffice. Have them look through their red lens. Let them tell you the picture they see and discuss its importance with the restored gospel.








Monday, April 22, 2013

My Blog and Others Too!

This blog is for mothers with toddlers who don't understand difficult concepts, and who don't have time or means to make elaborate and amazing lessons, though we may wish we could! Hopefully I direct you to lessons you can effectively put together last minute because I know we all have busy lives, including me!

And I want my child to learn about the gospel! I want to teach him correct principles and have him look forward to Monday nights.

Because I know my ideas aren't amazing or catered towards older kids, here is a place you can go to if you are looking for something a little extra! This list has great ideas for all kinds of subjects! Perhaps one particular FHE, your child needs to learn something else besides reinforcing the previous Primary day. Maybe they need to work on sharing or obedience or faith.

But I know at this age, things are forgotten because of little developing brains. So that is why my FHE's are geared toward reiterating what they learned the day before in Primary!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope I can help you!

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Priesthood Authority Restored

We are going to skip to week 3 of the Primary Manual because that is what my son learned today and that's probably what a lot of wards are doing due to General Conference 2 weeks ago. Though I know many are combining weeks 2 and 3.

Today my littlest son had a fever, so I stayed home with him and sent my other son to church with my in-laws. He came back in his hand with a cute little "key chain" in hand and gave it to me (which I thought was cute). The trumpet represents that in the old days, if there was a big announcement, they would blow trumpets. And the two big announcements in the restoration of the gospel are the 2 Priesthood keys: Aaronic and Melchizedeck.



SONG: Another rendition of "I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ"

Again, I want to address the concepts that he is familiar with. He sees the sacrament being passed every Sunday. We've been to some baptisms. He's received many blessings when he's been sick and witnessed other ill people being blessed. So I think we can revisit these things and explain a little more about the Priesthood.

"After the prayer we'll ask, what can we do with keys?"

This is taken straight from the church website:

"With a set of keys, you can do a lot of things that you wouldn't otherwise be able to do-enter buildings, drive cars, and open trunks, among other things. Keys, basically, mean authority and access.

"The same is true of priesthood keys. They control access to the blessings and ordinances of the priesthood."

Then I'll say, there are 2 Priesthood keys:
1. Aaronic
2. Melchizedek

I'll probably have him repeat after me because those are hard words!

Continuing,
AARONIC
"Do you remember the boys to pass the sacrament? That is the Aaronic Priesthood!"
"And the boys who say a prayer before it is passed? They are blessing the sacrament and using the Aaronic Priesthood!"
"Do you remember when we went to a baptism? And they put the person all the way under the water? That was also done by the Aaronic Priesthood!"

MELCHIZEDEK
"Now, you remember when you or your brother are sick? And Papai or Vovo come and put their hands on your head and give you uma bencao? (a blessing) They are using the Melchizedek Priesthood"
"When babies are born, they get brought up to the front of the chapel and they get a blessing too! That's with the Melchizedeck Priesthood!"
"And when mommy and daddy go to the temple, the things done inside are done with the Melchidedek Priesthood!"

And...as always, because my son is 3 and probably more visually oriented in his learning, we'll go over it one more time but with pictures.

I'll take a printed out "Aaronic" and the pictures showing each of these things as well as the word, "Melchizedek." I know he can't read them, but for matching purposes, to group together the pictures that go with each priesthood, it is fine. :) Feel free to print this out, cut out the pictures, and help your child(ren) to place them under the proper place.

(sorry everything is all squished together...not sure how to fix it because my Word wasn't working so I had to do it on Google docs)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-k3T37KcmM9cHQCTvm_EmOviNGss0D7QEahtLMc1y2Y/pub

Monday, April 8, 2013

After Jesus Christ and His Apostles Died, Gospel Truths Were Lost

I am getting ahead of myself because this weeks post was so late. So I will post ahead of time what to do for toddlers NEXT WEEK.

When I read the title of the lesson they are going to learn, I had to read it twice because it seemed like a very complex lesson. I was worried about teaching it to my 3 year old.

But then the lesson plan gives a great visual idea. They draw important aspects of the gospel, like the sacrament, revelation, baptism, priesthood, temples, etc. Or at least something that can represent each. Then the children close their eyes and the teachers hide all the pictures they used to put up on the board. This creates an understanding how they were lost (and explain this happened after Christ died). Then show a picture of Joseph Smith (the first prophet of the latter-days) and how through him, the Lord restored all theses things again.

SONG: "I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ"

So I am adapting the FHE lesson from this blog:

http://perglersprimaryplace.blogspot.com/2011/02/apostasy-and-restoration-st.html

Basically, you are showing your child that the same ordinances/gospel existed back in ancient days when Jesus was on the earth. (So you have them build a church or structure with pictures representing that).
Then the second set of pictures are the same ordinances/gospel ideas, but put to modern, latter-day pictures.

But since I am cheap and don't have storage containers, I thought about making the pictures into little blocks.
Use this paper block template:


Copy the image and paste it to a Word document 16 times. Then, with the pictures the above blog link gives you, copy and insert the picture over the center of the squares in the template. If you don't know your way around Word, I guess you could copy and paste the pictures and shrink them and then with glue, paste them over the block after you formed it. 

*****UPDATE!*****
I created the whole thing and would like to share it with you. I'm sorry it's out of order, but once you start cutting them out and gluing them together, they're going to get mixed up anyways.


And I also have an extra one that is Joseph Smith's First Vision, so you can use that one when you are building your "Latter-day" structure.
******************

Then pretty much follow the rest of the lesson from the above blog! (But I'm not going to use words and writing...just pictures)



General Conference

I've MOVED!!!! I'm actually really excited for our house to close because it's sooooo much nicer than our old house! I am ready to be done with our old house...oh wait, we are! It's sold!

Needless to say, though, we have been so crazy busy and tonight I finally have time to sit down, but it's too late for today's post! :(

So I am going to provide an idea that I had for toddlers to help them get to know about our modern day prophets and apostles so that next General Conference they can pay attention and recognize these amazing priesthood leaders of the church.


I'm going to print this out and go over what a prophet means and who the 12 are. Then during conference, my son can circle the picture of the GA who is speaking at the time! (If anyone has an updated list of the seventy, etc. let me know please!) because that could be "extra credit!"