Author: Keira

Kids Need Play

Googly Eyes

Keira

Dear Reader;

As I said in my post on Saturday, my preschooler and I made mmm monsters this week. Of course her sisters wanted to help, but my preschooler was excited about the one-on-one time with Mom and did *not* want to share her craft. Understandable, really. So I divided the eyeballs in half and my preschooler had half and my toddlers played with the other half. I was thinking later, I would make some kind of sensory bin with the eyes and actually keep them entertained, but they were so content the whole time we were working, I didn’t need to bother!

I would say it was a surprisingly good pincer grasp activity, because the eyes weren’t that easy to pick up off the table. because of their semi-spherical shape, they required extra focus to grasp onto. They focused pretty hard on being able to pick them up. Like I said, it kept them way more entertained than I thought it would to just sprinkle the eyes on the table, but I’m not complaining one bit. Sister and I got done with our activity long before they were bored of playing with googly eyes. They even figured out how to hold them up to their own eyes and make silly faces and get their co-conspirators to giggle.

I guess it’s a good idea to remind you that googly eyes are definitely a choking hazard, so watch your littles. Mine were sitting right next to me, so they were within my sight at all times.

Keira at searchforseven.com
Recipes

Creamy Cucumber Salad with Greek Chicken Seasoning

Keira

Cucumber salad:

  • 2 long English cucumbers (I did 1 English and 2 loosely peeled regular cucumbers)
  • 1 medium size purple onion
  • 1/2 c Greek yogurt (can sub sour cream of your family won’t eat plain yogurt)
  • 1T apple cider vinegar (white vinegar is fine)
  • 1 packet fresh Dill
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic powder
  • 1T of Italian dressing
  • 1/2 c chopped tomatoes

Slice/dice all the vegetables. Set aside. Combine remaining ingredients, adjusting to taste (will become stronger as it chills). Pour over vegetables. Stir thoroughly. Chill 2-8 hrs.

Greek seasoning for grilled chicken:

  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 2 tsp dried minced garlic (or 3 tsp powdered)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp dried basil
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp rosemary (cut up finer)
  • 2 tsp dried Dill weed
  • 1 tsp marjoram
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • Dried Lemon zest from 1 lemon (about 1 tsp)
  • 1/2 tsp Dill seed

Mix together and place in a shaker. Sprinkle liberally onto butterflied chicken breasts. Cook chicken to 165°F internal temp.

FHE

I Can Show Love to My Family FHE

Keira

Purpose: to grow closer as a family over the Valentines Day holiday.


Possible scriptures: Malachi 4:6 (see also Doctrine and Covenants 110:15); Matthew 5:43-48 (see also 3 Nephi 12:43-48); Matthew7:12 (see also 3 Nephi14:12); John 13:34 (see also 1 John 3:23); 1 John 2:10; 1 John 4:7; 1 John 4:20-21; Galatians 5:13-14; Ephesians 4:32; Mosiah 4:13-15; Moroni 7:47-48 (see also 1 Corinthians 13:4-8); Doctrine and Covenants 121:41-43;

Possible Songs: Love at Home, Hymn 294; Home Can Be a Heaven on Earth, Hymn 298; Love One Another, Hymn 308, Children’s Songbook page 136; Families Can Be Together Forever, Children’s Songbook page 188; A Happy Family, Children’s Songbook page 198; Here We Are Together, Children’s Songbook page 261; Home, Children’s Songbook page 192; Love Is Spoken Here, Children’s Songbook page 190; The World is So Lovely, Children’s Songbook page 198

Possible Materials: Figures of Joseph Smith’s family; a picture of the Wright brothers’ plane.


Preparation: Begin with prayer. Read the suggested scriptures, Doctrine and Covenants 135, as well as Genesis 37, 39-45. Read through the lesson, including any links, and carefully select the most relevant material for your family. Cut strips of paper to make hearts (probably in pink and red). Children: Watch the Video about Joseph of Egypt and the Famine.

Lesson:

Discuss how last week’s challenge went.

Introduction: Hand each member of your family a piece of paper and have them write a way that they felt love from a family member this week. If they are struggling, help them remember that someone cooked them dinner or cleaned the bathroom or gave them a hug or shared. Once everyone has written something, have them take turns sharing what was written, then have them fold their paper in half and then curl both ends over to make a heart. Staple the first one together inside the curled ends so it keeps its shape. For the second one, loop it through the first heart and then staple it to make a chain (if you need a visual, you can look at the September 2020 friend. There are a couple of different ways to make a heart chain and none of them are wrong. I picked this way because I liked the idea of them linking together, but if you’re drawn to another way, go for it). If you have a small family, you could give each family member 2 hearts. Tell your family that as they do acts of love for their family, the chain grows longer, just as we can grow closer together as a family.

From World History: Being a good brother or sister could even change history! Hold up a picture of the Wright brothers’ plane. Tell your family that Wilbur and Orville were two of 5 siblings. They really liked to play and explore together. Their mother liked to build and create and their father traveled and told them stories about the world. The Wright brothers were especially interested in flying and watched birds to see how they did it. People didn’t believe they would be able to reach their goal, but because they worked together and because they believed in each other and their own talents, they kept going. Eventually, their ideas worked! On December 17, 1903, Orville flew the first plane! And the rest… was history. Because two brothers worked together and talked about their ideas together, we can fly all over the world and even into space! Add a link to your chain and say, “when we work together, we are showing love for our family members.”


From Church History: Hold up the figures of Joseph Smith’s family. First, hold up Joseph Smith. Ask your family if they remember the story about Joseph praying to know which church is true and God came to talk to him. Then hold up the figure of his parents and say, “this is Joseph’s parents. This is his mother. Her name was Lucy. This is his father. His name was Joseph, too! they were good parents that wanted to serve God. When Joseph told them about what happened to him in the grove, they believed him and helped him the rest of his life.” Then hold up the picture of his siblings, and say, “Joseph had 8 brothers and sisters! This brother on the end {point to Hyrum} was Hyrum Smith. He was Joseph’s best friend. When some bad men wanted to throw Joseph in jail for teaching the truth, he asked Hyrum to go hide so that he would not be captured, too. Hyrum did not want to leave Joseph’s side.” Read Doctrine and Covenants 135:3. Add another link to your heart chain and say, “We can show love like Hyrum when we enjoy spending time together and help our family do what God wants us to do.”

From the Scriptures: Hold up the picture of Joseph being sold into Egypt. For younger kids, I prefer the figurines. Tell your family that there was another Joseph, but his brothers weren’t as nice to him. In fact, they were so mean to him that they captured him and sold him for money to some slave drivers. Slave drivers are people that take other people and make them do hard work for no money. These slave drivers took Joseph to Egypt. Joseph worked as a slave for many years, and even spent some time in prison! He did not have a happy time. But he worked hard and trusted Heavenly Father, and eventually became a king’s helper in Egypt. God had sent a famine to Egypt and to all the places around, including to Joseph’s family. A famine is when food doesn’t grow well and people get pretty hungry. Egypt had plenty of food because Joseph listened to Heavenly Father and helped the king store extra food. Joseph’s family was hungry and went to Egypt to ask for food. Hold up the picture of Joseph greeting his brothers. For older families, read Genesis 42-45. For younger families, say that Joseph could have been mad at his family. He could have sent them away without food. But he loved his family and forgave them. His whole family moved to Egypt and had enough food to survive the famine. Add another link to your heart chain and say, “when we forgive our family, we are growing our love for our family.”

Further Discussion:

Talk to your family about how God loves us, His children, with unconditional love. read Matthew 5:43-48 (see also 3 Nephi 12::43-45) and ask what conditional love means. Then open up to Charity in the Guide to the Scriptures. As a family, read the first paragraph, then pick a few verses to read. How can we show more love to our family? Why is it important? Explain to your family that because God loves each of us with His pure love, he wants us to love each other with his pure love.

Recent Conference talks to consider in your discussion: “The Finest Homes,” by L. Whitney Clayton; “God Loves His Children,” by Taniela B. Wakolo; “The Personal Journey of a Child of God,” by Neil L. Andersen; “I Love to See the Temple,” by Henry B. Eyering; “Personal Peace in Challenging Times,” by Quentin L. Cook

Challenge:

Set the heart chain in a prominent spot for your family and challenge them to look for ways this week that others are showing love to them and have them try extra hard this week to do things out of love for one another. See how long you can get your chain to grow this week.


Giving due credit: as usual, I read and learned from the Sunbeams Manual Lesson 25 (Nursery Manual lesson 11), the Family Home Evening Resource Manual Lesson 17. To read more about Hyrum and Joseph, read Heros [sic] and Heroines: A Brother Like Hyrum By Sharon Bigelow, The Legacy of Hyrum by M. Russell Ballard, and Joseph’s Family by M. Russell Ballard. To read more about the Wright brothers, check out Wright-brothers.org, National Park Service’s guide to Dayton’s flight historical sites, and the History Chanel’s story on the Wright brothers.

Educational, Kids Need Play

Mini School Day 1 /M/ sound

Keira

Dear Reader,

My preschooler is great at counting! Numbers just click in her head. Letters, however… they might as well be some ancient Hebrew text. They just don’t compute. Although I am definitely an advocate for children learning at their pace, I was curious if we couldn’t aide her a little bit better just by doing a set of activities that were more 3d than just the standard color/cut/glue paper activities. My Family has a history of Dyslexia, and reading is so 2d! So, we made it tactile! And we are focusing on sound and not letter names. Starting with /m/.

I started with /m/ mostly because I’m using Teach Your Child To Read as our baseline. We do the lesson out of that, then we do the Learn to Read Activity Book of the same letter, because they involve movement. Then it’s onto the fun!

This week, we glued pipe cleaners and googly eyes onto our monster! And “teeth” that ended up being horns because they’re above where she put the eyes. When I called to talk to my mom this afternoon, she asked if we used M&M’s and I’m kinda kicking myself for not thinking about that! What a missed opportunity! So if you’re reading this, remember that M&M’s are totally an option.

After the pipe cleaner dried, I had her trace the letters with her fingers. With the pipe cleaners, she’s getting a sensory input while saying “mmmmmm.” Then I kept it handy because we review the sounds throughout the week.

Next lesson will be on the /s/ sound.

Keira at searchforseven.com
  • only involved because of the story. could be free play
Kids Need Play

Scrubbing Toys

Keira

Dear Reader;

**I wanna add a little disclaimer here that I was in no way gifted or rewarded for this post. Crayola doesn’t know I exist. **

When we were Christmas browsing last December, we passed these kits with animals to color and I wasn’t sure how I felt about them but I knew my preschooler would just love them! And getting her to color anything is a huge accomplishment (seriously! How many kids do you know of that hate coloring!? But she does). And then I just kept going back to them. So I decided to buy a set for each of my kids. I figured I just wouldn’t tell my toddlers that they could color on them (yeah, that didn’t happen. My preschooler is too smart, and she showed her too-smart little sisters). Then I figured I just wouldn’t let them know that they could wash the animals off. It just sounded like a huge wet mess.

But here I am. Writing a whole post about my kids washing these toys off. And honestly, it wasn’t so bad. They loved it. Yes, water got everywhere. It spilled more than once. But I had towels handy. And Crayola did a really good job about having these markers be very washable. So even though the water was colored after washing the toys, it didn’t stain my towels. When my toddlers got carried away with the markers, I just threw the shirts in the wash and took a washcloth to the colored stuffed animal and the colored marks came right out. I’ll make the disclaimer that the toys are rated ages 3+ and I think that’s a good benchmark. Which would mean this toddler activity is technically disqualified on that alone; but the toddlers had so much fun! And I didn’t feel crazy afterwards.

I don’t think I would trust this activity with younger toddlers, but you could easily modify this activity to involve plastic toys and little scrub brushes and bowls. The toys don’t have to be colored, or even dirty. Just have them give their toy pets a bath! The scrubbing itself is great for fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination. But it’s also good for imaginary play (especially when they’re little “pets”) and sensory (wet) play. Plus, *bonus*, you get some toys clean without having to do the work! I would still keep an eye on them, with multiple towels handy; But we will definitely do this again.

Keira at searchforseven.com
FHE

Jesus Christ is Heavenly Father’s Son FHE

Keira

Purpose: To help family members come to know Jesus Christ and all that He does for us.


Possible scriptures: Due to the nature of this lesson, the magnitude of scriptures makes it impossible to list or limit the choices to a decent list. Therefore, I leave it in the hands of the lesson preparer to research their own scriptures, and give only these 2: Doctrine and Covenants 110:4; Doctrine and Covenants 76:22-24;

Possible Songs: I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus, Children’s Songbook page 78; Jesus Said Love Everyone, Children’s Songbook page 61; Tell Me the Stories of Jesus, Children’s Songbook page 57; Teach Me to Walk in the Light, Hymn 304 or Children’s Songbook page 177; Come, Follow Me, Hymn 116; I Know that My Redeemer Lives, Hymn 136;

Possible Materials: My Lightbulb pictures; A picture of Jesus as a boy at the temple (or these figures); a picture of Georg Friederich Händel


Preparation: Begin with prayer. Ask yourself ­­­­­if you have a testimony of the Savior. If not, work on it this week. Think about the Savior’s life and ministry. Think about all He did for you and your family. Open the topical guide to one of the many categories of Jesus Christ and read more about His life and Ministry and divine purpose. Read through the lesson, including any links, and carefully select the most relevant material for your family. Print and cut my lightbulb pictures. Children: Have a grownup read you this story about what Jesus did for us, and this story about Jesus as a boy. Have a grownup cut and print the lightbulbs.

Lesson:

Discuss how last week’s challenge went.

Introduction: get your house really dark. turn out the lights, close the blinds and curtains, or use a blindfold if it is still light. Hand a family member a piece of paper and a pack of coloring utensils (like markers or crayons). Ask them to make a rainbow on a piece of paper. Tell them to pay close attention to getting the colors in order! Once they’re done, turn on the lights and see how they did. Then repeat the activity with the lights on! Ask your family why it was so much easier to do it with the light on. Have a family member read aloud John 8:12. Ask your family, “Who is Jesus? How is Jesus the Light of the World?” spend some time and talk about what that means and how it is easier to do things with Christ’s light than it is in the dark. Tell your family that Jesus was called by many special names because He is really important to us and to Heavenly Father. When we hear those names, we can think about why Jesus is so important.

Pull out the lightbulb pictures with the names for Christ. One at a time, have your family select a name and tape it in a prominent spot you will see throughout the week (like the front door, if that is nearby). Start with Light of the World. For each name, read the scripture mentioned. For younger children, you can start with which ones you think are most important and then stop when they are out of patience. For older children, you might consider filling in the 3 blank lightbulbs with other references you find important (The Church’s website Come Unto Christ has a really good list of 50, though there are over 100).

  • Christ: Matthew 16:15-16 (see also Mark 8:29) Christ is Greek for “anointed one.” Meaning he was chosen and set apart as “the one.” In ancient times, Kings and rulers were anointed, as well as priests in the temple.
  • Savior: 1 John 4:14 Jesus saves us from our sins (see Matthew 1:21). Because of Him, we can repent and know that we are forgiven.
  • God’s Son: John 20:31 (you might include the story from the scriptures of Jesus as a boy in the temple when you read this reference, as noted below).
  • Prince of Peace: Isaiah 9:6
  • Immanuel: 2 Nephi 17:14 (see also Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23) Immanuel, also written Emmanuel, means “God is with us.” He was never actually supposed to be named Immanuel, rather he was supposed to be given the title of Immanuel. When Christ, the Son of God came to earth, he was literally a god among mortals.
  • Redeemer: Job 19:25 To redeem means “to pay the price for,” so Jesus paid the price for our sins so that we can be forgiven. He knew we would need someone to help us be worthy to get to return to Heavenly Father, so he paid the difference that we could not pay so that we could live with God again.
  • Creator: Mosiah 3:8
  • Teacher: John 3:2
  • Mediator: 1 Timothy 2:5 A mediator is someone who helps others come to an agreement. Jesus acts as our go-between with Heavenly Father. God has a rule that in order to come to Heaven, we have to be perfect. Only Jesus is perfect, so we needed Him to help us. He says that if we will promise to do the best that we can, He will talk to Heavenly Father and erase all of our imperfect spots so that we can go to Heaven.
  • Judge: Moses 6:57
  • Advocate: Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-5 An advocate is someone who stands by your side and says all the good things about you. They say you are deserving of something. Jesus stands before Heavenly Father and says that because He has helped us, we are worthy to make it to Heaven.
  • Good Shepherd: John 10:11,14
  • Lamb of God: John 1:29 John called Jesus the Lamb of God because during the time that Christ lived, people that believed in Heavenly Father would take a lamb to the priest and would symbolically give that lamb it’s sins to take them away. Jesus Christ sacrifices for us so that we can be forgiven of our sins.
  • Messiah: 2 Nephi 2:6 Messiah is Aramaic for “the anointed.” Basically, it is Christ in a different language.
  • Rock: Helaman 5:12
  • Living Water: John 4:10,14 Christ called Himself the fount or well of living water because water keeps us alive, and Christ’s living water gives us eternal life. We can live forever with Heavenly Father.
  • The Word: John 1:1, 14 President Nelson taught us that, “the Word,” means “an expression of.” So when John says that the Word was God, he is saying that Jesus is like God. He is like His Father.
  • I Am: John 8:58 When Jesus told the people that he was I Am, he was telling the people that he was the God of the Old Testament. Many of those people were angry and called his statement blasphemous. And it would have been if anyone else had said it. But Jesus was the creator of all the miracles and the one teaching and talking to the people in the Old Testament.
  • King of Kings: Revelation 17:14 He was also called King of the Jews and King of Israel at his death in mockery. But that mockery was in vain because Jesus was the one that the people were waiting for and the people did not understand it. He is the King, the ruler, the one above all that has authority and can give us rules or guidance. His rules are above the rules of earthy kings.
  • Son of Man: Mark 10:45 Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man when he wanted to emphasize that He, the Divine Savior, descended to a lowly state to come among us and bring us back to the father.

From the Scriptures: Hold up a picture of Jesus as a boy teaching in the temple (or these story figures). Read Luke 2:41-52. Who was Jesus referring to when he said he was doing his Father’s business? Who is his Father?

From Church History: In 2000, the Prophet Gordon B Hinckley and his counselors and apostles wrote a declaration and combined testimony. They called it The Living Christ. Read it with your family and see how many names of Jesus you can find within. What other truths are mentioned? Why is it important to know that Christ lives again? How has He set the perfect example for us? What are some ways we can show Him how thankful we are? Discuss again that whenever we are unsure of what to do in our life, we can look to Him for answers. If you have a younger audience that needs something to do while reading the declaration, I love this coloring picture as a tie-in.

From World History: Hold up the picture of Georg Friederich Händel. Tell your family that Handel wrote music in the early 1700’s. the music he is most well-known for is an oratorio called Messiah. Listen to the Choir at Temple Square sing (I highly suggest listening starting at 34:27 and listening through 38:50, as it’s a two hour program). Ask your family how they think Handel felt writing the music from the scripture. How does it make the members of your family feel? At the time, Handel got a lot of criticism for writing it. It didn’t start out as a big hit, but now it is one of the most well-known bit of music from that time period. Why do you think that is?

Further Discussion:

Read Teachings of Jesus by Dallin H. Oaks and Who is Jesus Christ by Boyd K. Packer. Talk about any further insight you gain by these talks and their discussion on different names of Christ.

Before your lesson, ask important loved ones to your family (present or not) what is the most important think to know about Jesus Christ. You could ask grandparents or aunts or neighbors. Talk about their answers as a family and add your own input.

Recent Conference talks to consider in your discussion: Click here.

Challenge:

Tell your family that we will keep these names of Christ up this week in a place that we can see them often. Tell them that every time they walk past it this week, they should think about Jesus and what He did for us. Ask them to think about what Jesus would want them to do and how He makes it easier for us to make choices.


Giving due credit: as usual, I read and learned from the Sunbeams Manual Lesson 5 (Nursery Manual lesson 5) and Gospel Principles Chapter 5. The attention activity for this lesson comes from Family Home Evening Resource Book lesson 12. The church has published multiple websites about learning more of Christ. Jesus Christ, Son of God is a good resource to check out. You may also find the bible dictionary under Christ, Names, of to be a good source., as well as the specific names of Christ (Anointed One), Son of God, Immanuel, Lamb of God, Living Water, Son of Man.

Kids Need Play

Color Paddle Color Hunt

Keira

Dear Reader;

Remember the color paddles we borrowed? We are almost on our way to take them back, but when my preschooler saw me set them down by the door so I didn’t forget them, she asked to play with them again. There was still time, so I figured it was a good thing to take up time this morning! Today, I told her to go on a color hunt!

I told her to go find a matching color to all her paddles and set them next to the color. Super not planned, but totally counting it as intentional learning. She had a blast! She turned it into a race to see how fast she could put all the colors next to something.

The yellow went next to flounder. The purple matched up with this book. Blue ended up in a shoe. Green went on sister’s blanket. Her coat was red, and the farm toy was orange. She already knows her colors so this activity was definitely easy for her. If you have a younger preschooler, this activity would be perfect. But it made her think, all the same; it’ll still be fun for an older preschooler just because it involves thinking outside of the “what color is this, what color is this?” concept as toddlers are learning colors. And matching is still fun for preschool aged kids.

Keira at searchforseven.com
Kids Need Play

Sand Dough

Keira

Dear Reader;

One of my toddlers has really been making me feel like pulling my hair out lately! Everything she gets her hands on, if it crumbles, she crumbles it. Bread. Crackers. Noodles. Her sister’s slow-rising squishy toys. It has been such a struggle.

And then, in a rare moment of enlightenment, it hit me! She needs some sensory input. You’d think with a quote unquote neurodivergent preschooler, I’d get that by now. And I’m constantly left in awe at how new a concept sensory seeking is when it is suddenly so prevalent in my own family. I look back on my own habits, and quirks and I realize I have my own sensory needs, but without parenting my kids, I’d never have recognized them in myself. Really, who doesn’t just need to compulsively do something sometime?

So I broke out the sand dough. It’s perfect for “crumbling.” and squishing. And running it through little fingers. I have had this sand dough for a while and honestly if I had to choose between sand dough and playdough, I choose sand dough, hands down. First, it’s way easier to clean up compared to playdough. Plus, from a sensory input, I think you cover a broader spectrum of textures and muscle movements. it squishes but it also crumbles.

Whenever I buy sand dough, I always either buy the tan (not colored?), pink/red, purple, or blue dough so that when it mixes together it’s still purple. Because I know it’s gonna get mixed in. And that way I can keep it all in one big tub. Our sand dough has some cosmic moon and star confetti in it too! Because when my preschooler dumped it in, I was not in the mood to pull it out, lol. We have quite a few different sets of toys for the dough, but if you don’t have any, I recommend getting a scoop, a slicer and a little bucket. A cookie scoop, a dough slicer, and your smallest measuring cup will work just fine. A knife will work for a slicer but it isn’t nearly as satisfying.

I had packed all the sand and playdough up and stuffed it in the top of my closet because I was so sick of the chaos spread far and wide. This time, I gave each kid a metal cake pan in hopes that it’d help corral the mess and I was pretty happy with that choice! I put all our toys in the middle of the table and kids could use any toy that was not in their siblings’ pan. If a kid was still playing with their toy, it was safe as long as they kept it in the pan. I was surprised at how well it worked.

ugh, I’m looking at this picture and there’s a hair in the scoop! gross. If you saw it, please pretend you didn’t. And if you didn’t, please don’t read this caption and then be disgusted.

I was really glad I listened to my intuition and pulled the sand dough back out. I gave my crumbly-loving toddler a few crackers with lunch, just to test the theory, and she ate them instead of playing with them! I don’t know if it’ll really stick, but it was definitely an improvement! And if we go back to crumbling, I can pull out the sand dough again!

Keira at searchforseven.com
FHE

Heavenly Father Answers Prayers FHE

Keira

Purpose: to develop a sincere desire to pray and to know that we will always receive an answer because Heavenly Father loves us.


Possible scriptures: Matthew 7: 7-11; (3 Nephi 14:7-11; Doctrine & Covenants 4:7; Doctrine & Covenants 6:5; Doctrine & Covenants 66:9);  Matthew 21:22 (Mark 11:24);  John 14:13 (John 16:23; D&C 88:64); 1 Ne. 15:11 (Alma 22:16; D&C 18:18);  2 Ne. 4:35;  2 Ne. 26:15; 2 Nephi 32:8-9;  Alma 37:37; 3 Ne. 18:20 (Moro. 7:26); Moro. 10:3–5;  Doctrine & Covenants 46:30; Doctrine & Covenants 88:63-65; Doctrine & Covenants 120:10

Possible Songs: “Sweet Hour of Prayer,” Hymns 142; “How Great Thou Art,” Hymn 86; “Joseph Smith’s First Prayer,” Hymn 26; “Be Thou Humble,” Hymn 130; “I Pray In Faith,” Children’s Songbook page 14; “A Child’s Prayer”, Children’s Songbook page 12; “A Prayer Song,” Children’s songbook page 22a; “A Prayer,” Children’s songbook page 22b;

Possible Materials: This picture from The Friend with hearts hidden within; paper hearts; a picture of David O. McKay; figures of Alma and Amulek; this picture of Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith translating the plates.


Preparation: Begin with prayer. Read the suggested scriptures. Read through the lesson, including any links, and carefully select the most relevant material for your family. write the phrases from numbers 1-8 below on hearts and tape those hearts throughout the room (you could try to tie them in with the stories, if you wanted. Like hiding #1 by a pair of shoes) . Children: listen to the story about Charlotte and the shoes, Ben’s prayers, Hannah, David’s scary night, and . Watch the video about Manna, Alma and Amulek (the first 2 minutes is enough) and about Oliver Cowdery (if it works, the video was broken at the time I wrote this, but the story was still there). Ask a grownup to help you make 8 hearts and hide them around the room.

Lesson:

Discuss how last week’s challenge went.

Introduction: Hold up the picture from the friend with hearts hidden within it. Have your family find the hearts within the picture. talk about how we can feel Heavenly Father’s love as we pray. He sends His love in different ways, but he always answers our prayers with love. Explain that there are hearts around the room with ways Heavenly Father answers our prayers and one at a time, pick a family member to find a heart. Make sure to keep it as even as possible among siblings. As each heart is found, read the phrase and then the story that goes with it.

  1. He grants your prayer. Read the story about Charlotte and the shoes (based on your family’s attention span, you can pick the long version or the short version). Talk about other ways Heavenly Father has answered with “yes,” in your family. Consider each time you bless the food or pray for safety or a good night’s rest. Most of the time, Heavenly Father answers those with yes and we often don’t even think about it!
  2. He tells you no. Read the story about Ben from the Friend. you can shorten it to one example if you’d like but it is a simple enough story that young children should understand while older children can pick up on how prayer to Heavenly Father works.
  3. He gives you something better. Tell your family about the Israelites in the wilderness, as found in Exodus 16. Tell them the Israelites had just left Egypt and we’re so excited to be free. They were excited that Heavenly Father was helping them. But it still wasn’t easy. They were hungry and they missed all the food in Egypt. They had Moses ask Heavenly Father to send them food. He sent them Manna! He answered their prayers but it was not with food that they knew about. It was a new food. And it had a lot of rules that they didn’t want to follow. Why did Heavenly Father send them Manna instead of the food they were used to? They had to learn to trust Heavenly Father and follow His rules.
  4. He makes you wait. Read Samuel 1:1-20. Tell the story of Hannah. Hannah was really sad! She had waited a long time for something that was good and something that Heavenly Father had promised*. But she didn’t get the thing she wanted right away. Eventually, she prayed and told Heavenly Father that if he would give her the thing she wanted, she would make sure he grew into a good person that would serve Him in the temple. Talk about how sometimes Heavenly Father needs us to learn or grow before he can give us what we want. What are some other reasons He might ask us to wait? (you could talk about Abish and being told to wait because the people weren’t ready to hear what she knew, yet).
  5. He gives comfort/peace. Hold up the picture of David O. McKay. Tell your family he was the prophet from 1951 to 1970. This is a story about when he was a little boy. Read “David’s Prayer,” From the August 2004 Friend (here’s a shorter version with pictures) about President David O. McKay.  Discuss how sometimes answers to prayer are just a feeling of comfort. Tell your family that any time we are afraid, we can pray to Heavenly Father and he will help us and bring us comfort. Sometimes the comfort will feel like a warm fuzzy blanket, and sometimes He’ll just take away our worry. Sometimes we will just know that Heavenly Father loves us and that we will be okay.
  6. He sends others. Hold up the figures of Alma and Amulek. Tell your family that Alma the prophet went to visit the city of Ammonihah and they were so wicked that they did not want to listen. Alma left and was sad. An angel told him to go back, and Alma listened. Read Alma 8: 14-27. Heavenly Father used Amulek to give Alma some help. The people listened to Amulek because they trusted him. He was able to teach the people. Amulek knew that Alma would need help because an angel told him. An angel might not tell us to help people, but when we listen to the Holy Ghost and try to do nice things for others, we can help answer someone else’s prayer.
  7. He tells us in our mind (we just “know”). Hold up the picture of Oliver Cowdery and Joseph working on translating the Book of Mormon. Tell your family that Oliver wanted to know with absolute certainty that the church was true. He kept struggling with doubt. He prayed to know for sure, got his answer, but still questioned it. Heavenly Father told Joseph to tell him to trust his answer. Read Doctrine and Covenants 8, especially focusing on verses 1-3. Talk about how he knew his answer because Heavenly Father had told him! He didn’t need the prophet to tell him, because Heavenly Father can talk right to us. For younger kids, stop there. Older kids may benefit from also reading Doctrine and Covenants 9 (especially verses 8-9) and talking about the rest of the story.
  8. We find the answer after study. Sometimes Heavenly Father wants us to do a little work before we get the answer (If you didn’t read Doctrine and Covenants 9:8-9, you could read it now). Sometimes we can get that answer by reading the scriptures or listening to what the prophets have said. Sometimes that study is just taking the best choice and seeing what happens. Heavenly Father will help you know if it is right or wrong. And sometimes he just lets us choose because there isn’t a bad answer! He loves us enough to let us make our own choices. Read the story about the brother of Jared in Ether 2-3. If Heavenly Father hadn’t let the brother of Jared make his own choices, he would not have had enough faith to see Jesus! Each time we make a choice and trust Heavenly Father to help us know if it is right or wrong, our faith grows.

Further Discussion:

Further discussion: What difference does it make to know that Heavenly Father will really listen to your prayers? Do we talk to strangers differently than our friends? It is the same with prayer. Share how much peace it brings knowing that each member of the family can call upon God when they need help, even when they think they’re alone.

Read, “But If Not…” by Elder Dennis E Simmons of the Seventy. Talk about how the examples given in the story were okay with Heavenly Father’s choice, no matter what it was, because they trusted Him and knew that He had the best plan in mind for them.

Recent Conference talks to consider in your discussion: “Ask, Seek, and Knock,” by Milton Camargo; “Watch Ye Therefore, and Pray Always” by President M. Russell Ballard; “What We Are Learning and Will Never Forget,” by Russell M. Nelson; “Remember Your Way Back Home,” by Elder José A. Teixeira; “The Faith to Ask and Then to Act,” by Henry B. Eyering; “Faith to Act and Become,” by Elder Ciro Schmeil; “Pure Truth, Pure Doctrine, and Pure Revelation,” by Russell M. Nelson

Challenge:

Challenge your family to take extra time after each prayer this week to listen for Heavenly Father’s answer and feel His love. Think about and watch for His answers throughout your day.


Giving due credit: as usual, I read and learned from the Sunbeams Manual Lesson 4 (Nursery Manual lesson 3) and Gospel Principles Chapter 8. I also found Family Home Evening Resource Book, Lesson 7 helpful. To get an accurate idea of how to tell the story of Oliver Cowdery, I read the intro to the Institute manual (D&C, chapter 5); Oliver Cowdery’s Gift by Jeffry G. Cannon; and Saints Volume 1, chapter 6.

*I didn’t want this to clog up the FHE lesson because it’s definitely a sidenote, but God Promised the tribes of Isreal that they would be fruitful and “multiply and replenish the earth.” see the Bible Dictoionary for Abraham, Covenant of. Also, If you want an amazing article that will probably make you cry, read “Hannah,” from a Bible Study by Vickie Kraft on Bible.org.

Kids Need Play

Color Mixing with Color Paddles

Keira

Dear Reader;

My preschooler is in full question mode this week (or month.. or lifetime…) and has been constantly asking what colors make when they mix together, so I borrowed these cool paddles for a week!

After we tried them out I looked up where to get them and you can find them at Oriental Trading for much cheaper than I would have expected (No perks for me, I’m not an affiliate or anything)! And don’t feel obligated to buy them. There are a million ways to talk about mixing colors, these were just loaned to me so they were nice and easy. Plus, they’re not messy like paint or food-colored water.

I started out with handing the paddles out to my kids (there was 1 set for each of them, so it worked out). Even though my littlests don’t really know their colors (to them, everything is green. Sometimes pink). This time is as good as any to learn, and really, they just want to be like big sis. While they just played around, I read the book Freight Train, by Donald Crews. When the colors came up, we talked about the colors in their hands. Obviously my preschooler knew this one, but a) it’s such a beautiful book! One of the first ones I ever bought as a mom; b) it was easy to start and made it fun for her; and c) her toddler sisters had an easy time following along while they wanted to do what she was doing.

Then I read Mix It Up! by Hervé Tullet and Mouse Paint, by Ellen Stoll Walsh I had her hold up her colors as we were talking and had her tell me what colors were created when they mixed. I really like the mouse book. first of all, it’s a cute story that is easy to follow along (brains love stories), and second, it keeps it simple to just the basic colors that she can make with the paddles.

What other books to you love about color mixing? Hit me up in the comments or send me a message via our contact page.

Keira at searchforseven.com
  • only involved because of the story. could be free play