Author: Keira

FHE

Three Kings Day FHE

Keira

Purpose: to celebrate with your family by extending the spirit of Christmas and looking closer at symbolism and the story of the Magi

A little explanation as to why I include this holiday in my FHE lessons: I know that in American culture, especially American Latter-day Saint culture, we don’t often celebrate Epiphany or Three Kings Day, or Twelfth Night or the twelfth day of Christmas, but I personally think that’s a real shame. Christmas gets all lumped together and muddled with festivities and rushing and the story gets lost. People are forgetting that Jesus was a toddler by the time the wise men found him. Plus, there is so much symbolism and divine intervention that gets overlooked because of the magnitude of the Nativity. Plus, I’m just not ready to put everything away after the holiday. Two parts exhaustion and one part post-holiday sadness. (cue Michael McLean’s song about taking the tree down)

For us, personally, most of our traditions come from Spain, but I highly suggest you look into how you would like to celebrate this holiday and adapt it to fit your heritage or lifestyle.


Possible scriptures: Job 34:2-4, 34 (see also Proverbs 8:33-34; Proverbs 13:1; Proverbs 14:16-17; Proverbs 19:20-21; James 3:13); Proverbs 9:8-10; Proverbs 13:20; Jeremiah 29:12-13; Matthew 7:7-8 (see also Luke 11:9-10, 1 Nephi 10:19, 3 Nephi 14:7-8, Doctrine and Covenants 88:63); Matthew 7:24-27 (see also 3 Nephi 14:24-27); Helaman 16:13-14; Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-27;

Possible Songs: “With Wondering Awe,” Hymns 210 ; “Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful,” Hymns 202; “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” Hymns 214; “Mary’s Lullaby,” Children’s songbook 45; “Stars Were Gleaming,” Children’s Songbook 37 (second verse); “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” written by John Henry Hopkins Jr. (here’s a kid-friendly version with lyrics if you need).

Possible Materials: Three Kings Bread (Roscón de Reyes); small, Christ-centered gifts for each kid; Gold, Frankinsense, and Myrrh would be amazing! But not necessary; a small sock and pencils and paper for your family.


Preparation: Begin with prayer. In order to even know where to start, you may have to study a little about this holiday. I found this site incredibly informative and I pray the post never gets taken down because it’s the best information I’ve seen on the holiday in regards to members of The Church. I suggest starting your study there. Read the suggested scriptures, as well as Matthew 2. Read through the lesson, including any links, and carefully select the most relevant material for your family. Make Three Kings Bread for your family (I’m sorry I can’t share my recipe. It was given to me and it wouldn’t be right to share someone else’s recipe). Make sure it has a little surprise inside but keep kids and choking hazards in mind (and how much cake will need to be eaten in order for someone to get the prize). Children: Watch this video about the wise men. Get some help from a grownup to make Three Kings Bread.

Lesson:

Discuss how last week’s challenge went.

Introduction: As a family, sit together and enjoy Three Kings Bread. While your family is eating, discuss what they know about the wise men that came to visit Jesus. The importance here is spending time together. It is in creating tradition with loved ones. You could talk about heritage and cultural differences, but don’t let it overshadow the time together. Celebrate and laugh as the “prize” is found! Based on where in the world you get your information, either the prize winner is the “King for the year,” the one that has to buy or make the bread for next year, the one that will have good luck. For our family, we have the winner get the stocking we use later in the lesson and pass out the papers.

From the Scriptures: Read all of Matthew 2. As a family, discuss why it is important to know this part of the Christmas story. Talk about how it differs from regular Christmas tradition. By the time the wise men found Jesus, he was no longer a little newborn. Mary and Joseph lived in a house!

Discuss the importance of revelation in keeping Jesus safe. What would have happened if the wise men hadn’t followed revelation? And Joseph? We can be protected by the same power that protected Jesus.

An important similitude exists in the ethnicity of the wise men. Although there is much discussion as to the actual origins of these magi, historians agree that they were not of Jewish descent. they weren’t Israelites. And yet they received revelation and guidance because of their desire and their studies. In the scriptures we are assured that anyone that seeks Christ will find him. The fact that the wise men found Christ, and recognized Him as their king, is proof of this. How Can we seek him? What steps do we need to take?

Further Discussion:

Have family members take turns reading We Three Kings from the December 2009 New Era and Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh from the December 2016 New Era. Discuss the symbolism and divine significance of the gifts given. What do we learn about the wise men that we may not have known before?

Read Epiphany, a fireside talk given at BYU by James E Faust. How has God guided willing people who seek Him all throughout history? How does it make you feel knowing that God has His hand in His work and in our lives?

Recent Conference talks to consider in your discussion: A Faithful Search Rewarded, by Elder Patricio M. Giuffra; Pure Truth, Pure Doctrine, and Pure Revelation by President Russel M. Nelson; The Faith to Ask and then Act, by Henry B. Eyering; The Things of My Soul, by Ronald A. Rasband; Ask, Seek, Knock, by Milton Camargo

Challenge:

If this is the first year you have done this activity, pull out a small Christmas sock. Explain that the wise men gave gifts to the Savior. We can give Jesus a birthday present, too! He doesn’t ask for us to give him frankincense or myrrh, but clean hands and a pure heart. Ask each member of the family to think of something they would like to give Jesus this year and to write it on the paper and place it in the sock. This is meant to be private, unless the person wants to share, so have them write their names on the outside, maybe even offer to tape them closed or provide envelopes.

At our house, we pack up Christmas on January 6th, so once everyone’s written their gift, it’s time to pack up Christmas, so it’s nice and easy to make sure the sock gets with the Christmas decorations or supplies. If you pack up your Christmas earlier, make an extra effort to make sure the Christmas sock gets put away correctly and safely so that you can find it in a year.

If this is not the first year you have done this activity, hand out last year’s “gifts” to the individual members of the family, as well as a piece of paper and pen or pencil. Give everyone time to reflect on last year’s gift and write a new gift to add to the sock. Ask your family to reflect upon their gift that they wanted to give to Jesus last year and be prepared to share their thoughts on how they did and how they’ve grown since last year.

Kids Need Play

Read a Book with Santa

Keira

Dear Reader;

Hope your Christmas is going great! I wrote this post early because I’m probably in the middle of tearing wrapping paper and hyper kids as per publish time.

I can’t take credit for coming up with this activity, though it’s totally awesome! My daughter’s preschool arranged to have Santa come and visit the classroom an evening last week and invited the whole family to come meet him. He read a story to all the kids, then they each got to have their picture taken with him, and he gave all the kids a book to take home. Seriously the coolest after-school thing ever for a preschooler! It was such a fun night. there were other little crafts to do while we waited to meet Santa, so the kids didn’t get too bored of waiting in line. The teacher came around to make sure everyone had a turn, and they stayed busy the whole time we were there. I’m really impressed with how fun the evening was!

She also had a big mailbox for Santa to collect the letters we wrote last week. Easy peasey. And all of my girls loved it. You’d think my toddlers would be terrified, but honestly they’re obsessed with him. I don’t even really know why, since I don’t really emphasize him much at our house. But they knew who he was, and went right up to him!

Keira at searchforseven.com
Kids Need Play

Felt Boards from Oriental Trading

Keira

Dear reader;

If this link works, jump on this! —>

I saw these the other day and thought, “what the heck, they’re worth a shot.” I know they’re labeled to use once and then they’re all done and kinda worthless for anything else, but looking at the picture, I couldn’t see why they weren’t super easy to convert over to a reusable activity.

And I was right! with just a little bit of sandpaper, this is one of the happiest tests I’ve ever had with making a craft into something re-useable. Just stick the sticky felt stickers onto the smooth side of a sheet of sandpaper, cut them out (okay, that part was tedious) and hand the to your kids for endless fun!

One of the sheets doesnt have sticky backs, and I just left them alone. I could add sandpaper, but it hasn’t bugged my kids that the big pieces are slightly less clingy than the smaller pieces.

Also, the stands are kinda worthless, but eh, they came with the kit. they’re just not weighted enough to really hold the project up.

They did fight over the pieces quite a bit, so I’m half tempted to buy 2 more sets before they’re all sold out, but I wish they’d just all share because there are 3 boards, so I don’t think I should have to have 9 of them! I’m just crossing my fingers that when they’re not new, sharing becomes a little easier.

My oldest started out with the gingerbread man. The mouth is upside down, so the sandpaper side is showing.
Keira at searchforseven.com
FHE

How To Set Goals: Starting Off the New Year FHE

Keira

Purpose: to help your family learn that goals are achieved step by step.


Possible scriptures: Isaiah 28:10,13; Matt 5:16; Matt 5:48; Galatians 6:10; James 2:17-22; Jacob 2:18-19; 3 Nephi 13:24; 3 Nephi 13:33 (see also Matt 6:33); 3 Nephi 27: 27; Doctrine & Covenants 67:13;

Possible Songs: “The Iron Rod,” Hymns 274; “As Zion’s Youth in Latter-days,” Hymns 256; “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission,” Children’s Songbook 169; “The Things I Do,” Children’s Songbook 170; “I Love to See the Temple,” Children’s Songbook 95; “I’m Trying to be Like Jesus,” Children’s Songbook 78.

Possible Materials: five small stuffed animals or other soft objects; Heber J Grant stories (1, 2, 3) and a picture of him (Note: Older audiences may prefer reading about Heber J. Grant from The Teachings of Heber J. Grant Lesson Manual, found here); Tree of Life story aides; Graham Cracker Story aides (at least some graham crackers and grapes, but you may also consider making a simple chore chart or grabbing some clothes and a toy car, etc); A photograph of Ford’s Assembly Line; Paper and Pencils.


Preparation: Begin with prayer. Read the suggested scriptures, along with 1 Nephi 8 and Moses 1:39. Think of why it is significant to know that even our Heavenly Father sets goals. Consider some possible goals for yourself. Think of your own struggles with keeping goals. Is there ways you can improve, so that you can help others? Read through the lesson, including any links, and carefully select the most relevant material for your family. Children: Listen to the audio for the Heber J Grant stories and the story about graham crackers and grapes and watch the video for the Tree of Life. Collect grapes and graham crackers to use when you tell the lesson.

Lesson:

Introduction: select a member of the family (preferably one that can catch) and tell them you want them to catch all five stuffed animals. Then throw them at the family member all at once. They will probably not be able to catch all of them, or even one of them. Collect the objects and this time throw them to the family member one at a time. When thrown one at a time, the family member will be able to catch most, if not all, of the objects. Explain that starting any big project or setting a big goal is like this. If we try to set big goals and accomplish them all at once, we will struggle and get overwhelmed. But if we think about our goals and what steps are needed to achieve them, and work on each little step, the process of goal setting becomes quite simple.

Explain to your youngest family members, if you need, that a goal is something you want to do, to be, or to have. It is something you have to work for, but something that you know someday you can get or be. An example of a goal is thinking about what you want to be when you grow up. Other goals are something you want to learn how to do.

Read “Graham Crackers, Grapes, and Goals from the Friend.” Talk about how the boy in the story had a goal to keep his room clean, but he was fining it hard to reach his goal. This story talks about how each step is important when we set a goal. Use illustrations or real graham crackers and grapes to help younger children pay attention to the story.

Hand out papers and pencils (and help little kids) and ask each member of the family to write what they think are some pretty big goals that they have for themselves. Then ask them how they can work on small parts of the goal in order to reach the bigger goal. Tell them they can work on this throughout the rest of the lesson.


From Church History: Hold up a picture of Heber J Grant. Read one of the stories from President Grant’s Life (links above) from the Friend Magazine, and ask, “What goal did Heber make? What did he do to reach his goal? What happened because he made the goal?” Then read the next story and ask the same questions. Repeat for the third.

From World History: Hold up a picture of Henry Ford’s assembly line. Then read the following clip from PBS.org’s People and Discoveries segment:

In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create “a motor car for the great multitude.” At that time, automobiles were expensive, custom-made machines.

Ford’s engineers took the first step towards this goal by designing the Model T, a simple, sturdy car, offering no factory options — not even a choice of color. The Model T, first produced in 1908… was less expensive than most other cars, but it was still not attainable for the “multitude.” Ford realized he’d need a more efficient way to produce the car in order to lower the price. He and his team looked at other industries and found four principles that would further their goal: interchangeable parts, continuous flow, division of labor, and reducing wasted effort.

Using interchangeable parts meant making the individual pieces of the car the same every time. That way any valve would fit any engine, any steering wheel would fit any chassis. … Once the machines were adjusted, a low-skilled laborer could operate them, replacing the skilled craftsperson who formerly made the parts by hand. To improve the flow of the work, it needed to be arranged so that as one task was finished, another began, with minimum time spent in set-up. Ford was inspired by the meat-packing houses of Chicago and a grain mill conveyor belt he had seen. If he brought the work to the workers, they spent less time moving about. Then he divided the labor by breaking the assembly of the Model T into 84 distinct steps. Each worker was trained to do just one of these steps. …

Ford put these principles into play gradually over five years, fine-tuning and testing as he went along. In 1913, they came together in the first moving assembly line ever used for large-scale manufacturing. Ford produced cars at a record-breaking rate. That meant he could lower the price and still make a good profit by selling more cars. …

Ford’s manufacturing principles were adopted by countless other industries. Henry Ford went beyond his 1907 goal of making cars affordable for all; he changed the habits of a nation, and shaped its very character.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dt13as.html

Discuss with your family what Henry Ford can teach us about setting goals. Some examples might include that he broke up what needed to happen into steps, he evaluated why he wasn’t having success and adjusted what he needed to do. Also note that his goal was not achieved instantly! It took him 5 years of fine-tuning. But because he set a goal, he changed the world.

From the Scriptures: Read or summarize Lehi’s Dream as found in 1 Nephi 8. For younger children, use the story aid illustrations provided in the materials section above. When you’re done reading the story, explain how the Tree of Life represents eternal life. Eternal life is our ultimate goal! It is also Heavenly Father’s goal for us! Read Moses 1:39. Heavenly father wants us to return to Him. What little steps do we need to take in order to make it to our big goal? (answers should include holding onto the rod – staying close to the doctrine of The Church and not getting distracted by flashy things or hard times – the building and the mists). Discuss how clinging to the rod doesn’t actually get us to the tree. we have to take step after step.

Further Discussion:

Read Keeping Life’s Demands in Balance. Discuss the steps listed in the talk: (1) Think out your life and your priorities. What is most important? (2) Set short-term goals that you can reach quickly. (3) Balance needs and wants. (4) Stay close to family (5) Study the scriptures (6) Plan time for sufficient rest, exercise and relaxation. (7) Family Home Evening (8) Pray often as individuals and as a family.

Talk about how to set SMART Goals. S = Specific (or Significant). M = Measurable (or Meaningful). A = Attainable (or Action-Oriented).R = Relevant (or Rewarding). T = Time-bound (or Trackable).   Also discuss the importance of prayer in setting goals. By taking the time to prepare, pray, and ponder about our goals, we are able to focus on what will be most beneficial for our family.

Recent Conference talks to consider in your discussion: Worthiness Is Not Flawlessness, by Bradley R. Wilcox; One Percent Better, By Michael A. Dunn; Becoming More in Christ: The Parable of The Slope, by Clark G. Gilbert

Challenge:

Remind your family about how we need to keep goals in our mind AND we need to work to achieve them. We need to cling tightly to the rod and to the things we know will bring us to our goals. Remind the family that they wrote down goals at the beginning of the lesson and ask them if they feel confident in taking the steps to reach their goals. Discuss any help they might need as a family. Challenge each member of your family to work on a small step of their goal that can be accomplished during the week so that they can report back next week.

Also, this ties in really well with the new youth program, so if you have any youth, this is a perfect time to reevaluate those youth goals!


Giving due credit: I used the object lesson given in Lesson 32 of The Latter-day Saint Woman: Basic Manual for Women, Part B for inspiration.

Kids Need Play

Write a Letter to Santa

Keira

Dear Reader;

Holy Cow, this week has creeped up on us! It’s the last week of school before the holidays!

Our preschool teacher sent us home a few papers to write letters to Santa as “homework” this week. She never gives homework (preschoolers shouldn’t have any homework besides reading stories, imo. She does have goals she’d like us to meet in other ways, which is totally cool, because that inspires activities for us), so this wasn’t meant to be graded and turned in, just something fun to do. She sent home enough for everyone to do one!

She told us that we could bring them to an activity she was putting together (more on that next week) and we could mail them to Santa, and that was pretty exciting for our kiddo. Preschool is great for inspiration for activities, and I love it. I am sure eventually I’m going to be more inclined to homeschool my neuro-divergent daughter, but this teacher has been sooo good for her!

What did my toddlers ask for Christmas? one said “Toys! (it was kind of prompted, though, since she looked at us confused.)” and the other one said, “a visit from Grandma!” As you can see, my preschooler wants birthday cake, haha.

Hope your holidays are going well!

Keira at searchforseven.com
Kids Need Play

Decorate gift bags

Keira

Dear Reader,

As I was walking around our local dollar store, I came across these cute little bags. I figured eh, why not! Something that takes zero prep work once we get home is always a bonus! and the fact that it cost me $3 ($1/kid) was a win. so I grabbed them. Apparently they’re trendy, because since doing this project, I’ve seen some at Walmart, too. They’re just canvas bags, not super high quality or anything.

The kit came with markers, so when we got home, I handed each of them a bag and a snack, and they all colored while I put groceries away. I usually have to wrestle all the favorite foods away from little fingers before everything gets opened or crumbled or squished before I can get it all put away. It was kinda nice to have the lack of “help,” for a change.

I don’t really know what we will do with the bags afterwards. Maybe they can use them to wrap gifts in. It’ll all depend on whether they’re determined to carry them around. Honestly, even if I get sick of them around my house or if they rip, I won’t be overly concerned, because I bought them for entertainment value. These 2 love to color, and color everything (even if they’re not supposed to), so although it’s great for the pincer grasp skill (something big sister really struggles with), for them, it’s more about giving them something they enjoy. If your kids are more like said big sis, this is a great activity because it lets her color something that isn’t just a coloring book, so it’s novel. I’ve found that to be pretty helpful for her. She’s more excited to do something if it’s new. Especially something she doesn’t like doing.

Keira at searchforseven.com
  • or buy and go, as the case may be…
Kids Need Play

Go See a Live Nativity

Keira

Dear Reader,

We had a pretty neat opportunity this week! Our community hosted a live nativity. They found sheep and camels and goats and a donkey, got a sound system, and read from Luke 2. Behind the “Stable” that was in the park shelter, there was a whole little “village,” set up! They had a blacksmith, a basket weaver, a wood shop, a bakery (with pastries and hot chocolate) a ropemaker, and a tent with baby lambs and a bunny to pet.

The blacksmith let everyone make a square nail into a ring (we didn’t do that one because by the time we got there, the line was long. The basket weaver told us about a shepherd’s sling and how it was made. Then we talked about the story of David and Goliath. the ropemaker’s building had a twine making machine and we watched them make rope for a minute or two before moving on to pet the tiny little lambs and hold the bunny. At the woodshop, we made little ornaments for our tree. It’s really just a stamp on a circle of wood, but I absolutely love them.

And then it was time for the live nativity to start! We got into place and watched and heard the story of Jesus’ birth. By then my kids were pretty cold, but they still loved when the camels came in. And we were pretty close to the host of angels, so my kids liked that. I love the spirit that the story of Christ’s birth gives to the season.

If your community has a live nativity this season, I highly recommend taking your kiddos to it. Especially the preschool-aged kiddos because that’s when the story really gets real. Preschoolers thrive off of live-action things that they can see and hear and use their senses for.

Keira at searchforseven.com
Kids Need Play

Bubble Wrap

Keira

Dear Reader,

Kids love bubble wrap! My preschooler belted out her first belly laugh as a baby when her cousins popped all the bubbles in front of her. Her fascination with the popping plastic has never ceased from that day. But as babies and toddlers, the idea of plastic means having to spend time watching them so they don’t put the plastic in their mouths. Especially one of my twins! She loves eating plastic. I have to keep a close eye on her. I spend so much time getting things out of her mouth. And time around the holidays is pretty sparse. I was having one of those, “nothing is getting done,” days and decided I needed to just regroup, and so did my kids. Everyone was just cranky. So I decided while I was sitting, there was no harm in letting them have a good time and playing with the bubble wrap that came in the package we got this morning. My toddlers loved it!

They focused on each bubble, lined up their fingers and pinched! It was fun watching the focus! It’s crazy that something we don’t focus on too much requires so much focus. Plus, not only is it good for the hand-eye coordination, it’s also great for the pincer grasp.

When their hands get tired, they went back to stomping on it (something they already knew how to do. It’s definitely the easier way to pop bubble wrap) and I still superficially pat myself on the back because now they’re working on balance. Take your victories where you can! Especially on those spinning-tires days.

Kids Need Play

Hole Punch Corn Cob

Keira

Dear Reader,

Hope your Thanksgiving was a good one! Ours was definitely busy. It is nice to spend time with family, though. Before we headed off to all our festivities, we needed some preschool-level distraction! So I pulled out the construction paper and printed off a corn template (free download by clicking here). while I was using it to cut out the cob and husk, I handed my preschooler some orange, white and brown paint and an orange and red(ish?) sheet of construction paper and let her paint.

while it was drying, I had her help me glue the pieces onto our main page. First the cob and then the husks. You could wait for the husks if you wanted to, since all the corn kernels are supposed to be inside the husk, but a)it was a good distraction while paint dried, and b) my little artist is an all-or-nothing type and would want to put a lot of “kernels” down where they’d be hidden. this made it easier to glue before as opposed to after.

After the paint was completely dried, I handed her my hole punch and told her to make me some confetti. This step was pretty hard for my preschooler, but she is working on her grip strength, so it was good exercise for her. She would do a couple on her own, and then I’d put my hand on hers and apply the pressure needed to keep going. Then it was onto working on our pincer grasp!

Once you have enough “kernels” punched out, cover your corn cob portion in glue stick or glitter glue. You could use liquid school glue but it makes the construction paper get a little wrinkly, so proceed with caution. the pro to school glue vs glue stick is that the modern idea of a glue stick is kinda weaksauce and a huge disappointment with how quick it dries. (seriously, Elmers. You fail. You don’t care. But you are not as good as you used to be). Then have your kiddo sprinkle the confetti onto the cob. Get a good coating and then press it down with your palms so that it’ll stick when you lift up the page to let anything that didn’t get glued down slide off.

As you can see, I lifted up the flaps a little so all the kernels ended up under the green husks. I didn’t do that for the title picture, if you want to compare. I also let her make it her own with a pen. She doesn’t like drawing or coloring at all, so any chance she’ll take to use a pen or pencil or crayon or anything is a score. It’s another way to strengthen her struggling pincer grasp.

Anyway, she had fun and it kept her busy instead of asking me if it was time to go yet or eat yet or any of the million other questions.

Keira at searchforseven.com
Kids Need Play

Opening lids

Keira

Dear Reader,

I’ve been saving these lids for some kind of hidden prize activity or the like, but I just haven’t had time to put the game together and my kids just needed some extra lap time, today, so I handed them the lids while they hang out in my laps. I have a few different shapes and colors, but they’re all from wet wipes. They stayed sticky when I pulled off the plastic that houses the wipes so I simply stuck them together so they king of open like books. That also gave them 2 different ends that opened. It was a super simple project, but it allowed me to get my work done while still having little toddlers in my lap. And for that, I’m claiming victory. Eventually, I’ll cut out the flaps and put pictures inside the flaps and make the eye-spy or match game or whatever I finally decide to do with these, but for now, they make a great distraction and fine-motor toy.

Keira at searchforseven.com