Who doesn't love Christmas time? Sure, the stores are insane and we may spend a little too much money, but it really is the best time of the year. It's an excuse to see our extended families, wear ugly sweaters, indulge in delicious yet maybe not-so-good-for-you foods, and experience a little magic with Santa, his elves, and his reindeer. But most importantly, it is a time to focus on Christ. This season celebrates the birth of Christ, the beginning of his life that would touch billions and billions of people. A life that made it possible for all of us to be with our crazy families throughout eternity.
This week in primary we get to talk about the birth of Christ. I get to do sharing time this week, and I'm really thankful. To me, this is a great way to spiritually prepare for the Christmas season that is now upon us.
To start, I will ask everyone who is excited for Christmas. Of course I get a lot of response from this. I will then ask everyone why do we celebrate Christmas? I am sure I will have at least a few shout out the right answer. I will then tell them that today we're going to talk about the story of Jesus Christ's birth. I have two thoughts on this. I have a toy nativity, much like this Fisher-Price Little People Nativity , that I want to bring in to help as a visual. If you don't have one, and would like to get one, that is a really cute one I've been eying up. I already have one, so I feel a little silly buying another one. But they're so cute! Plus, they'd be great for the Nursery ;). Anyways, my thought is, I will ask for a child to tell just one part of the story. Whoever tells that part can come up and act it out with the little nativity. I'm hoping this will keep their interest, encourage involvement, and make it memorable for them.
Another thought I had was similar to the last. If you don't have a nonbreakable nativity you feel comfortable with them using, and you don't want to buy one, you could get a few volunteers and act it out. You could even break them into groups and have them put on the skit after reading some scriptures. You would need 7 children in each group, if I'm remembering all the major parts correctly. ;) That would give you three wise men, Mary, Joseph, a shepard, and an angel. I would bring in a doll to be baby Jesus.
If you have time left over I love the idea of singing Christmas songs. We only get four or five weeks out of the year to sing them, so why not make the most of it? I would definitely do Away in a Manger.
For coloring pages I have a few ideas.
1. I found this one that has the manger, Mary, Joseph, an angel, shepard, and a wise man in.
2. I also found a color by number nativity page here.
3. The last one I found is a coloring activity that you make a nativity out of. It has a Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus you can color and cut out and put into the nativity. I like this one, I just wish it had the wise men and shepherds too.
I hope you found some good ideas here. What are you planning on doing? Have you found a fun printable or hand out? Leave your ideas or tips in the comment section below. They could help someone out! Thanks for stopping by and please remember to "follow" so you can get sharing time helps weekly. :)
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Women in the Scriptures Challenge
I came accross this on Pinterest and I am so excited about it. I am about to start this challenge with the New Testament, just in time for Christmas no less. My sister and I are doing this together and I just wanted to invite anyone else along with us. :) I am hoping it'll give me a little extra perspective into the scriptures.
November 2012 Week 3 Sharing Time: I can teach my friends about Jesus Christ and His church.
I haven't posted on here in so long it feels like. About a week and a half ago my son got sick with an upper respiratory infection. He got an antibiotic, but of course my husband and I still got it, and worse then he did. So I have been in a coughing fit with a fever for about a week. Just when I thought, "I'm feeling better," my son threw up all over me. It looks like it's just a stomach bug, but somehow that doesn't help me feel any less helpless. I feel terrible for him. He doesn't like the bland diet he's on and he doesn't understand why he doesn't have the energy to get up and play. It hasn't been fun, but I'm hoping it won't last more then another day or two. So long story short, I appreciate your patience as I write this next sharing time, as it will probably be written over a several day span. I'm hoping my thoughts are coherent.
Like I mentioned in my previous post, missionary work is something really close to my families heart. We are fortunate to have great missionaries. We have both a senior couple and a pair of full time Elders and we are lucky to get to work closely with them.
If your Primary didn't make missionary badges on any of the previous weeks, I still think it's an awesome idea. I will be doing it for this week. Even if you did it on a previous week, you could pass them out to anyone who was not there, or maybe if kids didn't bring them in. Here you can find links and ideas on how to do this.
I want to open it up to the Primary to share stories of how they've shared the gospel. See if anyone has a story about how they've taught a friend about Jesus or the gospel. This can be as simple as a time they've invited a friend to church, answered a question about our Church, Christ or even just religion in general. It can also be a time they shared their favorite scripture story in church. If you don't have anyone raise their hand, share a story from your youth. You could also dive right into the story I talk about in the next paragraph. This will give them a chance to think of something.
In the outline it says to share the story about the boy sharing the articles of faith, and the older man being so impressed by this. I LOVE this story. I heard it when I was a young girl, and it has always stayed with me. In fact, I'm grateful the outline gave a reference for it, because I never could remember where I heard it from. Here is a link to the November 1975 Ensign article that has the story in it. I think this story illustrates the concept of being a missionary now so well. I also love that it's something that anyone can do, even the sunbeams. Also, memorizing the Articles of Faith is something they can do now to prepare for a mission later in life. With the age lowered for young men and women to serve missions, they have less time to prepare. That makes preparing while in Primary that much more significant.
In the outline it wants us to work on The Articles of Faith. I really like their idea for an activity. If you wanted to do something different, I had a few ideas for that too.
1. It thought it would be fun to prepare a punch board. In each area you could have an article of faith with a couple words missing. Whoever's turn it is has to fill in the words to complete it. For the Junior Primary you could focus on the first 5 or 6 Articles of Faith. This way, they have a better chance of actually memorizing one, or knowing which words to fill in.
2. Another option with the punch board is to not only put Articles of Faith in the holes, but also stories from Christ's life. For example, one hole could say "Tell the story of when Christ walked on water." To me, this would be neat because in order to teach our friends of Christ's church and about him, we need to be familiar with his life.
3. Another idea is to have them divide into groups and make a little skit about an opportunity to share the gospel. Assign each group a location (for example: school, a friends house, soccer practice, cub scouts, etc) and have the group come up with a scenario that they would have the opportunity to share the gospel. To incorporate the Articles of Faith, you could have them choose which one would be good to know for that scenario. Then they can share their skit with the rest of the Primary.
Like I mentioned in my previous post, missionary work is something really close to my families heart. We are fortunate to have great missionaries. We have both a senior couple and a pair of full time Elders and we are lucky to get to work closely with them.
If your Primary didn't make missionary badges on any of the previous weeks, I still think it's an awesome idea. I will be doing it for this week. Even if you did it on a previous week, you could pass them out to anyone who was not there, or maybe if kids didn't bring them in. Here you can find links and ideas on how to do this.
I want to open it up to the Primary to share stories of how they've shared the gospel. See if anyone has a story about how they've taught a friend about Jesus or the gospel. This can be as simple as a time they've invited a friend to church, answered a question about our Church, Christ or even just religion in general. It can also be a time they shared their favorite scripture story in church. If you don't have anyone raise their hand, share a story from your youth. You could also dive right into the story I talk about in the next paragraph. This will give them a chance to think of something.
In the outline it says to share the story about the boy sharing the articles of faith, and the older man being so impressed by this. I LOVE this story. I heard it when I was a young girl, and it has always stayed with me. In fact, I'm grateful the outline gave a reference for it, because I never could remember where I heard it from. Here is a link to the November 1975 Ensign article that has the story in it. I think this story illustrates the concept of being a missionary now so well. I also love that it's something that anyone can do, even the sunbeams. Also, memorizing the Articles of Faith is something they can do now to prepare for a mission later in life. With the age lowered for young men and women to serve missions, they have less time to prepare. That makes preparing while in Primary that much more significant.
In the outline it wants us to work on The Articles of Faith. I really like their idea for an activity. If you wanted to do something different, I had a few ideas for that too.
1. It thought it would be fun to prepare a punch board. In each area you could have an article of faith with a couple words missing. Whoever's turn it is has to fill in the words to complete it. For the Junior Primary you could focus on the first 5 or 6 Articles of Faith. This way, they have a better chance of actually memorizing one, or knowing which words to fill in.
2. Another option with the punch board is to not only put Articles of Faith in the holes, but also stories from Christ's life. For example, one hole could say "Tell the story of when Christ walked on water." To me, this would be neat because in order to teach our friends of Christ's church and about him, we need to be familiar with his life.
3. Another idea is to have them divide into groups and make a little skit about an opportunity to share the gospel. Assign each group a location (for example: school, a friends house, soccer practice, cub scouts, etc) and have the group come up with a scenario that they would have the opportunity to share the gospel. To incorporate the Articles of Faith, you could have them choose which one would be good to know for that scenario. Then they can share their skit with the rest of the Primary.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
November 2012 Week 1 Sharing Time: I Can be a Missionary by Serving Others.
Hurricane Sandy. My family and I were right in her path this past Sunday evening and Monday. Luckily we didn't have any real damage. We didn't even lose power. I know there weren't very many people as lucky as we were. I'm grateful we were able to get through it without any lasting damage. Prayers for those in New Jersey and New York specifically who got the worst of the storm it seems. I know Maryland and Delaware beaches were also pretty bad. The pictures I've seen of those areas are tragic.
So on that note, it's taken me a little bit longer then I wanted to get working on this weeks sharing time. This WHOLE month is about missionary work, and being a missionary now. This topic, in particular is very dear to me. My husband is our branch mission leader and I am a branch missionary. I have been able to teach with the missionaries a couple of times and have had the opportunity to go to a crazy amount of baptisms the last few months. Our little branch is growing and it's such a blessing to see. Our whole branch is super excited about missionary work. It's great to see so many people get involved that weren't so involved a few months back and to see them have these experiences. One of the really great thing about doing sharing times on missionary work is it will get the children to be excited to invite friends and talk about the gospel. This whole topic can be so fun! I've had so many fun ideas I'm having a hard time choosing which one would be good to do. I may just post up lots of different ideas. ;)
I think it would be good to start off by having a missionary come in a share a story about how serving others has furthered the work of the gospel. I have heard a lot of stories about someone who had no interest in the church and service was able to help them through that. The missionaries, or someone else did acts of service for them (whether it be yard work, moving furniture, repairs, etc), they saw the gospel at it's finest and had a change of heart.
While the missionary is telling his story, you can take the opportunity to hand out missionary badges to each of the children. For badges you have a few options.
1. I found some printable ones here on Sugardoodle. These have an option to fill in a last name. I don't know if you can leave it at just "Elder" or "Sister" or put "Future Missionary," or if you have to put in a last name. If you have to, it would just take more time and you may run into issues with any possible visitors that you have.
2. Another thought I had was to have each child make their own missionary badge at the end and you can tape it on them.
3. I found this on Pinterest of a YM/YW activity on going on a mission. They made badges for the youth there and I thought it was a neat idea. You can get black card stock, silver sharpie, and pin on plastic sleeve. You write on it and stick it in the sleeve.
When the missionary is done you can ask them if they think that you have to be a full time missionary to have an experience like that, or would a primary child be able to spread the gospel through service? Of course the answer is that anyone can be a missionary, especially when it comes to service. Then you can explain this further for one or two minutes. Haven an older child read Matthew 25:34-40. Another scripture the outline uses is Mosiah 2:17. You could share your own story of how you've seen this work in your own life, or you can share a story you find, if you have a difficult time finding one, you can use this one here. I think the page it opens up to has two stories on it, the one I really liked was about the father who had cancer and how everyone in the ward pitched in to help drive him to and from work. I know that primary children can't drive, but there are things they could do to help. You could ask them what these things could be? They could help their mom or dad bring dinner or cookies over, write a card, befriend the children, or invite the children over to play (to give their parents a break). Explain that even though this family was already members of the church, they still needed service. Tell them full time missionaries serve both members and nonmembers. This will lead you into your activity.
For an activity I though it'd be neat to do a punch board activity. You could put in each hole a scenerio to act out. It could be "You walk a neighbors dog." The child who got this has to act it out with a friend, and then whoever guesses what it is has to say how this would help missionary work. That person then gets to take a turn, or choose someone else to take a turn, if they've already gone. We do scenerio games so often, I think it would be fun to do something a little different.
If you don't want to make a punch out board, you could always do the classic pick a piece of paper out of a hat/bag/bowl.
If you have time and want to do another activity, you could have them write a card to an inactive member, someone who is sick, someone from your ward/branch who is serving a mission, or even people who have been effected by Hurricane Sandy.
So on that note, it's taken me a little bit longer then I wanted to get working on this weeks sharing time. This WHOLE month is about missionary work, and being a missionary now. This topic, in particular is very dear to me. My husband is our branch mission leader and I am a branch missionary. I have been able to teach with the missionaries a couple of times and have had the opportunity to go to a crazy amount of baptisms the last few months. Our little branch is growing and it's such a blessing to see. Our whole branch is super excited about missionary work. It's great to see so many people get involved that weren't so involved a few months back and to see them have these experiences. One of the really great thing about doing sharing times on missionary work is it will get the children to be excited to invite friends and talk about the gospel. This whole topic can be so fun! I've had so many fun ideas I'm having a hard time choosing which one would be good to do. I may just post up lots of different ideas. ;)
I think it would be good to start off by having a missionary come in a share a story about how serving others has furthered the work of the gospel. I have heard a lot of stories about someone who had no interest in the church and service was able to help them through that. The missionaries, or someone else did acts of service for them (whether it be yard work, moving furniture, repairs, etc), they saw the gospel at it's finest and had a change of heart.
While the missionary is telling his story, you can take the opportunity to hand out missionary badges to each of the children. For badges you have a few options.
1. I found some printable ones here on Sugardoodle. These have an option to fill in a last name. I don't know if you can leave it at just "Elder" or "Sister" or put "Future Missionary," or if you have to put in a last name. If you have to, it would just take more time and you may run into issues with any possible visitors that you have.
2. Another thought I had was to have each child make their own missionary badge at the end and you can tape it on them.
3. I found this on Pinterest of a YM/YW activity on going on a mission. They made badges for the youth there and I thought it was a neat idea. You can get black card stock, silver sharpie, and pin on plastic sleeve. You write on it and stick it in the sleeve.
When the missionary is done you can ask them if they think that you have to be a full time missionary to have an experience like that, or would a primary child be able to spread the gospel through service? Of course the answer is that anyone can be a missionary, especially when it comes to service. Then you can explain this further for one or two minutes. Haven an older child read Matthew 25:34-40. Another scripture the outline uses is Mosiah 2:17. You could share your own story of how you've seen this work in your own life, or you can share a story you find, if you have a difficult time finding one, you can use this one here. I think the page it opens up to has two stories on it, the one I really liked was about the father who had cancer and how everyone in the ward pitched in to help drive him to and from work. I know that primary children can't drive, but there are things they could do to help. You could ask them what these things could be? They could help their mom or dad bring dinner or cookies over, write a card, befriend the children, or invite the children over to play (to give their parents a break). Explain that even though this family was already members of the church, they still needed service. Tell them full time missionaries serve both members and nonmembers. This will lead you into your activity.
For an activity I though it'd be neat to do a punch board activity. You could put in each hole a scenerio to act out. It could be "You walk a neighbors dog." The child who got this has to act it out with a friend, and then whoever guesses what it is has to say how this would help missionary work. That person then gets to take a turn, or choose someone else to take a turn, if they've already gone. We do scenerio games so often, I think it would be fun to do something a little different.
If you don't want to make a punch out board, you could always do the classic pick a piece of paper out of a hat/bag/bowl.
If you have time and want to do another activity, you could have them write a card to an inactive member, someone who is sick, someone from your ward/branch who is serving a mission, or even people who have been effected by Hurricane Sandy.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
October 2012 Week 4 Sharing Time: I can go to the temple to receive ordinances for my ancestors when I am older.
This week we are going to be discussing doing work for our ancestors. When I first read this sharing time, I'll be honest, my first thought was, "Thank goodness I don't have to do that one!" Because it just seems so deep I wouldn't want to get anyone confused or leave anyone with any weird impressions. I've mentioned before that we do not separate for senior and junior primary, so this makes it even more difficult. Well, long story short, I am doing sharing time this week. I thought because we had practices coming up for the program I was off the hook, but I was wrong. But, this just means I have to come up with something REALLY great this week. I know this post is long, but please keep in mind there are some great links at the bottom to talks I've found while researching. You may not want to include it but it could be a good resource to prepare spiritually. Also, I have an idea for treats at the bottom too. Annnnd without further ado, here it is.
I am going to start off by asking what everyone is going to be for Halloween. (I know this doesn't seem related, but bear with me. They're going to want to talk about it, trust me.) What I'm listening for is someone to be someone who would not have been able to have been introduced to the gospel when they were alive. Your listening for people that actually existed. So you're listening for a princess (assuming it's an old castle and horse kind of princess), an Indian, an Egyptian, a pirate, etc. If you don't get any of these I would be you will have a little girl be Cinderella, Snow White, etc. You could easily say that people who lived in the time when that story took place would not have had the opportunity to learn about the gospel. You could emphasize this further by saying this is however many years after Captain Moroni buried the plates, but this many years before Joseph Smith received them. They may have learned about Jesus but they would not have learned all of the things that we know about the gospel and Heavenly Fathers plan for us. I want to start off by doing this because you're going to have them all want to talk about Halloween anyways, this will get it out of their system, and keep you on topic.
From there, I will ask them if it is fair that they didn't get to learn all the things you get to learn? After they acknowledge it isn't fair we can talk about how they will have an opportunity to learn about the gospel after they die. A few months back they should have gone over the plan of salvation (I know we did, I didn't teach it but I do remember them doing it), so this shouldn't be a foreign idea. If it is you could always do a light recap on it. Keep it to one or two minutes.
The next thing I will do is ask them, "If someone who is taught in Spirit Prison decides they believe in the gospel and want to live with Heavenly Father, do they still need to be baptized?" When they say yes you can say, "How will they be baptized then?" The older kids I bet will know this, the younger ones may not. John 3:5 is a great scripture to emphasize the importance of baptism. This applies to the living and those who have passed on. This is when you get into the subject of them getting to help with this. Hold up a picture of the temple and tell them that when they are 12, if they have been worthy, they will get to go to the Temple and be baptized for someone. You may want to gage their reactions and further explain that we do not actually baptize dead people, we are baptized FOR them. Tell them that now the person they are being baptized for will have to opportunity to accept the baptism or reject it.
Then I will ask, "what about all the other things we do in the temple?" I will then tell the children that we have the opportunity to do something really great for them. We can help them with these special ordinances in the temple. That is why it is so special to go through the temple and to do service for them.
My great grandma died when my grandma was a young teenager. She had to step into a mother like role when this happened. She helped my great grandpa to raise all of her siblings. Soon after she got married to my grandpa, my great grandfather died. My grandma and her family were not members of the church. My grandma discovered the church through my grandpa. A few years afterward my great grandparents were able to be sealed together for eternity. This is a blessing to my family to know that my death did not separate them. They are able to be together forever, even though they didn't know that was a possibility while they were alive.
I think it's important to get the kids excited to do baptisms for their own family members when they are old enough. Even if the work goes back far, it probably doesn't go back all the way. If you really didn't feel like you were able to do work for your own family, there are tons of names submitted to the temple. You can do those and help someone else get work done for their family.
I really liked the coloring activity idea for this week of drawing themselves on one side of a piece of paper, and an ancestor on the other. They could even just make up what the ancestor would look like. I made a coloring page if you didn't want to have them do it free hand. You can print it from here.
Also, I know this is the week before Halloween, so you may want to do treats. I had a fun idea for that too. Make sugar cookies, and use a gingerbread man cookie cutter. Frost like usual, or decorate them. Super cute and it would use your gingerbread man cookie cutters you normally only use once a year (or if your like me, you buy them and never use them, I'm so terrible with this).
I found this talk on genealogy and temple work from the October 2012 Ensign that may be good to read first to spiritually prepare. This isn't exactly on topic with what we're talking about, but I felt it was a good read to prepare myself mentally. Here is another one from Henry B. Erying that I though was really good also. I couldn't decide, so you can. :)
I want to close by bearing my testimony to anyone who may read this. I know that this can seem an odd or weird practice at first. I encourage anyone who feels this way to read about it from a church website, such as lds.org or mormon.org. I know that this practice is ordained of God. I know that this is a sacred responsibility of ours to care for our ancestors who have passed on. I want anyone who may read this to know that we believe the person must accept these ordinances for them. These are not forced on them, but are there as an option should they decide to use it. This practice is done out of love for those who have passed on.
I am going to start off by asking what everyone is going to be for Halloween. (I know this doesn't seem related, but bear with me. They're going to want to talk about it, trust me.) What I'm listening for is someone to be someone who would not have been able to have been introduced to the gospel when they were alive. Your listening for people that actually existed. So you're listening for a princess (assuming it's an old castle and horse kind of princess), an Indian, an Egyptian, a pirate, etc. If you don't get any of these I would be you will have a little girl be Cinderella, Snow White, etc. You could easily say that people who lived in the time when that story took place would not have had the opportunity to learn about the gospel. You could emphasize this further by saying this is however many years after Captain Moroni buried the plates, but this many years before Joseph Smith received them. They may have learned about Jesus but they would not have learned all of the things that we know about the gospel and Heavenly Fathers plan for us. I want to start off by doing this because you're going to have them all want to talk about Halloween anyways, this will get it out of their system, and keep you on topic.
From there, I will ask them if it is fair that they didn't get to learn all the things you get to learn? After they acknowledge it isn't fair we can talk about how they will have an opportunity to learn about the gospel after they die. A few months back they should have gone over the plan of salvation (I know we did, I didn't teach it but I do remember them doing it), so this shouldn't be a foreign idea. If it is you could always do a light recap on it. Keep it to one or two minutes.
The next thing I will do is ask them, "If someone who is taught in Spirit Prison decides they believe in the gospel and want to live with Heavenly Father, do they still need to be baptized?" When they say yes you can say, "How will they be baptized then?" The older kids I bet will know this, the younger ones may not. John 3:5 is a great scripture to emphasize the importance of baptism. This applies to the living and those who have passed on. This is when you get into the subject of them getting to help with this. Hold up a picture of the temple and tell them that when they are 12, if they have been worthy, they will get to go to the Temple and be baptized for someone. You may want to gage their reactions and further explain that we do not actually baptize dead people, we are baptized FOR them. Tell them that now the person they are being baptized for will have to opportunity to accept the baptism or reject it.
Then I will ask, "what about all the other things we do in the temple?" I will then tell the children that we have the opportunity to do something really great for them. We can help them with these special ordinances in the temple. That is why it is so special to go through the temple and to do service for them.
My great grandma died when my grandma was a young teenager. She had to step into a mother like role when this happened. She helped my great grandpa to raise all of her siblings. Soon after she got married to my grandpa, my great grandfather died. My grandma and her family were not members of the church. My grandma discovered the church through my grandpa. A few years afterward my great grandparents were able to be sealed together for eternity. This is a blessing to my family to know that my death did not separate them. They are able to be together forever, even though they didn't know that was a possibility while they were alive.
I think it's important to get the kids excited to do baptisms for their own family members when they are old enough. Even if the work goes back far, it probably doesn't go back all the way. If you really didn't feel like you were able to do work for your own family, there are tons of names submitted to the temple. You can do those and help someone else get work done for their family.
I really liked the coloring activity idea for this week of drawing themselves on one side of a piece of paper, and an ancestor on the other. They could even just make up what the ancestor would look like. I made a coloring page if you didn't want to have them do it free hand. You can print it from here.
Also, I know this is the week before Halloween, so you may want to do treats. I had a fun idea for that too. Make sugar cookies, and use a gingerbread man cookie cutter. Frost like usual, or decorate them. Super cute and it would use your gingerbread man cookie cutters you normally only use once a year (or if your like me, you buy them and never use them, I'm so terrible with this).
I found this talk on genealogy and temple work from the October 2012 Ensign that may be good to read first to spiritually prepare. This isn't exactly on topic with what we're talking about, but I felt it was a good read to prepare myself mentally. Here is another one from Henry B. Erying that I though was really good also. I couldn't decide, so you can. :)
I want to close by bearing my testimony to anyone who may read this. I know that this can seem an odd or weird practice at first. I encourage anyone who feels this way to read about it from a church website, such as lds.org or mormon.org. I know that this practice is ordained of God. I know that this is a sacred responsibility of ours to care for our ancestors who have passed on. I want anyone who may read this to know that we believe the person must accept these ordinances for them. These are not forced on them, but are there as an option should they decide to use it. This practice is done out of love for those who have passed on.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
October 2012 Week 3 Sharing Time: I Can Receive Strengthening Power Through Priesthood Blessings
In my branch we alternate doing sharing time each week, meaning I get the opportunity to do it once every three weeks. This works out really well for us. I really like that once I'm done, I don't have to wait forever until I get to do it again. Usually when I finish, all I can think about is, "Man, I should have done this!" or "Oh, this would've been so cute!" So with the once every three week system, I don't have to wait very long to do it again. So I get to start planning right away. Like that day.
The only time this kind of backfires on me is in situations like this, because of General Conference and Stake Conference, I will not be in charge of another Sharing Time until November. Crazy huh! Well, I have been itching to get some stuff together, so I will continue to post helps to help people prepare here. It helps me feel like I'm contributing :)
This week is on the priesthood again, keeping with theme for the past few weeks. This week is about priesthood blessings and how they can strengthen us. This lesson has a lot of potential to be neat, because so many children have experiences with the priesthood. Before we dive in, I just want to stress, as the manual does, to be sensitive of any children in your primary that may not have a priesthood holder in the home, or maybe a child who has not had an opportunity to have any kind of blessing. You may be shocked at how many children this can apply to.
The guideline has us starting out discussing our hands and how they can help or bless. I like this way to introduce the material. Another idea is to have a speaker come in and talk about an experience they've had with the priesthood. You could do both if you'd like, start with talking about hands, and move onto the speaker. Kids love having a guest come in. They get really excited about it and it usually helps them to listen and take in what the speaker is trying to say. I would suggest using a priesthood holder and having him share an experience of when a particular blessing they gave or received helped to strengthen. If you can't think of someone, use a missionary. If I were doing sharing time this week, they would be my first pick, and here's why. The missionaries love to come into primary and to get to know the kids. They also have a lot of experiences with the priesthood and are young and fun to the kids. They usually love to listen to missionaries.
In the guideline it suggests for us to have them trace hands, cut them out, and place them by a type of blessing they've received and invite a few to share their experiences. I like this idea, but as I mentioned before you may be surprised by how many children have not had an experience like this. My fear is that you could end up pointing out children who do not have priesthood holders in the home, or who have not had an experience with the priesthood like this. For example, I was blessed when I was a baby, but other then that, my first blessing was when I was 12 at Girls Camp. It was not from my father. This is not because my dad was inactive, unworthy or a nonmember. I just had never received one. I share this to illustrate that you may not even be aware that some of your children may not have had this experience.
So my thought is this, after you open up, whether it is from the discussion on hands or from a guest speaker, I would ask the children, "When do we have the opportunity to be blessed or strengthened from the priesthood?" The answers you are looking for are baby blessings, baptism, confirmation, fathers blessing, blessing the sick, passing the sacrament, etc. I thought it would be neat to emphasize the "strengthen" part of this lesson. I think it would be really neat to go with a "armor of God" theme during the discussion that follows. You would clip up a picture of a person, and as you discuss each way that the priesthood can strengthen you, you add a piece of armor to the person. By the end they are covered in armor and protected. Here is a link to a printable person and armor you could use. The only thing I wish is that it were bigger. Maybe it can be enlarged though. You could even have a child come up and put the armor on the person, to keep them talking and involved. There a seven parts to the armor, so you can combine a few of them to make it work out so they are all up there when your done or you can add a few more ways the priesthood can bless us.
As they mention each answer, talk about it for a minute to help them understand how we this would strengthen us. You can also present a picture of each example for while you're discussing it. I've listed my thoughts on each topic to get you thinking. Feel free to use what I've written or add things in as the spirit leads you.
1. When the sacrament is passed. This can strengthen us by allowing us to be closer to our Heavenly Father. When we feel close to him and feel his spirit it encourages us to make better decisions. This is a spiraling effect, the more good decisions we make, the easier it is to make them and so on. This strengthens us against the powers of Satan.
A good quote for the sacrament is:
"As we worthily partake of the sacrament, we will sense those things we need to improve in and receive the help and determination to do so. No matter what our problems, the sacrament always gives hope." - John H. Groberg April 1989
2. When we receive a fathers blessing. This is a tool that we can use to receive help in a specific area of our life, or during a specific difficult time. The great thing about this is that it can be specific. You can get strength and guidance on a particular topic in your time of need or worry. This is an invaluable tool and should be used! Please emphasize that if a child does not have a priesthood holder in the house, a home teacher should be asked. If they don't feel comfortable they could ask someone they do feel comfortable with. You don't want children to feel they are a disadvantage for guidance because of a home situation.
3. When we receive a blessing for healing. This should be pretty straight forward. When we receive a blessing for healing it can help make us strong again. Being healed through the priesthood blessing combined with your faith will strengthen your testimony of Heavenly Fathers love for you and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
4. When we are baptized. When we are baptized we are making a covenant with Heavenly Father. By doing this Heavenly Father promises to give us certain blessings if we keep our end of the deal, so to say. When we see these blessings come into our life it can help strengthen our testimony. When Heavenly Father asks us to do something it is for our own good, it is to help us be stronger and better people, to keep us safe from things that could hurt us spiritually or physically. You could even relate back a month or so when we talked about keeping a baby safe, that we have rules for them just like Heavenly Father has for us.
5. When we are confirmed a member. When we are confirmed we also receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. This can be a huge strengthening tool we receive from the power of the priesthood. We know the Holy Ghost can never lead us astray, so when it testifies to us, we can trust what were being told.
A huge aspect for me is feeling the spirit, that strengthens me to make good decisions and stand up for what is right. If we can remember the spirit that we felt when we are confirmed, or baptized or receive a blessing, etc, we will have a easier time choosing the right.
This is from the outline also, read 3 Nephi 17:11-25, this is the story of Christ blessing the children. The outline says, "Explain that priesthood holders have the power to act in the name of Jesus Christ; they can bless us just as Jesus would if he were here." I couldn't have put it any better myself :)
Nursery has a cute handout for the priesthood that I thought would be a little different to hand out. It makes a flip book instead of a plain coloring page. Here is a link to the coloring page. You will have to click on the coloring page image of someone receiving a blessing to download the one I'm referring to. It took me a minute to figure this out.
I realize this is long, I usually try to shorten it up but I just felt this week needed to be a bit longer considering the sensitive material being covered.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
13 Halloween Cupcake Ideas
I love cupcakes. I mean, who doesn't love cupcakes? An individual serving of cake wrapped in an adorable piece of paper, it can be decorated simply or elaborately. You can make them into monkey faces, robots, baseballs, or a baby face. Or anything else really. There are a TON of amazingly cute designs to make cupcakes fit into any kind of party theme imaginable. Today I gathered 13 of the cutest and most fun cupcake designs for Halloween. You could make a batch of cupcakes and try all of them and do a few creative ones of your own, or you could make a batch of one design. You can't go wrong.
13. Evil Cupcakes- this one may be the cutest one out there. Or at least I think it is when you calculate in simplicity. I can't tell how they made theirs, but if it were me, I would make and ice the cupcake regular, no fancy piping or anything. You could use any kind of icing in my opinion also. Put some Oreo's in the food processor and sprinkle them ontop so that they're completely covered. Put two M&Ms on top on their side, so you make a pair of "evil" eyes. So easy, and sooo cute!
12. Tombstone Cupcakes - This links to Martha Stewart. She has a recipe on there for a specific kind of cupcake and frosting, in my opinion, I don't think it matters. If you want to use it, great, if not, use the same idea at #13, sprinkle crushed up Oreo's on top. You can get a graham cracker quarter and pipe "R.I.P." on it and stick it in one end. Super cute, and still easy.
11. Candy Corn Cupcakes - These are so cute and simple. A little more work because you're dying the batter, but it's still not bad. Very cute effect too. I don't know about you but my cupcake liners always get see-through anyways so you might as well have a fun cupcake underneath!
10. Polka Dot Cupcakes - Have you ever made really yummy cupcakes, decided to decorate them and pipe some polka dots on them, only to have them not turn out right? I know I have, as in, like 3 nights ago. It was pretty frustrating to go through all the work of making them and having a vision in your mind of how they'll turn out and them not look that way. Well fear no more, just pop some M&Ms on there. Yes, you read that right, and I know, I wish I'd thought of it sooner too. Check out the link for some great inspiration.
9. Cupcakes Topped with a Witch Hat - You have to scroll a bit down the page to see the picture, just a heads up. I was afraid I had a bad link up. Anyways, these are super cute and super easy. You could do chocolate cupcakes, with mint flavored frosting. Get a Grasshopper Cookie put a dab of frosting on it and stick a Hershey's Kiss on there. Plop it on the cupcake and voila! I did this the other night and it turned out really cute. Only I didn't have a Grasshopper Cookie, I had Oreo's so I just split on in half cause I didn't want a white line. The link shows a picture with orange frosting, I like green frosting better, because I think it's pretty classic for witches to have green skin. :)
8. Vampire Cupcakes - This link wont take you to a tutorial, just a picture. But it's a really cute picture. The whole idea is to make the cupcake look like a vampires face. So you pipe hair on, it looks like a small star tool to me, doing the widow's peak in the front. You can put little eyes on (they sell edible eyes already made for this sort of project at Wal Mart for a few dollars), pipe a smile or frown or something, and don't forget some fangs. Just a tip, you will probably need a pretty small round tip for the mouth, unless you use some sort of small, thin, rope candy. If it's not small enough it will create a big blob of a mouth, I know because I tried, lol. Also, you may need to add some powdered sugar to your frosting recipe to get nice peaks from the star tool.
7. Monster Cupcakes - If you only check out one website posted here, please let it be this. It has great instructions on some cupcakes that look like they would be way more difficult. They look straight out of a magazine (They probably are)! Using big marshmellows for eyes and candy to help decorate, you get a great result.
6. Skeleton Cupcakes - They frosted a cupcake normally and added candy on and shaped the candy like a skeleton. You could also pipe it on with a small end if you don't want to get the candy for it. They used a candy I didn't know what was, but maybe I'm just a weirdo. It could happen. :P
5. Mummy Cupcakes - These look like they would be really easy. Just pipe on white frosting to look like the wrappings of a mummy. You use a weaving tip for this.
4. Eye Cupcake - These also seem pretty simple. Just make the cupcake into a big eye ball. You use white frosting first. Pipe on the color surrounding the pupil, pipe the pupil on (you could even use a chocolate chip or some other small round dark candy), and pipe red lines going outwards. I don't have all the technical terms, and I'm too tired to google them (that's what a super curious 20 month old does to you), sorry.
3. Pumpkin Cupcake - I don't believe this has a how-to. If I were doing it, I would frost it orange, while frosting use downward strokes so you have the lines going the proper way. These aren't going to be fancy lines, just ones that naturally occur when frosting, unless you are trying to make them not happen. Anyways, pipe a small leave at the top in green, and a stem in black. You could use a candy for the leaf or some sort of sprinkle even.
2. Witch Leg Cupcake - This one also doesn't have a how-to from what I could tell. It's a shame too because they're really cute. I think it said they used striped straws for the legs and just applied paper cut out shoes. So I guess it's not all edible, but they're really cute.
1. Brain/Intestine Cupcakes - This doesn't have a link because, well you're here. This is one I thought of while making cupcakes the other night. I have a small piping tip, not really small, a good size for writing words, and I had some extra red in the bag. Then it hit me, if I squirted it all out it would look like brains. That was what I was going for, and I think it looked pretty cute. I think it looks like intestines more, but I had other people tell me they thought brains. If you want to do it brains, I would divide it by hemispheres, to make it more obvious. But it was incredibly easy and I think it was a nice kind of gross effect.
Have fun!
Friday, October 12, 2012
Pizza Disaster
When I started this blog, I wanted it to be real. I wanted to give honest opinions about recipes and projects and give honest tips on how to do crafty and creative things easier without breaking the bank. Well, this is a good opportunity to be honest. I tried a recipe for a pizza dough after having lost my normal one I like a lot. Anyways, this seemed similar enough to the one I normally use, I figured it was close enough and would work. After following the directions exactly, I found the dough was really sticky. I couldn't use it like this, it was sticking to my hand every which way, so I kneaded some more flour in, maybe a cup or two. The recipe made enough for two pizzas so I froze one half of it. My mom has always made homemade pizza on a cookie sheet, so it was a big rectangle. That's what I always do also, makes me feel at home. :) So I greased the pan up, just like I have always done, and start stretching the dough. It was really difficult, more difficult then usual. But I stuck with it. When I got it to fit over the whole thing, I popped it in the oven at the temperature I was told to bake it at. I put it in there without any toppings first to get the dough to cook a bit more (this is what I normally do). Well, when it came out we could hardly get the edges off the sheet. It was terrible! I was so upset! I had already spread the pizza sauce and some of the cheese on before my husband got the ingenious idea to make sure it would even come off. So this is what we were left after that disaster.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Sharing Time October 2012 Week 2: We Receive Ordinances of Salvation Through the Priesthood
Sorry this is so late getting posted. Things have been crazy at home with my son lately. There has been a pretty gross bug going around and it's required a good bit of my time to deal with him. Luckily my husband and I seem to not have gotten it. :)
This week my stake has Stake Conference. So we won't be doing this sharing time, but I still thought I would post a few ideas and thoughts for this week.
The church's outline this week reads:
IDENTIFY THE DOCTRINE (seeing an object lesson): Have one child hold an opened umbrella. Let a few children stand under it. Compare the umbrella to the priesthood. Point out that if it were raining, all the children under the umbrella would receive the blessing of staying dry, not just the one holding it. Similarly, God has provided, through His priesthood, a way for all His children to be blessed. Through the priesthood we receive the ordinances of salvation that allow us to return and live with God again.
ENCOURAGE UNDERSTANDING (putting together puzzles): Write each of the following on a separate piece of paper: baptism, confirmation, priesthood ordination (for men), temple endowment, and temple sealing. Cut up each piece of paper into a puzzle. Briefly explain to the children what an ordinance is (a sacred ceremony or act that has spiritual meanings), and tell the children that some priesthood ordinances are required for us to return and live with Heavenly Father. Draw five steps on the board, and place a picture of Jesus Christ on the top step. Divide the children into five groups and give each group one of the puzzles you made. Ask them to assemble their puzzle and then share what they know about the ordinance with the rest of the Primary. Have the groups post their assembled puzzles in proper order on the steps on the board.
Now for my own thoughts. I looooove the idea of using an umbrella in the "Identifying Doctrine" part. I think it is a really cute and easy to understand way to illustrate how the priesthood blesses everyone, not just those who carry it. If I were doing this sharing time this week, I would absolutely want to do something with that. Buuuuut I don't have an umbrella, I know I'm weird. The rain has just never bothered me enough to get one. So for all of us weirdo's out there without an umbrella, what to do? Use a poster board. You could make a big one with a poster board (less than a dollar), color it and make it fun. You can clip it up on the chalkboard and have really kids stand "underneath" it, or you could just print out some paper families.
I created a little coloring page for you to use if you'd like. I thought it'd be neat for the kids to draw pictures of their families, friends, or just be creative under the umbrella. As if the umbrella is "protecting" them from the rain. They could even color in rain too. I think it's a cute reminder of the lesson today, plus they get to use some of their creativity. You can find the coloring page here. Again, let me know if you have any issues with this. I am still new to it.
Here is a link to Sofia's Primary Ideas. She has a really cute idea for this week that is definitely worth checking out too.
Thanks for stopping by!
This week my stake has Stake Conference. So we won't be doing this sharing time, but I still thought I would post a few ideas and thoughts for this week.
The church's outline this week reads:
IDENTIFY THE DOCTRINE (seeing an object lesson): Have one child hold an opened umbrella. Let a few children stand under it. Compare the umbrella to the priesthood. Point out that if it were raining, all the children under the umbrella would receive the blessing of staying dry, not just the one holding it. Similarly, God has provided, through His priesthood, a way for all His children to be blessed. Through the priesthood we receive the ordinances of salvation that allow us to return and live with God again.
ENCOURAGE UNDERSTANDING (putting together puzzles): Write each of the following on a separate piece of paper: baptism, confirmation, priesthood ordination (for men), temple endowment, and temple sealing. Cut up each piece of paper into a puzzle. Briefly explain to the children what an ordinance is (a sacred ceremony or act that has spiritual meanings), and tell the children that some priesthood ordinances are required for us to return and live with Heavenly Father. Draw five steps on the board, and place a picture of Jesus Christ on the top step. Divide the children into five groups and give each group one of the puzzles you made. Ask them to assemble their puzzle and then share what they know about the ordinance with the rest of the Primary. Have the groups post their assembled puzzles in proper order on the steps on the board.
Now for my own thoughts. I looooove the idea of using an umbrella in the "Identifying Doctrine" part. I think it is a really cute and easy to understand way to illustrate how the priesthood blesses everyone, not just those who carry it. If I were doing this sharing time this week, I would absolutely want to do something with that. Buuuuut I don't have an umbrella, I know I'm weird. The rain has just never bothered me enough to get one. So for all of us weirdo's out there without an umbrella, what to do? Use a poster board. You could make a big one with a poster board (less than a dollar), color it and make it fun. You can clip it up on the chalkboard and have really kids stand "underneath" it, or you could just print out some paper families.
I created a little coloring page for you to use if you'd like. I thought it'd be neat for the kids to draw pictures of their families, friends, or just be creative under the umbrella. As if the umbrella is "protecting" them from the rain. They could even color in rain too. I think it's a cute reminder of the lesson today, plus they get to use some of their creativity. You can find the coloring page here. Again, let me know if you have any issues with this. I am still new to it.
Here is a link to Sofia's Primary Ideas. She has a really cute idea for this week that is definitely worth checking out too.
Thanks for stopping by!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Spinach Chips Recipe
Okay, I know, this doesn't sound good. Or at least it didn't to me at first. I hope it sounds good to you. But after reading a bunch of really good reviews, and buying way too much spinach for my quiches a few days ago, I decided to give it a go. I figured, worst case scenario I have to throw it all away, I probably would have done that anyways. I am the worst at using spinach. And to top it off, of course it comes in the buy one get one free deals. So you have to get two.
Anyways, I found this recipe on Pinterest, and followed it closely. In it she suggests getting creative and using red pepper flakes, among other things. Well, Saturday I went to an Amish Market by us and bought a big tub of it for hardly anything. So I was waaay too excited to use it. My husband thought that and garlic powder sounded okay, so I did half of my cookie sheet just salt and pepper, 25% red pepper flakes, and 25% garlic powder.
I was really excited to try the red pepper flakes, so as soon as they came out of the oven and cooled off a bit, I popped one of those babies in my mouth. Boy, did I have the wrong idea what that would taste like!! I thought it was like a green pepper, well, let me tell you, it was not. It was really hot. I am probably the only person in the world who didn't know that, so go ahead laugh at me, it's okay. But I won't be making that mistake twice. My hubs liked them though. So no harm no foul. I really liked the salt and pepper, to be honest I couldn't taste the garlic powder (perhaps I just burnt all my taste buds off), so I would suggest against that. But salt and pepper was really good. They were light, crunchy and I was sad when they were gone. I mean it. I never thought I'd say I wish I had more spinach anything. So there you go, if you have any left over spinach you need to use up, bake it in the oven, and make some chips out of it. I'm going to make some tomorrow night and try it with salsa. We didn't even get that far yesterday.
Now for how to do this. You can follow the link I listed above, which is essentially what I did, but I will include pictures below too.
I cleaned and dried the spinach. I drizzled about 1/2 tablespoon over it and mixed it with my hands. It spread really easily. Honestly, use less then you think you need. You can always add more.
I think laid them out over a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. The parchment paper worked well for me. Wax paper would probably work too. I then sprinkled the seasonings on top. You can do this to your hearts content.
Bake at 250 degrees for about 20 minutes or so. The blog I posted earlier said to check on them frequently after 15 minutes, and that hers took about 30. My oven is kind of quick, so I think that she gave good advice.
Anyways, I found this recipe on Pinterest, and followed it closely. In it she suggests getting creative and using red pepper flakes, among other things. Well, Saturday I went to an Amish Market by us and bought a big tub of it for hardly anything. So I was waaay too excited to use it. My husband thought that and garlic powder sounded okay, so I did half of my cookie sheet just salt and pepper, 25% red pepper flakes, and 25% garlic powder.
I was really excited to try the red pepper flakes, so as soon as they came out of the oven and cooled off a bit, I popped one of those babies in my mouth. Boy, did I have the wrong idea what that would taste like!! I thought it was like a green pepper, well, let me tell you, it was not. It was really hot. I am probably the only person in the world who didn't know that, so go ahead laugh at me, it's okay. But I won't be making that mistake twice. My hubs liked them though. So no harm no foul. I really liked the salt and pepper, to be honest I couldn't taste the garlic powder (perhaps I just burnt all my taste buds off), so I would suggest against that. But salt and pepper was really good. They were light, crunchy and I was sad when they were gone. I mean it. I never thought I'd say I wish I had more spinach anything. So there you go, if you have any left over spinach you need to use up, bake it in the oven, and make some chips out of it. I'm going to make some tomorrow night and try it with salsa. We didn't even get that far yesterday.
Now for how to do this. You can follow the link I listed above, which is essentially what I did, but I will include pictures below too.
I cleaned and dried the spinach. I drizzled about 1/2 tablespoon over it and mixed it with my hands. It spread really easily. Honestly, use less then you think you need. You can always add more.
I think laid them out over a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. The parchment paper worked well for me. Wax paper would probably work too. I then sprinkled the seasonings on top. You can do this to your hearts content.
Bake at 250 degrees for about 20 minutes or so. The blog I posted earlier said to check on them frequently after 15 minutes, and that hers took about 30. My oven is kind of quick, so I think that she gave good advice.
Shredding Chicken with a Hand Mixer
This is yet another tip I found floating around Pinterest. I was really intrigued by it and finally tested it out a few weeks ago. I've been making a lot of chili and soups lately in my crockpot. Well, a lot of the recipes have you throw the chicken in frozen or thawed, either way it is uncooked. So you pull it out 4 or so hours later to shred it, well it is HOT! Normally what I do it put it in a strainer and have cold water running over it while I shred it. That way it cools it off while I use my hands to shred it and I don't get burned. Well, let me tell you, this is even better. I don't cool it off. I don't rinse it off. I literally take it out (with tongs, because I'm a wuss), plop it in a bowl, plug the mixer in, and go to town. I never even touch it. It's wonderful. I use my lowest setting to do it, but I have a super cheap mixer that goes pretty fast even on the lowest setting.
Don't believe me? A picture is worth a thousand words.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
General Conference Packet
I am so excited about this post! I have seen so many adorable pages that I really wanted to compile the best and include a few unique ones of my own to create a really fun packet to get children involved in General Conference. Unfortunately I've gotten really busy with work and family things going on, so I wasn't able to get everything together. I wasn't able to create a few unique pages like I wanted, just one. I'm going to start working now on April's and maybe I'll have it done in time. :)
I have also spoken to a few moms to see what their kids liked and didn't like to try and weed out the ones that seem like a great idea, but maybe aren't. I've decided to list links to each of the pages individually in case you would rather not include one in your packet you won't have to waste any ink or paper.
Also, check out my coloring page my husband made of Thomas S. Monson!
I have also spoken to a few moms to see what their kids liked and didn't like to try and weed out the ones that seem like a great idea, but maybe aren't. I've decided to list links to each of the pages individually in case you would rather not include one in your packet you won't have to waste any ink or paper.
The first one that I like is the one I've heard the most positive reviews about. This one has a picture of the prophet/apostles and a blank tie underneath so that they can color the tie to match what tie the prophet/apostle is wearing that day.This one is in the sugardoodle packet for this conference, which is really great through and through. I ended up printing out the whole thing for my Primary kids. They also have a cute maze that says "Follow the Prophet." So stinking cute.
This one is really neat because it is a chart of to guess the number of missionaries, branches, etc. there are, and then an area to fill in the actual number. I didn't find anything else like it, so check it out!
Kids love getting new crayons. They're super cheap. Great mix? I think so. This one was really cute packaging that I think would really take it up a notch and get them even more excited about it.
This is some coloring pages from sugardoodle.
Child Scripture Set DIY
Okay, I know these are not authentic scripture sets, but as I mentioned here, I wanted to create a little scripture "set" I could give my son to carry around, knowing fully that they will get destroyed. The purpose of this is to teach him that they are special. This way, he has his own he can learn from until he gets a nice set for his eighth birthday. After giving them to him I had him hug them and tell them he loved them. I told him they were special and we took care of them.
For this you will need:
Index Cards (or card stock)
A ring to put it on (I used one you would put keys on)
Stickers to decorate (optional)
Hole puncher
Cost wise, it really couldn't be any better. I bought the cards at Wal Mart for .48, the hole puncher for .97, the ring I already had (Wal Mart had 6 of them for 2.00), and 2 packs of stickers at 1.00 each. I probably had stickers I could use but I didn't feel like digging around for them. I would HIGHLY recommend laminating these. Especially if you are giving this to a young child. My son is 20 months old and will probably destroy these in 5 minutes. He's a little crazy though. I don't have a laminater, but after seeing how easy it is for him, I will be using my mom's next time I am over her house. Until then, close supervision! I don't care if he messes them up in general, but 5 minutes is too short for it to last in my opinion. If you don't have someone who has one you can borrow or use, you could go to Kinko's or Staple's. I believe they do it there cheaply.
The first thing I did was pick what I wanted to be on there. I chose the story of Noah's Ark (Because I could animal stickers), Daniel and the Lion's Den (Again, all about the stickers), my favorite scripture, and my husband's favorite scripture. I wrote a sentence or two on each one until the story was told. I punched a whole in it and let him put stickers on. I did have to rearrange some of the stickers so they weren't covering up words. Then I put them on the ring, voila!
If you laminate them (again, highly recommended), do it before putting them on the ring. Maybe even before stickers depending on the kind of stickers you use too. I used puffy one's that probably won't go through a laminater. So I will have to peel them off or chose different ones.
These were pretty easy, but in case you have issues shortening the stories, I will write out what I did, to at least get you on the right track. I love the idea of putting their favorite stories, or one's you've talked about recently in there. My son is too little to have this work for us, but maybe it'll work for someone else. The joy of this too, is you can always add on to it.
Noah's Ark:
The Lord told Noah to build a big boat because a flood was coming. Noah built the boat and everyone told him he was crazy. After he built the boat he put two animals of every species in it. So two turtles, two cats, two puppies, two elephants. The flood came just like the Lord promised.
Daniel and the Lion's Den:
Daniel was a prophet who refused to stop praying. The King threw him in the lion's den. Angels calmed the lions and Daniel was saved.
Let me know what you do with yours! This would be great for Sunbeams, Nursery, or FHE.
For this you will need:
Index Cards (or card stock)
A ring to put it on (I used one you would put keys on)
Stickers to decorate (optional)
Hole puncher
Cost wise, it really couldn't be any better. I bought the cards at Wal Mart for .48, the hole puncher for .97, the ring I already had (Wal Mart had 6 of them for 2.00), and 2 packs of stickers at 1.00 each. I probably had stickers I could use but I didn't feel like digging around for them. I would HIGHLY recommend laminating these. Especially if you are giving this to a young child. My son is 20 months old and will probably destroy these in 5 minutes. He's a little crazy though. I don't have a laminater, but after seeing how easy it is for him, I will be using my mom's next time I am over her house. Until then, close supervision! I don't care if he messes them up in general, but 5 minutes is too short for it to last in my opinion. If you don't have someone who has one you can borrow or use, you could go to Kinko's or Staple's. I believe they do it there cheaply.
The first thing I did was pick what I wanted to be on there. I chose the story of Noah's Ark (Because I could animal stickers), Daniel and the Lion's Den (Again, all about the stickers), my favorite scripture, and my husband's favorite scripture. I wrote a sentence or two on each one until the story was told. I punched a whole in it and let him put stickers on. I did have to rearrange some of the stickers so they weren't covering up words. Then I put them on the ring, voila!
If you laminate them (again, highly recommended), do it before putting them on the ring. Maybe even before stickers depending on the kind of stickers you use too. I used puffy one's that probably won't go through a laminater. So I will have to peel them off or chose different ones.
These were pretty easy, but in case you have issues shortening the stories, I will write out what I did, to at least get you on the right track. I love the idea of putting their favorite stories, or one's you've talked about recently in there. My son is too little to have this work for us, but maybe it'll work for someone else. The joy of this too, is you can always add on to it.
Noah's Ark:
The Lord told Noah to build a big boat because a flood was coming. Noah built the boat and everyone told him he was crazy. After he built the boat he put two animals of every species in it. So two turtles, two cats, two puppies, two elephants. The flood came just like the Lord promised.
Daniel and the Lion's Den:
Daniel was a prophet who refused to stop praying. The King threw him in the lion's den. Angels calmed the lions and Daniel was saved.
Let me know what you do with yours! This would be great for Sunbeams, Nursery, or FHE.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Nursery Behold Your Little Ones Lesson 23: I Love the Scriptures
My son is in nursery and he has a really great Nursery Leader. He gets to take home his coloring pages every week discussing showing what he learned. Normally I would just stick it up on the fridge or file it away in his "baby book," but I got the idea today, while I was struggling with what to do tonight for FHE, what if we revisit his Sunday lesson tonight? The more I think about it, the more I like it. It reinforces the lessons and gives him a second exposure to it. Plus, there aren't a ton of things to do for FHE that keep a 20 month old's attention. Anyway, the more I started researching different ideas to reinforce these lessons, the more I realized there isn't a ton of helps out there for our Nursery Leaders. It's sad because it really can be a fun calling. You have the opportunity to make so many fun crafts and cute snacks, but sometimes it's hard to get brainstorming. I figured if I was going to be doing it anyways, I would put up any thoughts or ideas I had to help.
The lesson they taught yesterday was Lesson 23, I Love the Scriptures. I'm not sure if there is an official church wide schedule to be on, or what other areas are doing, but this is what they taught.
The lesson can be found here. There should be a link there for a puppet project that they can do. I like that idea, but I would probably print it out on card stock and laminate it before hand. Little ones can be hard on regular paper. ;)
The idea I had that was a little bit different is to make a little scripture thing for them. This would be theirs. They could protect it and keep it safe. It would be a good practice for having their own set of scriptures one day. My original thought was maybe 4 or 5 pages with a few scriptures and pictures to coordinate on it. I still like that idea but I think I found a better finished product here. I think I am going to get some index cards, write a few scriptures on a few different ones, poke a whole in them and put a ring in it. If you have a laminater that is probably a brilliant idea, I don't so I'm not going to worry about. To me, this is going to be the set he can practice on. He can get used to bringing them to church, learn not to put them on the kitchen table, etc. I'm going to teach him that they're special and he needs to take care of them, and that's true. But between you and me, I won't shed any tears if they get too messed up, because they're cheap and easy to replace, unlike the set he'll receive when he's 8.
When I go home and make them, I'll take pictures so you can see how I did them. I'll link it up when it's finished.
UPDATE: I just finished the tutorial on the practice scriptures. You can find it here. I hope you guys like it!
The lesson they taught yesterday was Lesson 23, I Love the Scriptures. I'm not sure if there is an official church wide schedule to be on, or what other areas are doing, but this is what they taught.
The lesson can be found here. There should be a link there for a puppet project that they can do. I like that idea, but I would probably print it out on card stock and laminate it before hand. Little ones can be hard on regular paper. ;)
The idea I had that was a little bit different is to make a little scripture thing for them. This would be theirs. They could protect it and keep it safe. It would be a good practice for having their own set of scriptures one day. My original thought was maybe 4 or 5 pages with a few scriptures and pictures to coordinate on it. I still like that idea but I think I found a better finished product here. I think I am going to get some index cards, write a few scriptures on a few different ones, poke a whole in them and put a ring in it. If you have a laminater that is probably a brilliant idea, I don't so I'm not going to worry about. To me, this is going to be the set he can practice on. He can get used to bringing them to church, learn not to put them on the kitchen table, etc. I'm going to teach him that they're special and he needs to take care of them, and that's true. But between you and me, I won't shed any tears if they get too messed up, because they're cheap and easy to replace, unlike the set he'll receive when he's 8.
When I go home and make them, I'll take pictures so you can see how I did them. I'll link it up when it's finished.
UPDATE: I just finished the tutorial on the practice scriptures. You can find it here. I hope you guys like it!
Friday, September 28, 2012
October 2012 Visiting Teaching Printable
Can you believe October is almost here? I mean, we're days away at this point. I still haven't accepted that fall is here, and now we're almost to Halloween. A couple days ago I posted the September VTing message, shamefully late. In there I said I wanted to post up the October one by October 7th, well I didn't realize that October message was already out. So now I'm early! I figured I would put this up for all the super awesome ladies that want a head start. I really loved this quote from the message and decided to make a picture to frame with it. This month we're talking about Honoring our Covenants. Whether it is temple covenants or baptism, we all have covenants to honor. You can find the message for this month here. I have the picture I mentioned below with a link to print it out.
Picture to print here.
Let me know if you have any issues printing, I'm new to all this. :)
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Sharing Time October 2012 Week 1: Worthy Young Men Recieve the Priesthood When they are 12 Years Old
I know this week is General Conference, but maybe you guys were able to fit in for Week 5 of September, or you are combining it with week 2 this month. Either way I thought it was a good lesson and I wanted to share some thoughts.
I really like the "Identify Doctrine" part of the churches outline, found here. I don't want to stray too much from this because I think it's the perfect way to introduce what we're talking about. To me, any opportunity to show what Christ did during his life should be taken advantage of. I think it's important to reiterate to the children that we are following Christ's example when we partake of the sacrament. We are doing something that Christ has asked us to do. All of September we talked about the commandments and how we should follow them.
To identify the age young men receive the preisthood at, I will probably just ask an older child. After they answer correctly, I will ask them if all young men can get it or if it is something only some can get. This is where we will dive into the worthiness aspect of this week. In the official guideline they suggest using the "My Gospel Standards" to go over what makes someone worthy and not worthy. I would print out a copy ahead of time to make copies of.
For an activity I'm going to break the kids into a few groups. You can see how many you have and just go off of that. I'm going to ask each group to prepare a skit illustrating a gospel standard from the list. I'm going to give each group a few options, maybe three, to choose from to do their skit. This way there will be no duplicates of skits and the kids will love feeling like they have a choice. Their skit will just have to illustrate what that aspect of Gospel Standards is. For example, to illustrate a one about modesty a child clothes shopping and choose a modest outfit over an immodest one. I think it'll be fun to bring some props in too. You could bring in some good things to read and maybe some worldly things (sabbath day), modest clothes and wild clothes (it doesn't have to be revealing, just maybe a little crazy or extreme. Or a smaller childs shirt that would be immodest on an older child), an apple or some other fruit and maybe some candy and junk food (partake of good things for your body. You could get more into drugs, alcohol, cigerettes. I would explain candy is okay in moderation), etc. I will explain to them that these standards are not only for the boys, this is something that all of us should do. I don't want the girls to think this lesson isn't applicable for them. Even though they will not be able to hold the priesthood, they can still benefit from it. They can marry a worthy man and have it in their homes their whole life. The priesthood is such a special gift for all of us, we should encourage young men to be worthy to receive it.
After the children perform their skits I would just close by bearing my testimony of the priesthood and gratitude for it.
You can get a coloring page for them to bring home here. This would be something good for them to do to keep the sabbath day holy!
I really like the "Identify Doctrine" part of the churches outline, found here. I don't want to stray too much from this because I think it's the perfect way to introduce what we're talking about. To me, any opportunity to show what Christ did during his life should be taken advantage of. I think it's important to reiterate to the children that we are following Christ's example when we partake of the sacrament. We are doing something that Christ has asked us to do. All of September we talked about the commandments and how we should follow them.
To identify the age young men receive the preisthood at, I will probably just ask an older child. After they answer correctly, I will ask them if all young men can get it or if it is something only some can get. This is where we will dive into the worthiness aspect of this week. In the official guideline they suggest using the "My Gospel Standards" to go over what makes someone worthy and not worthy. I would print out a copy ahead of time to make copies of.
For an activity I'm going to break the kids into a few groups. You can see how many you have and just go off of that. I'm going to ask each group to prepare a skit illustrating a gospel standard from the list. I'm going to give each group a few options, maybe three, to choose from to do their skit. This way there will be no duplicates of skits and the kids will love feeling like they have a choice. Their skit will just have to illustrate what that aspect of Gospel Standards is. For example, to illustrate a one about modesty a child clothes shopping and choose a modest outfit over an immodest one. I think it'll be fun to bring some props in too. You could bring in some good things to read and maybe some worldly things (sabbath day), modest clothes and wild clothes (it doesn't have to be revealing, just maybe a little crazy or extreme. Or a smaller childs shirt that would be immodest on an older child), an apple or some other fruit and maybe some candy and junk food (partake of good things for your body. You could get more into drugs, alcohol, cigerettes. I would explain candy is okay in moderation), etc. I will explain to them that these standards are not only for the boys, this is something that all of us should do. I don't want the girls to think this lesson isn't applicable for them. Even though they will not be able to hold the priesthood, they can still benefit from it. They can marry a worthy man and have it in their homes their whole life. The priesthood is such a special gift for all of us, we should encourage young men to be worthy to receive it.
After the children perform their skits I would just close by bearing my testimony of the priesthood and gratitude for it.
You can get a coloring page for them to bring home here. This would be something good for them to do to keep the sabbath day holy!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
7 Step Carmel Apple Recipe
Why hello, Fall! Last weekend I went with my sister in law Apple picking for her daughters first birthday. We got some Fuji Apples and I pretty soon after getting them I knew I wanted to do Caramel Apples. I've never tried these before, but I figured, how hard can it be? Well, it isn't bad. I had heard that people had issues getting the caramel to stick but soon after researching them I found out you have to wash the apples good to get the wax off to get the caramel to stick. My first batch didn't have this issue because I got them straight from the orchard. My second batch I washed really good so I didn't really have a hard time with that either.
Okay lets get started!
What you need:
6 Medium Apples (Any variety, honestly I don't think you can go wrong. So far I've used Gala and Fuji. Both turned out good. I've read to use more tart flavors though. It's up to you. Also, please note my number and sizing of the apples may be off. This is purely from my experience and just a guess on what you'll be able to get out of a bag.)
4. Next is dipping the apples. I tilted the bowl to be a little crooked, this helped to get the apple covered in caramel. Remember you can be creative. You can go half way up the apple, go on an angle, or go high up like I did. You can't go wrong! After you are happy with the amount of caramel, place it on the lined cookie sheet.
5. Begin melting the chocolate. This can be done while they are setting and the caramel is cooling. Once they are cooled dip them like you did the caramel. Again, remember you can be creative! Do all 6 or so apples before adding on the toppings. The chocolate will not harden that quickly. I know this is nerve racking, and I did it one at a time the first time, but it got messy and it was a lot easier to wait a minute to add the peanuts.
6. To add the peanuts or other toppings just roll the apple on a plate of toppings. I used my hands to make sure it got where I needed it to be.
7. When you are finished, set it the fridge for about 15 minutes and slice up to eat! I have found trying to bite into these is next to impossible. So just slice parts off and enjoy!
These apples are so good. My husband told me I was the best homemaker tonight, boy I fooled him! And they're so easy! You can slice these up and give them away for treats, or just stick them in a goodie bag for a neighbor. Or you can eat them all yourself, I won't judge you. Let me know what you ended up doing with yours! Get creative!
Okay lets get started!
What you need:
6 Medium Apples (Any variety, honestly I don't think you can go wrong. So far I've used Gala and Fuji. Both turned out good. I've read to use more tart flavors though. It's up to you. Also, please note my number and sizing of the apples may be off. This is purely from my experience and just a guess on what you'll be able to get out of a bag.)
1 Bag Caramel (I have used Brach's and Kraft, both tasted great and worked well. In the Brach's I had to unwrap them, the Kraft were already unwrapped and it was about the same price.)
Chocolate Coating (I used Plymouth Pantry from WalMart. This is pretty cheap and it tasted great with it. If you want to splurge for higher end chocolate, great, but if you don't, I don't think it's necessary. Again with this, break off maybe 3 or 4 squares which is approx. 8 oz. You may need more, but you can always melt it if needed.)
Popsicle sticks or wooden dowels
Lined cookie sheet or baking pan. I lined mine with aluminum foil, but I kept thinking wax paper may work better. I didn't have any though, so if you do it try it with wax paper, let me know how it goes!
Peanuts or other garnish. I have seen people use M&Ms or Oreos, lots of different things. I bought Dry Roasted Peanuts.
Steps:
1. Wash the apples well. Dry them off completely.
2. Insert the popsicle sticks or wooden dowels into the middle of the apples. Make sure you remove the stem first.
3. Melt the caramel. I used a double broiler method and added about 1.5 to 2 TBS of water in. I put it on med-high, this will take a little bit. Just stir occasionally and be patient!
{It doesn't look so great. But this is how it's supposed to look, scared me for a few minutes though!}
{Still looking good}
{Almost there}
{And ready! You can see here I tilted the bowl a little bit}
{Caramel is on them! You could stop here if you want, but you won't regret continuing ;)}
{Chocolate is melting}
7. When you are finished, set it the fridge for about 15 minutes and slice up to eat! I have found trying to bite into these is next to impossible. So just slice parts off and enjoy!
{Finished!!}
September 2012 Visiting Teaching Message
I just wanted to briefly explain what Visiting Teaching is, since this is my first post regarding it. This is a church program that encourages the women to get to know each other better, a few at a time, through acts of kindness and service. Each woman (or sister as we refer to each other) is assigned a few other sisters to check in with once a month, see if they have anything going on that they can help with, and to offer a simple thought or spiritual message. The message is assigned for each month so it makes it really simple. This is also really great because every so often the women you are assigned to get switched around, so you get to know everyone a little better.
If you are anything like me, you wait until the last minute to do any Visiting Teaching. That is exactly what I'm doing tonight, waiting until the last minute. The woman I'm visiting with tonight is actually assigned to me so we get to kill two birds with one stone! I also work with her in Primary so I know her pretty well. Anyways, as I was preparing to share the message this month with her, I thought I would write down a few thoughts on it here, in case anyone else was preparing to go out the last week in September (whoops!).
When I was reading this I couldn't help but think of a lesson I'd been taught my whole life; want to love someone? Serve them. I have had my fair share of difficult people in my life. I have not always followed this advice, but I have found that when I do serve people, especially ones that are difficult, I have a newfound love and respect for them. This has helped me to develope better relationships at work, within my family, and when I was at school. I think that there are always people in our lives (as much as we don't want to admit it) that we don't get along with, or we would rather not see. Through listening and applying this lesson into our lives for this month, we can overcome these feelings. I am not saying that these people will be our new best friends, but maybe we can understand why they are the way they are, and I think that brings a certain level of acceptance and appreciation.
In the VTing message for this month it says, "As visiting teachers we can sincerely come to know and love each sister we visit." I think the key word here is "can." If we do not go out and visit these sisters, we will not get to know them. We will not know when there is a need or an opportunity for service. We will not know when someone is struggling. They will not feel comfortable enough with us to confide when they need to.
I know that I can do better as a Visiting Teacher. So I'm making a goal to be better and I want to challenge all of you do the same. If you visit everyone every month, awesome! Kudos to you! But even then, lets try to have more of a listening ear, to take more time and prepare our lessons, to put more thought into our handouts, be mindful of birthdays and special days in their lives. Lets just do better. There is always room for improvement. So next month, instead of posting a VTing thought on the 26th, I will try and have one up by the 7th. And on that note, here are some great printables I found to do for fun handouts.
This is the VTing message from the church.
This is a really cute handout from Latter Day Chatter. I would print it out on cardstock and maybe attach it to a baggie of cookies, or lotion or something.
This is probably my favorite and what I plan on doing for the lady I'm visiting tonight. I'm going to stop off at the dollar store and by a frame, stick this in there and voila! I think this is just adorable and so cute to go on a shelf to remind us all the time to do more service. I might even print one out for me ;)
Let me know if you come up with any fun ideas! I would love to hear about what you did this month or any tips you have on being a better Visiting Teacher.
If you are anything like me, you wait until the last minute to do any Visiting Teaching. That is exactly what I'm doing tonight, waiting until the last minute. The woman I'm visiting with tonight is actually assigned to me so we get to kill two birds with one stone! I also work with her in Primary so I know her pretty well. Anyways, as I was preparing to share the message this month with her, I thought I would write down a few thoughts on it here, in case anyone else was preparing to go out the last week in September (whoops!).
When I was reading this I couldn't help but think of a lesson I'd been taught my whole life; want to love someone? Serve them. I have had my fair share of difficult people in my life. I have not always followed this advice, but I have found that when I do serve people, especially ones that are difficult, I have a newfound love and respect for them. This has helped me to develope better relationships at work, within my family, and when I was at school. I think that there are always people in our lives (as much as we don't want to admit it) that we don't get along with, or we would rather not see. Through listening and applying this lesson into our lives for this month, we can overcome these feelings. I am not saying that these people will be our new best friends, but maybe we can understand why they are the way they are, and I think that brings a certain level of acceptance and appreciation.
In the VTing message for this month it says, "As visiting teachers we can sincerely come to know and love each sister we visit." I think the key word here is "can." If we do not go out and visit these sisters, we will not get to know them. We will not know when there is a need or an opportunity for service. We will not know when someone is struggling. They will not feel comfortable enough with us to confide when they need to.
I know that I can do better as a Visiting Teacher. So I'm making a goal to be better and I want to challenge all of you do the same. If you visit everyone every month, awesome! Kudos to you! But even then, lets try to have more of a listening ear, to take more time and prepare our lessons, to put more thought into our handouts, be mindful of birthdays and special days in their lives. Lets just do better. There is always room for improvement. So next month, instead of posting a VTing thought on the 26th, I will try and have one up by the 7th. And on that note, here are some great printables I found to do for fun handouts.
This is the VTing message from the church.
This is a really cute handout from Latter Day Chatter. I would print it out on cardstock and maybe attach it to a baggie of cookies, or lotion or something.
This is probably my favorite and what I plan on doing for the lady I'm visiting tonight. I'm going to stop off at the dollar store and by a frame, stick this in there and voila! I think this is just adorable and so cute to go on a shelf to remind us all the time to do more service. I might even print one out for me ;)
Let me know if you come up with any fun ideas! I would love to hear about what you did this month or any tips you have on being a better Visiting Teacher.
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