General Conference Activity Sheets

I've been wanting to make some pages for everyone for General Conference for about a year now. I actually did make some last spring, but couldn't figure out how to upload them. Well, I have finally figured out a way to do it that I think will work!

I have two word searches, one for older kids up to adults, and one for younger kids.


HERE is the link for the easier word search.

HERE is a link for the more advanced one.

I have a couple other things that I want to get on here, but I figured I'll post this up and update it when I have more.

Last year I posted a few links for neat General Conference packets that I'd seen, so don't forget to check that out. I found some neat ones that were a bit different then the normal ones you've all seen I'm sure.

Please let me know if you have any issues printing them out as I am trying something new with this. I don't know there is a problem unless you guys tell me. :)

Also, I should have the whole month of October Sharing Time helps up this week, so be sure to check in for that!

February 2013 Week 3 Sharing Time: I have been sent to earth to gain a body

I am so happy to be back posting again. This has been such a great outlet for me these past few months. I have a lot of ideas of different things to start up on the blog in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.
Now for this weeks Sharing Time. This week is about coming to Earth to gain a body and to be tested. This is a great opportunity to build a strong foundation for our youth, to help them understand the purpose of being sent here.
I have a couple different ideas for activities to mix it up a bit.
To begin have an older child look up and read Abraham 3:25. After they finish ask them to explain what it means to everyone. If they need help, see if another child can help, if not, either you or a teacher can pitch in. There shouldn't be too much issue though, its pretty self explanatory. Abraham 3:25 tells us that we came to Earth to be tested. We also came to Earth to get a body. 

Have another child read D&C 29:39. This scripture tells us that the devil tempts us so we can know the bitter from the sweet. We talked about this last week with the joy & pain, happiness and sadness, health & sickness, etc. These week we want to focus on our bodies and how we can make good decisions with them. This leads us to our activity.

One idea I had was to play "Pin the CTR Shield on the Child!" Get a poster board and draw a person on it and make sure to bring a piece of fabric or a bandana to cover eyes with. If a child puts the CTR shield on a body part, (i.e. feet, ears, hands, etc) they have to tell everyone how that body part can help us make good choices. For example, our hands can serve others, hold our scriptures so we can read them, stop a fight, give hugs, etc. If they get an area that is not a body part or a body part listed, (the blank poster area or you could even do the stomach or other areas that would be hard to answer those questions for) they get to pick a body part that hasn't been done. I really love this idea because its different and will keep their attention. 

The second idea I had was to divide the children in four or five different groups. Print out my guy linked below and cut him out. Assign each group a different body part. Get some manila folders and label it a top secret mission. Inside put a different body part to the guy along with the message of what to do. Each groups mission is to identify what choices each body part helps us make.Have them color the body part they were given so that when it's assembled it will create a fun looking guy. They can be as crazy or not crazy with this as they want. Let each group complete their mission in front of everyone else by sharing what they can do with that body part to choose the right. Have them attach the body part to the torso after they've presented. Close with your testimony. This is a fun activity that will hopefully have them thinking outside the box. 

Here is a link  to my person assembly coloring page.


CTR Shields can be found here with a few different options to print. 

Have fun with it everyone and don't forget to follow the blog for (hopefully) weekly primary updates along with recipes, crafts and more!

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.

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.

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!

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. :)

Prophet Thomas S. Monson Coloring Page

I have been thinking a lot about General Conference and what we as parents can do to prepare for the inevitable struggle with our children during this time. I know my son is too little to understand what is going on, or to get anything out of General Conference, but he won't be for long. I have been researching a lot of different ideas for what to do with the kids during conference, things to keep them occupied or things to help them stay focused. I've found so many great ideas out there that I really liked I wanted to hopefully compile a few different ideas into one place.  That is something I'm going to work on over the next couple of days so please check back by Monday night hopefully I will have everything up, and a few of my own added.

What I wanted to share tonight was a project my husband and I worked on together. As I was looking through all of these ideas, I noticed that there weren't very many options for a coloring page of the prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I thought it was strange because it was something basic I wanted to include in a packet for my primary kids. Anyways, I decided that I can draw a little bit (a VERY little bit) and my husband can draw really well, so between the two of us, we can do this! Anyways, below is a link to print the page out. I thought it turned out well, so I hope you do too. :)

Coloring page here.