September 2008 Primary Sharing Time Helps and Ideas

( Image found on Yahoo Search: Keywords Child Prayer)

WEEK 1 I learn about prayer from the scriptures.

*Ask for 2 volunteers. Have one stand outside the door and knock so we can let them back in.
Have the next one go out but tell them not to knock. Stand there for a 30 seconds or so. How would we know they were even there if they aren't knocking?

Matt. 7: 7 : "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you"

You could have different GAK (Gospel Art Kit) pictures and scriptures having to do with prayer on different doors around the room. The children could pick them and you ask questions or direct conversation about what they've chosen.

* 2 Ne. 32: 4 "Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark."
Have little black squares on the blackboard. A child will choose one and on the back will be a scripture about prayer and a picture having to do with light (like a sun, flashlight, lamps, campfire, stars, lanterns, night light) Turn off the lights, read 2 Nephi 32:4 and ask what brings us back into the light? Have a child turn on the light when everyone together answers prayer!

*Have an assortment of puzzles (1,000 piece, 200 piece, 5 piece) Are some puzzles harder to do than others? Do some puzzles need more time to do? Are some puzzles pretty short and simple? Can we have lots of people work on a puzzle? How are puzzles like prayers? Prayers are like puzzles...when we have the right pieces we can make a work of art.
(Matthew 6:9-15) Talk about the different parts of a prayer. Have envelopes with pictures or different scriptures inside cut up into simple puzzles. Have the envelopes taped under the children's chairs and then when the children put them together, talk about what their puzzle made.

Wonderful Scriptures on Prayer

1 Sam. 1:26-27, Daniel 6:10, Acts 7:59-60, Mark 1:35, John 16:23-24, Moses 1:17-18, D&C 46:7, 2 Ne. 4:24, James 1:5, Alma 8:10, Alma 34:27, 3 Ne. 12:44, 3 Ne. 13:5, 3 Ne. 18:16, Matt. 26:39, D&C 6: 22-24, D&C 10:5, D&C 19:28

GAK pictures having to do with prayer (blessings)

122, 225,227,305,403, 602, 603, 605, 606

*Have a child come to the front and use a cell phone to call the bishop. (Tell him in advance what you are doing... please) Put him on speaker, tell him we thought we'd just call to tell him we love him and thanks for all he does. Talk to the kids about phones. They are pretty amazing things. What if you told them there is something out there- where you don't need to push buttons or remember phone numbers, you'll never get a busy signal or have the call disconnected, and you can reach as far as heaven with no long distance charges. It's prayer!!!

Here is a very feeble/decrepit sketch (please re-draw your own, don't scar the children for life with my bad drawing skills) of a cell phone handout with "calling upon" scriptures on it. 2 options: As a primary look up the scriptures together (have the teachers or bigger kids help the little ones). Make sure everyone has a copy of the cell phone handout and when you find and read the scripture everyone can put a star (give stars to teachers to hand out to children) on the square. Or you could have a large posterboard of it on the blackboard and whoever finds the scripture first can come up and read it and put a star on the posterboard under the scripture. (I have 2 bonus stars for anyone who can use the index to find other scriptures about prayer)

Scriptures on cell phone: Alma 9:17, Alma 22:16, 3 Nephi 4:30, 3 Nephi 21:27, Ether 2:14-15, D&C 65:4, D&C 88:62, D&C 93:1, D&C 136:29, Moses 1:17-18


This image is courtesy Sister A. Peterson. She's gone all out and is obviously very talented! Insert my little soapbox- Those of us artistically challenged should not copy and paste this image until we have tried to make our own. How will we grow my fellow Rembrants if we don't try? This image would make a wonderful FHE... all I ask is that we not take the easy route, until we have put forth our best effort.

Yes, this activity is possible with sunbeams!!

They are perfectly capable of turning pages and looking for matches. Give them individual key letters or numbers like M and 6. Show them to look at the top of the page for the name of the book. Have them come up to read (you say it, they repeat). Have them point to the scripture while it is read. Show them pictures of people who wrote the Book of Mormon and those who wrote the Doctrine and Covenants. Just remember to have someone, anyone HELP THEM. Be excited too! Give them plenty of praise when they've found it!! They are important too!! Don't leave them behind in the page shuffle.

And it's not just this activity. With this week's theme especially, they should have their hands on the scriptures, feeling them, looking at them, touching and sensing the importance of the word of God. Make sure every child has a triple combination to use.

If you really want to go all out, here is a link to Family Fun Magazine for a fun treat to make for the kids to take home with a scripture of your choice attached.

Week 2 Heavenly Father wants me to pray to Him often- anytime, anywhere.

* President Monson has said, "Pray with purpose. With God, all things are possible. Remember the prayer of the Prophet Joseph, offered in that grove called sacred. Look around you and see the result of that answered prayer. Prayer is the provider of spiritual strength. Prayer is the passport to peace." (Thomas S. Monson, “Come Listen to a Prophet’s Voice: Follow the Signs,” Friend, May 2006, 2–3)

Have a large map with prayer cut outs (like a clip art of a little boy and girl kneeling in prayer). On the back of the cut outs can be scriptures, songs, quotes, situations or questions having to do with prayer. (E.g. Can you say more than one prayer at meal time? Can you say a prayer on an airplane if you are scared of flying? What is the difference between a sincere prayer and a repeat prayer?) Have the children come up and choose the cut outs. Also, make some paper clocks with different times and put prayer cut outs by those too... to reinforce the weekly theme.

Make passports for the children to stamp with their family at home as they read scriptures together about prayer. (See week one, above, for prayer scriptures)

* Dress up children as prophets from the scriptures and tell their stories. Ask the children what the prophets probably prayed for. Examples could include Joseph of Egypt put in prison after fleeing from Potiphars wife, Joseph Smith in liberty jail, Nephi building a boat, Noah building a boat. (They were the same types of places/situations, but different times.) We may never be put in jail but can we pray when we feel trapped or sad? What about when we need to do something big and need help?

Talk about 2 Ne. 27: 23, "For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith."

Just like the prophets of old, we can pray anywhere, anytime. God listened and answered them then, and He listens and answers us now.

* Share this story with the children. Put Alma 34:20-21, "Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks. Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening." on the chalkboard. Have a cup with strips of paper with the following words (or words of your choice); farm, FHE, jungle, school, midnight, 8 AM, hospital, lunch, church, park, 6 PM. Have the children come up with as many ideas possible of things they could pray for having to do with that place or time. Tally up answers and see which place or time got the most ideas. Let them be creative, be supportive of their ideas. Prayer can be about anything that's in your heart whether there is a bomb in front of their house, they're hiking in a jungle and get poison ivy or they just want to say thank you for the food at dinner.

* Have a bell. Bring one child to the front turned away from the primary, covering one ear with their hand. Choose a child to ring a bell from a corner of the room. Have them sit down and have the child in front point to where they were ringing the bell. Repeat a couple times. Tell them that no matter where we are, God always hears our prayers and knows where we are and what we need. Matt. 6: 8, "For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." He never makes a mistake, he always knows where the bell is ringing.

* Invite a few ward members in to teach a couple prayer words in different languages. No matter where or what is said in whatever language or even silent, God will always understand.

D&C 6:14,16 "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit... Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart."

*This idea is by Karen Ashton, “Sharing Time: Ponder, Pray, and Listen,” Friend, Apr 1996, 4 and could be suggested as a take home activity to do with families, just give them the bags with a few supplies inside.

"Younger children would enjoy making a small lunch-bag puppet. The eyes should be under the fold of the bag so that they will appear closed when the bag is folded. This will remind the children to close their eyes while praying. Glue eyelashes along the corresponding parts of the fold. Draw a nose and smile below the fold of the bag, and eyelids and eyebrows on the top of the fold. A small heart could be drawn under the smile to remind the children that praying will make them feel good; ears could be placed on the sides of the bag to remind the children to listen for answers to their prayers. After they have assembled their puppets, have them use the puppets to show how a child closes his eyes before saying a prayer, then listens afterward for an answer. Remind the children that answers come in many ways."

Week 3 and 4 are here!