December 2008 Primary Sharing Time Helps and Ideas

GAK 201

December Theme: I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and His restored gospel.
December Scripture: "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies." 2 Nephi 25:26

Week 1 The prophets foretold Jesus Christ would come to earth.

* Have a nativity displayed. Tape a small scripture or question to each piece of the nativity regarding what the prophets prophesied of Jesus' birth. Let the children come up and pick a piece. You could also tape on some Christmas songs.

* Draw a large clock on the blackboard. At the top of the clock on the 12 hide a picture of Christ's birth- put a piece of paper over it with a ? mark. (GAK 201) Have 11 scriptures and questions based on what prophets have foretold about "the time" having to do when Jesus Christ would come to earth.

For example:
1.What is prophecy?
“For prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:19–21
Put up a picture of a mouth

2. Who does God speak to us through?
"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7
Put up a picture of Pres. Monson

3. Who did Nephi see after the Tree of Life?
Virgin Mary
Etc. Now work in questions and visuals having to do with Christ and His earthly birth

* Bring in a farmers almanac or a picture of it.
"Weather prediction has always been a major feature of the Farmers’ Almanac. The Almanac Publishing Company claims readers of the Farmers’ Almanac have attributed an 80 to 85 percent accuracy rate to the publication’s annual forecasts. Scientific studies of these claims have shown them to be false. On average the Almanac's predictions are no better than chance.
Predictions for each edition are made as far as two years in advance. The Farmers’ Almanac publishers are highly secretive about the method used to make its predictions, only stating publicly that it is a “top secret mathematical and astronomical formula, that relies on sunspot activity, tidal action, planetary position and many other factors.” The identity of the Farmers’ Almanac weather forecaster is also a secret. The Almanac’s forecaster is referred to by the pseudonym “Caleb Weatherbee.” (This info is courtesy Wikipedia)

Would it be nice to know the weather every single day? Why? We will never know what the weather will bring but we have something that is a lot more exact and 100% accurate... that is the messages of the prophets.

"There isn’t any other way in this world that we can know the mind and the will of the Lord as intelligently and assuredly as we can know it through the holy prophets."
LeGrand Richards, “Prophets and Prophecy,” Ensign, Nov 1975, 50

And from Adam, they have all testified of one thing. What is that one thing? Jesus Christ.
“And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:19–21

* Make a reverent music video of Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus - #36 Children's Songbook. Divide the primary into different groups. Assign them lines in the song to draw pictures of. Play Christmas music while they work and make sure the children know to be softer than the music. Attach the pictures together with tape to make a rollerbox. Have the kids sing while you move it. On the bottom of the box you could put BYU TV. (Go blue!)

On that same thought pattern, you could assign different scriptures of prophets who foretold the coming of Christ and ask the groups to put together roller box pictures of the story and come up to tell it. So basically the materials you'll need are scriptures, crayons, plenty of paper, tape, some paper towel rolls and a cardboard box with a hole cut out in front... perhaps some paperclips too to hold the rolls on the side.

Week 2 The prophecies were fulfilled. Jesus Christ was born and the righteous rejoiced.

* Have 2 children come up. Ask one to be the sun and the other the earth. Ask them to show the primary what happens in space between these 2 things. (The earth child will walk in a circle around the sun) Read Helaman 12:15 "And thus, according to his word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun. "

Next have a child come up as a great lake. Ask them to show what happens during a drought. (They should crumble to the ground) Read Helaman 12: 16 And behold, also, if he say unto the waters of the great deep—Be thou dried up—it is done."

Have another child come up and ask them to stand by the light switch. Have them turn off the light and then show us the first thing God did that we see in the scriptures. (Turn on the light.)

Read Genesis 1:3 "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."

What our Father and Elder Brother Jesus say is truth and will always come to pass. Alma 37:16 reads "...For God is powerful to the fulfilling of all his words." Prophets foretold of Jesus Christ being born and His birth happened as sure as there is light, as sure as we move around the sun, as sure as water dries up in the summer.

* Make a graph of Christmas hymns. Sing the songs and have children put up smiley faces for the number of times you can count the song referencing joy, happiness and rejoicing.

* Make a Samuel the Lamanite matching game. For example on one card you could have Samuel prophesied Helaman 13:6 "the Lord Jesus Christ, who surely shall come into the world, and shall suffer many things and shall be slain for his people. " - the matching card would then be a picture of the nativity.

On another card Samuel prophesied Helaman 13: 9 "And four hundred years shall not pass away before I will cause that they shall be smitten; yea, I will visit them with the sword and with famine and with pestilence." - the matching card could be a picture of Moroni burying the plates as he witnessed the destruction of his people.

Opinionated tid-bit: For the Junior primary about 6 matches (12 cards) is more than sufficient for a 15 minute period of time. Too many cards, too many choices and nothing gets matched! Also, I NEVER divide the primary into teams. (Disclaimer: I'm not saying it's wrong to do so!!! AGAIN Personal OPINION!!!) The reason I do not divide is because of that, it's a division and on principle I think being united is better than being divided. Working together as a primary to achieve a goal promotes unity and discourages unneeded competition in God's house. Just think about it. Mull it over.

Week 3 Jesus Christ restored His gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

* Make a timeline of events that happened during the restoration. Have children draw out pictures (out of a bag) and properly sequence them on the chalkboard. I would start the events at the time Jesus Christ walked on earth, died and was resurrected. You could end with a current picture of the first presidency or a local temple. The following are events and dates found from Church History in the Fullness of Times Manuel (Religion 341 through 343):

34-100 AD Apostles lead New Testament church

60-70 Peter and Paul martyred

Apostasy

1620 Pilgrims arrive in Plymouth

Jan. 24 1796 Joseph Smith Sr. marries Lucy Mack

1812-13 7 year old Joseph Smith suffered complications from typhoid fever and was operated on

(He didn't use any alcohol to numb the pain)

Spring 1820 14 year old Joseph saw the Father and the Son in the sacred grove

Sept 21-22 1823 First appearances of Moroni to Joseph Smith

May 1829 John the baptist restored the Aaronic priesthood

May-June 1829 Peter, James and John restored the Melchizedek Priesthood

Fall 1829-Winter 1830 Book of Mormon Printed in Palmyra

1836 1st Temple dedicated Kirtland Ohio where priesthood keys were restored

1844 Joseph and Hyrum died martyrs in Carthage

* Have a picture of the Savior and Joseph Smith within a venn diagram on the board. Make sure the section for similarities in the middle is larger than the differences section. Ask the children to come up with as many similarities and differences as they can between Jesus and Joseph. Emphasize how Jesus is our Savior, we worship Heavenly Father and Him ONLY. But we highly reverence our beloved prophet Joseph because he helped bring back the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Read 2 Nephi 3:7-11

* Read Doctrine and Covenants 122: 5-9

Ask the children what they know and can share about Joseph Smith. Have the children write thank you notes to Joseph Smith. Ask them to name specifics. ("Because he was nice" is not specific, ask "how was he nice", "He spent a lot of time translating the plates" Voila.) We obviously can't give these notes to Joseph Smith but the children can take them home and put them in a journal. Encourage the children to pray and take time that night to feel the spirit bear witness that Joseph Smith did indeed restore the gospel of Christ.