More Primary Sharing Time Helps and Ideas January 2009

Image courtesy creative commons license flickr.com by artmakesmesmile July 2008

Week 2 I lived with heavenly Father before I came to earth.

* What did heaven look like before we came to earth? Give the children 5-7 minutes to quickly draw what they think the pre existence was like. Invite some children up to share their ideas.

"In a premortal council at which we were all present, [the Savior] led the forces of good against those of Satan and his followers in a battle for the souls of men that began before this world was formed. That conflict continues today. We were all on the side of Jesus then. We are on the side of Jesus today." Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Christians in Belief and Action," Ensign, Nov. 1996, 71

* Gather together some of the primary children's baby pictures. Read D&C 138:55-56. These are pictures of God's noble and great ones. Can you remember the premortal existence? Can you remember being a baby? Just because we can't remember doesn't mean it didn't happen. Invite children to come up and choose pictures. Have questions prepared on the pre exsitence for them to answer as they come up, then they can guess who the baby picture is of! End with Jeremiah 1:5. Bear testimony that we did indeed live with Heavenly Father before we came to earth. We were great then and we need to do our best to be great now!!

* Number off the children in your primary 1-2-3. Ask all the 1's to go in the corner. Is that a pretty big chunk of the primary? How would you feel if you never got to see these primary friends again? Please be careful who YOU ask this question to. We want to keep it positive. Satan himself was our brother, yet he chose to rebel against Father. How do you feel about that? We know that all the people in primary chose to follow Jesus Christ's plan, but how do we know this? Ask all the 1's, 2's and 3's to raise their hand... we all have hands! We all have bodies!

* Have different words written on the chalkboard having to do with our premortal existence (e.g. Christ, Lucifer, Plan, War, Spirits, Heavenly Father, choice, angels - include pictures for younger children to visualize by the words) Ask the children to come up with sentences including these words from the board and share with the primary. You could even divide into groups and divvy out the words.

Week 3 I am created in the image of God. My body is a temple.

If I was teaching week 3 I'd stick straight to the outline idea! It's really fantastic!

*Have a picture of a hamster. Has anyone ever had a class pet before? Who does the pet belong to? How do you take care of it? Would you ever feed the hamster something rotten that would make him sick? Would you ever take a pen and draw on it? Why? Have a coat. This is your best friends coat and they are going to let you borrow it. How would you treat it? Now hold up a mirror. We have something even more precious that Heavenly Father has created and given us. How do we take care of what we see in the mirror?

David Bednar has said, "Interestingly, I have heard many people, both outside and inside the Church, declare, “It’s my body and I can do to it what I want.” The correct doctrinal response to such a statement is quite simple. No, your body is not your own; it is on loan from God. As we read in 1 Corinthians 3:16–17 [1 Cor. 3:16–17]:
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
The choices we make about the use of our personal temples will affect us throughout all eternity." “ 'Ye Are the Temple of God’,” Ensign, Sep 2001, 14

* Have a picture of a temple and a boy and girl displayed at the top of the board. On the left hand side a little lower have the following words written "What We Take into Our Temple", "What We Put on Our Temple", "What We Do to Our Temple" and " What We Do with Our Temple". These quotes are from Eldar Bednar's talk 'Ye Are the Temple of God’,” Ensign, Sep 2001, 14. Have the children fill in the blanks under the pictures (kind of like you're making a chart). (E.G. We take into the temple white clothes, temple recommend, reverence, a humble spirit ready to learn. We take into our body temples good food, clean music and ideas from books, sunshine, vitamins, exercise, happy movies. We put the finest materials on our temples, beautiful plants and trees...etc. Review the talk to get more specifics!!) I would also have a picture of Elder Bednar to show the children where the material for the lesson came from.

* For this idea, think the game "concentration". Have a large poster board of an outline of a body cut into different pieces. Underneath a picture of the temple and the words I was created in the image of God. My body is a temple. Children can come up and choose a piece of the body and answer a question, read a scripture or sing a song all pertaining to the theme. As the pieces come off they can guess what is underneath.

Week 4 The family is ordained of God and is central to His plan.

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