May 2010 LDS Primary Sharing Time Helps and Ideas

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." Benjamin Franklin

May Theme: Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel Lead Me to Jesus Christ.
May Scripture: “We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Articles of Faith 1:4)

Ways to help memorize the fourth article of faith:

* Sing the song!! CS page 124

* Divide the Article into 5 phrases. Hide those 5 phrases (add a little picture for those who can’t read) under 5 children’s chairs and let them come put on the chalkboard in order. Have the primary say the Article of Faith as they put in order.

* While saying the Article of Faith have the children draw a square with their fingers in the air- on the points of each square will be each principle or ordinance. You can have a child come up to front and point to a corner in their square and have another child say what principle or ordinance it is.

* Have a set of 3 sequencing pictures for 3 children to hold. (For example, I’ll have a picture of a girl planting a seed, a stem growing with leaves, a full flower) Let a child put them in the right order. Can you get the flower before you plant the seed? (Be prepared, you will have someone say, “Yes, just buy one at the store!” to which you can respond, “Good thought, but someone had to plant a seed before the store could get it!” This is like the Gospel, you have to do things in order before you can get the full result of returning to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! Have signs with pictures for faith, repentance, baptism and the laying on of hands for children to hold. Invite a child to put them in the right order as you all say the Article of Faith out loud.

* Bring white out! Print out the Article of Faith on a 8X10 piece of paper. Let a child white out a few words (like 6 total), you say the Article of Faith but stop at white out words and let the primary fill in the blank!

* Have words from the Article of Faith cut out and attached to paper clips. Let a child come and fish 3 words out. (Using a small stick with a string and magnet on the end of the string) Repeat the Article as a primary but leave out those 3 words!

The key with helping to learn and commit to memory is this: keep it short and simple. LESS talk from YOU and MORE participation from the CHILDREN. And don’t spend more than a couple minutes doing these activities, just do them often with the children perhaps every week during opening exercises.

Week 1 My faith in Jesus Christ is strengthened when I obey.

* Reader’s Theatre! See Here.

Week 2 I can repent.

* The Lord told Adam, “Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence.” (Moses 6:57)
Have a dirty penny and a small cup of ketchup. Let’s see what will happen. Put the penny in the ketchup and go on with your lesson. At the end, take it out and wipe it with a wet wipe. Bear testimony that through repentance and the Atonement we are able to be clean!

Have a clothesline with dirty clothes clipped on. Divide into groups and give each group a question: How do we repent? What does it mean to forsake and confess? When do we repent? How does repentance help us? (All answers can be found in Gospel Principles pg.122-127-- highly recommend making little copies of sections that match questions to be read in groups, give 4 minutes time for the group to talk or just watch to see when most are done) Let a child from the group come up and share their answers and exchange a dirty piece of clothes for a clean one.

* Point to a child and ask them what is something they can do. Try to involve lots of children! I can jump. I can sing. I can name all my state capitals. Ask other friends to listen and if they can do that too, then stand up also! Say, I can repent. Can everyone else do that too?

* Again, the white out. Bring in a piece of paper and pen. Write down something like I love my primary friends a lot! Whoops! I made a mistake, I wanted to write I love my primary friends more than a 25 scoop ice cream sundae with whip cream and nuts and a cherry on top. How will I fix my mistake? White out! The atonement of Christ white’s out our sins when we repent. Isaiah 1: 18 "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Let the children write down words or small pictures of mistakes we might make. Invite them to come up and share their words, then let them white out the words. Ask questions like: How do we repent? Why should we repent? What do you think it feels like after you have repented? Can you think of anyone from the scriptures that repented or didn’t repent? After a child answers a question, invite them up to white out a mistake.

* What would you do if you had 20 minutes to spend at Disneyland? What about if you had 2 minutes to play at a park? What are you doing with the time you’ve been given to live this earthly life? Alma 42:4 “And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God.”

Have a large poster board clock with detachable numbers and hands for the children to turn. Let the children come and turn it to a certain hour and have corresponding (on the back of each number) scenarios for them to answer what they would do. For example, child turns it to 4, take off the number and read the scenario: You are at school and having an important test. You don’t know the answer to one of the questions but your friend does and you can see their test. Should you cheat? Now you find out that a person was looking off your test, what should they do?” You can also have the primary children point to their wrists (like a watch) if they think it’s time to repent!

* Have a picture of Christ. Would you rather be close or far away from Christ? Have a child come up and walk toward Him, what are some things that bring us closer to Christ? What are some things that turn us away from Him (have the child turn and walk away)? If we make mistakes, is that it? We’ll just be really far away from Him, end of story? Helaman 7:17 “O repent ye, repent ye! Why will ye die? Turn ye, turn ye unto the Lord your God…” Repentance can turn us back!

“The invitation to repent is rarely a voice of chastisement but rather a loving appeal to turn around and to ‘re-turn’ toward God.” (Neil L. Andersen, Repent . . . That I May Heal You,” Ensign, Nov. 2009, 40)

Re-Turn the child and have them walk to Christ’s picture!

*"We have felt [the Lord's] forgiveness, His love and comfort. [He] has said, 'I am he [who] comforteth you' (2 Nephi 8:12). The Lord's desire that we come unto Him and be wrapped in His arms is often an invitation to repent. 'Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you' (Alma 5:33)."(Neil L. Andersen,, "Repent . . . That I May Heal You," Ensign, Nov. 2009, 40)

Have little cards folded in half. Make invitations to repent! Have the children decorate the cards with pictures of Christ. Have them put on the envelope… If I’ve made a mistake, what can I do? (For children that can’t write, have this already written for them) On the inside you can have them write You’re invited to say sorry, pray for forgiveness and do better! The children can make as many invitations as they want! They can put these by their bed as a reminder what to do if they make a mistake. Encourage them to share with their families what they have learned about repentance!

Week 3 When I am baptized I make a covenant with God.

*What is a covenant? A binding agreement or promise between God and a person or group of people.

Play Wheel of Covenants! Bring in a spinner with different values and earn points as a primary! Phrases to be solved: (Take out 2-3 words or have them fill in the word or guess a letter….) Have pictures to accompany the phrases once solved!
Take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ
Stand as a witness for God
Keep the Commandments
The Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands
Enter into the Kingdom of God

Have children come up at the end and hold the pictures. Bear testimony if we do these things like take upon us the name of Jesus, keep the commandments and stand as a witness for God by being baptized then He will keep up His part of the covenant and bless us with the Holy Ghost and let us enter into His kingdom.

* Bring in a large blue shower curtain (Dollar store!) or large piece of blue butcher paper or old blue sheet. Have tape!!, glue sticks, coloring crayons and plenty of sheets of paper. Make a primary mural depicting the story of Alma and the Waters of Mormon! (Mosiah 18) Show GAK picture 309 and BRIEFLY tell the story of what happened there. Invite the children to share what they know about the story. Children can draw people being baptized, Alma, plants, flowers, clouds…. Invite older children to find out…. Things We Covenant: and Things Heavenly Father Covenants when We are Baptized: (Gospel Principles outlines these perfectly… have them write down and add to the mural!) And voila! You have a great visual to use for other lessons on baptism!!

*Here is a great resource with ideas from Cheryl Esplin! The kids could do the mazes together in partners for Senior Sharing time.

*Here is a flannel board baptism story from the friend magazine.

* Here is a wonderful roller box presentation on covenants with additional ideas from Ann Jamison from the friend magazine.

* Here is a super duper board game you can enlarge and play called “Keeping My Baptismal Covenants” by Jennifer Rose and Beth M. Whittaker.

Week 4 When I am confirmed I receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

* Have 5 different gifts that you’ve received. Let the children put them in order of what is the least to most worth. What is one of the greatest gifts we’ve been given? "John the Baptist said that while he baptized with water, Jesus baptized 'with the Holy Ghost' (John 1:33). Nothing in this life is of greater worth than the supernal gift of the Holy Ghost." (Lawrence E. Corbridge, "The Way, Ensign," Nov. 2008, 35)

* Have different hand prints on the board for the children to come up and choose. On those hand prints have questions, songs and scriptures having to do with the gift of the Holy Ghost. Remember, we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by the “laying on of hands”!

* Lesson 13: The Gift of the Holy Ghost Can Help Me,” Primary 2: Choose the Right A, 61 found HERE is an excellent resource with activities for the children. When I taught this I told the story of Sara Jane and hid different rocks throughout the room. I let a child search for a rock and then we whispered/directed where that person should look. We talked about how the spirit whispers to us, guiding us and directing us.

There is a story at the end about a girl’s confirmation that could be made into a flannel board! (Flannel Board Tip: Let the children come up and put the picture on the board!!) We’ve also used this lesson for FHE! It’s a good one!

* The outline said the “focus of the sharing time in week 4 should be on the children sharing how the Holy Ghost has helped them”. Sit in a circle (have the room set up BEFORE sharing time, as the come in the room DIRECT them where to sit) and have the children pass around a bear and small blanket. The Holy Ghost comforts us, guides us, helps us to be happy. Just like the warmth we feel when we’re in a blanket, the Holy Ghost fills our hearts with joy and peace. Let them pass around the bear and blanket. If they’d like to share something they know about the holy ghost, they can do so when they have the bear and blanket. If not, they can hug the bear and talk about anything that makes them feel happy or just pass! Give the children 15 second warnings if they are telling an overly long story…