August 2012 LDS Primary Sharing Time Helps and Ideas

Monthly Theme: I Choose to Fill My Life With Things That Invite The Spirit
Monthly Scripture: "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things" Articles of Faith 1:13

Week 1 Having good friends will help me choose the right.

* HERE is an article from The Friend talking about our PERFECT friend, Jesus Christ. It has a nice handout on the ways Jesus is our friend. Give children a piece of paper and have them fold it into fourths. In each section they can draw a picture of a good friend and write what makes that person a good friend. For Senior Primary, they can draw a self portrait and list a couple things they can do to be better friends.

* Proverbs 18:24 "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Have a big picture/drawing up front of a friend wearing a white T-shirt. Invite children to stick a sticker on the T-shirt and tell a way to be a good friend or something they like about one of their friends. We have to stick together as friends always!!

* HERE is a whole section on friendship from For the Strength of Youth.

* "If we truly want to be tools in the hands of our Heavenly Father in bringing to pass His eternal purposes, we need only to be a friend."(Marlin K. Jensen General Conference April 1999)
Have a friendship tool kit. Attach scriptures, songs and questions about friendship to the tools and let children come up and choose one.

* Friends Are Fun (CS pg. 262) is a fun song to learn for this week!

* HERE is a great story about the power of a smile! After you briefly tell the story to the children, have some smiley faces hidden throughout the room. Invite a child to find one as you sing a song about friendship. Have them share how good friends help you choose the right!

*This is an idea for a larger primary. Play "Who's missing?!?" Invite 5 primary friends to come up front. Have them each say their name and something fun about themselves. Have everyone close their eyes as you hide one friend behind the a small table. Who is missing? This is a fun way to learn names and encourage friendship in the primary. Whoever guesses who is missing can also share a way to be a good friend! Repeat a few times!

* HERE is a nice poem from The Friend by Karen Hopkins. Make a primary "My Friends" poem! Let a child tell you something nice about a friend in primary, write it down on the blackboard and then invite that friend to say something nice about another friend in primary. If there are too many children, do the activity in small groups with their class members.

Week 2 I should read, listen to, and look at things that are pleasing to Heavenly Father.

* I really like the outline suggestion of having stations!! It's perfect!!

* "The lighthouse of the Lord sends forth signals readily recognized and never failing. These words of warning, these safety standards, are printed in a small booklet … entitled For the Strength of Youth.... Our Heavenly Father has counseled us to seek after “anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy” (Articles of Faith 1:13.) Whatever you read, listen to, or watch makes an impression on you. Don’t be afraid to walk out of a movie, turn off a television set, or change a radio station if what’s being presented does not meet your Heavenly Father’s standards. In short, if you have any question about whether a particular movie, book, or other form of entertainment is appropriate, don’t see it, don’t read it, don’t participate." President Monson (Oct. 2008 Ensign)

Have a picture of a lighthouse and bowl with some small boats floating in it. Let the children come and choose a boat. On the boats have different questions having to do with appropriate media on them.
For example: What should good movies have in them? What can make a book not so great? Would it be better to read scriptures for 1 hour or watch cartoons? Can you share something good you've read lately? Are video games that have lots of guns in them good to play?

* HERE is the BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST visual ever for this week's lesson! I'm going to definitely use it in a Family Home Evening! You could actually make a red light and green light, take the words of the lights and put them on word strips and then let the children decide whether it goes on green or red. You can send them home with this as a handout and like it says, have them put it by their TV to help remind them what they have learned.

* "I have a grandson who once asked me to go with him to a popular but inappropriate movie. I told him I wasn’t old enough to see that film. He was puzzled until his grandmother explained to him that the rating system by age didn’t apply to Grandpa. He came back to me and said, “I get it now, Grandpa. You’re never going to be old enough to see that movie, are you?” And he was right!"
Elder Robert D. Hales Our Duty To God April 2010 Ensign

Ask the primary children - what is Elder Hales talking about?!?! What is Elder Hales teaching his grandson and us about standards??

* "Choose you this day whom ye will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15

Week 3 & 4 I should do things on the Sabbath that will help me stay close to Heavenly Father.

* HERE is a story from President Monson about a friend who chose to keep the Sabbath holy. After briefly reading the story to the children, have a basketball and a basket for them to shoot it in from a distance. In order to get to shoot, they must read a scripture or tell a way to keep the Sabbath holy. We'll call this game Sabbath hoops!

* Help the children make their own stationary! HERE is an easy link on how to do so. Encourage the children to keep the Sabbath holy by writing letters and drawing pictures to help others be happy. You can invite parents of missionaries serving from the ward to come in and talk about their missionary and how important letters are to them!

* HERE is a great story about staying close through prayer! But we also stay close to Heavenly Father by keeping the Sabbath day holy too! After briefly telling the children the story, have different sea shells for the children to come up and pick. Have questions, scriptures and songs about the Sabbath taped on the sea shells for them to answer.

*What would we ever do without The Friend? HERE is another beauty! Have a little toy cow and invite a primary friend to share a way to keep the Sabbath day holy. Have 3 cups on the table and invite the friend to hide the cow under a cup. Invite another friend up front to guess where the cow is and share another way to keep the Sabbath holy. You can also ask them questions about people in the scriptures who kept the Sabbath holy, etc.

* HERE is a great article about teaching our children to keep the Sabbath holy!

* Have pictures of the following things italicized, "To hunt and fish on the Lord’s day is not keeping it holy. To plant or cultivate or harvest crops on the Sabbath is not keeping holy the Lord’s day. To go into the canyons for picnics, to attend games or rodeos or races or shows or other amusements on that day is not to keep it in holy remembrance." (Chapter 16 of Teachings of President Spencer W. Kimball)

These are things we shouldn't do on Sunday! Have the children divide into groups and draw pictures of things we SHOULD do on Sunday! Then invite them up front to take down a picture of the DON'T and replace with the DO.

End with this quote (also from Chapter 16)
"There is no criticism of... recreation—sports, picnics, plays, and motion pictures... and the Church as an organization actively sponsors such activities. But there is a proper time and place for all worthwhile things—a time for work, a time for play, a time for worship. …"