Treat: Jesus Walks on Water Snack from ministry2kidz
OR From the manual (we might use donuts for the “bread” to make it a little more treat-like): John 6:28–58 Give each family member a piece of bread to eat, and discuss the benefits we receive from bread and other healthy foods. Then search these verses together, looking for why Jesus Christ called Himself the “bread of life” (John 6:35). What might it mean to “eat” the bread of life? (see D. Todd Christofferson, “The Living Bread Which Came Down from Heaven,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2017, 36–39).
Make bread with this activity from The Friend: Make your favorite bread recipe, or try the one on page 8. Notice how something as small as yeast makes the whole loaf of bread bigger. How has Jesus made your small efforts big?
Easter Countdown Banner: Another thing we LOVE doing the week before Easter is this Easter Countdown Banner (click on link to see full details and free printable pieces).
Treat: The activity in this week’s lesson plan/activity sheets has instructions for “Christ Is Risen” rolls. We’ve made these with our kids the last few years and have loved doing them! We usually watch the “He Is Risen” short video in this Bible movie set while we’re baking them/eating them. As a reminder, you can buy a physical copy of our 52 Weeks of New Testament Activities book that has all of the lesson plans/activities for the full year in it, or you can download these digitally each week.
Treat: From the manual: Matthew 15:7–9; Mark 7:6–7.What is the difference between honoring God with our lips, or words, and honoring Him with our hearts?
Make heart-shaped sugar cookies while talking about how our hearts feel and how we might act if we have true faith in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. Preppy Kitchen has a recipe for striped heart cookies that look fun to try to make.
Week 16 The Good Samaritan
Matthew 18; Luke 10 “What Shall I Do to Inherit Eternal Life?”
Click here or on picture above to download a free copy for yourself.
When I was studying Come, Follow Me a couple of years ago, I came across these quotes from Tad R. Callister:
“No doubt most of our youth have their evening prayers, but perhaps many of them struggle with the habit of personal morning prayer. As parents, as their prime gospel teachers, we can correct this. Which parent in Book of Mormon times would have let their sons march out to the front of battle without a breastplate and shield and sword to protect them against the potentially mortal blows of the enemy? But how many of us let our children march out the front door each morning to the most dangerous of all battlefields, to face Satan and his myriad of temptations, without their spiritual breastplate and shield and sword that come from the protective power of prayer? The Lord said, “Pray always, … that you may conquer Satan” (D&C 10:5). As parents, we can help instill within our children the habit and power of morning prayer.“
“One of the most meaningful things we can do as parents is teach our children the power of prayer, not just the routine of prayer.”
We felt a strong pull to teach our children better about what prayer means and then created this chart to help them remember to say their personal prayers each morning as well as night. Our kids have really loved using the chart, and it has been a great way for us all to remember to make personal morning prayers a priority. Feel free to use this if you feel like it will help your own family as well!
Click here or on the picture above to download a free copy of these cards.
Our family calls these our “bucket chores” because we have them all in a small bucket we got from the dollar store.
Instructions: Cut the cards apart and put them in a small basket or bucket. Laminate if desired. When using, have each kid close their eyes and reach into the bucket to pick the chore they’ll be doing. Choose what you want those points to go toward (minutes of screen time, pennies, dimes, quarters, points toward a fun family activity, etc.). When they’re done with the chore, if their work passes Mom/Dad’s inspection, they will earn that number of (screen time minutes/coins/whatever you decide those points go toward). They may choose to do additional cards if desired. We tell the kids that for each point on their card, they can either earn one minute of tablet time or one quarter. Feel free to add your own twists to this to make it work best for you!
Click here or on the picture above to download booklet.
Instructions: Color each page while reading and discussing each paragraph. Then cut them out and staple them together into a booklet.
Extension Ideas:
Hide the pages in different areas of the room. Take turns looking for one. As each is found, read and discuss it. Staple them into a booklet once they have all been found and discussed.
Cut the pictures off of the pages and put all of the pictures in a pile or separate area. Read through the pages one at time. As each is read, try to find the picture that matches it.
Use the activity ideas on the following pages to spread the discussion of each paragraph throughout days, weeks, or months.
The full, original Family Proclamation can be found here.
ACTIVITY IDEAS TO GO ALONG WITH FAMILY PROCLAMATION: (from the Church’s website)
INTRODUCING THE TITLE: How to Explain This to Children: A “proclamation” is a very important announcement. Sometimes kings and queens make proclamations to the people in their land. This proclamation wasn’t written by a king or a queen—it was written by the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles! It teaches us important things that Heavenly Father wants us to know about families. It warns us about actions that will hurt our families or our com[1]munities. It also teaches us how we can stay safe and happy in this life. These teachings are so important that we want everyone in the entire world to hear this message. President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008), who was the prophet before President Monson, first read this proclamation at a general Relief Society meeting in September 1995.
Activity Idea: Imagine your family had the chance to share a message when the entire world was watching. What would you say? Create your own proclamation by writing or drawing your testimonies onto a large paper or poster board. Take turns standing on a chair and reading the statements of testimony out loud in a bold way, as if you were making an announcement. How does sharing your testimony make you feel? Why would it be important to listen to the proclamations and testimonies of the First Presidency and the Apostles?
BOOKLET PAGE #1: (Paragraph 1 in the regular version of the Family Proclamation) Show your children pictures of your wedding or the wedding of grandparents or other couples in your family history. Tell your children the story of how you and your spouse met, or share other stories from family and friends. Invite your children to draw pictures of what they imagine their wedding and family will be like someday. Testify of the blessings that have come into your life because of marriage.
BOOKLET PAGE #2: (Paragraph 2 in Family Proclamation) Give each child a piece of paper and invite them to fill it with a collage of pictures and words showing what makes them unique. They could cut pictures out of magazines, draw their own, or print pictures from online. Talk about how wonderful it is that people have different talents and interests. Point to two different tools that were used to create your collages—a pair of scissors and a bottle of glue, for example. Although these tools look different and do different things, they worked together to create something beautiful. Explain that boys and girls are created to be different, but neither one is better than the other. Men and women work together to create beautiful families.
BOOKLET PAGE #3: (Paragraph 3 in Family Proclamation) Review the plan of salvation by labeling different places in your house as different parts of the plan (for example, pre[1]earth life, life on earth, spirit world, eternal life). As you move from place to place, talk about why that part of the plan is important. If possible, find a picture of Jesus Christ to take with you. At each stop, talk about why Jesus is important to that part of the plan and how He can help us get to the next place successfully. Talk about why Heavenly Father’s plan is sometimes called the “plan of happiness.”
PAGE #4: (Paragraph 3 continued in Family Proclamation) Hang a picture of a temple somewhere in your home—cut a picture out of the Church magazines or draw a temple if you wish. Look at the picture as a family and talk about what you can do to live together with Heavenly Father someday. If you haven’t already been sealed as a family, make a plan to get to the temple. If your family has been sealed, share your testimony of what happened on that special day, and set goals to continue making faithful choices. Visit FamilySearch.org and learn more about family members who have died. Talk about meeting them again someday. Are there any family members who need temple ordinances done?
PAGE #5: (Paragraph 4 in Family Proclamation) Make a family paper-doll chain. Take a piece of paper and cut it in half lengthwise. Fold one of the half pieces accordion style into four sections. Draw a figure of a person on the top layer (you can use the template below if you’d like). Cut the figure out, being careful not to cut the ends of the arms, which will connect the figures together. After you unfold the chain, write something you love about your family on each of the figures (you may need to tape together several paper chains!). You could also write words that describe the kind of family you hope to have one day.
PAGE #6: (Paragraph 5 in Family Proclamation) If possible, tell your children about the day they were born, and look at baby pictures if you have them. Tell your children how much you love them and that their Heavenly Parents love them too. If the time is right, be prepared to teach them, in an age-appropriate way, about sexual intimacy. Answer questions they have in an open, loving way. Play a game together that involves some sort of physical activity, and talk about the different, wonderful things our bodies can do. For example, you could play freeze tag. In order to be “unfrozen,” a player has to say something they like about what their body can do.
Draw these three large shapes on pieces of paper or a whiteboard: (1) an outline of a heart, (2) an outline of the commandment tablets, and (3) an outline of a stop sign. Talk about the different ways your family shows love, keeps the commandments, and obeys the law. Write or draw your answers in the matching shape. With a different color pen, write or draw goals your family could work toward in each area
PAGE #8: (Paragraph 7 in Family Proclamation) Explain what “wholesome recreational activities” are, and then go do something fun!
PAGE #9: (Paragraphs 8 and 9 in Family Proclamation) Learn about who your local government leaders are. Write them a letter asking for something that would help your family or thanking them for something that already does. For example, you could thank them for a park near your home, or ask them for more family-friendly community activities. What have you learned about the family proclamation this year?
Click here or on the picture to download instructions and free printable countdown banner pieces.
This is one of our favorite traditions! Our kids love doing this countdown to Easter. It really helps brings the Spirit into our home and reminds us of what Easter is about.
Video/Book: Start on Sunday the week before Easter with watching a short video or reading a quick book explaining Easter such as “A Very Special Easter.” Remind them of the real reason why we celebrate Easter and discuss the hope and joy we can have because of Jesus Christ.
Banner Pieces: Have the banner triangles cut out and put together. Either use them as is, put patterned paper underneath to make them more colorful and punch holes in the corners to place on a string/ribbon, or get a banner from Hobby Lobby (or another craft store) to glue them onto. If you want to reuse them, you can print it on cardstock, laminate all of the pieces, and put Velcro on the pictures, but you could just use regular paper and glue if you don’t want to reuse them.
Daily Descriptions and Pictures: Have the daily descriptions and pictures cut out and put in separate labeled envelopes/large plastic eggs/some kind of container for each day. Can put the pictures on gold/patterned paper to make them stand out more. Laminate and put Velcro on the back of the pictures (or just use tape if laminated) so they can be placed on the circles on the Easter Banner. It’s great to throw a little treat or snack into each daily envelope/egg/container and place them all in an Easter basket to make it more fun. We used jumbo Easter eggs from Hobby Lobby (or I’ve also seen them at the Dollar Tree recently), and put a treat/snack as well as the daily picture inside of each. That way the kids had something to snack on while we read the scriptures. We also put all of the daily descriptions on a little keychain so they were all together and we could just flip to the day we were on. Wording for these descriptions are from the church’s website.
Countdown to Easter: On each day (starting the Sunday before Easter), open the egg/envelope/container, read the description of what happened that day, sing the song that goes with it, and then read/discuss the corresponding scriptures as they look at the picture. Place the banner somewhere where it can be seen all week to help the family remember why we celebrate Easter.
Extra Crafts/Activities: If you’d like additional crafts and other fun things to do along with this countdown each day, Crystal from theredcrystal.org has created some additional great daily activities.
Song QR Codes: The last page in the Easter Countdown Banner download also has QR codes that will link you to the daily songs. We plan on printing these up and adding them to our daily descriptions so we can easily pull the songs up when it’s time to sing/listen to them.
Treat: Eat a favorite treat while watching a past conference talk from church leaders or short messages about apostles on the “Meet the Apostles” website. Come up with a plan for how to make our next conference more meaningful as we listen to messages that are given.
From the Manual: We’re planning on starting our lesson with this idea of inward cleanliness and then using it to lead into discussion on how both prayer and keeping the Sabbath Day holy can help us be clean on the inside: Luke 11:37–44Perhaps your family could discuss these verses while washing dishes together. You could talk about why it would be a bad idea to wash only the outsides of things like bowls and cups. You could then relate this to the need to be righteous not just in our outward deeds but also in our inward thoughts and feelings.
Matthew 11:28–30You can help your family visualize the Savior’s teachings in these verses by having them take turns trying to pull something heavy, first by themselves and then with help. What are some of the burdens we carry? What does it mean to take Christ’s yoke upon ourselves?
Read Matthew 11:28–30, and show the picture of yoked oxen in this week’s outline in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families. Ask the children to point to the oxen and the yoke. Explain that yoked oxen can pull more weight together than each could separately. Testify that when we feel sad, worried, or scared, we can seek Jesus and He will help us.
Matthew 12:10–13 As you read about Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath, your family could talk about how we are “restored whole” by the Savior. How can the Sabbath be a day of healing for us? Inspired by the Savior’s example in these verses, your family could make a list of ways you can “do well on the sabbath” (verse 12). Be sure to include opportunities to serve others. It could be helpful to keep your list and refer to it on future Sundays.
Invite a child to pretend to be the man whose hand was healed by the Savior (see Matthew 12:10–13). Another child could ask him or her questions about the experience.
Treat: Compare our arms being folded when we pray to the twists on pretzels. Blog Lovin has a cute printable that could be put onto bags of pretzels. If you want to make it more of a sweet treat, you could dip them into chocolate while talking about how following God’s commandments and praying each day brings more sweetness into our lives.
If we are feeling ambitious enough, we might try to make homemade pretzels using this recipe from BriannaJoycee. We’ll dip them in butter with cinnamon and sugar instead of using salt to make them a little sweeter. 💖
Week 12 Parable Story Time
Matthew 13; Luke 8; 13 “Who Hath Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear”
From the Manual: Matthew 13As your family members read the Savior’s parables, they might enjoy thinking of their own parables that teach the same truths about the kingdom of heaven (the Church), using objects or situations that are familiar to them.
Matthew 13:3–23; Luke 8:4–15After reading the parable of the sower together, your family might discuss questions like these: What can make our “ground” (our hearts) “stony” or “choke” the word? How can we make sure our ground is good and fruitful? If you have younger children in your family, it could be fun to invite family members to act out different ways to prepare our hearts to hear the word of God while other family members guess what they are doing.
Luke 8:1–3In what ways did “certain women” minister to the Savior? “Female disciples traveled with Jesus and the Twelve, learning from [Jesus] spiritually and serving Him temporally. … In addition to receiving Jesus’s ministering—the glad tidings of His gospel and the blessings of His healing power—these women ministered to Him, imparting their substance and devotion” (Daughters in My Kingdom [2017], 4). Women who followed the Savior also bore powerful testimony of Him (see Linda K. Burton, “Certain Women,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 12–15).
Treat: Follow directions from Bitz & Giggles to make dirt cups with flowers.
Additional Activity Ideas For Parables: If you’d like to spread your study out throughout the week, here are some additional fun activities that could be used for the parables:
Let the children act out the parable of the wheat and the tares (see Matthew 13:24–30). Explain that the wheat represents people who make righteous choices, and the tares (harmful weeds) represent people who do not. One day, Heavenly Father will gather the righteous people to live with Him.
Give the children some examples of right and wrong choices. Ask the children to say “wheat choice” when you describe a right choice and “tare choice” when you describe a wrong choice.
Bring pictures of stalks of wheat, and let the children draw on the pictures some ways they can be righteous.
Hide pictures of a treasure chest and a pearl in the room, and let the children find them. Use the pictures to teach about the parables in Matthew 13:44–46. Talk about why someone might give up everything they have for a beautiful pearl or a treasure in a field. Explain that sometimes we give up something good for something even better. Tell the children why the gospel is valuable to you.
Place in a box or chest several objects or pictures that represent “treasures” in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, such as the Savior, temples, or the Book of Mormon. Ask each child to choose an object or picture and talk about why it is a treasure.
Sing together “The Church of Jesus Christ” (Children’s Songbook, 77), and ask the children to talk about reasons they’re thankful for the Savior’s Church. Testify of the blessings you’ve experienced because of your membership in the Church.
Stuff from the Manual: Matthew 4:1–2; Luke 4:1–2. “What insights can we gain from this account about the power of fasting? To help your family learn about fasting, you might use “Fasting and Fast Offerings” in Gospel Topics (topics.ChurchofJesusChrist.org). Family members could share experiences they have had with fasting. Perhaps you could prayerfully make plans to fast together for a specific purpose.“
Luke 4:16–21.Do we know anyone who is brokenhearted or who needs to be “set at liberty”? (Luke 4:18). How can we help others receive the Savior’s healing and deliverance? You might also discuss how performing temple ordinances helps bring “deliverance to the captives” (Luke 4:18). We plan on talking about how one way to follow Christ is to help others, such as the brokenhearted. Then we’ll put together little note/treat packages to send to others we know. (Tie this into being “fishers of men”)
“As you read Matthew 4:1–11 and Luke 4:1–13, what do you learn that can help you when you face temptations? You could organize your thoughts in a table like this one:“
Survivingateacherssalary and Catholic Icing also have fun ideas that could go along with this lesson (click on pictures below to go to their instructions).
Treat: Read Matthew 5:13. Does salt make popcorn better or worse? What other ingredients could be added to popcorn to make it yummy? Would we want to add dirt to it? Or would we rather add sugar/good ingredients? While we’re on Earth, would we rather add good/nice things by the way we treat people or bad/yucky things? Put caramel popcorn ingredients in for each good thing the kids can think of for ways to be kind to others and make the world a better place. Is the popcorn better when you add good ingredients? Is the Earth better when we do good things? What can we do to make the world a better place (How can we be like the salt/good ingredients of the Earth)? How can Jesus Christ help us do good things?
Week 8 A Strong Foundation
Matthew 6-7; Luke 3 “He Taught Them As One Having Authority”
Church Videos: Sermon on the Mount: The Lord’s Prayer Sermon on the Mount: Treasures in Heaven Jesus Teaches About Prayer Suggestion from the CFM manual: One way to learn from Matthew 6–7 as a family is to watch the videos “Sermon on the Mount: The Lord’s Prayer” and “Sermon on the Mount: Treasures in Heaven” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org). Family members could follow along in their scriptures and pause the videos whenever they hear something they want to discuss. This activity could span several days, if needed.
Treat: After studying Matthew 1 and Luke 1, take turns rolling a die and answering questions based on what was rolled. Give each person a favorite small treat when they answer a question.
Church Videos: Mary and the Angel Joseph and the Angel Elisabeth and Zacharias John the Baptist is Born The Naming of John the BaptistI like how this video shows Elisabeth having the courage to speak up and say, “Not so; but he shall be called John” to let others know that they were following what the Spirit prompted them to do rather than following the societal traditions for naming him.That is a great example for our kids to follow. After we’ve done the Mary and Joseph puzzles, we’ll probably show this video, spend some time talking about Elisabeth, and do some role-plays of how we can also be bold in following the Spirit’s promptings in our own lives.
More Stuff: Jesus Christ Chosen as Savior reading passage from Gospel Topics From the manual: John 1:45–51.“What did Nathanael do that helped him gain a testimony of the Savior? Invite family members to talk about how they have gained their testimonies.” From the manual: “Share object lessons. Invite family members to find objects that they can use to help them understand principles found in the scriptures you are reading as a family. For instance, they might use a candle to represent the Light of Christ (see John 1:4).” (We plan on giving them time to find objects that represent Christ being the Light, the Word, the Creator, and the Life, and then discussing each) Jesus Created All Things video from Latter Day Kids How to Draw a Bird video that ties into The Savior creating the world
Treat: Make edible playdough. Read John 1:3. Memorize the phrase “all things were made by [Jesus Christ].” Take turns molding a chunk of the playdough into something in nature that was made by Jesus Christ (trees, flowers, rivers, clouds, etc.). Whoever guesses what it is first gets to mold another item for others to guess.
Week 4 Turning Toward Jesus
Matthew 3; Mark 1; Luke 3 “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord”
Come Follow Me For Kids 