Please see my page on Sunbeams for an overview of my teaching system.
Although the opening prayer was addressed in Lesson 1, it will no longer be explicitly addressed in each lesson. Likewise, it is no longer included in activity selection.
We began the lesson by singing "I Am a Child of God" (see manual: We are spirit children of Heavenly Father), and by briefly discussing what the song means. We discussed that we are children of God, and we lived with God in heaven before we came to earth. God wanted us to be able to get a body and become as He is, so He made a plan that would allow us to gain a body and return to live with Him. We came to earth as part of His plan for us. Today we would be learning about that plan.
I had downloaded visuals on the Plan of Salvation by Latterday Chatter, from Etsy. It cost $3. But there are plenty of free visuals available. Do a Google search for Plan of Salvation visuals. LDS.about.com has some nice visuals available for download, including this one and this one.
Activity Selection: Because the Plan of Salvation cannot be taught in a random order, the Activity Selection was done similarly to Lesson 1, labeling the appropriate visuals in order. We did not use all of the visuals that came with the download. We used the following:
1. Premortal Life - We lived in heaven before we came to earth. Looking at the visual from Latterday Chatter (showing a family in heaven), I asked the question of what they thought it was like? They were able to identify that there were families. We discussed that we lived together as a family in Heaven. (Asking children what they see and can figure out from a picture is a valuable tool for engagement, versus telling children what they see. They have to use their skills of observation as well as think about what those images might mean.)
2. Earth Life - Then we were born onto earth, gaining our bodies. (See manual: Heavenly Father sent us to live on earth.) A veil was placed over our minds so we couldn't remember. I likened this to being blindfolded, and gave each child the opportunity to be blindfolded. We cannot "see" our memories from Heaven. (Object lessons are a great way to involve and engage children. But when you have object lessons, particularly with young children, you need to try to involve all of the children. They will all want a turn. They will all want to participate in an activity like that. So think about how you can involve all of them, without taking too much time. In this case, having enough blindfolds for each child was a simple way to accomplish this. They each got to participate, and it didn't take the time required if they took turns one after the other.)
Gaining a physical body was then likened to a glove. (The week prior, the children were introduced to this symbolism in Sharing Time. See object lesson in The 2015 Outline for Sharing Time.) I liked the idea of connecting what they had done in Sharing Time to this lesson. The more connections we can make, the better. I let each child put on a glove, with the hand representing the spirit, and the glove the physical body.
We went through activities 3 through 5 very quickly, as they are not really the focus of the lesson. But I did it to briefly introduce the whole Plan of Salvation and help them understand and connect the process.
3. Death - When we die, our spirits leave our bodies (had the children take off the gloves).
4. Spirit World - Our spirits go to the Spirit World.
5. Resurrection - The spirit and body comes back together again (put the gloves back on), and we become like our Father in Heaven.
6. Judgment - This activity we spent more time on, helping the children understand that our choices here on earth determine where we go during Judgment. (This set of visuals included a number of visuals related to some of the bigger decisions we must make, but other visuals could be used equally well. Bigger decisions included: baptism, going to the temple, etc.) (See manual: Heavenly Father wants us to return to Him someday.) We looked at the three kingdoms we can be placed in (using the Plan visuals), likened to the sun, moon, and stars, and briefly mentioned that Heavenly Father lives in the Celestial Kingdom.
After going through the Plan of Salvation, we reviewed the main points with a matching activity using a file folder game created by Kimberly Bourne, found on Etsy (for $2.50). I had printed one copy out on card stock, laminated it, and used Velcro for the pieces. I also printed some copies out on plain paper - one for each child. I placed the laminated pieces on the table in front of the children. As we reviewed, they took turns picking out the correct pieces for the file folder game. Once a piece was identified, I would give each child the same piece to glue onto their pages.
Review is an important part of the lesson. Hearing the same message in multiple ways is a valuable way to reinforce that message and help the children retain it. Additionally, by making it a hands-on activity, it involved them in a different way than before. Different modalities are another way of reinforcing the message. And being able to take it home will allow opportunities for further review and family discussion at home.
For another take-home, I gave each child the activity from Sunday Savers.
For the coloring sheet, I had two options I really liked: the black and white poster from Sunday Savers, and one from LDS.org. I opted to use the one from LDS.org.
Another take-home I considered using, also from LDS.org.
Here's one I would like to modify for a matching game rather than a drawing activity. Thanks to Sugardoodle for having identified so many wonderful resources!
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