Lesson 26: Families can be Together Forever

I can't believe the year is over half over!  Only 20 more lessons to go...

Some lessons are harder to prepare for than others.  The more abstract the concept, the more difficult it is for me to prepare a meaningful lesson for young children.  Young children, in general, need things to be very concrete.  But, finding "concrete" activities and materials for abstract concepts are generally absent from our common resources.  Look at Sugardoodle, and you will see.  I love that site!  It has so many amazing resources and links, but... when it comes to the more abstract concepts, there are considerably less ideas provided, because there are less available, and a lot harder to think of.  So, what do you do when the concept is abstract?  Looking for ways to focus on the concrete can make it easier.

"Forever" is not an easy concept.  But, I decided not to focus on the concept.  Rather, I decided to focus on temples.  Temples is something that young children can understand.

I liked the idea of the activity listed on Sugardoodle - to take the children on a tour of the church and compare it to the temple.  But, I didn't find it to be very practical.  Every room in our building is being used, so a tour would disrupt classes or meetings.  And I'm not sure that the young children would really grasp the abstraction of the comparison.  In addition to which, our building in no way compares to the beauty of the temple.  I didn't want to diminish the special nature of the temple and risk the children thinking the temple and the church were too similar.

Unfortunately, that was the only activity idea given on Sugardoodle. :(


But I did find some good ideas on Finch Family Games and in the current issue of the Friend (July 2015)

I also liked the idea found on Church Babies Blog to make a book on preparing to go to the temple, and using the visuals from the lesson manual.  But I ended up modifying it (see below). 



We started the lesson time with snack... something we've been doing the past several weeks.  We get to the classroom around 11:20 a.m., and the children seem to be starving by the time we get there.  So, we've started doing snack first.  Otherwise I keep hearing about how hungry they are.  And they can't stay focused when they're hungry.

So, we start with snack.  And while they're eating, I read a story to introduce the topic.  For today, I found a beautiful book on Amazon "Families can be Together Forever", featuring art by Greg Olsen and song lyrics by Ruth Muir Gardner.  The children were mesmerized.  I read the lyrics, rather than singing them.  The last page, though, showed the sheet music, and one little boy asked what that was.  I told him it was the music to the story.  They hadn't recognized the words.  So, I pulled out my iPad and played the song using the LDS music app.  This time, I sang along as I turned the pages.  The children loved it!

Then I began to follow the lesson in the manual.  I showed them the picture of the Salt Lake Temple and asked if they knew what it was.  Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, but at first, none of them knew what it was.  But then again, we live in New York.  Temples aren't commonplace, as they are in Utah.

I showed them the Friend (July 2015), and opened to the story "What do we do in the temple?"  We looked at the pictures and talked about the things that are done in the temple, as discussed in the lesson section "The temple is a sacred place".  I then turned to "Temple Time" and read them the short story.  Some of it was above their understanding, but they were quiet and attentive and seemed to grasp the sacred nature and desire to go to the temple.

Next, I shifted attention to what they can do now to prepare to go to the temple.  For this, I used an activity found on Finch Family Games - Temple Worthy Workers.  The activity includes six simple puzzles showing different things children can do to be temple worthy.  They include: prayer, going to church, paying tithing, studying scriptures, eating good foods, and loving one another.  I had the children put together each of the puzzles.  I only had 4 children in class, so I was able to give each child one to complete independently, then paired them up to do the last 2 puzzles.  If you have more children, you can have them work on them in pairs.

Then we took time to look at each of the pictures and talk about what they meant and why they are important in preparing to go to the temple.  

On a practical note, I tried to hold up each puzzle to talk about them, but it was tricky to hold the four pieces together.  I should have either used tape or magnets to put them on the board.  Also, that way, the pictures would have remained as constant reminders of the ways to prepare.  Because once we were done going through all 6 puzzles, I asked the children if they could remember the things they can do to prepare to go through the temple.  I was met with blank faces.  Seeing them once, and having a short discussion, is not enough.  Young children need something more to hold onto something to remember it.  So, I role played the 6 puzzles to remind them of the things they can do.

Next, I handed out the books that I had made for each child.  I printed these out 2-sided, 2 pages per sheet of paper, cut and assembled the pages, and stapled the books together.  I also took pictures I had of the children and pasted them on the second page (where indicated).  They came out really cute!

I read the story to the children, then gave them each their books.  They then colored the black and white images.

Finally, we used the black and white poster taken from Sunday Savers.

The lesson turned out very nice!  The children were very attentive and well behaved, and it was a joy to see how carefully they colored the pictures.  They have grown up so much in the past months.  They began with scribbles, but now, they are coloring.

Please leave your comments and suggestions!