2014 - Families Are Forever - Extra Downloads

I've had several requests to make a few of my downloads editable and so I did.

I also took the word art from my bookmark and chapstick label and made it a little bigger.  I made it bigger in a few different sizes (4x6, 5x5, 5x7, 8x8, and 8x10). 

Now, back to the editable downloads.

All of them are in Microsoft Word.  I put text boxes in the spots you'd need them, but you may want/need to move them around, resize them or just delete what I've added to make it fit what you need.

Door Signs

CD Cover

    Binder Cover (Horizontal and Vertical)

Check out my other printables here and here.  Plus, there are still a few more things I'm working on, so check back through December!

Simply Fun Thanksgiving Crafts

A few weeks ago I wrote about how I plan and organize our crafts.  At the end of the post I mentioned that I'd show you how our planned Thanksgiving crafts went and so, here they are.

Most of them.  We're still planning to make the thankful pac-man during our family night tonight, I wanted everyone to be able to get in on the grateful action.

This is James after I asked for a normal smile.  I suppose normal is relative, especially when you're talking to/about a 6 year old.

There, that's a little better.  He was the only one who wanted to make the turkey headdress, I love how much he loves to do projects.

I also love their pilgrims.  After getting them done, though, I should have made the heads a little bit bigger, a little more like a bobble head (although these are still cute). 

My favorite thing about them is that they can go anywhere.  I turn around and there's a pilgrim staring at me.  They've had them on the school room table, stuck to our white board (where they are in this picture) and on the bookshelf.  

This is the only project that everyone's made so far.  The rest of the turkeys are hanging on the chandelier in our dining room.  Because you get to choose what colors you want for the "feathers," each turkey turns out differently, and it's interesting how much their choices show their personalities.

My favorite thing about each of these projects is that they don't take a lot of time, supplies or skill.  My kids love projects they can do all or mostly on their own (and so does their mom) and after I sketched a couple templates, these were perfect.

I would love to hear about what you've been doing, what's been your favorite Thanksgiving project?

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving week!!
Leah

December Sharing Time - The Prophets Foretold That Jesus Christ Would Come to Earth

This whole month is going to be pretty darn great.  I'm really excited to watch the kids as they get to learn about, discuss and work on following their Savior a little more closely.

Before Sharing Time starts, you're going to need to attach the scripture that goes along with each prophet to the back of their picture (I LOVE that sticky tacky stuff...it goes under lots of names, but it's removable putty).  Next, attach the prophet pictures to a board, leaving room under each so you can add pictures and words showing what they prophesied.  Then, attach the pictures and words so the kids can look at them as the scriptures are being read and decide which ones go with each prophet.

As you start Sharing Time, share the following quote:

Elder Delbert L. Stapley said, "We will never go wrong as a people if we follow the Lord's prophet, who is also our prophet, and heed his teachings, counsel, and personal example."

This is true in every area of our lives and throughout history, this week we get to learn about the different ways prophets from the scriptures prophesied about the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Have all the prophets names in a pile up front and choose one child at a time to come up, choose a name, and try to match it to the prophet's picture.

As they find a match, have them pull the scripture from behind the picture telling what that specific prophet said about Christ.  For senior primary, you could turn this into a scripture chase to help looking go a little more quickly (plus scripture chases are always fun), but it might be easier to have the scriptures ready for the kids to read in junior primary.

As the scripture is read, have them watch the pictures and words on the board to try and figure out which ones show us some of the prophecies made.  After you're done reading, choose a few kids to come up front and move the pictures and/or words underneath the prophet who made those specific prophecies.  There are a few repeats, for example, both Mary and virgin are prophesied twice in the scriptures we'll be reading (I wasn't sure what to do for those, so I made words for them both, but I also have two pictures of Mary, so you can pick how you want those to go).

End with your testimony about the Jesus birth, life, death, (and most importantly) His resurrection.  The prophets foretold that He would come and HE DID!!

President Monson said, "With all my heart and the fervency of my soul, I lift up my voice in testimony as a special witness and declare that God does live.  Jesus is His Son, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh.  He is our Redeemer; He is our Mediator with the Father.  He it was who died on the cross to atone for our sins.  He became the firstfruits of the Resurrection.  Because He died, all shall live again.  "Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives: 'I know that my Redeemer lives!'" May the whole world know it and live by that knowledge, I humbly pray..."

Here's what I've put together for the week:

Prophet Pictures
Scriptures
Words
Prophecy Pictures


Have a wonderful week,
Leah

December Sharing Time Theme - I Know That Jesus Christ Will Come Again

I love that every December we get to learn more about and focus a little closer on our Savior.  We speak of Him and His teachings throughout the whole year, but having a chance to learn more about His life is always a blessing.

This month we'll be talking about Christ coming to live on earth, returning to the earth in glory, how we can prepare to live with Him and (my favorite) that we are ALL children of God.  Every single one of us.

I recently read a talk by Elder Delbert L. Stapley where he said, "The predictions of the early prophets concerning Christ's birth, life, and ministry were fulfilled, and those who sincerely believed were prepared to accept him.  This being true, we can reliably expect that the happenings prophesied of concerning his second coming will also be fulfilled."

As we have faith, as we believe what we learn of Christ's life and mission, we will have a greater desire to prepare ourselves to meet Him.  It doesn't matter if it's when He comes again or if it's when our time here in mortality is over.  We need to choose to learn and then ACT.  I love that the months lessons are set up like that.

We first learn about Christ's life, that He is coming again and then we learn how we can incorporate that information into our lives through the action of preparation.

Last, we end our year helping the children to feel Heavenly Father's love for them through the knowledge that they are each truly His children.  I've long felt that the knowledge that we are His, no matter what, that He loves us, no matter what, is one of the biggest life time game changers out there.

President Hinckley said, "Never forget, my dear young friends, that you really are a child of God who has inherited something of His divine nature, one whom He loves and desires to help and bless.  I pray that our Heavenly Father will bless you.  May He smile with favor upon you.  May you walk in His paths and follow His teachings.  May you ever be prayerful unto Him, praying always in the name of His Beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  May each of us resolve to always follow Him in faith.  May life be kind to you, for you are indeed a child of God, worthy and deserving of His love and blessing."

I also love this months scripture,

Our primary has done so well this year memorizing each month's scripture.  I love that they now have these "packets of light" illuminating their minds (we decided unanimously as a presidency to continue with next years scriptures).

If you've been following along adding pieces to your armor of god guy each month, we've reached the end of the road, his armor was complete last month.  This month we are simply adding a picture of our Savior to the board, above his head in the direction he's looking to show that we need to always be heading toward Christ.

This is actually a picture from my home (the first thing you see as you walk in my front door) and I probably won't be using it, although I may bring it in for decoration (I'm planning to borrow a pass along card from our building for the armor of god display).

My favorite talks this month were,

President Gordon B. Hinckley, "You Are a Child of God"
President Thomas S. Monson, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives"

Hope you have a Merry Christmas,
Leah

Sharing Time - November Week 4

After spending three weeks focusing on expressing thanks for specific blessings that fall into specific categories (body, temporal and spiritual), this week we're wrapping up by learning that we should offer thanks for every single blessing.  All of them. 

I love what President J. Reuben Clark said about our blessings, "Hold fast to the blessings which God has provided for you.  Yours is not the task to gain them, they are here; yours is the part of cherishing them."

Our job isn't JUST to offer thanks, it is to CHERISH them.  To hold dear, to care for tenderly or to cling fondly (according to dictionary.com).  The word cherish makes me think of my daughter when she was a toddler squeezing her stuffed animals so tightly against her cheek.  She loved them with all her heart and just couldn't quite get enough.

I'm not sure about you, but I don't often have feelings that strong when it comes to my blessings.  How can we truly cherish all that we are blessed with?

This week we get to brainstorm ways to show how much we cherish our blessings.  First, talk about how you have shown thanks for a gift you've received. 

It might be a little fun here to be a little funny.  Talk in all seriousness about how you showed thanks, then, perhaps, you can say that after a while though, the gift became normal.  Not something you really thought about anymore or took care of very well.  As you're talking, drop the gift, step on it or do something else to show a lack of caring.  You can then teach about how it is always important to be thankful, not just when we first receive a gift or blessing.

Brainstorm with the kids different ways we can show thanks.  Say thank you, give a hug, be kind, do an act of kindness, and continue to be thankful.  You could get them to list even more things if you ask for specific acts they could do to show their thanks.  Perhaps contrasting what you could do for a person in their life (a parent) to what we can do for Heavenly Father.

Now that their juices are flowing (and they've got some ideas to get started), set them up into groups and pass around the bags described in the outline.  Challenge them to be specific in their ideas.  How will they show Heavenly Father that they are cherishing His blessings? 

You can download this paper to stick in with your items (even though I know a plain piece of paper works just as good here, I love cute things).  I couldn't decide if I liked having one whole sheet or if a half sheet worked better, so I put both in the download.

After you've read through their ideas, ask the kids for one thing they've learned that they WILL DO. 

Ask them how (or if) they think being thankful will affect their lives.  We learn through modern science that those who cherish what they have been given are happier, but we learn even greater truths from the scriptures.

Doctrine and Covenants teaches, "And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of the earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more."

Isn't it great that being thankful for what we are blessed with only leads to more blessings!? 

Have a wonderful (and blessed!) week.

Leah

Families Are Forever - Primary 2014 - Printables!!

I've found that the more I make for next year, the more I think of to make.

While it might sound great, it sort of creates the problem of never quite being done, so I decided I had to pick a temporary stopping point to take the time to get what I had done ready to upload.

I hope you enjoy using these as much as I've enjoyed making them!

First, I have the graphic I made just to go at the top of my posts about next year.  I was surprised so many people wanted it (sans my "watermark").  So here is a link to download that.

Families Are Forever jpg
Families Are Forever pdf

Bookmark

The subway art is made from the monthly themes throughout the year.  It's a smaller bookmark (there are 4 to a page in the download) so that they can fit in smaller scriptures.  If you'd like, you can punch a hole in the top (in the circle) to tie a ribbon/yarn/something else cute.

Chapstick Label

I used the same subway art to make these simple and cute chapstick labels (the label is 2.0625"x2.15").  They work best if you print them on whole sheet labels and cut them apart.  There are 12 on each sheet.

Door Signs

I made two different types of door signs.  One that includes a place for a list of class members (you'll write more than one name on each line) and one that is just the class, teacher and room.

Door Sign
Door Sign - Class Members

 CD Sleeve

 

After downloading and printing them out, you just need to cut, fold, glue and slide your 2014 CD's in.  I love how simple they are and how well they turned out.

I would LOVE to hear about any of your plans for next year, now that our program is over, I'm getting even more excited!  If you'd like to see the binder covers I've made, be sure to click over to this post.

Leah

Check out other printables I've made here and here.  Check back through December, there are a few more things I'm working on.

The temple I used in all of these printables is from Susan Fitch Illustration and Design, she is such a talented artist!

November Sharing Time - Week 3 - Spiritual Blessings

Continuing from last week, ask the children if they were able to find ways to show their thanks for their temporal, or physical, blessings.  Encourage them to continue to SEARCH for their blessings everyday, we are promised that as we look for our blessings, we will remember things we hadn't even noticed during the day. 

To transition from the temporal blessings of last week into this weeks theme, you could ask the kids if there are any other ways we are blessed and after listening to and discussing their answers, direct them to the scriptures. 

I could see the junior primary being stumped here, not sure what other ways we can be blessed and I think this could be a great opportunity to remind them that whenever we have a question, we ALWAYS have somewhere we can turn, the SCRIPTURES!!  Even senior primary could use a reminder (heck, I could often use one as well).

I love getting into the scriptures with the kids.  Take the time to make sure they really understand what these scriptures are telling us.  I would stop after the first verse and either re-word it myself or ask for a volunteer to tell me what it said in their own words.  God gives many gifts through the Spirit to help us, to make us better and to help us grow. 

Then, to involve the kids and keep them listening closely as you read (or have a volunteer read) through all the gifts, ask the kids to either stand or raise their hands as they hear a gift.  You could ask whoever stands first to tell you what they think that gift is, what it might mean if they had it and how they could use it to help others or give an example of someone they think does or did have it and how they use(d) it to bless those around them.

The last verse teaches us that these gifts come to each of us.  More than one of them to each of us.  How AMAZING is that?!

After reading through the scriptures, I made up a matching game to go along with each of the gifts to play.  If you wanted, you could wait to talk about each gift until the matching game (and as they find the match, have the person who finds it tell you about it).

I made two versions, one uses words from the scriptures and the other uses pictures to depict the words.  I also have a pdf of the scripture I made if you'd like to use that in your primary.

Matching Game - Words
Matching Game - Pictures
Scripture

Hope your sharing time blesses you and your primary!
Leah