FHE: Potter's Clay

I haven't been writing our FHE lessons down probably because I haven't been thinking as much about it.  My kids have started taking turns planning the lessons!  It's fabulous! But I should write down some of their more successful ones.

Tonight, my 4-year-old helped me plan this easy lesson.  We are reading

Isaiah 64:8

But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

Discuss what it means-
I expect we'll discuss creation, keeping the commandments, aligning our will to His, etc.
Update: it occurred to me during the lesson that the clay could also be used as a metaphor for trials- We are molded by our experiences, our trials are when clay is put in the fire, and the fire makes the clay steady and strong, like our trials do to us.

Then we are playing "sculptionary" (pictionary with playdough).

[note: variations of this game for different ages: everyone makes the item you pull out, one person makes it and everyone guesses (so no teams), or the traditional way with 2 teams]

These are the words we put in a bag:

Jesus

Sun

Moon

Stars

Earth

Lion

Angel Moroni

Boat

Ten Commandments 

Tree of Life

Iron Rod

Crown of Thorns

Cross

Jesus’s tomb

Bow and Arrow

Liahona

Tent

gold plates

scriptures

FHE: Why Keep the Commandments

Tonight I used President Uchdorf's talk from the General Womens Meeting as inspiration.  He gave the analogy that the Lord is constantly showering down blessings and we block them with an umbrella of sin.

Tonight over dinner, I asked the kids about why Heavenly Father gives commandments.  (because he loves us and wants us to be happy)  Then I pointed out that some commandments have natural consequences that are blessings like keeping the Word of Wisdom keeps us healthier, or being kind to others helps them be kind to us.  Then I asked them about other commandments that may not have obvious, immediate blessings tied to them.  (Like tithing, fasting...)

I had 5 balloons blown up and I told the kids they are blessings we get from Heavenly Father.  I asked them to list 5 blessings and then wrote them down on the balloons.  (I think we did "Family Forever", "Inspiration from the Holy Ghost", "Knowledge and Truth", "Health", and "Financial and Temporal Security")  We gave each child an umbrella and then, Jay and I pretended to be Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother and said things like, "let's give our children inspiration from the Holly Ghost!" and in order to put their umbrella down to "get" the blessing, they had to say what commandment they would follow to get that blessing.

We sang "Keep the Commandments" at the beginning and "Count Your Blessings" at the end.

I think it went over really well!

FHE: 10 Commandments

We talked about Moses and the 10 commandments.  I found this cute way to remember the 10 commandments and this other way linked to in the comments.  I sort of picked my favorites from each and taught them this:

1- Hold up 1 finger.  This means God comes first so
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me"
2- Hold up 2 fingers together and have them "bow down" like they're worshipping idols
"Thou shalt have not make unto thee any graven image" (not to worship idols)
3- Hold up 3 fingers, like a 'W'.  "W" is for "Watch your Words", i.e.
"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."
4- Hold up 4 fingers.  The thumb is resting so
"Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy"
5- Hold up 5 fingers and give your mom or dad a high five!
"Honor thy father and thy mother"
6- Hold up 6 fingers (5 + 1) so that the one looks like it's shooting at the other hand.
"Thou shalt not kill"
7- Hold up 7 fingers (5 + 2) with the 2 walking on the palm of the 5 like they're getting married.  We should be loyal when we get married.
"Thou shalt not commit adultery"
8- Hold up 8 fingers (5 + 3) and hit your hands together so that now there are 4 + 4 fingers and say, "Hey! This hand stole one finger!"
"Thou shalt not steal"
9- Hold up 9 fingers and say, "Here are 9 fingers, but 9 is alllmost ten, right?  Should we just tell everyone we're holding up 10 fingers? NO, that would be a lie!"
"Thou shalt not bear false witness" (lie)
10- Hold up 10 fingers and act like your trying to grab things and say "gimme gimme" like you want to take everything from other people and be selfish
"Thou shalt not covet" (want things of others that aren't yours).

When the kids are older, I'd like to talk more about how each commandment helps us to be happy, but this was long enough for one lesson this time.  I think it went over really well!  After teaching them once, we went through them again quickly, and I could tell my 5-year old remembered some of them! :)