FHE: Love

Before I mention this week's lesson, I thought I'd just point out that I've added some links to the side-bar of a few other helpful blogs (similar to this) with helpful ideas for FHE and other LDS callings (Activity Days, etc.) for your (and my) convenience. :)

So, this week it seemed only fitting to talk about love, since Valentine's Day was on Tuesday.  We didn't go very deep...  All we did was get out some paper and scissors and everyone was to cut out hearts (well, Peach- my 1 year old- didn't, and The Frog - my 3 year old- just cut whatever...) and then each person would finish this sentence for each other family member:
"I love mommy/daddy/Peach/Frog because..."
I wrote the responses on the hearts and we decorated our closet door in the kitchen with them.  My favorite one was
"I love Peach because she always chases me. Love, The Frog"

I didn't plan a treat (because I was already planning to make creme brûlée on V-Day) and at the last minute decided to give the kids graham cracker frosting sandwiches with some leftover strawberry frosting from a baby shower (which just happened to be the appropriate Valentine's color).  They were thrilled. :)

What did I learn?  I think with such young kids, it would have been better if I had previously cut out the hearts and even had "I love NAME because..."  already written on them because I lost The Frog by the end...  For older kids, though, it would probably be great to let everyone cut out one heart for all the family members themselves.

FHE: The Creation

You can find some other great ideas here. (especially for older kids)
I printed pictures and summarized what Genesis 1 says about what was created when.  You can see my lesson plan and pictures here.

As I was doing it, I also thought, with older kids, it might be fun to have people contribute to a large picture, what was created as it is mentioned, or have each person draw their own picture, adding in things that are mentioned.

I had some left-over sugar cookie dough from a baby shower that we used up and just made some cookies.  (I baked them before the lesson and we frosted them and ate them after).

This lesson may have been a bit too long for my little ones, BUT they were ok with it because of the treat after :)

FHE: Heavenly Father and Jesus Love Me

I got this topic idea here.
For this, I printed out some pictures of things we are blessed with from Heavenly Father:
Food, animals, family, church, flowers, sun...
I just googled: "free coloring page sun", etc.
You could even have them color the pictures, but I didn't. (my son is not big on coloring and my daughter mostly eats the crayons...)
Then, I taped them up around the room and had the kids try to find them.  As they found each one, we talked about what it is and how we know Heavenly Father and Jesus love us because they gave us each of these things.

This was a big success.  My son, the next day, even played with the pictures and talked about them to his little sister. :)

FHE: Prayer

All I did was make a paper-bag puppet, inspired by an idea listed here, though I didn't use their puppet.  All I did was use marker to draw eyes (open), nose and mouth where one would normally draw the inside of a puppet's mouth, and then draw a praying puppet (eyes closed) on the outside.  I drew arms folded as well.  I made sure to make the puppet when my 3-year-old was around so he would ask questions about what I was doing and it led naturally to the discussion.

Now you have a puppet that when it "bows" its head, it's praying. :)

Keep in mind, I'm a LOUSY artist, but little kids don't care and I thought this was a big success.  This also reiterated things from discussing reverence last week.

I also made sure to mention the parts of prayer:
1) Dear Heavenly Father,
2) We thank thee for.....
3) Please bless, or please help with...
4) In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

At night when we say bed-time prayers, we make sure to ask (if my son doesn't want to pray, which is most of the time) what he was thankful for that day and are sure to include it in the prayer.  It's important to practice keeping a straight face :)  We've been thankful for dinosaurs and windows...

FHE: Reverence

This was one of the first ideas we had because we have a great need for reverence in our family- especially during prayers at home and also during Sacrament meeting on Sundays.

The Activity:
I just printed off a full body picture of my 3-year-old son, and cut it into pieces: eyes, mouth, ear, neck, arms, and legs.  I put them in a bag and let my two kids take turns pulling out a piece.  We talked about what body part it was (even my 1 year old could do this) and then what that body part needs to do to be reverent.  We had fun putting the pieces together on the floor too. You could even tape them up on the wall or something.

This was a great success!  Now we'll see if reverence holds...

Here is my source and another idea as well.

FHE: Baptism

We went to my niece's baptism last weekend, so I thought it might be a good opportunity to talk about it.

All we did was look at pictures of baptism from the Gospel Art Book and talk a bit about them- who's in the picture, etc.  And briefly what is baptism, when we can decide to be baptized, what we are covenanting (what is a covenant).  You can go here for more ideas.
-#35 John the Baptists Baptizing Jesus
-#76 Alma Baptizing in the Waters of Mormon
-#103 Young Man Being Baptized
-#104 Girl Being Baptized

It was fine, but didn't hold their attention long.  Glad it was short :)

FHE!

So, a new year and a shift in topics.  I SHOULD continue to post about scripture reading (but some how needing to read AND be insightful every day feels a bit daunting), and perhaps I will, periodically mention tidbits I glean, but I've been focusing more lately on having FHE, and really planning something- not like last  year where I would just fly by the seat of my pants using the Friend.  (and a big thanks to fheplanner.blogspot.com for ideas.  she doesn't post anymore, which is a big impetus for me to post my experiences here :D)

My kids are young - 1 and 3.  So for me, my goals are
1) To form the habit of FHE so everyone will plan on and around it for the rest of their time living at home.
2) To bond as a family
3) To make sure to have gospel things discussed at home so my kids will know I have a testimony and know they can come to me with questions.
4) I'd LIKE it to be a pleasant experience.  So, hopefully that means I can think of some fun activity every week- even if it's just coloring a picture.

Right now this is the planned FHE agenda-
-Opening song (usually will be Once There Was a Snowman, but the kids can pick)
-Opening prayer (mom and dad have a rotation, but we always ask for volunteers before we take over)
-Hi-Lo: everyone in the family says their Hi (best/favorite thing that happened to them) and Low (worst/least favorite thing that happened).  We use this in our Sunday School class each week (12-13 year olds) and we found that it has really helped to open the door for a discussion-friendly environment, as well as giving everyone a taste of everyone else's lives.
-Go over the schedule of events for that week, in case there are coordination things that need to happen.  I find it also helps me remember things I might normally forget- like doctor appointments.
-Lesson/Activity
-If we remember, closing song/prayer, but we seem to forget that a lot and end with we-need-to-get-the-kids-in-bed-pronto

I'm hoping to plan my lesson on Sunday, but we'll see how that goes.  We have 11am church this year and I always feel like my whole day is gone with later church, for some reason...

I still don't have a great way of planning the topics- so far I just add a topic to my calendar when I see a particular need (ahem, reverence...), or if I think of a fun activity.  Right now, I'm set until the end of February.  Hopefully I'll keep coming up with ideas and stay ahead...

The main reason I want to keep track of what we do here, is so I can look back and maybe reuse old ideas that worked, or modify them to work better next time.  AND if maybe it will help someone else, hurray!  I haven't told anyone about this blog yet, so I'm not planning on many comments yet, but if you happen to find this and have helpful ideas, GREAT and thanks in advance :)