My New Button!

I know...this has nothing to do with Primary or anything church related, but I am super excited about my new button!! I have been wanting to get a cute little button, but everytime I tried to make it, it just didn't look right. So, my sister told me someone that could help me out. I went to The Blog Fairy and she created this cute new button just for me. Thanks so much Emily for creating this cute button!

So, grab my button and put it on your blog, and please leave a comment with a link to your blog, because I would love to see it!

Instructions for grabbing the button: First, highlight and copy the code for my button. Then, go to your blog's dashboard. Click on Layout. There you will see the layout of your blog. Next click on 'Add a Gadget'. You'll see a list of all the different gadgets that you can add, find the 'Html/JavaScript' gadget and click to add. The Html/Javascript will pop up. You'll see a 'Title' area and the 'Content' area. Paste the button code in the 'Content' area. Click save. The 'Html' box will close, and you will have to click 'Save' again on your 'Layout' page. Finally, click 'View Blog' and the button should be there!
Let me know if you have any problems & don't forget to leave a link to your blog. Thanks!!

Genreal Conference Packets

So, yesterday I was on Scribd looking at some of my files, and decided to see if anyone else shares any Primary ideas on the website. As I was searching I came across these wonderful General Conference packets. I wish I would have found them sooner, I would have passed them out to our Primary, but now I know where to go for next conference. So, thanks earl-girl8086 (sorry I don't know your real name, hehe) for all your hard work and for sharing this wonderful packet! She's not even in Primary anymore, but still makes a new General Conference Packet to share for each General Conference...Wow!!

Click Here to view earl-girl8086's April 2010 General Conference Packet

and here is her blog also:

Magnify or Simplify

1st Week Sharing Time Idea for April

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ Appeared to Joseph Smith

So, a few weeks ago I began thinking of ideas for this week (forgetting that it’s Conference weekend) and found a fun game that you could play for this week. I found the game in the ‘Fun for Family Night’ book that I have previously talked about. So, the game is kind of like ‘Battleship’ but a little different. The name of the game is Squares. I made up the ‘Squares’ cards/grids, so that you wouldn’t have to make them yourself. Just click on the link and push print, and there you go. I only made 2, so if you need more let me know and I can post more. So, I know that no one will be doing a Sharing Time for this week, but I decided to post this anyway. I thought that maybe some of you will be combining 2 of the weeks together or maybe some of you will choose this weeks topic instead of another one. You could also use this game for any other topic that you have. I hope you like it!!

To begin your Sharing Time you could:

-Show the children GAK 402 & 403-The First Vision; Read the story on the back. Discuss the First Vision 
  with the children.
-Read the story from the scriptures: Joseph Smith History 1:14-20
-Show the children a video of The First Vision
-Have a man from your ward/branch dress up as Joseph Smith and come and talk to the children about The  
  First Vision.

Explain to the children that Joseph Smith wasn’t much older than them, when he saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Once you have discussed the First Vision with the children tell them that they are going to play a game to learn more about Joseph Smith and the First Vision.

Squares Game:
Before Primary:
-Print out the 2 ‘Squares’ game grids onto cardstock. (Click here to print.)
-Make up 25 markers, and label them: A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5,
  etc. (until E5). Place the markers into a small container, so they can be drawn out one at a time.
-Beans, Pennies, Buttons, etc. to mark off their squares

There are 2 different ways you could play this:
#1

Split the primary into 2 teams. Have the children sit in a circle, so that each member of the team can see their team’s card, and so that they can discuss the questions.
Hand each team their card. Explain to the children that you will be asking a question and then each team must decide on an answer and write it down (or tell it to a team leader). Have each team read their answer out loud. Then draw one of the markers from the container. If a team answered the question correctly, and their square was a positive object, they receive the appropriate points. If a negative object is in the square, they do not lose any points because they answered the question correctly.
If a team answers the question incorrectly, they receive no points for a positive square, and they receive the appropriate minus points for a negative square.
Add up each of the teams points as the game continues.

#2
For this idea, you could play it like ‘battleship’. Split the children into 2 teams. Hand each team a grid/card. Choose one team to go first and ask them a question.
If answered correctly, the team gets to choose a coordinate (i.e.- A1, D5, C3). But the coordinate isn’t for their grid, it will be for the opposing team’s grid. Have the team say the coordinate out loud. The opposing team will then find the square that they have chosen. If it is a positive square, the will receive the appropriate points. If they pick a negative square, they will have the appropriate points taken away from their total score. Once they new score is added up, the other team will be asked a question.
If they do not answer the question correctly, they do not get to choose a square, and then it is the other teams turn.
Give each team a bag of pennies, beans, buttons, etc. to mark their grids.

Some questions could be:
-Where did Joseph Smith go to pray? (JS—H 1:14.)
-What happened when Joseph began to pray? (JS—H 1:15.)
-Where did this darkness come from? (JS—H 1:16.)
-How was Joseph delivered from the darkness that surrounded him? (JS—H 1:17.)
-Why do you think Satan wanted to stop Joseph from praying?
-Who appeared to Joseph in the Sacred Grove? (JS—H 1:17.)
-What did Jesus tell Joseph about which church he should join? (JS—H 1:18–19.)
-How did the “professors of religion” react to Joseph’s vision? (JS—H 1:21–22.) Explain that persecute
 means to cause someone to suffer because of what they believe. Have you ever been persecuted for the
 things you believe? What have you done about it?
-How was Joseph’s testimony of his first vision affected by the persecution he received? (JS—H 1:25.)

These questions came from Primary 5: Doctrine and Covenants: Church History, Lesson 1. There are more questions from this lesson. To find other questions, I would go to http://www.lds.org/ and search The First Vision. There are so many lessons on this topic with great questions for the children.

You can always close with a small video clip of the First Vision and bearing testimony of the First Vision and Joseph Smith.

**The smiley and frowny face images came from: http://icons.mysitemyway.com/free-icons-clipart-tagged/face/748/

Squares Game

Here is a fun game that I got out of an old Family Home Evening Book. This can easily be used for any Sharing Time. All you have to do is print out the cards and come up with some questions that has to do with the topic you're teaching about.

Before Primary:
-Print out the 2 ‘Squares’ game grids onto cardstock. (Click here to print.)
-Make up 25 markers, and label them: A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5,
  etc. (until E5). Place the markers into a small container, so they can be drawn out one at a time.
-Beans, Pennies, Buttons, etc. to mark off their squares
-Questions to ask the children
There are 2 different ways you could play this:
#1
Split the primary into 2 teams. Have the each team sit in a circle, so that each member of the team can see their team’s card, and so that they can discuss the questions.

Hand each team their card. Explain to the children that you will be asking a question and then each team must decide on an answer and write it down (or tell it to a team leader). Have each team read their answer out loud. Then draw one of the markers from the container. If a team answered the question correctly, and their square was a positive object, they receive the appropriate points. If a negative object is in the square, they do not lose any points because they answered the question correctly.

If a team answers the question incorrectly, they receive no points for a positive square, and they receive the appropriate minus points for a negative square.

Add up each of the teams points as the game continues.

Idea #2
For this idea, you could play it like ‘battleship’. Split the children into 2 teams. Hand each team a grid/card. Choose one team to go first and ask them a question.

If answered correctly, the team gets to choose a coordinate (i.e.- A1, D5, C3). But the coordinate isn’t for their grid, it will be for the opposing team’s grid. Have the team say the coordinate out loud. The opposing team will then find the square that they have chosen. If it is a positive square, the will receive the appropriate points. If they pick a negative square, they will have the appropriate points taken away from their total score. Once they new score is added up, the other team will be asked a question.

If they do not answer the question correctly, they do not get to choose a square, and then it is the other teams turn.

Give each team a bag of pennies, beans, buttons, etc. to mark their grids.

Keep score of each team, at the end add up the scores and see who the winner is!

Church Clean-up Race

So, today I am going to share an idea for Activity Days. After I did this I actually shared it on Sugardoodle, so you can find this on that site also. While living in Hawaii, I had heard people (from the ward) saying that they were having a hard time finding people to clean the church. So, I thought of a way to clean the church, but have a good time doing it.

I made up a list of different tasks that the girls could do, along with how many points they were worth. I split the girls into teams, and had one adult per each team (they helped keep track of the jobs that were done, and the points) I let them look over their lists for a minute to decide what they wanted to do. Then off they were to start cleaning. One of the teams decided to send 1-2 girls to do one job while the others did another, this worked out really well. It was so much fun seeing those girls running around with their bright yellow gloves on, racing to beat the other teams. And when it came to cleaning the toilet, no one complained because it was worth so many points! It was such a hit.

I had all the cleaning supplies all together at one spot (I stayed there to help keep track of what the girls did). When the were finished with one task, they would come and drop off their cleaning supplies and go on to the next item.

After time is up, have everyone finish what they're doing and then meet together. Add up everyone's points and see who won! When we did this, the two teams actually tied! So everyone got a big candy bar, and while they were eating their treat we talked about the importance of keeping the church clean. Explaining that this is the Lord's house.

So, there you go. If you're looking for good, 'clean' fun do this Church Clean-up Race.

Click Here to view my Church Clean-up Race activity.

This document was created in Microsof Word. The clipart used is from Word.

Service Cranium Game

On my 4th week Sharing Time idea for this month, I shared a game idea with you. I told you that I had played this game last year for Sharing Time, and said that I would share it with you. So, today I am going to do that. I used it for the theme of Service, so all the questions/scriptures have to do with service, but you could easily create your own for any theme of any month (Who knows, maybe I'll end up doing this for some other themes to share with you).

I looked through the Sharing Time outline and found that the theme in November is Service. So, when November comes around, you can use this game if you would like.

Now for the explanation of the game:

The actual 'Cranium' game uses a game board, but for this I didn't use it. I split the Primary into 2 teams. We took turns choosing a child from each team to come up and pick a card. There are different categories for the cards, they are:

Scripture Seach

Data Head

Creative Cat

Then for each category there are different things that they have to do. For Scripture search, there is a scripture reference with a question below. The child must look up the scripture and then answer the question. I think if they answered it correctly they got a point, I'm not exactly sure how I did the scoring.

For Data Head, there is a Factoid card, which is a question about service. There are also True or False questions and Multiple Choice questions.

The last category is Creative Cat. With this category the children will choose SensoSketch: drawing with your eyes closed, Sculpturade: molding the object out of clay, and Cloodle: draw the object. These were really fun to watch!

There are also some cards that say, Teacher Play! When these are chosen, the child picks a teacher that he/she wants. Then the teacher must do the task that is on the card.

Some of the cards will say, Two Team Play. When this card is chosen both teams will play head to head. The person that chose the card will play for his team, and another player from the other team is chosen to play for his team. Whichever team guesses the answer first gets the point.

I also used a sand timer/hourglass. The children only had a certain amount of time to draw/mold/act out the object and guess what the answer was. Like I said, I didn't use a game board, but you could easily make a simple game board if you wanted to do that instead of award points for correct guesses. If they guessed correctly they could roll the dice to see how far they advanced on the board.

When I did this as my Sharing Time I began by showing them a picture of Christ and telling them that the Savior was the perfect example of Service. We talked about how Jesus served others, why service is important, and things that we can do to serve. Then, after we talked for a little while, we played Service Cranium. It was alot of fun. I left a little time at the end to remind the children the importance of service and encouraged them to serve.

So, there it is. My Service Cranium game. I hope you enjoy! And if I do have a little extra time I'll try to make some questions for some other topics. Let me know what you think.

Click Here to view the Service Cranium Game!

Easter Singing Time Games

Here are some ideas for Singing Time Games. You could play these games the last few weeks of March, since General Conference is on Easter Sunday. So, here you go, hope you like them.

Easter Egg Hot & Cold Game

Have a basket full of eggs. Inside the eggs have pieces of paper with songs written on them.

I Know That My Savior Loves Me

He Sent His Son

Follow the Prophet

Easter Hosanna (this is what the children in my ward are singing for Easter)

On some of the pieces of paper, have a song along with a description of how to sing that song.

Follow the Prophet: Girls Only!

He Sent His Son: Nose Plugged

Follow the Prophet: Standing Up

I Know That My Savior Loves Me: Hands on your head.

Choose a child to go out into the hall. Choose another child to come pick an egg out of the Easter Basket. Have the child hide the egg somewhere in the room (don't have them open the egg. When the child finds the egg, that will be the next song that the children will sing.) Once the chld has hidden the egg have him sit down. Choose a song for the children to sing (after this the song will be chosen by what is inside the egg). When the children begin singing have the child, that is out in the hall, come in. As the child gets closer to the egg, have the children sing louder. As the child gets farther away, have the children sing quietly. Sing until the egg is found. Once the child has found the egg, have him open the egg to reveal the next song.

Pass the Egg (Hot Potato)

Once again, have a basket full of eggs with songs inside them. Choose a song to begin the game. Once the children begin singing pass the egg to one of the children. Have the children pass the egg around until the music stops. Whoever is holding the egg, when the music stops, must tell you what the next word is. Continue doing this until you have sung the song. Once the song is finished, have the child who is holding the egg, open it and reveal the next song.

If you want, you could just practice Follow the Prophet, and have different singing descriptions inside the egg. So, if the child holding the egg tells you the next word, have them open it and tell the children how they will sing 'Follow the Prophet' (nose plugged, standing up, teachers only, etc.)

Egg Toss

Have some buckets or easter baskets, as many as you would like, at the front of the room (you could have 3 in a row, or a few buckets in a bunch). In the bottom of each bucket have a piece of paper with different amounts of points (5 points, 10 points, 15 points, etc.). Have the children begin singing. Have the pianist stop playing the music after a little while. Call on one of the children to tell you what the next word is. If they answer correctly, have them come up to the front. Hand them a plastic egg, and have them toss it into one of the buckets. Whatever bucket it lands in, that is how many points they get. If they don't answer correctly, they don't get to toss the egg. You could split the primary into groups and take turns choosing from each team. You could have children against teachers, boys against girls, etc.

(Instead of an egg you could use a beanbag, a ball, a wadded up piece of paper, etc.)

For the child finding the egg or tossing the egg: you could have them wear some bunny ears, that would be really fun! You could probably find some at a store, or you could just make some using construction paper for the ears, and attach them to a head band.

And, instead of having them tell you the next word, you could always come up with a few questions that have to do with the song. 

Who was the first prophet? (Adam)

Adam lived in a place called? (Eden)

Enoch's people were so righteous that Heavenly Father did what? (Took them up to live with Him.)

Abraham the prophet prayed to have what? (a son)

4th Week Sharing Time Idea for March

God speaks through prophets.

click Here to view this idea.

Alright, here is my 4th week Sharing Time Idea for March. I found an idea on http://www.lds.org/ that had a really neat way of showing the children how Heavenly Father speaks through His prophets (sorry, I cannot remember what Friend it came from, I really need to get better at writing down where exactly I got all of these ideas from).

So, since I made up a diagram to show you, I couldn't just post it as a normal post, I had to save it as a PDF. I also shared a game with you that I played last year for one of my Sharing Times (I'll have to download that and share that game with you, but that will be another time, back to this idea). It is 'Cranium'. I don't know if all of you have played Cranium, but it is alot of fun. For this Sharing Time, I just used a part of the cranium game (the charade, drawing, and sculpting part).  So, take a look. I hope you like it!

Enough of my talking here is a Sharing Time idea for

Click Here to view my  Sharing Time idea for God Speaks through prophets.

Update: One of the scripture references that I listed is wrong. I have Paul 6:1-Paul; Obey your Parents, yeah that is really wrong, it's supposed to be Ephesians 6:1-Paul; Obey your Parents. Thanks Sunny for finding my mistake!!

3rd Week Sharing Time Idea for March

There is Safety in Following the Prophet.

For this topic I have 2 ideas to share with you. These are just simple ideas that could easily be changed to fit your needs. Sometimes you just need a simple little idea to get your creative mind goin’. So, here are my ideas for 3rd Week in March Sharing Time, I hope you like them.

What you will need for this Sharing Time:
-‘There is safety in following the Prophet’-typed/written on a piece of paper, and cut into a puzzle (type and make a puzzle for 2-3 teams)
-Pieces of paper- to make a path, you will need a path for each team. Make one team’s path blue and another red.
-Questions- examples below

For this game, the children will be sent on a secret mission to find the missing pieces of the puzzle. The primary will be split into teams. Each team must follow their team’s path to each question/task. As they answer each question they will receive a piece of the puzzle. Even wrong answers will have a puzzle piece, but these pieces will not fit their puzzle. Once each team has gone through all of their questions, they will come back and sit down and put their puzzle together as a team. Once they have put the puzzle together, you can discuss the importance of following the prophet.

Before primary, pick out the number of questions you would like each team answer (examples below), making sure there is enough time to complete their mission during your 15-20min. Sharing Time. Once you have picked out your questions, you will need to type up each question, you’ll want the question typed/written fairly big. You will also need to type the 2 answer choices, each on their own piece of paper. After you have decided on a number of questions, you can cut your 'There is safety in following the Prophet.' puzzle. Make sure you have the same amount of puzzle pieces as questions. Then attach the puzzle pieces to the back of each of the correct answers for your questions. You will need to attach some ‘fake’ puzzle pieces to the back of each incorrect answer.

If you decide to do a path for each team to follow, you could have some signs that lead them off the right path (i.e.- go this way for a shortcut, this way for Free CANDY!!)
If you don’t want to make a path, just number each question, and tell the children to start with #1 question and then go to #2 and so on and so on.
Here is an example of how you could begin your Sharing Time:

I have a very important message to share with you today, but I have lost it. I need you to go on a secret mission today and retrieve all the pieces of your team’s puzzle. Once you have finished all of your tasks, you will need to come back here and put your puzzle together. Once you have finished the puzzle we will have our message. Just follow your team’s Blue/Red path until you find your first task/question. Underneath each answer is a puzzle piece. Be sure to follow the prophets counsel and answer the question correctly,because if you choose the wrong answer you will get the wrong puzzle piece.
Beware…you need to remember to follow your path/follow the prophet. There may be tricks/traps along the way, these are there to try to get you off course, but be strong. O.K. GO!

Have each question typed or written on a piece of paper. Then below the question have the 2 answers. Once the children decide which answer they are going to choose, they will look on the back of that answer and retrieve their puzzle piece.
President Lorenzo Snow told us to pay our tithing.
You receive $10 for your birthday you:
a. Pay a full tithe of $1.00
b. One-tenth is just too much to pay. Even if you pay a little bit that will be okay.

Presiden Joseph F. Smith told us to have Family Home Evening.
Before you go to school, your Mother reminds you that it is Monday night, Family Home Evening, and asks you to be home early. After school your friend asks you to come over for a little while, you decide to:
a. Go to your friend’s house, missing a few Family Home Evenings will be okay.
b. Tell your friend that you can’t. Monday nights are Family Night for you and your family, and you need to be home for that.

The prophets have told us to read the scriptures.
a.You only read the scriptures when asked by your parents or during primary.
b.You remember to read your scriptures every night.

President George Albert Smith said, “Be a friend to the friendless”
There is a new girl at school, that doesn’t know anyone. You decide:
a. I’m sure she’ll have lots of friends, and go and talk to your friends.
b. To go and sit with her. You begin talking and realize both of you like
a lot of the same things.

Some other topics you could make questions for could be:
Repentance
Word of Wisdom
Attending Church Meetings
Prayer
Honesty
Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy
Keeping a Journal
Keeping the Commandments

Scripture Questions
Along with the questions given above, you could throw in some scriptures. Have them read a scripture about a certain teaching and have them identify what the prophet was telling the people to do.
i.e.
Exodus 19:8 (Keep the Sabbath Day holy)
D&C 19:38 (Pray Always)

Another thing you could do is write up a short version of a few of the prophet’s teachings.
Example:
Have a picture of Noah (GAK 102) Underneath the picture post this short story of Noah.
The Lord called Noah to teach people the gospel. Noah had told them to repent and be baptized or they would be destroyed by floods, but the people would not listen. When the people would not repent, the Lord told Noah that He would “bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh”. The Lord commanded Noah to build an ark and gather two of each animal. When the ark was finished and everything was ready, Noah and his family boarded the ark along with the animals. The flood came and everyone was killed, except for Noah and his family, and the animals.
What should the people have done to follow the teachings of Noah?
a. They should have built a boat. B. They should have listened to Noah and repented, been baptized, and been obedient.

Once they have finished the puzzle, talk to the children about Following the prophet/there is safety in following the prophet.
I found this on lds.org from a previous Sharing Time idea, I always love how they so easily explain things for the children. You could close with something like this:
"Whenever we really love another person, we want them to be happy, to be safe, and to feel our love for him or her. Heavenly Father loves us very much. He wants us to know the things that we can do to be truly happy and safe in this life and to return to Him someday. One way He helps us know what to do is by calling prophets to speak and act for Him here on earth.
In the scriptures, we read the words of many prophets. They told the people of their times the things the Lord wanted them to know and do. Some people listened and were blessed. Others didn’t, and their lives were not as happy. Heavenly Father has also given us Latter-day Prophets. These prophets are called for us today, to guide and teach us. Throughout time the prophets have taught many great and important things. Even though some of the prophets lived many many years ago, we can still learn and live by what they taught.
President Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today. Like the people in the scriptures, we, too, can choose whether or not to listen to his words and do the things he asks us to do. If we do listen and follow his counsel, we will be blessed. Our lives will be happier, we will be safer, and one day we will return to and live with Heavenly Father." Bear Testimony of the importance of following the prophet.

2nd Sharing Time Idea:
What you will need:
-Several questions to ask the children
-Blindfolds for all or some of the children.

Have all or just a few primary children stand on one side of the room.

Share something like this with the children: Have you ever been lost? Was it scary? Wouldn’t have been nice if someone were right there with you telling you what you needed to do and where you needed to go? Well, while we’re here on earth, sometimes we may get a little lost. Somedays we may be faced with a decision to do something good or something bad. If we always choose to do bad, then we are lost.

While you are sharing this with the children, you or someone else blindfold the children, make sure the other children are watching the others get blindfolded.

So, what can we do/use to find our way? I will tell you the answer, Prophets! Heavenly Father has given us prophets today, to help guide and teach us. Throughout time, Heavenly Father has called different men to be prophets. These men have taught people many great and important things. Even though some of the prophets lived many many years ago, we can still learn and live by what they taught.

President Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today. We can choose whether or not to listen to his words and do the things he asks us to do. If we do listen and follow his counsel, we will be blessed. Our lives will be happier, we will be safer, and one day we will return to and live with Heavenly Father.

Explain to the children that you will be asking them several questions, there goal is to reach you. Tell them to listen carefully to each question and think about what the prophets have taught us.

The answers to the questions will depend on how many steps they take toward you or away from you. As they choose the correct answer, answers that have to do with following the prophet, they will slowly reach their goal.

Some examples of questions.
You receive $10 for your birthday you:
If you decide to pay a full tithe of $1.00 take 2 steps forward.
If you think one-tenth is just too much to pay and decide to pay .50. take 1 step back.

You could use the examples from above. Have the children take different steps forward, backwards, and even to the side. Make sure the correct answer always moves forward.
Once someone has reached you, have everyone stand where they are and take their blindfold off. Explain to the children that the one child has made it to his goal, you could even hold up a picture of Heavenly Father. Explain to the children, by following the counsel of the prophet they will be able to make it back to their Heavenly Father. Explain to the children that by following the prophet we can be safe, and we will live more righteously and by living more righteously, we will be happy. Ask some of the children how it felt to be blindfolded. Go back to talking about being lost. Tell the children, as long as we listen to the prophet, we will not be lost.

Other Sharing Time ideas from other sites:
Here is a really cute idea. I saw this on the LDS website. It is the 4th bullet.
And there is also this idea from The Idea Door. Another great idea.

Spring Cleaning: new PDF Files to share!!

Alright, I cleaned out my Computer's Primary Folder today and decided to convert some of my files to PDF files, so that I would be able to share them with you. So, here is the list of files. Hope you like them!

First one that I'll share is called 'The Last Word'. Each Sunday after Sharing Time, we give the Sr. Primary the opportunity to have the Last Word. We choose 2 children to tell us something that they learned that day. It can be something they learned in class, Sharing time, or Singing time. Sometimes we may ask them a specific question that has to do with Sharing time. If they answer correctly they recieve this 'Last Word' certificate. They take this certificate to the Bishop for a special treat.

Be sure to laminate the certificates, so they don't get ruined. We ask the children to bring them back to us, once they have received their treat.
The picture on this certificate is from the Primary Clip Art CD by Val Bagley. I use alot of clipart, but I usually try to find it for free. One time while we were in Utah, I saw this CD and had to buy it. I have Loved it!

Click Here to Print the Last Word certificate.

The second item I am going to share is my 2010 Monthly Themes and Weekly Themes.

I like to know what each month's theme is, and sometimes I may not have my Sharing Time Outline with me, so I typed made this. One sheet has the Monthly theme, scripture, and song for each month, and the next sheet has each month listed along with each week's theme. I keep these in my Primary Folder, so I can always know what topic is coming up.

Click Here to Print my 2010 Monthly and Weekly Theme Sheets

Alright, the next two items are handouts that I have given to the Primary Children.

The first one is Footsteps of Christ. I don't remember exactly when I handed these out, but they can be used for a Primary Lesson or for Sharing Time. I think I got the footprint clip art from Mormon Share.

Click here to print Footsteps of Christ Handout.

The next handout is 'Six Steps to Baptism'. I handed this out while I was teaching the CTR 5&6 class in our ward. One of the lessons is on Baptism, so I created this little handout. I am pretty sure I got the footprint clip art from Mormon Share, I love their clip art. Have the children keep this in their scripture, so they can remember the steps to Baptism.

The footprints came out a little differently(they have a black box behind them), but I think it looks fine.

Click Here to print the '6 Steps to Baptism' handout.

And finally, the last item I will be sharing is a 2010 Primary Calendar. I made a calendar for this year to put into my Primary folder. It's nice during our Primary Presidency meetings, we always have a calendar to look at to choose dates for activities, meetings, etc. We also write who is conducting, who is in charge of Sharing time, children's birthdays, etc. I thought that I would share this with all of you, just in case you needed a calendar.

This is just a template, you could use this for anything. 

Click Here to Print out my 2010 Primary Calendar.

So, there you go. Just a few of my many little ideas I have on my computer. I'm sure there will be many more to come. If you have any problems or questions just leave me a comment or send me an email at sheena_perron@hotmail.com.

Balloon Scripture Chase

Our Primary President asked if I could do Sharing Time for her tomorrow, so as I was preparing, I thought of a game that might be really fun. Hope you like it!

What you will need:
Balloons
Scripture References
and a Marker

Get your balloons and blow them up, but DON'T tie them. Once they're blown up, write a scripture reference on the balloon (you'll probably have to have a helper with this). After you have written the scripture, let it dry, then deflate the balloon. Continue doing this until you have written all of your scriptures onto a balloon.
For the game:
Split the children into 2-3 teams. Have one child from each team come up to the front. Hand them each a balloon, and tell them that on the balloon is a scripture reference. They must blow up the balloon in order to know what scripture they need to look up. On 'go' have the children begin blowing up their balloon. Once their balloon is blown up, the team may look up the scripture. Tell the children that they can only look at their team's balloon. They must wait until it is blown up, to look up their scripture.
Before they blow up the balloon, you could ask them a specific question that will be answered by the scripture, have them identify who is speaking in that scripture, etc. Once the team has found the scripture and has found the answer they can raise their hand, or have them run to the front and sit in a chair. Once all teams have had a chance to find the scripture, have the team that found if first read the scripture and answer the question. If they are correct award them a certain number of points. The team that came in second, if answers are correct, award them a certain number of points, etc.

You could play this game for this week's or next week's Sharing Time. Write the scripture reference on the balloon. Have the children blow up the balloon, look up the scripture to find out what Prophet it is.

2nd Week Sharing Time Idea for March

Prophets testify of Jesus Christ.

I have been thinking about this topic for awhile now, trying to decide what to post on here. I finally finished. These first 2 weeks of March are kind of tough. What they have in the outline is really great, so I pretty much followed that, but changed it up a little. I couldn't think of a different idea to use, because I didn't want to start getting off the topic. So, here it is, I hope you like it.

What you will need for this Sharing Time:
-A helper from the ward: a man dressed as one of the prophets.
-GAK picture that goes along with the prophet that you choose.
-Scripture references typed/written on pieces of paper (you'll want these pretty big):
   2 Nephi 25:26 (Nephi)
   D&C 76: 20-24 (Joseph Smith)
   Isaiah 9:6 (Isaiah)
   Mark 1:6-8 (John the Baptist)
-GAK Pictures to go with the Scripture references:
   GAK 303: Nephi (you might want to look in the Primary manuals for a different picture of Nephi)
   GAK 401: Joseph Smith  
   GAK 113: Isaiah
   GAK 208: John the Baptist

To introduce this topic, I thought that it might be kind of neat to have a man from the ward/branch come in and talk to the children. Have him come dressed as one of the prophets from the Old Testament, New Testament, or Book of Mormon.

This is what I was thinking of, but this is just an example:
Have your prophet come in at the beginning of Sharing Time.

Hi, I am King Benjamin (or any prophet you choose). I am a prophet from the Book of Mormon. Throughout history Heavenly Father has called courageous and honorable men to be His prophets. They are special witnesses of the Savior Jesus Christ. The prophets are called to testify of the Savior, to teach all of us that He died so that we might repent and return to live with our Father in Heaven. Prophets tell us of Christ's great love for us. Many of the prophet’s testimonies are found in the scriptures. I too have a testimony of Jesus Christ. An angel of the Lord came to me, and told me many important things about our Savior. Have him read from the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3:5-8.
After he has read from the Book of Mormon, have him testify of Jesus Christ.
Another Example you could use for your prophet:
Hi, I am Joseph Smith. I am a prophet of God. Throughout history Heavenly Father has called courageous and honorable men to be His prophets. They are special witnesses of the Savior Jesus Christ. The prophets are called to testify of the Savior, to teach all of us that He died so that we might repent and return to live with our Father in Heaven. Prophets tell us of Christ's great love for us. Many of the prophet’s testimonies are found in the scriptures. I too have a testimony of Jesus Christ. When I was fourteen I wene out into the wood and prayed to Heavenly Father. Have him read Joseph Smith History 1: 17 & 25.

After the prophet has talked to the children and testified of Christ you will talk to the children about the prophet and about Testifying of Christ. You could say, “Wow, that was amazing!” Show them GAK Picture 307 or 403(or the picture that goes with the prophet that you chose to come in) and talk a little about that prophet. Ask the children if they remember what King Benjamin/ Joseph Smith talked about. Remind the children what King Benjamin/Joseph Smith testified about. (If you choose to do Joseph Smith explain to the children how mean the people were to him, but no matter what they did, his testimony of Jesus Christ was always strong.) Explain to the children what ‘Testifying of Christ’ means, and why it is so important. Tell the children that you are going to be learning about a few more prophets.

Blindfolded Scripture Seach:
Have the scripture references posted around the room. In the front of the room have the pictures that go along with those scriptures posted on the board. Choose a child to come to the front. Blind fold the child, and tell him/her that they must find one of the scripture references. The other children will help them by singing. Have the children sing the chorus of ‘Follow the Prophet,’ as the child gets closer to a scripture, have the children sing louder. As the child gets farther away, have the children sing quietly. Once the child has found one of the scripture references, have the children look it up and read it out loud. Ask them who is speaking in that scripture and what he is testifying about Jesus Christ. Then have the child that was blind folded match the scripture with the GAK picture.

At the end of the Sharing Time, show them the picture of President Monson. Our prophet today, President Thomas S. Monson, also testifies of Jesus Christ. He said, “He is the literal Savior of the World, the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the Holy One of Israel, even the risen Lord. … As His witness I testify to you that He lives. (Ensign, May 1988, page 56.)

All prophets, whether they lived during Book of Mormon Times or they live today, testify of Jesus Christ. When we listen to the prophets, we can learn about our Savior, Jesus Christ, and gain a testimony for ourselves. Bear Testimony to the children.

Another Idea:
Instead of having the children blindfolded and matching the scriptures to the clues you could use some ideas from my previous posts.
-You could play the 'High Chairs' game. Give the children the different names of the Prophets, typed up and cut into strips. As you read the scripture together they must find the name of the prophet they think it is and go sit down in one of the numbered chairs. But in order to earn their points they must tell you what the prophet testified about.
- Have the scriptures inside of balloons. Have the children pop the balloons to get the scripture reference.
- Have the children dress up as that prophet, and then have the other children tell you what he testified about.
-Play a tic-tac-toe game. They must identify the prophet  and what he testifies about Jesus Christ in order to choose what square they want their 'X' or 'O' to be.

These are just some of my ideas. I hope they can help you out. Thanks!!

Activity Days: Faith in God Cards

A few years ago I was the Activity Day Leader. I had planned out our entire year of activities and made binders for each of the girls, I was excited to begin.

After a few activities I realized that the girls rarely brought their Faith in God Booklets. Alot of the activities that we did could be passed off, but since they never brought their books there was no way of passing them off, and I knew that they would probably forget what activities we did when they needed to write the activities they did for the year.

So, that's when I came up with these: Faith in God Cards. I found the cute little girl clipart from Mormonshare.

Even if they forgot their booklets I could write down the activity that we did, the date, their name, and sign the card. Then they would put it in their binder, in a page protector, so they wouldn't lose the card. At the end of the year or when they got home, they could go through the cards and write each of the activities that we did in their Faith in God Booklet. I thought it would be good to show the Bishop when they go in for their interview when they turn 12. They could show the Bishop all of their cards and be able to show and tell him exactly what they did.

Click Here to print out the Activity Day FIG Cards.

1st Week Sharing Time Idea for March: Prophets are called by God.

Wow, February went by way too fast. I can't believe it is already March. So, here is an idea for the first week of March. It is basically the idea from the Primary Sharing Time Outline. I thought about this topic for awhile, but kept going back to what the outline had. I decided to change it up a little bit, by playing the "Who am I" game they had a little differently. I have also included some other game ideas at the end of the post. If any of you have any fun games that you would like to share email me anytime at sheena_perron@hotmail.com, and I will post them, giving credit to you. Thanks again for all your wonderful comments. I will be posting the rest of the month ideas as soon as I can. Thanks!!

What you will need:
'Prophet' typed or written on a piece of paper, big enough for the children to see.
'Prophets are called by God.' typed or written on a piece of paper, big enough for children to see.
Story: 'He Takes Care of His Church' from http://www.lds.org/

Post the 'Prophet' sign on the board.

Ask the children what the word says. Prophet.
What do you think of when you hear that word?
Perhaps you think of a prophet from Old Testament times, wearing a long robe. Or a Book of Mormon prophet holding the Liahona. Perhaps your prophet is old, like Moses. Or did you imagine a young boy prophet like Josiah? Maybe you thought of today’s prophet, who wears a suit and tie?
But it doesn’t matter what the prophets look like or how old they are, the most important thing is that the Prophets are called by God and they are called to be messengers for our Heavenly Father.

Underneath the word Prophet, post the sign ‘Prophets are called by God.’

What does that mean, Prophets are called by God?
I have a story that I would like to share with you, that tells us what this means.
Read “He Takes Care of His Church”

So, who chooses the Prophets? Do we all vote? Does your Dad get to choose who he thinks should be the Prophet? NO! Prophets are called by God!
Throughout the History of the church, the Prophets have always been called by God.
Today we are going to learn about some of these Prophets.

Straw Shootin' Game:
I found this game on Sugardoodle. It was posted as a Singing Time game, I decided to use it as a Sharing Time Game.

You will need:
Pictures of several Prophets that you woul like to discuss.
Examples:
GAK 101: Adam and Eve
GAK 102: Noah
GAK 107: Moses
GAK 117: Daniel
GAK 120: Enoch
GAK 300: Lehi
GAK 400: Joseph Smith
A picture of Thomas S. Monson
For each picture you have, cover it with a piece of paper.
3-4 Clues for each prophet (Examples below)
Straws

On a chalkboard/bulletin board post the pictures of the prophets you have chosen. Cover the picture up with a piece of paper (you can have each one a different color if you want, also, on the piece of paper draw a big question mark).
Type or write your clues for each prophet (make them small). Once you have all of your clues, cut each clue into a strip. Roll up each clue and place it in a straw. Make sure you keep each of the prophet’s clues seperate from the other prophet clues, don’t mix them up.
Have a cup for each of the prophets and place the straws, with the clues, in each of the cups (So place of the clues for Adam in a cup and place the cup in front of his picture, etc. etc). If you want, you could match the straws with the color of the paper that is covering the prophet picture.
Take turns choosing a child to come up and choose a straw. Have them blow in the straw and shoot the clue out. Read the clue and ask if anyone knows what prophet this is. If they don't choose another child to come up and pick another straw. Do this until they have guessed the prophet or until all the clues are read.
If you would like, you can tape off different point lines on the floor. If they land in the 10 point section and guess the prophet, they get 10 points.

After they have guessed the prophet, take the piece of paper off and show them the picture. Talk a little about the prophet, and tell the children that this prophet was called by God.

Clues:
Adam:
- I was the first man on the earth and the ‘father’ of all.
- I named every living creature on the earth.
- I lived in the Garden of Eden
- Genesis 1:26

Noah:
- Because of the wickedness of the people the Lord called me to teach the people the
  gospel.
- To protect my family and I, from great floods that the Lord would cause, the Lord
   commanded me to build an ark.
- I was to gather each type of animal, male and female, so they would not be destroyed.
- Genesis 6:12-14

Moses:
- I was called by God as He spoke to me from a burning bush.
- I led my people out of bondage in Egypt.
- The Lord revealed the Ten Commandments to me.
- Exodus 3: 4-5

Daniel:
- King Darius of Babylon chose me to be the first of his three presidents.
- The other men were jealous of me. They had the King sign a decree saying that no one
  could pray.
- I was caught praying and was thrown into the lions’ den. But ‘My God’ hath sent his
  angel, and shut the lions’ mouth, they they would not hurt me.
- Daniel 6:10

Enoch:
- When I was very young, the Lord commanded me to tell the people to repent.
- Many believed and repented and were baptized. We built the city of Zion.
- We became so righteous that we were taken up to heaven to live with God.
- Moses 6:26-27

Lehi:
- I warned the people in Jerusalem to repent or they would be destroyed.
- The Lord told me to take my family and flee into the wilderness.
- One night the Lord told me that we must continue our journey into the wilderness. The
   next morning I went to the door of my tent, and found the Liahona.
- 1 Nephi 2: 1-2

Nephi:
- The Lord commanded my brothers and I to go and get the brass plates from Laban.
- The Lord told me to build a ship to carry my family to the Promised Land.
- 1 Nephi 17: 7-8

Joseph Smith
- I went to the woods and prayed to know which church I should join.
- Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to me and told me to to join none of the churches that existed
   then.
- I was obedient to God and helped restore the true Church of Jesus Christ to the earth.
- Joseph Smith History 1:16-17

After they have guessed all of the prophets, there will be one that is still covered.
Tell them:

- This Prophet is the sixteenth prophet of our church.
- This Prophet was born in Salt Lake City, UT
- And this prophet was called by God to be our Prophet today.
Does anyone know who this might be? Yes, President Thomas S. Monson. (uncover his picture.)
Bear testimony that Prophets are called by God.

Other Ideas:
You could play any game with this Sharing Time. Some other game ideas are:

Puzzle: Instead of having a blank piece of paper coverin the prophet. Cut the piece of paper into 3-4 pieces (however many clues there are). On each puzzle piece write a clue. Have the children come up and choose a puzzle piece. Read the clue aloud, and see if they can guess who the Prophet it. Continue doing this until they have guessed the prophet or all the puzzle pieces are gone.

Who am I Game: Choose a child to come up and give the clues to the other children. Have them try to guess who the prophet is.

Balloon Pop Game: Put the clues into balloons and have the children pop the balloon in order to read the clue.

Crossword Puzzle: I did this for a Sharing Time in January. Choose what prophets you would like to discuss. For the Crossword Clues you could use just the scripture references as the clues or you could use a clue phrase and scripture (i.e.- Genesis 6:12-14; The Lord commanded me to build an ark.) If they don't know who it is by the clue alone, they can look up the scripture and find out who it is.
To make the crossword puzzle go to www.puzzle-maker.com/CW/ and enter in your clues and answers. Then it will creat a crossword puzzle for you! Then I just used the one that was created for me, and drew it up onto a posterboard.

High Chairs Game: This was explained in a previous post. Type/write each of the Prophets names onto strips of paper ( make 2-3 sets of names/answers). Split the children into 2 or 3 teams (depending on the size of your primary) and give each team a set of answers/prophet names. Up at the front of the room have 2-3 chairs. Label one chair with a '1' sign, the next chair a '2' sign and the third chair with a '3' sign. Give the children the first clue. If a child knows it they must find the slip of paper with that Prophet's name, then take the paper and go and sit in a chair (they'll want to sit in the highest number chair because whatever chair they are in, that is the number of points their team will receive.) Keep reading until each team has someone sitting in a chair.
If a child is sitting in a chair, but has the wrong prophet, they may not go and change their answer, and instead of getting that amound of points, the amount on their chair will be subtracted from their team's score.

There are just a few game ideas for this week's Sharing Time. I know they will enjoy each of them, and will learn about each of the prophets. Remind the children that each of these prophets were called by God.

If any of you have any questions you can email me anytime at sheena_perron@hotmail.com.