General Conference Ideas

I acually wanted to post this earlier this week, but it just didn't happen. This week was a busy week for us. We went to the Temple on Tuesday with our ward and spent the rest of the day as a family. And we actually had quite the experience while at the Temple....we signed up to do Sealings and they always warn pregnant women about fainting. Well, I didn't think I would have a problem because I've never had a problem with fainting... but I was wrong. I passed out! I was more embarassed than anything and I actually felt better and was able to do more sealings. So our Temple visit turned out to be quite interesting. :)
My Hubby also turned 30 this last Friday, so I was busy putting together a surprise 30th Un-birthday for him.
It turned out to be a great week for us, I'm just sorry I wasn't able to post this earlier. Hope you understand.  :)

I am so excited for General Conference. I am hoping I'll actually be able to listen to each of the talks this time. Having small children at home can make it difficult to do this, I'm sure all of you understand what I'm talking about. But with the help of some amazing women, I have found a few ideas I am going to try this General Conference.
And if you have an idea you'd like to share please share. Just send me an email, leave a comment, or leave the link at the bottom of this post.

Preparing for General Conference:
This year I decided I want to prepare our kids for General Conference. I thought of doing something during Family Home Evening to talk about it. But of course General Conference has kind of snuck up on me and I haven't prepared anything. I did have a thought though that I may end up doing.
How do you prepare your kids for Conference???

Conference Treasure Hunt Idea
I thought my kids would enjoy this, I just thought about it, so it's not really planned out in detail.

For F.H.E. or the night before Conference:
Have a picture of the First Presidency and the 12 Apostles (you can find some online or in March’s issue of The Friend). Explain to your children that this Saturday and Sunday is very special. This weekend is General Conference. Discuss with your children what that means and what happens.

Show your kids the picture of the First Presidency and the 12 Apostles. Tell your family that during General Conference we get to hear these men speak to us. Their counsel is very important, it is a ‘treasure’. Go on to explain why it’s so important.
Have an empty treasure chest. Tell your family that your treasure chest is empty. Then tell them that we need to fill it up, but not with just normal treasure. We need to fill it up with ‘Spiritual Treasure’. Explain to your family as you listen to Conference we will be filled with the Spirit, we will hear the things that we need to do, we will hear from our Prophet, Pres. Monson, etc. And that is the treasure we are seeking! We learn many great and important things during Conference, so this year we are going to go on a ‘Conference Treasure Hunt’.
You could then talk about the different topics that might be discussed during Conference or you could talk about the First Presidency and the 12 Apostles. Tell your family that those are the 'treasures' that will fill up our treasure chest.

General Conference Treasure Hunt:
The treasure hunt will happend during General Conference.
For the treasure hunt you could have picture of jewels (just find some online and print them off), treats, boxes (with something inside), etc. On each item you could attach a picture of a topic that might be discussed during Conference, you could put a word (prayer, temples, etc.) or you could put a picture of someone (Pres. Monson, Pres. Eyering, etc.).

During Conference have your children listen to each talk. At the end of the talk discuss with your family what was being taught. Then have your children find that treasure and place it in the treasure chest.
You could, ahead of time, hide the treasure and make a treasure map for your children telling them where each treasure is: example: 'Prayer Treasure'-in Mom & Dad's Bed; 'Temple Treasure'- in the Laundry Room, etc.

At the end of Conference, or each session, go through your treasure chest and discuss what was taught. Then enjoy your 'Treasure!!'


I want to know how you are planning to prepare. If you have an idea please share by emailing me, leaving a comment or adding a link at the bottom of this post. Thanks!!

For Adults- Preparing for General Conference:
~At our last Primary Presidency Meeting our Primary President challenged us to go/watch General Conference with a specific question in mind. And if we did this our question would be answered. I loved this, so I am planning on having a specific question in mind.

~Here is a great list for Preparing for General Conference from Bethany of Bethanology:
Preparing for General Conference

~Here is a great General Conference Note Packet from 'The Red Headed Hostess':
(If you've never been to her blog, you should definitely take a look. She has some amazing ideas for scripure study)
General Conference Note Packet

General Conference Activity Ideas:
~The Church has come out with some great packets/printables and online games:
Click Here to view ideas from LDS.org.

~Aubrie of A Mama B's has 2 wonderful ideas for Conference:
Conference Candy Lei Countdown
&
Conference Store (I love this one!)
She's also having a 'Linky Party' for Conference Ideas, so take a look for some great ideas.

~Have a General Conference Wall:
Here's one idea for a Conference Wall from Being LDS
&
And this one from Cocoa of Chocolate on my Cranium

~Alison from Oopsey Daisy has some great activities for Toddlers:
General Conference for Tots

~General Conference Bingo:
Here is a Conference Bingo from Mormonshare
 &
Here are some great Bingo cards from My Heart and Home

~General Conference Easter Egg Hunt
This actually would have been good last year, but I didn't think of it then. So I'm sharing it this year. :)
Since Easter is approaching I thought of this idea. Get some plastic Easter Eggs and fill them with different treats/prizes.
On each egg attach a picture of the First Presidency and 12 Apostles (each person will have their own egg). You could also add some pictures of topics that might be discussed during General Conference. I also thought of adding a picture of a smiley face for any speakers that I might not have a picture of (Primary Presidency, Relief Society Presidency, etc).

During General Conference have your children watch and when someone from the First Presidency or one of the 12 Apostles speaks, have your child go find the egg.
If you do pictures of topics have them search for the egg when they hear that word (ex: Temple, tithing, Book of Mormon, etc.). Once they find the egg have them come sit back down and enjoy their prize as they watch.


General Conference Packets:
~The Church has come out with some great packets/printables and online games:

Click Here to view ideas from LDS.org.

 ~Here are some great Conference Packets from Sugardoodle & Scriptures4kids:
April 2011 General Conference Packets

~Here's a General Conference from Alison of Oopsey Daisy:
Click Here for Alison's General Conference Packet
Each packet has a page for each Apostle. For each apostle, there is...
* A profile picture.
*A picture of a tie that can be designed and colored according to what they are wearing.
*An interesting fact about their lives.
* Space to take notes or draw a picture about their talks.


Yummy General Conference Recipes:
Growing up we always watched Conference at the church. We always packed a pic-nic type lunch (Sandwiches, chips, etc.) So, if the weather is nice where you live you could go to a nearby park and have a family pic-nic. But if you're like us and still have snow, have a pic-nic in your living room. Get a nice big blanket and your pic-nic basket and have lunch. :)

I don't know if I've shared this with you before, but I LOVE cooking and baking and I am a Recipe-a-holic. I read cookbooks like novels (I get this from my Mother and Grandmother). But I don't have any specific 'Conference Recipes' that I cook or bake every Conference. So I want to know what you do in your families.
I do share a food blog with my sisters 3 Sisters Sharing Ideas. Just in case you're ever in need of some new recipes. :)

Here is where all of you come in:

How do you prepare for Conference? Have you seen an idea or have one that you'd like to share? Do you have a yummy Conference recipe? Then leave a link and tell us all about it.

Thanks! And have a wonderful Conference weekend.



Spiritual Crocodiles: A Sharing Time Idea for the 4th Week of March

Update: I have added a link to download the crocodile clipart. Just look below the crocodile picture and click on the link. You should be able to download it then open it and copy and paste it. Please let me know if you have any problems or questions. Thanks!!

A wonderful Sister (who is Anonymous, you'll have to let us know who you are so we can all thank you), left a comment yesterday sharing a wonderful idea for this week's Sharing Time. Here is what she said:

"We used this topic last week, so that we can use the first week of April's this week. Then we won't miss anything during Conference weekend. I told the story that Elder Packer told in a 1976 Conference talk about Spiritual crocodiles. I got a safari hat and used my binos. I had pictures to go along with the story to keep their attention. Then I talked about how we are just like Elder Packer and the Prophet is our guide. He can see things that we can't and if we follow his counsel we will be safe. Then I handed each child a paper with a little crocodile that said "spiritual crocodiles." I had them write or draw something they need to work on (ie bad language, being mean to siblings, etc.) and then promised them if they listened diligently to conference that the apostles and prophet would share something that would help them avoid their spiritual crocodiles. One of my favorite lessons in a long time!"

As soon as I read her comment I loved it! Sister you are an answer to my prayers :).

I know the children would love the 'Spiritual Crocodiles' because what little child doesn't love animals, especially little boys and crocodiles.

I had a few ideas that I just thought up real quick that could go along with Elder Packer's talk, here is what I thought of:

Idea #1: 'Don't Find the Crocodile!': Type/write several teachings from the Prophets (i.e.-You kept the Sabbath Day Holy, You payed your Tithing, etc.) on pieces of paper.

Then find a picture of a crocodile and type/write below the picture something that has to do with not following the Prophet's teachings. Make several of these also. Something like this:

Click Here to download the crocodile clipart.
(This clipart came from Microsoft Word 2010.)

On a poster-board, bulletin board, chalkboard or around the Primary Room have your prophet teachings and your 'crocodiles posted. You will want to post these so that the back is facing the children (so they don't know which is a good teaching and which is a crocodile). Have the children take turns coming up and choosing a card to flip over.

If they flip over a good card you could do something like...give them a certain amount of points, etc. But if they pick a crocodile you could take points away. For Jr. Primary you could have everyone do 'crocodile mouth' with their hands and have them 'bite' their neighbors to represent they've been bitten by a 'Spiritual crocodile'.

You could even (ahead of time) make brown paper bag crocodile puppets and hand to each child. Then when a crocodile is chosen they can 'bite' themselves or their neighbor. Just make sure things dont' get too out of hand, haha.

Idea #2: Match Game: For the match game you will just need 1 or 2 crocodile cards. But instead of typing up something bad below the crocodile type something like "You've been BIT by the Spiritual Crocodile!' For your 'teaching cards' you could have teachings typed up or have a picture of something (tithing, Family Home Evening,etc.)

Have your cards posted on a bulletin board, chalkboard or poster-board. Have a child come to the front and choose 2 cards to flip over. Show all the children the two that were flipped over and ask what/discuss what they are. If they aren't matches flip them back over and choose another child. Flip the cards until a match is found.

Warn the children that somewhere among the 'Teaching cards' are 'Spiritual Crocodiles'. Tell them that if one of those is flipped over we'll be 'bit'. You can come up with something to do when one of the crocodiles are flipped over.

Play until all matches are found or you run out of time.

Idea #3: Bean Bag Toss: I know I just posted this idea last week, but I did this game last week for my Sharing Time and the children LOVED it. So here is another bean bag toss idea:

Have several buckets. Begin by placing some teachings from the prophets and some crocodiles into each bucket. Invite a child to come to the front and toss a beanbag into a bucket. Then have them pick the piece of paper out of the bucket.

If it's a good card award them with a certain amount of points and discuss the teaching on the card. If it's bad subtract a certain amount of points and discuss why that is bad.

Have everyone on a team and give them a set amount of points that they have to reach.

You can have the points on the front of the bucket or on each individual card.

Idea #4: Life-size board game: For each square have a teaching from a prophet or a crocodile. When setting up your board game place the squares upside down, so the children can't see what is on each square (a teaching or a crocodile).

Invite a child to go to the 'Start' and roll a dice. Then have him/her move the number of spaces. When he/she gets to their square have them flip it over to reveal what it is. When they land on a crocodile you could have them move back so many spaces. When they move back they won't need to flip over the new square.

When we do the life-size board game we take turns, giving each child a chance to be the game piece.

If this is too hard, just make a game board on a poster-board.

Alright, I hope you enjoy these ideas. And once again THANK YOU!!! to the sister who shared your wonderful idea with all of us. Great idea!

And Click here for Elder Packer's talk 'Spiritual Crocodiles'.

Have a wonderful week everyone and a great Sharing Time!

4th Week Sharing Time Idea for March: There is safety in following the Prophet.

Sharing Time Idea from 2011 Primary Outline

ENCOURAGE UNDERSTANDING (singing a song and hearing stories): Prepare simple road signs that read "Stop", "Slow" and "Go". Choose three children to hold the signs, and tell them to lift the signs up when the music leaders taps them on the shoulder. Tell the children that the Go sign means to start singing, the stop sign means to stop singing and the slow sign means to sing slowly. Have the music leader lead the children in singing, "Stand for the Right" (CS, 159).

Explain that road signs keep us safe and warn us of danger ahead. Then explain that the prophet's directions are like these road signs because Heavenly Father protects and blesses us when we follow them. Divide the children into three groups. In each group, have a leader or older child share a short story about a time when he or she (or someone from the scriptures) was protected by following the prophet. Then have the groups move to another leader to hear another story. Invite them to sing the chorus to "Follow the Prophet" as they travel between leaders. Testify of the blessings that come as we follow the prophet.

ENCOURAGE APPLICATION (making signs): Let the children draw their own road signs and write on them how they will follow the teachings of the living prophets. Have them take the signs home to help them remember to follow the prophet.

Sharing Time Ideas from Little LDS Ideas

Well, we're on our way to the Temple today, so I don't have much time. But I thought I'd just post something really quick. These aren't new ideas that I'm sharing today. This is actually what I shared last year for this topic. If I come up with anything new I will be sure to post it, but until then here is what I have for you.

Click to read 4th week sharing time ideas for March.

And I am planning on Sharing some Conference ideas later this week also.

Have a great day!!

Quotes from Pres. Monson

As I was preparing for my Sharing Time tomorrow an idea came to me, and I thought I would share it with all of you. :)

For Senior Primary I am going to be doing the Bean Bag Toss game idea that I shared. I read and chose different quotes from past Conference talks and quotes from 'The Friend'. I then typed them up. Then I thought of this idea:

I typed up each of my quotes, but I typed them up as word bubbles/callouts, like this:

I am going to have a picture of Pres. Monson off to the side on a poster-board/bulletin board/chalk board with the title 'We are led by a living Prophet today' above the picture.'

At the beginning of the game I will pass out all of my quotes to all of the children. I will then read a question aloud. The children will have to read their quote(s) and decide if there's is the answer to the question. Whoever has the correct answer will come to the front and read their quote aloud. I will then let them toss a bean bag into a bucket to earn points. Then I will have them attach their 'Call-out' quote around the picture of Pres. Monson. We will discuss the quote a little more and I may share a story or something else that has to go along with that topic.

Since it's Spring Break here I'm afraid there aren't going to be many children, so instead of splitting into 2 teams I am going to keep them into one team. But to make it a little more interesting & fun, I will have a certain amount of points that they will have to try to reach in order to win. They always like a challenge. :)

I will probably have 4-5 buckets with different amounts of points on each. Maybe 10, 25, 50, 75, & 100; their goal will be to reach 500 points (or something like that).

So there you go, just an idea I thought I'd share. Have a great weekend & a great Sharing Time.

Click to view my 'Pres. Monson Quotes' document.

3rd Week Sharing Time idea for March: We are led by a living Prophet today.

Sharing Time Idea from 2011 Primary Outline

ENCOURAGE UNDERSTANDING (discussing the prophet's teachings): Cut a piece of paper into four sections and place them over a picture of the current prophet. On the back of each piece write a teaching of the prophet. (Refer to conference issues of the Ensign or Liahona to learn what the prophet has spoken about recently). Invite a child to remove one piece of paper and act out the teaching. Ask the other children to guess what he or she is doing. Repeat with the other teachings. Show a copy of the Friend or Liahona and explain that we can read the prophet's words today.

ENCOURAGE APPLICATION (sharing ideas): Have one child stand and and complete this statement: "I will follow the living prophet by...." Invite another child to repeat the first child's statement, adding another way to follow the prophet. Continue as time allows, encouraging the children to repeat as many of the other children's ideas as possible.

Sharing Time idea from Little LDS Ideas

We are finally getting over our sicknesses around my house, yah!! So, I'm finally feeling better and able to think. :)

I've been thinking about my idea for this week's sharing time for a few days now. When I first read what was in the outline I was a little nervous. It was so short and I wasn't sure what else I could really do. I didn't want to go way off topic or go into next week's topic. But finally I came up with something. I actually am in charge of Sharing time for this week and am excited for it. I think the children will have alot of fun and will learn what they need to do to follow President Monson's counsel.

I have 2 different ideas for introducing the topic and then a few games for Jr. Primary.

I always like to incorporate the scriptures with Sr. Primary, since they're old enough to read, but I didn't know what I was going to do for this week.

Then I thought....why not have them read from the Conference issue of the Ensign. I'll probably print out/copy several copies of each of President Monson's talks and highlight several passages form each. Then I'll come up with questions from each highlighted section (this will help the children to find the answers easier). I have 3 different games that you could play for Sr. Primary that deal with the November 2010 Ensign (conference issue). I think it will be great to have the children read the Ensign and the games will be alot of fun also.

So there you go, my idea for Week 3. Hope you like it!!

Click Here to read my Sharing Time idea for the 3rd Week of March.

Have a great Sharing Time!!

Weeks 1 & 2 Sharing Time Idea: Prophets speak for Heavenly Father.

Sharing Time Idea from the 2011 Sharing Time Outline

IDENTIFY THE DOCTRINE (seeing a demonstration): Invite a child to come to the front of the room. Tell the other children to follow his or her instructions. Whisper simple instructions to the child, such as, "Tell them to put their hands on their heads" or "Tell them to quietly say hello to the person sitting next to them." Repeat with several other simple instructions, ending with "Tell them to fold their arms". Ask the children how they knew what you wanted them to do. Explain that one of the ways Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ send messages to people on earth is by speaking to Their servants and then commanding those servants to speak to the people. Ask, "Who are the servants who speak for Heavenly Father and Jesus?" Have the children say together, "Prophets speak for Heavenly Father."

ENCOURAGE UNDERSTANDING (role-playing scripture stories): Before Primary, tape a picture of a prophet and some scripture references that tell about what he did or said to the bottom of some of the chairs. Examples could include:
Noah (Genesis 6:13-14, Genesis 7:5, 7-10)
Moses (Exodus 14:8-9, 13-14, 21-22)
Samuel the Lamanite (Helaman 14:1-8, 16:1-3)
Joseph Smith (D&C 89)

Invite the children to look under their chairs to find the pictures. Divide the children into groups, with one picture in each group, and have them prepare and present a role play of their prophet. Invite the other groups to guess which prophet they are portraying. Discuss how the people received the prophet's message and what the results were.

ENCOURAGE UNDERSTANDING (singing a song): Make a "wheel of prophets" like the one shown on the right. Divide the circle into eight sections, each with the name of a prophet from the song, "Follow the Prophet" (CS, 110-11). Invite a child to spin the wheel. Share a brief story about the prophet indicated on the wheel (use the scripture references on CS 111 for ideas). Then sing the verse about that prophet in "Follow the prophet". Invite another child to spin the wheel, and repeat the activity as time allows.

Sharing Time Ideas from Little LDS Ideas

I know...I'm posting my idea late again, but I think I have a pretty good excuse this time. :) Here in the Perron household we have all been sick, blah! And of course I think I had the worst of it. We've had horrible coughs, fever, congestion, etc. So I honestly haven't felt like doing much blogging.

But we're finally starting to feel better, so I thought I would share some ideas.

First I thought I would share my idea that I shared last year for this topic.

You can find it HERE. I've updated the link, so it should work.

I saw an idea that I also shared last year for another Sharing Time, and thought that you could change it to fit with this week.

Have a Brother from the ward dress up as a Prophet of old. Have him come in and ask the children 'How can Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ talk to us? Does he call us on the phone, send us letters, emails? No.' Have your prophet then explain that one of the ways Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ speak to us is through Their servants, the Prophets. Have him introduce himself as one of those prophets. You could have him share his story with the children and some of the things he told his people. Have him encourage the children to always listen to the prophet.

Some Game Ideas:

Tic-Tac-Toe: Make a large Tic-Tac-Toe grid on a poster-board. In each square have a scripture reference. Split the Primary into 2 teams, X's & O's. Have the first team go first and choose a square. Have them look up the scripture and then guess which prophet it is. Once they have figured it out have them place an X or O in that square.

Balloon Pop: (this works great for Jr. Primary) Have a bulletin board, chalkboard, or poster-board with different pictures of the prophets. Have several scripture references for each prophet (examples given in Primary Outline). Place each scripture reference inside of a balloon and blow it up. Each prophet will have 2-4 'Clue Balloons' (be sure to keep each one seperate from the other prophets, you could have each prophet a different color balloon).

Choose a child to come up and pick a balloon to pop. Then have them find the scripture reference and read it aloud. Ask the child if they know which prophet that scripture belongs to. If not continue with choosing another child to come up and pop another balloon. Continue until all clues have been read or the prophet is guessed.

You could do one scripture reference and the rest 'easy' clues (for Jr. Primary).

Beat the Teacher!: This game will be played Children Vs. Teachers. I think this would work great for Week 2. And I know Sr. Primary would LOVE it!

Click Here to view 'Beat the Teacher', a game idea.

Who Am I: You could do this 2 ways: #1-Have several children dress up like a prophet. Give him/her several clues to read (or whisper the clues into their ear). Have the children guess which prophet they are.

2-Have several GAK pictures on a board. Have several clues in a bucket, bag, underneath chairs,etc. (You'll have to have each set of clues seperated by prophet). Have the children read the clues and then match the clues with the picture of the prophet.