JULY FAMILY HOME EVENING
WORD OF GOD Supplies: A bean bag, small stuffed animal, or small ball; a piece of paper and pencil or pen Opening Song: “The Iron Rod” Hymnal, p. 274 Opening Prayer: Scripture: John 1:1 & 14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” LESSON Elder James E. Talmage taught that Jesus was the one “through whom the will, commandment, or word of the Father was put into effect” (Jesus the Christ, 33). Jesus really was, and still is, the Word of God. Jesus tells us the things that Heavenly Father needs us to know. We need to be ready to teach and comfort like Jesus. In order to know what WORDS we should use, we need to study His life, we need to know better how to be like Him. What are some lessons He has taught us? Make a list of responses so everyone can see. Activity: For our activity, we are going to play a game where we can think about what we can do every day to become more like Jesus. The person giving the lesson will begin by acting out something we can do to follow Jesus (look at the list of lessons you’ve made and choose a way to follow one every day or think of your own). After it’s been guessed, toss a bean bag/small stuffed animal/small ball to the person you choose to act out the next daily action we can do. Closing Song: “I Am a Child of God” Children’s Songbook, p. 2 Closing Prayer:
AUGUST FAMILY HOME EVENING
LIVING WATER Supplies: Cut out Dry’s and put on a cookie sheet, fill a cup part way with water, cut out pictures Opening Song: “Give Said the Little Stream” Children’s Songbook, p. 236 Opening Prayer: Scripture: John 4:13-14 “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” LESSON (adapted from an idea on Pergler’s Primary Place) Introduce your family to the dry family. Mr. and Mrs. Dry, Brother and Sister Dry are very thirsty. They haven’t chosen to live very close to the Spirit. Remember the scripture we read? Jesus taught that the water he gives will help us to gain eternal life. Let’s help the Dry’s find some water. DO ACTIVITY then come back and finish off the lesson. Now the Dry family is filled with Living Water, but will they stay this way? If we leave them out on the counter, will they stay wet? Nope, they’ll dry out. They have to keep doing all the things we talked about, keep drinking from the Living Water, so they can stay wet and keep on the path to Eternal Life just like we do. Activity: Have one family member choose a picture (you can put them face down or let them see the picture they’re choosing). Tell them what that picture represents and then talk about how we can live that principle in many different ways by answering the questions. Each time someone gives an idea, let them put their finger into a cup of water and drip a drop on one of the Dry’s. Jesus Christ – The Dry family needs to have faith in Jesus. What else can we have faith in? Family Prayer – What can the Dry family pray for to help them fill up on the Living Water of Jesus? Scripture Study – How can the Dry family use scripture study to fill up on the Living Water of Jesus? Partaking of the Sacrament – Each week the Dry family can attend church and take the sacrament. What can they think about while it’s being passed to help them be closer to Jesus? Family Home Evening – What should the Dry families family home evening look like? How can their family home evening fill them with Living Water? Showing Love – What can the Dry family do to show love to each other and those around them every day?
Closing Song: “I Feel My Savior’s Love” Children’s Songbook, p. 74 Closing Prayer:
SEPTEMBER FAMILY HOME EVENING
THE WAY Supplies: Cut each scrambled word strip apart, making sure to keep each word strip separate with either a paper clip or small Ziploc bag. Opening Song: “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus” Children’s Songbook, p. 57 Opening Prayer: Scripture: John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” LESSON Did you know that the word gospel means good news? What is the good news? The good news is that Jesus came to earth and atoned for our sins. He died so that each person who repents can be washed clean and live with Him and Heavenly Father again. Heavenly Father cannot live with even a little bit of sin, so He made a plan that makes it possible for every person, even those of us who mess up, can still be with Him forever. What is the Way? Jesus is the Way! We can follow Jesus, follow the Way by having faith in Him. By following His example and trying to be like Him. Today we’re going to put together some mixed up word strips that teach different parts of The Way, the plan that will help us to make it safely back to Heavenly Father. Activity: Choose one word strip at a time to put together. As you figure out what each strip says, look it up in the topical guide and read a scripture about that topic. After you read the scripture, talk about how your family can follow The Way in your lives everyday. Closing Song: “I’m Trying to be Like Jesus” Children’s Songbook, p. 78 Closing Prayer:
OCTOBER FAMILY HOME EVENING
BREAD OF LIFE Supplies: Cut out the slices of bread: Food, Jesus and Blank. Opening Song: “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus” Children’s Songbook, p. 57 Opening Prayer: Scripture: John 6:51 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” LESSON Everyone needs to eat. Sometimes when we haven’t eaten for a while we get so hungry we crave food, it seems to be all we can think about. Jesus taught that His teachings are just as important for our spiritual self as food is for our physical body. Jesus teachings can have the same power in our lives, if we follow Him and let His word grow in us, we will crave the nourishment the gospel gives just like our bodies crave food. For our activity today, we’ll talk about how food helps us, how different teachings of Jesus, the Bread of Life, helps us spiritually grow, and then we’ll come up with some more of our own ideas/teachings. Activity: Go through the Food and Jesus slices of bread, talking about each one. As you finish, pull out the blank loaf of bread and write other teachings of Jesus and how they can fill us spiritually. Closing Song: “Before I Take the Sacrament” Children’s Songbook, p. 73 Closing Prayer:
NOVEMBER FAMILY HOME EVENING
GOOD SHEPHERD Supplies: Cut out sheep and set on spaces throughout the gameboad. Collect a game piece for each family member (you could use coins, buttons, or pieces from another game) and some dice (you could also borrow this from another game if you don’t have a spare). Opening Song: “The Things I Do” Children’s Songbook, p. 170 Opening Prayer: Scripture: Psalm 23:1-3 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” LESSON A good shepherd will give his life to protect his sheep. He knows each sheep by name. The sheep know his voice and follow him and none other. If a sheep is lost, a good shepherd will search endlessly for it to bring it safely back to the fold. And one of them was lost. “The shepherd left the other ninety-nine sheep to look for the lost one. He searched everywhere. When he found it, he was very happy. He picked it up, put it on his shoulders, and carried it home. Then he called to all his friends and neighbors to come and be happy with him because he had found the sheep that was lost.” Jesus Christ told this story and taught that he is the Good Shepherd and we are his sheep. He knows each of our names and loves and cares for each of us like the Shepherd cared for the sheep in the story. He wants each of us to be able to live with him forever and we must follow Jesus and help find people that may be lost or don’t come to church as often or don’t know about the gospel. Activity: We are going to play a game. When we land on a sheep, we will pick a sheep and answer a question about Jesus and the shepherd parable. After the question is answered correctly, we will move that sheep into Jesus' fold in the middle of the board. Let's see how many sheep we can herd!!! Closing Song: “I’ll Walk With You” Children’s Songbook, p. 140 Closing Prayer:
DECEMBER FAMILY HOME EVENING
REDEEMER Supplies: Cut out circles and place face down in the area you will be having family home evening. Opening Song: “He Sent His Son” Children’s Songbook, p. 34-35 Opening Prayer: Scripture: D&C 18:11 “For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.” LESSON (lesson and activity idea from Little LDS Ideas) Ask your family: What did your/our parents (or other family members) do for you when you were a baby that you could not do for yourself? What do your/our parents (or other family members) do for you now that you cannot do for yourself? Why do they do these things for you? Our parents and other family members are happy to do things for us that we cannot do for ourselves because they love us and want to help us. Someone else loves us very much and was willing to do something for us that we could not do for ourselves. Before we came to this earth, Jesus Christ offered to be our Redeemer. That meant he was willing to die and be resurrected so that we could live again and return to our Father in Heaven. Jesus was the only person with the power to do this for us. We could not do it for ourselves. Activity: Have family members take turns choosing a circle to turn over. Look up the scripture on each circle. After reading the scriptures, talk about what happened in the scriptures before moving to the next circle. After you finish the circles, bear your testimony that Jesus is our Redeemer to your family. Closing Song: “To Think About Jesus” Children’s Songbook, p. 71 Closing Prayer:
J ES USCHRI S TI S MYREDEEMER
J ES USCHRI S TI S MYREDEEMER
LUKE22: 1 3 1 4, 1 920
LUKE22: 3 944
J ES USCHRI S TI S MYREDEEMER
J ES USCHRI S TI S MYREDEEMER
LUKE23 : 3 3 3 4, 46
J OHN20: 1 1 1 8
