FHE - New Year's Goals

Opening Song: I Will Follow God's Plan, Children's Songbook pg 164

Opening Prayer

Discussion: What is the next holiday? (New Years!) Do you know what most people do to prepare for the new year? They set goals. What is a goal?

I chose quotes and stories from this lesson: Setting Personal and Family Goals

These led to some great discussions.

After our discussion and the kids decided what they wanted their goals to be, they made collages using magazines. :)

It was fun. The lesson talks about "roads" to get to our goals so we then discussed what "roads" the kids can take to get to their goals.

Closing Prayer

Food!

FHE -- Emotions

We played emotional charades only we changed the rules a bit since my kids are too young. I put the cards face down and we picked them out one by one. We talked about each emotion, when we feel that way and then we all showed each other what our faces looked like when we felt that way. =-) It was fun. You can print out the cards here.

Service

My hubby had the lesson tonight. He based it off an article from The Friend called The Zucchini Bandit. After we read the story we talked about ways that we can serve one another.
Collin had refreshments so he and I made poppy seed muffin tops earlier today... yum yum and then Ronni wanted to play games for the activity... guess what game! Operation.. yeah... haha! We seem to be playing that game a lot lately. ;)

Prayer - Daniel in the Lion's Den

Tonight was Ronni's turn to do the lesson. She's two so I asked her what she wanted me to talk about. She said cats so I asked her if lions were okay and she excitedly said yes. So.... I planned to mainly just talk about the importance of prayer and show a movie on Daniel in the Lion's Den.

We sang a song and then Collin (4 yo) said the opening prayer. Well, he said it really fast and short and then seemed proud of that so I ad-libbed. I started talking about how Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits and that prayer is how we communicate to our Father in Heaven. Then I grabbed my cell phone and flipped it open and asked Collin to demonstrate how he starts a conversation with Daddy.
He said, "Hi Dad."
Then I asked him how he starts a conversation with Heavenly Father. He said "Dear Heavenly Father." Then we went over the steps of praying like that.
After we discussed prayer and the importance for him I asked him if he wanted to see a movie about a prophet who loved the Lord and wanted to obey Him so much that he didn't want to stop talking to Him, even when he may die for doing it. That sure got his attention.
Then we watched Daniel in the Lion's Den.
We talked a bit about the story then said closing prayer and did a coloring page before refreshments of fruit and homemade whipped cream.

Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert

 

 

From Publishers Weekly

"Apple to Zucchini, / come take a look. / Start eating your way / through this alphabet book." So begins this delectable feast of fruits and vegetables, in a diverse and plentiful array. Each turn of the page reveals a mouth-watering arrangement of foods: Indian corn, jalapeno, jicama, kumquat, kiwifruit and kohlrabi. The words are shown in capital and lowercase letters set in bold type for easy reading. At the end of the book, Ehlert provides a detailed glossary that includes pronunciation, botanical information, the origin and history of the particular plant and occasional mythological references, with a small watercolor picture to remind the reader of what the plant looks like. Ehlert's glorious watercolor collages are lively and enticing; as in her Growing Vegetable Soup , she presents the plant world in an appealing and easily accessible manner. Both parents and children will be encouraged to sample exotic new foods at mealtime. Ages 3-5.

FHE - Light of the World

Ronni (the 2 year old) had the song and she picked "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes"

When the kids are in charge of the lesson they choose an item from the "30 Fast and Easy Family Home Evening Lessons" Box. haha! Was that a mouth-full? Each item has a number on it that corresponds w/ a lesson. Last night, Collin picked the candle. I gave each child a candle coloring sheet (found at above link) and then my husband and Collin taught the lesson together.

Hubby had the refreshments and he made brownies --- yum yum!

I had the activity so we play the game Operation. =o)

FHE - Building Strong Families

Collin was in charge of music and he chose "My Eternal Family".
Then we said an opening prayer and started the lesson. I got the idea from here.
I talked about the first family -- Adam and Eve -- and discussed how they had to teach their kids so they could be a strong family. Then I had the kids name things that a family should do. The website gives examples like 'show love', 'service', 'use kind words'. I put them on blocks then we stacked them up and I talked about how if we do all these things we can be a strong building but if we don't do one of these (I pulled out that block) the family weakens (all the blocks fell over). We did this a couple of times, pulling out different blocks, each time the "family" fell over. The kids had fun!
Here are some examples: