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Time for Family Home Evening. My husband and I have a two year old little boy and I struggle coming up with FHE ideas that apply to little ones. I grew up in a home that didn't have FHE at all, so I don't have a lot of experience to rely on. I really think this program is so important for a strong family, as well as, a great teaching opportunity.Here are some FHE ideas that we have tried:
1. Look up Ian's latest nursery lesson and use the related craft he made to reinforce what he has just learned.
2. Pick out a few pictures and talk about them. Usually pictures of Jesus, Joseph Smith, Prayer, etc.
3. Read a story from the Friend Magazine or from Book of Mormon Stories.
4. Sing a bunch of Primary songs, especially the ones with actions (a little workout!)
Our family home evenings are not very structured other then the songs and prayers and they are usually pretty brief (10-15 min). We haven't really incorporated an activity or snack into it yet, unless our FHE was a family trip to the park or something like that.
My question to all of you is what do you do for FHE, how long are your lessons, what kinds of activities do you do, or any great ideas, etc.
6 comments:
I don't know where I'm suppose to write a response to these. But in our house FHE happens on Sundays, we sing opening and closing songs. We have a lesson geared towards Mikelle who is 2, Kaylee is too young to know yet. But they only last a few minutes. She really gets into holding pictures and enjoys it when we all sit on a blanket together. (kind of helps her realize that her "moving" space is limited) We even sing some of her nursery songs that she loves. Anything to keep in interested and involved. Our activity one time was to make the FHE job wheel. She loves to spin it and see what assignment she gets. We do activities such as Dora Go Fish or Dora Memory, and then of course have a snack. This has worked really well for us, but I will admit we don't do it as often as we should, but when we have she has been really cooperative. Hope thats helpful!
This is a really good question!! I think having FHE with a 2-yr-old is hard. It's been so much easier now then it was when Parker was 2 and Mayli was just born. But what's helped us A LOT is having a FHE board to designate assignments. It structures it because we just go down the board and do all of them and everyone has a part that they are excited about and have "planned" for. It's also fun when the kids teach the lessons on their turns. When it's Mayli's turn (2-yr-old) we ask her what she wants to teach about and then whatever crazy thing she says we somehow turn it into a lesson and tell her what to say. That makes it fun for them and they think they are planning it.
Another fun thing that my mom used to do, that is more for siblings... as the "activity" she would tell us stories about these sisters. Later I realized that me and my sister were the sisters she was telling about and she would tell a story of something that had happened between my sister and I that week (a fight, disobeying parents, etc)and we would tell her what they "should have done". Since we didn't realize the girls were us back then it worked pretty well to get us to say how nice sisters would act. And my mom claims it would help us act nicer for at least a couple days after, haha... I've tried this a couple times and Parker loves it and knows all the right answers and Mayli just likes hearing a story! I'm sure it will be more affective when they are a little older.
So.. anyone want next week's question?? :)
Hey, those are great ideas! I knew you creative moms would have some inspiration for me. Anna, how did you make your wheel? What is it made of? I love the story idea, Cassi. Your mom is a genius!
This is a little bit of hard work, but my mom put together a FHE kit. It has a scripture story, song, and an object (birthday candle for Matthew 5:14-16 or a crayon for "record keeping"). It really helps my kids stay focused to have an object to look at and feel. We also like to use the church gospel art pictures (bought at the distribution center) My boys love the stories about the Strippling Wariors. We also love to do treasure hunts- we do them a lot but we liken them to what we are learning about, that is how the kids get their treats. I don't think FHE needs to be very long- just long enough to be together as a family and learn a little something also!
I think this is a great question. We also didn't really have FHE as a family growing up, so we've been working really hard to do it as a family. Like Calise mentioned, the gospel art pictures/kit are a great resource. What we are doing is going in order (we just started with the New Testament) and we pick a picture each week. There is a really short summary on the back, so we read that and then try to simplify it so Will can understand it. Then we hand the picture up on his board or on the fridge and then we can look at it every day that week. It is really amazing what kids catch onto. Last week was about Lazarus being raised from the dead and Will still talks about "Lazarus coming out of the door with Jesus"... it's very cute. If I'm really on top of things Monday during the day, I'll get out our next picture and think of an activity, craft, or treat that goes along with the picture. But, usually we just end up singing a couple songs, reading the summary, and playing a short game of ring around the rosies or something (whatever Will picks).
One other thing (sorry for the long comment) I bought a set of pictures from church distribution (for way cheap) that range from people to nature, to animals, to scripture stories, etc. I think they are the pictures that accompany the primary manuals. Anyways, I cut them all out and put velcro on the back, so that one of these days, we can use them on a flannel board for FHE. Since we don't have a lot of space or money, I made a flannel board out of an old 3-ring binder, I just covered the front with felt, now I keep everything inside in sheet protectors. It is great because it was cheap, easy, and fast and it stands up perfectly! Just an idea.
Our wheel is a cheap thing right now. made of construction paper. I just wrote the different jobs on the rectangular piece and then our four names on the wheel part. put a fastener in the center so the wheel can rotate. My sister in law has one that is wooden board and has Family Home Evening painted on it, then the different jobs painted on smaller above the hooks that they hang a name tag on and then they rotate their name tags down a hook every week.
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