Because I am a child of God . . .”
For this year’s theme “I am a child of God” our ward is doing a quarterly activity entitled “Because I am a child of God . . .”
We are having the kids meet in the primary room for an introduction to the theme. The first station will be “I will sing praises to Him”. All the primary children together will have a short singing time. Then we are breaking the kids up into 6 groups and going to different locations in the building for various activities. These are the titles of the various stations (keeping in mind the theme “Because I am a child of God . . .”)
- -I will trust and have faith in Him
- -I will pray to Him
- -I will serve Him
- -I will learn of Him so I can follow Him
- -I will share His gospel
- -I will choose the right
Each station will have a poster with the above written on it, it will last 15 minutes, and two teachers are assigned to do the activities for each station. One teacher will take the kids to the next activity while the other remains to greet the incoming group. (Yes, this will run long, but ours is a Tongan ward and we take our activities seriously! They sometimes are all-day events. This one is going to be about 3 hours because we are serving a light lunch afterwards.) Anyway, when the kids have done all the station rotations, we will all meet back in the cultural hall where we will explain that if we do all these things, we will be blessed. Each child will receive a treat. Then we are having lunch (I know that seems backward, but oh well!) We haven’t actually done it yet, so I can’t tell you how it went, but we are doing it next month.
Here are some of the activities we are doing for the above (and I give credit to another idea on this site for the scenarios for the “choose the right” one):
Activity for: “I will choose the right.”
(To take place in ___________________)
(Next activity will be __________________)
Instructions for teachers:
1) Introduce game. Tell the kids that in life we have tons of choices, big and little. You will be giving them different situations and they will choose what they might do in those situations.
2) Have everyone stand behind the tape line.
3) Read off the different situations (next page)
4) When they get to the end, congratulate them for choosing the right and give them a piece of candy.
Situations:
1. You are playing at a friend’s house. Your friend puts on a movie.
You watch it for a little while and quickly realize it is not a good, wholesome movie.
-If you decide to go ahead and watch it just this one time, take one step backwards.
-If you tell your friend that you do not want to watch it, do a cartwheel forward.
2. While on the playground, one of your friends pulls some small pills out of his pocket and says that you should each take one to see what happens.
-If you decide to take one, sit down and stand up
-If you tell your friend “no way” and then let a teacher know, take 3 hops forward on your right foot.
3. You are at the store with your mom and she tells you that you cannot have a treat this time. But you want a pack of gum really really bad.
-If you tell yourself “Oh well, maybe next time”, then jump forward as far as you can.
-If you slip the pack of gum into your pocket when no one is looking, do a spin in place.
4. Some of the kids at school use swear words and they tease you for not using them too.
-If you keep on with your clean language and find other kids to play with that have clean language too, then do a somersault forward.
-If you decide to say a few swear words when those kids are around just so they’ll stop teasing you, then do a somersault backwards.
5. You are very tired and get into bed without saying a prayer. The good thing is, you usually pray every night. Last night you said an extra long prayer to thank Heavenly Father for your blessings. What will you do tonight?
-If you jump right out of bed and pray, hop three times on your left foot.
-If you skip praying for just this one night, do five jumping jacks in place.
6. Your sister finds your chocolate bar you had hidden in your drawer and eats it.
-If you work out a deal with her to pay you back and then forgive her, take one giant step forward.
-If you get angry and yell at her and then go into her room and take something of hers to get even, do 5 pushups in place.
7. You don’t know the answer to a test at school. The person sitting next to you is very smart and always gets 100%. The teacher isn’t looking and you have a clear view of your neighbor’s paper.
-If you try to get the answer off your neighbor’s paper just this once, clap your hands three times.
-If you put your eyes back on your own paper and make your best guess, do 2 skips forward.
8. Your parents are not at home. There is a show coming on that you’ve been waiting to watch for a week but your brothers want to watch something else.
-If you decide to fight and yell and argue with your brothers, sit down on the ground.
-If you decide to try to work out a way to take turns with them, bear walk (on hands and feet) to the finish line.
9. Last question if any kids are sitting down from the last one: You made a mistake.
-If you decide to repent and do better, run to the finish line. (Make sure everyone runs to the finish line!)
Activity for: “I will learn of Him, so I can follow Him.”
(To take place in _____________________)
(Next activity will be __________________)
Instructions for teachers:
1) Decide which of you will be head of the “Leader” group and which will be the head of the “Follower” group. Hide the treats somewhere the kids won’t find them or see them.
2) When the kids arrive, split them into two groups, each teacher takes her group to one side and gives them instructions. (Make sure groups cannot see each other. Either take one group outside or if it’s in cultural hall, take one group into the kitchen for instructions.)
Leader group: Have each child put on a ______. Tell them that they will all be trying to get the kids from the other group to follow them around the room and do what they are doing. Choose one to be the real leader and tell her to only quietly whisper for kids to follow her. Tell them to walk around the room and do whatever they feel like, including the real leader, trying to get the kids to follow them. Tell the real leader that when you secretly tap her, she is to follow you to the treat.
Follower group: Tell the kids that one of the children from the other group will lead them to a treat, but they have to figure out which one.
3) Say “START” and the kids go.
4) Both teachers will wander around with the kids too. The leader teacher will start calling out hints, like:”The leader is a (boy or girl).” Then a minute later. “The leader is 8 years old.” “The leader is wearing a pink shirt.”
5) When most of the kids are following the right leader, tap him/her without letting the other kids see you. Then she’ll follow you to the treats.
6) Collect the _________. Give each child a treat and tell them: “You did not know who to follow until you learned more about him/her. For us to follow Christ, we must learn of Him by reading our scriptures, going to church and listening to the prophets. There will be lots of other people wanting us to follow them, but they will lead us nowhere.”
7) One teacher stays to greet the next group of kids, while the other one takes the children to their next activity.
For the “sharing the gospel” one, we are going to ask the kids “What ways can we share the gospel” [someone will say “go on a mission”], we are going to point out the missionary plaques and say that we have missionaries from our ward who are sharing the gospel all day every day and we should let them know we are grateful for their hard work. We’ll pass out pencils, paper and let the kids write or draw pictures for missionaries, then collect them and mail them to the missionaries.