We did a Family Home evening Activity day in February. We Made FHE file boxes, which the families of children decorated with church clip art they colored and pasted onto the box. We made a music meter, it was a rocket which moved on fishing line up to a moon. The board was decorated with stars. We made a prophet matching game. We made paper bag puppets for general book of Mormon characters. We made a spinning wheel with a whale and 13 numbers around it to practice the articles of faith (whale of fortune). We have since given them a fishing game with fish and fishing pole, and plan to give them beanbags to go in their FHE box. Each month we put together a packet for a FHE the kids can do of things we do in sharing time, for instance it will have a flannel board story from the friend about the them, and activity or game, and pictures for the song of the month. I think the packets and box have been helpful for our ward members to focus on the primary them at home. —Lisa
_________________________
Our ward is planning on doing this activity during our spring break, we did add a FHE job chart for the kids to color (we will laminate them before they leave). —DeAnne
We are doing our next activity day on FHE. For fun, I pasted some links to some FHE sites that I found (I didn’t spend much time — I am sure there are 100’s more out there!!). Many you already know, maybe one or two you haven’t been to.
Some are better than others. Have fun!
http://www.ldscn.com/fhe/
http://www.thefamily.com/famnite/lessons.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/4746/
http://www.mormon.com/gunthers/101activities.html
http://www.thefamily.com/famnite/index.html
http://hometown.aol.com/BMValen/index.html
http://ldsweb.org/primary_art/Main_Page.html#FHE
http://www.angelfire.com/mo/lissa1/FHE.html
We had a FHE activity day in September, and I think that it was one of the best ones we have had. Of course, Moms and Dads were invited, so we had a nursery for any of the nursery aged children. We didn’t specify older siblings could come, and we would have welcomed them, but none chose to come. Here is what we did.
About two weeks before the activity day we visited each family. We took them an invitation and an empty box. We got paper boxes from Kinko*s and OfficeMax. We used about 30 boxes in all. The invitation told them the when’s and where’s, but it also told them that this was going to be their FHE box, so they, as a family, needed to decorate it to reflect their family. So, we have already given them something to do for FHE before the activity day has even arrived. They were also instructed to bring their boxes to the activity, and that we would fill them up.
We met altogether at first. Everyone sat in a circle and was introduced and showed off their primary boxes…We had some GREAT ones…we also had only two families that did not come, because they were out of town for a funeral.
We then divided into four groups and went to separate classes that rotated. We had one class on lessons, one on games, one on songs, and one on refreshments. The families really liked this.
In our lesson class, we had available the FHE resource books for families who did not already have it and we had lots of handouts on ideas, taken from the Friend or the resource book. We also gave out pizza boxes and the instructions to make a flannel board box, if they were interested. We were going to have them make the flannel board there, but decided against it because of time, cost, and the problem of families with lots of kids trying to make just one.
In our refreshment class we talked about all of the fun things we can do for refreshments. I had made up a little recipe book for them, and then they made a small refreshment that didn’t need to be cooked. (We made hamburgers out of Nilla Wafers (Bun), Grasshopper Cookie (Burger), Green Coconut (lettuce), Red, White, and Yellow Frosting (ketchup, mustard, and Mayo).
Our Chorister did the songs, and I am not sure all of what she did, but I know she not only sang religious songs from the PCSB, but also just fun silly songs.
In the games we had tons of games being played, with lots of handouts.
In each class they received a file folder to put their handouts in, so each family left with their box and four file folders filled with ideas.
For refreshments we had made about 6 or 7 different items from the little recipe book that was handed out and did a taster’s table. Hope this helps. —Melanie
____________________________
FHE activity day
I just wanted to let you know how much fun we had yesterday. We did a FHE activity day, the only complaint we had is that THERE WASN’T ENOUGH TIME.
We did the round robin on lessons.
The classes were:
FHE treats- there was a hand out of recipes…they got to make 3 hands on treats (the hamburger cookies, peanut butter balls, and popcorn, we also had gigglers)
FHE lessons- Each child got lots of ideas and a folder of lessons they can use. Also taught how to use the friend for this class.
FHE activity- Again we did things from the friend.
FHE job charts- This one really needed to be a longer class due to the coloring and laminating, but the kids each had one to take home. —DeAnne
______________________________
I asked for teachers to sign up for one of the four activities. They would help with the activity in some way. This one they actually taught the different stations. So I am not sure on specifics of their classes because I was taking care of timing and other things.
This is the basic outline of our activity.
We gathered the families together. Each family got to pick their own pizza box and then design the bottom however they wished. They also received four file folders that had the name of each station they would be going to: Lesson Ideas, Game/Activity Ideas, Food Ideas, and Music Ideas. They could also decorate or draw on each file folder to illustrate the topic if they chose. This opening lasted about 20 minutes. Then we divided them into the four groups. And they rotated at about 30 minutes at each station.
The food station gave fun recipes for children to make. One was cinnamon snails. This is bread spread with cream cheese. It is then rolled up and cut into tiny pieces about 1/3 inch wide. Cinnamon and sugar is sprinkled on top and it is toasted in the oven. Some of their recipes came out of the old Friend magazine. Peanut butter candy, fruit pizza, caramel corn. I also helped them with an April fool*s day recipe I saw in a Friend once. It was a piece of angel food cake sliced about 1/2 inch wide and laid on its side. You cover that with cool whip. Then you place a canned peach half pit side down in the middle of the cool whip and cake. It looks like a sunny side up egg.
The music station included lots of ideas for songs. And had puppets to make out of Popsicle sticks. You label those with loud, soft, etc….
The lesson station is where the children made the assignment wheels. You take a smaller paper Chinet plate and place it inside a larger one. You fix one of those brass looking tabs in the middle and fold the ends flat. This allows it to rotate. Then you label (draw pie shapes) the assignments in the smaller plate such as opening prayer, closing prayer, music, lesson, refreshments, games, helper, free space, etc…. This depends on how many people are in the family and what assignments you want for your own FHE’s. Then on the outside rim of the larger plate you place the names. You can color it however you choose. The crafts/games section was more personalized for our ward. But she did hand out all kinds of ideas for different crafts she got from the Friend, over the internet, etc….For our craft: The teacher works in a medical facility. Evidently, they get little tiny clear glass bottles of sterilized water. She saved enough of those for the children to make into single flowerpots. The children took tiny pieces of tissue paper and dipped them in a glue water solution and placed them on the outside of the bottle. Then they placed a tiny piece sponge in the neck so that they could put flower seeds on it and water them till they grew into flowers. Then they let them dry. They turned out really cute. I think the bottles were only 2 1/2 inches high.
Some great resources for attention getters on different FHE topics is a book I bought at the Liahona called: “Keeping Your Kids Awake! during Family Home Evening by Shelley Wille; Fun for Family Night: Book of Mormon Edition by Allan Burgess and Max Molgard and Family Home Evening Games by Jeni Gochnour. There was one other great book but I can not find it at the moment. I will send it on later when I do. But anyway, that was our activity. Hope it gives you some ideas. —Michele _____________________________
FHE Boxes
We did the FHE box Act. Day last month. Here is what we did:
We gave out boxes ahead of time for each family to decorate. (Kinko*s has good boxes with lids) They all brought their boxes to the activity day.
We had 4 stations: lesson — various stories, most with flannel board type pictures to color, about Baptism. These were all done ahead of time and put in a folder for them. In the class I told them one of the stories so they could learn it real well. Then they colored some of the pictures that went with it. They also have coloring and cutting to do at home. We also provided an outline of the completed FHE.
Music — taught them the Family Night song from the CSMP, also provided copies of this and another FHE song, and the Baptism song we are learning this year, since it goes with their lesson on Baptism they will be giving with this FHE. We also had them tape Popsicle sticks to little signs to use with music: stop, go, soft (mouse), loud (lion), boys sing, girls sing, hum (hummingbird) OOOhh (owl) and buzz (bee). These were on colored cardstock. They also threaded curling ribbon through an eye-screw we had on the end of a thin dowel to use as a fun leading baton.
Treat — gave them the cookbook and they made “rainbow toast” (to go with the lesson on baptism). We put a few drops of food coloring in small cups of milk. They used a brand new plastic bristled paintbrush to create rainbows on white bread (careful not to saturate) and toasted it. They buttered and could sprinkle cinnamon & sugar if they wanted to. This was easy and fun and they didn’t even complain their “treat” was just toast! ;o)
Games — gave them a folder with a few FHE games: a tic-tac-fact game that could also be used for other subjects, a footprint game on baptism, and a set of “memory” cards we made using the pictures of the first presidency & the 12 apostles. We also gave them a picture of all of them together and included the idea of singing their last names to the tune of 10 little Indians.
One other thing we put in their boxes for them was a cardboard spinner type thing they could put lines on to assign FHE jobs. On the outer circle they could put the jobs (lesson, treat, music, prayer, etc) and on the inner circle they could put the names of the family members. We left it blank so they could divide up the sections and decide what they wanted to put on it.
It was very successful and we didn’t do anything to decorate. The one thing we did do that I liked was pull the couches and easy chairs from the foyers for the lesson room so it was kind of like a family room. We also had big pillows or quilts if they preferred the floor. Good luck! ~~Denise
_________________________
We had a fun activity. It was a FHE activity. We had a lesson on Lehi’s dream and holding to the rod. This was very simple I taught the lesson, about 5 min. and then had a Rod made out of PVC Pipe and held up on quilting frame corners(I guess that’s was there called, you could use chairs or anything.) One of the husbands put together the pipe; it was very simple. Then we learned a song, Hold to the Rod. The chorister taught this, and she had pictures to remind them of the words just like she would in a Sunday singing time. Then there was a treat class. We taught them how to make a simple treat. I think it was “rocky road.” We talked about how much smoother the path is if your holding on to the rod. Then there was an activity class, we had pictures that went along with the story of Lehi’s dream and had them color these so they could go home and teach the lesson the next week for FHE. It took a little prep work but mostly, copying and set up. It was a lot of fun and the families seemed to like that they were ready for the FHE lesson. —Jennifer
___________________________________
We are having our FHE activity day next Saturday. We sent home boxes to be decorated. We will provide each FAMILY (not each child) with a file folder with a complete lesson in it (there is enough stuff to spread it out over more than one lesson), a file with games, a file with music, and a FHE Treats cookbook we compiled. We will go over these at each of the stations, in music (in addition to singing the songs) they also will tape signs (stop, go, loud, soft, hum, etc.) to Popsicle sticks. We will have siblings go with each other in the same groups. ~Denise