Lesson 1

Lesson one
We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

Before the lesson please read:

Marriage Is Essential to His Eternal Plan by Elder David A. Bednar
Oneness in Marriage by President Spencer W. Kimball
Teaching the Doctrine of the Family by Julie B. Beck

Song
 “A Happy Family” (Children’s Songbook, p. 198).
Lyrics
1. I love mother*; she loves me.
We love daddy*, yes sirree;
He loves us, and so you see,
We are a happy family.
2. I love sister*; she loves me.
We love brother*, yes sirree;
He loves us, and so you see,
We are a happy family.

Scripture
D&C 49:16–17: “They twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation; and that it might be filled with the measure of man, according to his creation before the world was made.”

Lesson
First go over the Family Proclamation to the World. Let each child hold it and look at it. Then explain to them what it is. Hold up another sign showing the First Presidency. Explain to them that Jesus spoke to the first Presidency and gave them this proclamation to share with the world.
Then ask them what they think a family is. Help them out if they need it.
Show a picture of your wedding day and then explain to them how and why you got married.
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “Two compelling doctrinal reasons help us to understand why eternal marriage is essential to the Father’s plan.
“Reason 1: The natures of male and female spirits complete and perfect each other, and therefore men and women are intended to progress together toward exaltation. …
“Reason 2: By divine design, both a man and a woman are needed to bring children into mortality and to provide the best setting for the rearing and nurturing of children. …
Ask them why they think marriage is so important
Once they answer share with them that the family is central to God's plan of Happiness and because he wants us to be happy we need to follow his plan and have a family of our own someday. 
Hold up a picture of a family reunion whether it is yours or another family while saying
President Kimball gave a talk on marriage and he said  “Honorable, happy, and successful marriage is surely the principal goal of every normal person. Marriage is perhaps the most vital of all the decisions and has the most far-reaching effects, for it has to do not only with immediate happiness, but also with eternal joys. It affects not only the two people involved, but also their families and particularly their children and their children’s children down through the many generations.
In selecting a companion for life and for eternity, certainly the most careful planning and thinking and praying and fasting should be done to be sure that of all the decisions, this one must not be wrong. In true marriage there must be a union of minds as well as of hearts. Emotions must not wholly determine decisions, but the mind and the heart, strengthened by fasting and prayer and serious consideration, will give one a maximum chance of marital happiness. It brings with it sacrifice, sharing, and a demand for great selflessness.
If they didn’t understand explain to them that families are very important and it is very important for us to make sure that we marry someone that will help us be the best that we can be. Use personal stories to help.
End with your testimony of families and how wonderful and important they are.

Game
Choose an activity that best fits your family
1.    Make a family poster filled with pictures of the family members dreams, joys fears, likes, dislikes, frustrations, and worries. Basically make a poster of all the inns and outs of the family. Ask questions on what each person is putting on and why they chose that picture. This is a great way to get to know each other better.
2.    Play the what would you do game. Create a list of “problems” that someone might have and put them all in a cup. Then have a family member draw out one and answer the question. Help if needed.   An example of a card may be : Someone comes home and says he/she has had a rotten day. What should you do?
3.    Have each member paint a family picture, or a picture of what their wedding day will look like.

Treat

Make sugar cookies in the shape of a boy and a girl. Then have the kids decorate them.

Follow up through the week

Elder Robert L. Simpson said “ Every couple, whether in the first or the twenty-first year of marriage, should discover the value of pillow talk time at the end of the day- the perfect time to take inventory, to talk about tomorrow. And best of all, it’s a time when love and appreciation for one another can be reconfirmed.”

Take time to talk with each member of the family one on one.

Lesson 2

All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

Before the Lesson Please read:

D&C 101:16, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19-20, Genesis1:26-27

Strengthening the Family:Created in the Image of God, Male and Female

Song

“I’m Thankful To Be Me” Children’s Song Book p. 11

1. At night, when I'm alone in bed,

I close my eyes and see

The many things I'm thankful for

That God has given me.

I see my friends and teachers, too,

And others who love me.

These many blessings make me feel

So thankful to be me.

Scripture

1 Corinthians

6:19-20

 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Lesson

Go over the proclamation part that we are learning today. Let them ask any questions that they might have about it.

Show them a picture of the Joseph Smiths first vision. Point out that the Jesus and Heavenly Father look like us. Share with them that they were the ones that created our bodies. Then talk about gender. Point out the girls in the family and then point out the boys. Tell them that Heavenly Father created our bodies for specific purposes. Explain to them how much mom and dad love them, and that if they love them so much how much do you think Heavenly Father loves them. And because he loves us he had to send us to Earth so that we could grow and learn to become more like him. We were created in Heaven just like we are now. Point out the boys and tell them that they were boys in Heaven as well, do the same for the girls.

Elder  Russell M. Nelson explained that life is a gift. He said “As sons and daughters for God, we cherish life as a gift from him…Life comes from life It is a gift from our Heavenly Father. It is eternal, as he is eternal. Innocent life is not sent by him to be destroyed! This doctrine is not of me, but is that of the living God and of his divine Son.”

Because our bodies are a gift from Heavenly Father we need to treat it with respect. We need to make sure that we are doing the right things all the time.

List off some of the cool things boys can do to make sure they are doing the right thing

 Examples are : Keeping our bodies healthy and strong, helping others with our strong arms, blessing the sacrament when we are older…

Now list off some things girls can do to make sure they are doing the right things

  Examples are : Wearing modest clothing, wearing pretty dresses, learning how to cook to help others feel better…

End with a testimony of the sacredness of our bodies, and that Heavenly Father created us for a purpose and it is up to us to fulfill that purpose. 

Games:

Choose an activity that will best suite your family

1.      Create a book all about what they are going to do when they grow up.

2.      Make a silhouette of each member of the family and find a place in the home to hang them up where everyone can see them

3.      Play house with everyone doing a role in the family that they don’t normally do.

4.      Trace the kids bodies out on butcher paper and have them color themselves in

Treats:

Make giant sugar cookies, and let them decorate them with candy to make their faces.

Follow up throughout the week:

Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught that our creation as male and female children of God “was done spiritually in your premortal existence when you lived in the presence of your Father in Heaven. Your gender existed before you came to earth.”

Take each child and do something with them that will help them in their path to understanding who they are as children of God.

Lesson 3

In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life.

Read before the lesson

The Origin of Man by the First Presidency of theChurch

“Ye Are the Templeof God”  by President Boyd K. Packer

 Song

I am a Child of God p.2

Lyrics

1. 1. I am a child of God,

And he has sent me here,

Has given me an earthly home

With parents kind and dear.

2. 2. I am a child of God,

And so my needs are great;

Help me to understand his words

Before it grows too late.

3. 3. I am a child of God.

Rich blessings are in store;

If I but learn to do his will,

I'll live with him once more.

4. 4. I am a child of God.

His promises are sure;

Celestial glory shall be mine

If I can but endure.

5. Chorus

Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,

Help me find the way.

Teach me all that I must do

To live with him someday.

Scripture

Moses 3:7

“And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless, all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word”

Lesson

Draw out an outline of a body on white tissue paper (make sure you can see through it) Tell the kids that before they came to this life they did not have bodies, they only had spirits. Once they grasp that lay a normal white piece of paper down under the spirit one and make sure it has details to it. Ask them if they know how they gained a body. If they can’t answer help them out. Explain briefly what happened in the pre-mortal world and share with them that not everyone was able to get a body due to the choices that they made.

Explain to them that Heavenly Father gave them a body so that we could all become more like him. Have them give some examples of ways they can become more like Heavenly Father and Jesus. And ask them what they hope to become, or what Heavenly Father wants them to become.

Have each of the children stand in front of a mirror and have them look at themselves. Ask them what they see. Tell them what you see, children with limitless potential. Ask them what they think Heavenly Father sees. If they cannot come up with a good answer help them out.

Tell them that they can be whoever they want to be. And that they can do whatever they want to, but it is up to us to seek the Lords help if we want to be the best that we can be.

The scholar C.S.Lewis said in Mere Christianity “The command Be Ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command.  He said (in the Bible) that we were “gods” and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him- for we can prevent Him, if we choose- He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we can not now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.”

End with your testimony on our Heavenly Parents and how we can get back to them.

Game

Choose an activity that will best suite your family

1.      Play Simon Says

2.      Have each child figure out what they want to do when they grow up and have them act it out, have the other kids try and guess what they want to be.

3.      Draw pictures of what you think it looked like before we came to earth, or after we are resurrected.

Treats

Cookie Ice cream sandwiches  - take 2 chocolate chip cookies (or your favorite kind) and put some vanilla ice cream in the middle of them to make a sandwich.  Explain to them that the ice cream is the spirit that our bodies are holding.

Follow up throughout the week

Think about who your Heavenly Father wants you to become. Go throughout the week being that person. Treat your children with the same attitude. See them as your Heavenly Father sees them, and treat them the way he would treat them.

Lesson 4

Lesson 4

The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

Read before the lesson:

 

Life is Eternal by Ezra Taft Benson

Dear are the Sheep that have Wondered By James E.Faust

Song:

“I love to see the Temple” p. 95 (children’s song book)

1. I love to see the temple.
I'm going there someday
To feel the Holy Spirit,
To listen and to pray.
For the temple is a house of God,
A place of love and beauty.
I'll prepare myself while I am young;
This is my sacred duty.

2. I love to see the temple.
I'll go inside someday.
I'll cov'nant with my Father;
I'll promise to obey.
For the temple is a holy place
Where we are sealed together.
As a child of God, I've learned this truth:
A fam'ly is forever.

Scripture:

Alma 34: 10 and 14

10 For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice.

14 And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.

Lesson:

Show a picture of the parents getting married in the Temple. Talk about what it means to be sealed in the temple and what it means for them. Also explain to them what they had to do to be able to go inside the temple to do the sealing, and what you have to do to keep those covenants. Explain to them that because you love them so much you want to keep those covenants that you made in the temple so that no matter what they can be together after they pass away in this life.  After you are done explaining to them what all of this means show them a picture of a mom and dad holding hands (or being close to one another) Tell them a story of how they got married in the temple and were as happy as they could be. Then hold up a boy picture. Tell them that this was their first son. He was a very obedient and loving child who was baptized in the church but started to make bad choices. Then hold up a picture of a girl and tell them that the mom and dad also had a little girl and she was a very enthusiastic little girl who loved life. She was also very active in the church but one day she became friends with a not so very nice girl and she started to change and be not so very nice herself.  As the two children got older there mom and dad were very worried for them and would pray for them every night and they were doing the best they could to be a good example for them. But the boy and girl were still not doing what they should be doing and over time they kept getting further and further away from the things they should be doing in life.  Ask them how they think the mom and dad felt. Then ask them if there is anything else they think the mom and dad should do to help out their kids. Then ask them if they remember what the mom and dad did at the beginning of the story. (get married in the temple) then explain to them that the sealing powers that they made in the temple is the best way to help their boy and girl. Share with them the quote from the talk you read earlier form James E. Faust. “Perhaps in this life we are not given to fully understand how enduring the sealing cords of righteous parents are to their children. It may very well be that there are more helpful sources at work than we know. ¹⁴ I believe there is a strong familial pull as the influence of beloved ancestors continues with us from the other side of the veil.Let us not be arrogant but rather humbly grateful if our children are obedient and respectful of our teachings of the ways of the Lord. To those brokenhearted parents who have been righteous, diligent, and prayerful in the teaching of their disobedient children, we say to you, the Good Shepherd is watching over them. God knows and understands your deep sorrow. There is hope. Take comfort in the words of Jeremiah, “Thy work shall be rewarded” and your children can “come again from the land of the enemy.” ²¹ I so testify and pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.” (if children are really little summarize this statement and explain it to them)

Ask them if they know what he meant when he said that there was  a strong family pull. If they can’t answer it tell them that he is talking about the people in our family who have already passed away. Then show them pictures of some of your ancestors and tell them a little bit about them and get them wondering how they can help you out from the other side and what they would want to say to them right now if they could talk to them. Have fun with this. Begin to build a bond with their ancestors.

End with a testimony of temple sealings and the importance of doing what is right and the blessings of family.

Game:

Choose the best activity to fit your family

1.       Play family match game. (prepared in advance: take pictures of your family living and deceased and make a memory game out of them)

2.       Make a sugar cube temple. Have everyone make their own. (if not sugar cubes you can use legos, or blocks)

3.       Make a family picture into a puzzle and while they are putting it together explain to them that even if they are apart whether through disobedience or death, they will always be together through the sealing powers of the Temple.

4.       Get some old magazines and have them create a collage of what their future family will be like. Have each of them explain to the family. 

Treat:

Make s’mores  and tell them that each member of the family is different but without even one of them the family wouldn’t be complete just like all the ingredients that make a yummy s’more. 

Follow up:

Find ways throughout the week to share with them family experiences. Share pictures and stories with everyone so that they can get a better feel for their extended family, or gain a better interest in genealogy.