Prayer Craft & Impromptu Plan of Salvation Lesson: Lesson 37

Primary 4 Lesson 37: Jesus Christ Teaches the Nephites to Pray

3 Nephi 18:15-25; 19; 20:1

With just a few weeks left with out primary class, we wanted to tie this lesson into the Plan of Salvation because our kids still don’t seem to understand it. To start out this lesson, we had the kids take turns drawing different parts of the Plan of Salvation on the chalk board. They LOVED getting chances to draw on the chalk board, so this kept them really engaged. When we asked the students where we were before we were born, all the kids called out “heaven!”

When we asked them to draw how we come to earth, they decided to draw a zipline instead of someone being born, which was hilarious! We got a kick out of that one. After drawing Earth, we asked the kids where we go after we die. All they could answer was “heaven.” We tried to get them to think a little harder about what happens before we go to heaven, but they honestly didn’t know.

We explained the spirit world and had them read Alma 40:11-13. This week while I was reading this chapter, I realized something – that a lot of times when we draw pictures of the Plan of Salvation with lots of circles and lines and drawings of stars and suns and stars. However, we seem to never draw in the fact that right after we die, every single person goes to meet God. I know I didn’t teach this on my mission – maybe because it’s not a bold section in Preach My Gospel, maybe because I didn’t realize it. Anyways, as I was reading these verses I realized that the state of “peace” verses the state of “weeping” and “wailing” in the spirit world are probably result of seeing God again; the difference between a wicked person like Cain meeting God, and a righteous person like Enoch meeting God would seem to result in emotional states like those described in the spirit world in Alma 40. Someone without the Holy Spirit would not have a pleasant experience when being in God’s presence, yet a righteous person who had the Holy Spirit with them would have a glorious, happy, peaceful reunion with the God they know so well.

The kids believed us, but one girl looked at me quizzically and said, “How do we know this??” It was pretty funny, but a very good question. We looked closer at Alma 40:11, and learned that an angel taught the prophet these important things.

We explained to them that the spirit world was a result of our meeting with God, and that made a lot of sense to the kids. We explained how people can repent while in the Spirit World, and that there are “missionaries” in a state of peace that will teach them. We went through the rest of the Plan of Salvation, and got to final judgement. When we went over the three kingdoms, they asked if God would come visit you if you didn’t live in the Celestial Kingdom. We said no, and they were really surprised. One student asked if it was mean to keep people away from God. We read with them Mormon 9:3-4 and discussed what happened the first time each person met God – what would happen the second time if they had not repented of their sins? Answer: the exact same thing. As a result, being in God’s presence would be worse than hell.

One of the amazing things about this lesson was that the children were engaged the entire time – they were calling out questions, and were totally interested. One girl was so concerned about her personal salvation that she wrote everything down and took her notes home. She pleaded with us to know what the commandments were so she would be able to follow them and as a result live with God some day. We told her to talk to her parents about that this week, and next week we would explain that. She accepted that, but obviously was concerned about knowing what she needed to do.

This was probably my favorite lesson to date in our class! It reminded me of being a missionary again – is this what being a parent is like?? It also reminded me of how Christ told us to be child-like – these kids were so engaged, and believed everything we said! I never had a lesson where the investigator was so engaged on my entire mission, probably. If all of us learned the gospel with such hunger, I think that wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

Obviously this discussion lasted the entire class, so we didn’t do our planned lesson about prayer. If you want a lesson about prayer, though, feel free to use the craft below:

Goal: Help kids understand the importance of prayer, and help them remember to pray daily.

Supplies needed:

1. Cardboard
2. Yarn
3. Rubber Cement or glue
4. Scissors
5. Prayer Cut Out

How to:

1. Print off the prayer cut out, and have kids trace it onto the cardboard. Cut out the cardboard.
2. See this awesome website for instructions on how to make the craft.

 

 

Christ Throughout the Plan of Salvation: Lesson 33

Primary 4 Book of Mormon Lesson #33: The Savior Appears to the Nephites

3 Nephi 8-11

Something I have totally LOVED about Primary is getting to answer questions from our kids, particularly on doctrinal subjects that they don’t totally understand. It makes me feel like I’m helping them in an important way. One of the things I’ve noticed in our Primary class is that our kids don’t totally understand the Plan of Salvation; when they first found out what Judgement Day was and its significance, they were very surprised, as if this was news to them. Everything post-death is very confusing t them, so the more frequently we put our lessons in the context of the Plan of Salvation, the better! Putting these big concepts into the context of a game seems to give the kids a chance to ask questions about what they don’t understand.

Goal: Help children understand Christ’s role throughout the Plan of Salvation. As a result, strengthen each child’s testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he is our Savior, and that he lives today.

Supplies you need ahead of time:

1. We’ll be using the same game from this lesson. Use the same Plan of Salvation images from the previous lesson, or print it off again here: Plan of Salvation images. This time use Jesus as your character for the game.
2. Print off the envelope stuffers. These are about the Savior and his role throughout the Plan of Salvation: Envelope Stuffers for Christ Plan of Salvation Lesson
3. Number the outside of 14 envelopes. Put the pre-numbered Envelope Stuffers documents in the corresponding envelopes.
4. Dice

Do ahead of time:

1. Hide envelopes around the room.
2. Post the Plan of Salvation images that you cut out on the chalk board. Draw spaces for the kids to move the character on. The following numbers should be near the corresponding part of the Plan of Salvation, like shown in the above image:
   1. Pre-earth life: 1, 2
   2. Birth: 3
   3. Life on Earth: 4, 5
   4. Death: 6
   5. Spirit World: 7
   6. Resurrection: 8-12
   7. Judgement Day: 13
   8. 3 Kingdoms: 14

How to play the game:

1. The class will move Jesus through the Plan of Salvation as a group. Each child takes a turn rolling a dice. When a child reaches a numbered space, they have to stop; regardless of what number they rolled. They must find the envelope with the corresponding number and follow the instructions in their envelope.
2. This game will require having your kids sing the Primary song “This is My Beloved Son.” If they don’t already know it, Sugardoodle has some good ideas on how to teach the kids this song.

 

 

 

PDF Downloads:

• Envelope Stuffers for Christ Plan of Salvation Lesson
• Plan of Salvation images

 

Families and the Plan of Salvation: Lesson 23

Book of Mormon Lesson #23: Alma Counsels His Sons Helaman and Shiblon

Alma 37-38

After reading through this lesson, I tried to find the big picture message for the entire lesson, which seemed to have to do with families. Alma teaches his children and gives them counsel. This occurs in all families, where parents help their children. This method of spiritual and temporal education seems to occur because it’s part of God’s plan. Families seem to be designed as the most effective method to help us return back to God. (And the Church supports the family, making that journey possible through priesthood ordinances.) So naturally, putting this lesson in the context of the Plan of Salvation seemed to fit.

Goal: The goal of this lesson is to understand how families can help us return to live with God again and the family’s role throughout the Plan of Salvation.

Supplies you need ahead of time:

1. Print off Plan of Salvation images. (Use the couple as your character, not Jesus. Both are in this document.)
2. Print off Envelope Stuffers.
3. Print off The Family a Proclamation to the World.
4. Label 11 envelopes on the outside, numbering them 1 to 11. Put the pre-numbered “Envelope Stuffers” documents in the corresponding envelope.
5. Put “The Family a Proclamation to the World” document in envelope #4.
6. Dice (we used a 4-sided dice)

Do ahead of time:

1. Make “tomb rolls” that will come in handy for envelope number 9. Go to this site for the recipe.
2. Cut out Plan of Salvation items from the “Plan of Salvation Images” document.
3. Tape Plan of Salvation items onto chalk board. Draw spaces for the kids to move their character on. The following numbers should be near the corresponding part of the Plan of Salvation, like shown in the above image:
   1. Pre-earth life: 1, 2
   2. Earth Life: 3-7
   3. Spirit World: 8
   4. Resurrection: 9
   5. 3 Kingdoms of Glory: 10, 11
4. Hide the envelopes around the classroom.

How to play the game:

1. There is one married couple (who has a sneaking resemblance to my husband I…) that the class will move through the Plan of Salvation as a group. Each child takes a turn rolling a 4-sided dice (or a normal dice if you have enough spaces in between the numbers – we used a 4-sided dice because we didn’t have a lot of spaces for them to land on). When a child reaches a number space, they HAVE to stop; regardless of what number they rolled. They must find the envelope with the corresponding number and follow the instructions in their envelope.

 

 

PDF Downloads:

• Plan of Salvation images
• Envelope Stuffers
• The Family a Proclamation to the World