Pioneers

There are lots of Pioneer activities out there, but these were the ones we researched and thought were best for toddlers and preschoolers. Hope you enjoy!

We spread quilts out on the floor and started our Family Home Evening there.

Gathering Activity: The kids built log cabins out of Lincoln Logs while they waited for us to get all of the materials together (and while I hid the scavenger hunt clues).

Musical Game and Lesson : I printed out the Pioneer Flannel Board Pieces from the Friend and wrote the names of pioneer songs on the back of each one. I placed them in a basket. The children took turns choosing one out. We talked about what the children in the picture were doing and then listened to the song. We listened for things that the Pioneers did and then talked about them after each song. We used our Children's Songs CD to sing along with or just listen to the songs because not all of them were familiar to my little ones. (or Daddy). We marched to Pioneer Children Sang as the Walked, and played a pushing and pulling game to The Handcart Song. Andrew heard a guitar in one, and pulled his out to play along.



Songs we used were in the Children's Song Book pages 216-222.



Scavenger Hunt: We used the Pioneer Treasure Hunt from the Friend magazine. The kids had a lot of fun hunting for the clues and learned fun facts about the Pioneers along the way.



Games: We played some pioneer games together including Horseshoes and Button, Button, Who has the Button. (That one was a little harder for my 2 year old, but he eventually got the hang of it with some help).



Snack: We made Johnny Cake (very similar to cornbread) together in the afternoon and ate it for Family Home Evening treat with homemade butter the boys also made. The picture of them jumping around is of them shaking the butter. They also tried (and LOVED) some beef jerky.



Craft:Tin Punch Art: This was my kids favorite! Take a pie tin and draw a design upon it with a sharpie using dots. (looks like a dot to dot) Then with CLOSE supervision, allow the children to use a mallet and nail to punch out the dots. My two year old was even able to do this, and they both felt so grown-up. We had a grown-up per child helping.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

Attention Activity: PREPARATION: Print off 9 lamb pictures and write one word on each of the sheep from the memory verse Psalms 23 "The Lord is My Shepherd, I shall not want." Number the sheep 1-9 in order so that they will be easy for your little ones to arrange. Hide the sheep with word #5 with "SHEPHERD" printed on it.



Ask the family to help put your little sheep in a row in order. When they realize that one is missing, ask them what we should do? (Hopefully they will answer look for it).

Seek for the sheep together and then finish the verse. Read it together several times until everyone has it memorized.

Scripture Story: Tell the children that you are going to read a story together about a lost sheep that Jesus told. Read Luke 15:4-6 together and explain that the Lord says that we are all His sheep and that if we are lost He will find us. That we are all important to Him, even though there are many of us on Earth. We counted together to 100 and talked about how one little sheep might not seem like a lot, but that all are important to Heavenly Father. We talked together about how Heavenly Father has asked us to help Him look after each other here on Earth. We discussed ways we can be shepherds and explained a little about why Mommy and Daddy go Home and Visiting Teaching.


Game: We played hide and go seek together. When Daddy found the Lost sheep, he picked them up and carried them on his shoulders like a shepherd carrying the sheep. There was lots of giggling.



Service: After our lesson, we carried a treat to share with a family Daddy home teaches.

Brother of Jared

We moved to different locations for this FHE. It was tons of fun. The write up was long, but this was a relatively short FHE. (Under an hour including dessert). When it was over our 4 year old asked if we could do this every day!

1-LIVING ROOM: (Set up a very tall block tower before lesson, have a back pack for each child, pictures or small objects to represent the items they took with them, and a cloud cut out of construction paper)

Opening Song: Book of Mormon Stories CS pg 118

A-Tell the family that we are going on a big adventure tonight and we will pretend to be the family of Jared.

Read First 4 Pictures in Jaredites Leave Babel.

Show the children the tall tower and talk to them about how we can get closer to Heavenly Father. Can we really build a tower there? In the middle of your conversation about the tower ask them questions in a foreign language. My hubby speaks Spanish and I know a limited amount of French. (If you do not know a foreign language, talk jibberish or pig latin to your kids). Pretend you don't understand them or your spouse. Once they get the idea, ask the kids if they think it would be hard if everyone at our house spoke a different language. What if their friends couldn't talk to them. What might be harder? Discuss why it was important that everyone in Jared's family spoke the same language and understand one another.



B-Read the Next 5 pictures in The Jaredites Leave Babel. Ask them to listen for the items the Jaredites brought with them.

Pull out a back pack for each child. Let the children pack their bags for a long trip. We placed honey, seed packets, toy sheep, birds, and fish, in their backpacks. (My kids aren't in school yet, so backpacks are a BIG DEAL)!



C-Read the remainder of The Jaredites Leave Babel. Play follow the leader using the cloud. My husband gave directions to our family from behind the cloud and we followed him around wearing our backpacks. We ended in the kitchen.



2: KITCHEN: (You will need play dough and 16 marbles or smooth rocks).

A-Read the first 5 pictures of The Jaredites Travel to the Promised Land
Using the playdough, build 8 barges. (Our familyhad 4 people, so we each built 2).



B-Next read pictures 6 and 7 of The Jaredites Travel to the Promised Land.
Have everyone had holes on the top and bottom of their barges for air.



C-Read pictures 8 and 9 of The Jaredites Travel to the Promised Land. Ask the children to think of ways to get light inside the barges. (Mine thought we could put either flashlights or the sun inside the boat).

D-Read pictures 10-17 of The Jaredites Travel to the Promised Land.
Place 2 marbles on each of the barges you built, one on each end.



E-Finish reading the remainder of The Jaredites Travel to the Promised Land. Allow the children to drive the boats up and down as you finish up the story.

Closing Song: "The Lord is My Light" (Hymnal pg. 89)

Treat Suggestions: Banana Boats or Homemade Bread with Honey Butter

Easter

****I am several weeks behind in my posts. We have had FHE each week, but I just haven't had the time to share what we have done recently, as I prepare for our new baby. However I came up with our Easter FHE for Monday night and thought I'd share it with anyone still looking for ideas. There won't be any pics until tomorrow night, but here are the plans.

Opening Song: "Did Jesus Really Live Again?"

Attention Activity: Hide the 12 Resurrection Eggs (see below) and allow the children to find them and place them in a basket.

Lesson: Resurrection Eggs. The idea is to place objects representing the last week of the Savior's life inside eggs to teach about Easter. There are tons of ways to do these and I have found lots of ideas on the internet. I have combined my favorite ideas for toddlers and preschoolers here below. WE ARE NOT DOING THESE ALL IN ONE NIGHT. OUR FAMILY HAS DECIDED TO DOspread the 12 eggs over the entire week at bedtime for our family scripture study between FHE and Easter Sunday. But they could be used as a lesson if your kids' attention span is a little longer. We are just introducing the eggs and Opening the first one at FHE.

A-Gather 12 Easter Eggs and number them on the outside. Fill them with the following objects and collect the pictures from your Gospel Art Kit or find them online here.

B-Allow the children to open each egg in order and ask the children to look at the picture or listen for the scripture story to talk about the object in the egg. I am reading the scripture on the back of each picture. In some cases there was no picture so I am using the Children's New Testament. (CNT)

1- Palm Sunday: a leaf : GAK 223 (Monday Night)
2- The Sacrament/ Last Supper: a sacrament cup GAK 225 (Tuesday Night)
3- Jesus Washes the Disciples Feet: a cloth GAK 226 (Tuesday Night)
4- The Garden of Gethsemane: rock GAK 227 (Wednesday Night)
5- Judas's Betrayal: three dimes GAK 228 (Wednesday Night)
6: The King of The Jews: thorns CNT pg. 117 Chapter 41((Thursday Night)
7: The Cruxifiction: a cross made of toothpicks GAK 230 (Friday Night)
8: The Cruxifiction: a nail GAK 230 (Friday Night)
9: Mocking the Savior's Thirst: a sponge GAK 230 (Friday Night)
10: Preparing the Savior's Body for Burial: a bundle of cloves GAK 231(Saturday Night)

11: The Stone in Front of the Tomb is Moved: a stone–rounded would be best GAK 232/245 (Saturday Night)
12: The Savior is Resurrected: leave empty GAK 239 (Sunday morning before our Easter Baskets)

Activities:

1-We played the Savior Matching Game together. I printed and colored the pieces and placed them in a basket. The boys took turns taking out a piece and matching it to the game board while I read the sentence about Jesus.

2-I made these moveable Easter Story Pieces from the Friend for the boys and we said the fingerplay below while we moved the pieces .

Jesus is Risen (Fingerplay)

by Dana Eaton

Here is the place where Jesus lay; (point)

See, the stone has been rolled away!

Stoop down; look in (stoop sown and shade eyes with hand)

He is not here! (stand up)

Jesus is risen! Be of good cheer! (clap hands)

3-Then we painted Easter Eggs together. We have found painting boiled eggs with washable paint to be an enjoyable and less messy experience for everyone.

Closing Song: "He Sent His Son."

Obedience

Opening Song: "Quickly I'll Obey"

Story: I told the boys a story about a little lamb who kept leaving his fence and running away. I asked them why the farmer had a fence for his lamb. We talked about how the fence kept the lamb safe. I told them that this is why we have rules and why we need to listen to Mommy and Daddy, so we can be safe and happy. The boys helped me build a fence for our lamb while we talked about what kinds of rules keep us safe in our family. Then we read Ephesians 6:1.



Activity: We talked about the rules on the road that keep us safe, too. We played "Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light" with our cars speeding around the house. We had to practice obeying the rules together.



Art: We made our own traffic lights that said "I Can Obey." Andrew cut his out on his own and wrote the words and glued it down. I had pre-cut Ryan's and written the words for him, so he just glued his down.



Closing Song: "Choose the Right"

Daniel and the Lion's Den

MUSIC: We sang the chorus to "Follow the Prophet" and "Called to Serve"

LESSON: I gave each family member a lion mask I had printed on yellow paper and cut out ahead of time.

Lion Mask

I then read the following version of the Daniel and the Lion's Den story . Each time I said the word "Lion" I had the entire family put on their masks and "Roar" as loud as they could. I added in a couple of extra "Lions" in a few spots. As we read I asked questions such as "Is it a good choice to pray?" "Who was making good choices?" "How did Heavenly Father protect Daniel because he made a good choice?" The kids loved this part and listened hard to the words to hear when to "Roar."

GAME: We played a variation of "Duck, Duck, Goose" but instead said, "Daniel, Daniel, Lion" and roared as we chased each other.

ART: Paper Bag Lion Puppet. The boys colored these and we helped cut them out.



SNACK: The boys and I made lion cupcakes during the afternoon for FHE snack. We used yellow and orange icing, and M&Ms for the eyes. (These are not the ones we made. Ours were eaten before we remembered to take a picture. Oops)!

Wiseman and Foolish Man

Opening Song: "The Wise man Built His House Upon the Rock"

Flannel Board Story: Tell the story from Matthew 7:24-27 of the Wise man and the Foolish man. Act out with Flannel Board Pieces.


Discussion/Activity: We want to build our house upon a rock not sand. Jesus taught us that his gospel is the rock. D&C 11:24 Jesus has given us some tools to help build our house on the rock. Satan wants us to build our house on the sand. He has given us tools to make our house shaky and sink.

Pull Out Tool Box (I labeled tools (Tools to Build Our House I modified this idea for preschoolers and toddlers) from the boys' play tool kit with good tools and bad tools. We sorted them and decided which ones Jesus would help us build a house on rock and which ones would help us build a house on sand).



(Rock tools were: Sharing, Scriptures, Prayer, Helping, FHE, Nice Words, and love. Sand tools were things we are working on extinguishing from our home: Mean words, hitting, lying, not sharing)




We played with the tools and built two houses out of lego blocks.


Then we placed one on sand in a casserole dish and one on a large rock in a casserole dish. We used duct tape as one of our rock tools and labeled it love. We made sure that we used a lot of this "love" to firmly attach our house to the rock.


Next we poured water on each house. The sandy one washed away and the rock house stood firm. (Thank goodness).



Art: We colored Wiseman Foolish Man "Filmstrip"of the song and played with them together. (This are really long, and neither boy finished coloring, much better for older children).

Scripture Memorization: We pounded our fist on our open hand as we repeated D&C 11:24 together over and over.

Snack: We made houses out of Rice Krispie Treats and ate them! We actually had a kit, but I found this cool site with directions for making your own.



Grown-up Lesson: After the boys went to bed, Chad and I used this time to make our own goals for the New Year together to help us Build our house Upon the Rock.