Tag: General Conference

Teaching our children to love the prophets (and getting ready for conference)

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“It is when children are young that parents must be innovative in helping them develop good habits regarding conference participation. As our children are given opportunities to observe and learn the role of these special witnesses, they will receive a spiritual confirmation of the sacred calling of their Church leaders, and they will feel a deeper love for and interest in these leaders and their message” (Elder Neil L. Anderson, source).

General Conference is just a few days away, so that means it is time to get the packets ready for the children! Having a packet of coloring pages and activities for the children to work on during General Conference has become an important tradition in our home, and it helps our children to really look forward to the special weekend. It helps them to be reverent and listen more to the speakers, even at a very young age. I am very thankful for so many people who do the work of assembling the packets and freely share their talents with the rest of us!

Be sure to visit the Sugardoodle.net General Conference page for links to the most current packets available. I really like the design of this season’s packets by Angela and Melanie, and it is helpful to have them age appropriate for nursery, junior primary, senior, etc. I am printing some pages from a few different packets to get the right match for the abilities and interests of my two girls. It is exciting to have a fluently reading 6 year old, since that ability opens up a lot more activities for her to work on.

We love a good toilet paper roll craft at our house, so my girls should enjoy the First Presidency Toilet Paper Roll puppets in the nursery packet.

Our Family Home Evening lesson this week was centered on getting to know the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles. We did a little match-up game and shared a few facts about each apostle, using these apostle cards. Unfortunately, the lesson didn’t go over as well as I had hoped, probably due to a lack of planning on my part (plus I should have remembered that talking about 15 men in one sitting is way beyond the attention span of my 3 year old). They did think the apostle song was funny.

But I really like the idea shared at the Crane Corner. Jeanine used three different Family Home Evening nights to learn about the apostles, and then did a memorable activity that tied in with the interests of one of the apostles discussed. For example, making banana bread because President Eyring likes to bake, or painting because Elder Scott enjoys painting.

So here is my new idea: In the coming months we will spend one FHE night a month (or more!) focused on one of the apostles. We will use this resource to learn about their life and background, we will review their most recent conference address, and then we will do an activity that connects with that apostles life or his conference address. I am excited about this plan, and I think it will help us to bring the messages of conference home a little bit more, while helping us all to learn more about our leaders.

“Our challenge as parents is to prepare our homes so that our children might be “armed with righteousness.” In the future, a discernable distinction of the true followers of Christ will be the heed and attention they give to the living prophets and Apostles. As our children listen to these men, they will find their way.”

“Some might say it is not the leaders who are important, but the message they bring. Yet, if our children do not know the names of the members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, they most likely will not know their messages either.”

Neil L. Anderson, “Teaching our Children to Love the Prophets”, Ensign, April 1996, 44.

What do you think? Are you ready for General Conference this weekend?

General Conference Links

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This General Conference Weekend has really crept up on me, I can’t believe how fast the month of September has flown by. Actually, the six months since the last session of General Conference have flown by–our baby was just 2 days old then, and now he is sprouting 2 teeth!

Sadly, with a husband out of town on business this weekend, I’ll be “attending” (read: watching at home) conference alone with 3 children under the age 5. So the following links are where I’m looking to keep the kids busy and somewhat quiet!

The first place to start is always Sugardoodle.net. She has links on her home page to the best resources for General Conference. I am excited about her most current packets, since you have four choices to find the one that best matches your child’s interests. Be sure to visit her General Conference page for loads of ideas.

But if you don’t have time to sort through her massive list, be sure to visit My Favorite Resources for a General Conference Weekend. I compiled all of my favorite ideas for April 2010 (including the General Authority tie coloring page), and the links are still good.

New this round, I’ll be trying the temple lacing card from A Little Tipsy. I think that will be perfect for the nearly 3 year old Sweet Bee.

Edited to add: Saturday I discovered a few more activity and coloring pages on Prepared LDS Family. The Ant Bug loves mazes and dot-to-dots, so these links will help supplement our packet this weekend.

I hope these links and packets help your kids to stay busy and somewhat quiet. Enjoy your Conference weekend!

My favorite resources for a General Conference weekend

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“Decide now to make general conference a priority in your life. Decide to listen carefully and follow the teachings that are given. Listen to or read the talks more than once to better understand and follow the counsel” (source).

One of the greatest blessings of being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is being able to hear living prophets and apostles speak. Our family has a tradition of watching all four sessions of General Conference at home, but we make use of a lot of activities to keep our children interested and occupied for the eight hours.

A General Conference weekend scene, October 2009.

Be sure to check out the 2010 General Conference Packets from Melanie at Sugardoodle.net. She puts a lot of effort into her work, and her packets are always excellent. She has different versions for junior primary and senior primary and youth.

The 2010 Apostle Cards are available here, along with suggestions on how to use them. You could use the cards to play Don’t Eat the Prophet, or play the game with the original prophet cards.

LDS.org’s General Conference packet is a great resource for older children to take notes on the talks.

Fun with stickers: Remove the poster from the most recent conference Ensign. Hang it on the wall, and then the children get to put a sticker on the picture of whoever is speaking.

A few years ago we had a lot of success teaching the Ant Bug the names of the Apostles by singing their last names to the tune of 10 Little Indians. Unfortunately, with the changes in the last few years the names don’t have quite the same flow. Here are a few other tune suggestions that you might like to try for Family Home Evening.

There are quite a few variations available when it comes to coloring books. This Conference Coloring Booklet is great, but I also like these versions that fit two pictures per page ( packet by Erin and packet by Debbie).

Here is a link to an LDS Bingo game. You could use this during conference sessions and have your children mark off the words as they hear them mentioned. We like to use M&Ms or skittles for game pieces.

A Little Tipsy put together a General Conference themed Easter egg hunt coloring and cutting activity. A great way to combine both special events in the weekend.

And a session of General Conference would not be complete without coloring the General Authorities ties!

The Ant Bug’s completed ties from October, 2009.

Be sure to visit the General Conference page on Sugardoodle.net for more ideas. This is a wonderful resource, thanks to the contributions of so many people.

Our activity packets for April 2010. Each child has her own folder, and then I have a general folder for the whole family with additional coloring pages and games and the apostle cards. Add in crayons, scissors and glue and we are ready to go!

Preparing for General Conference (with children in mind)

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Some timely counsel by President Gordon B. Hinckley:

“I invite you to listen, listen if you will by the power of the Spirit, to the speakers who will address you [in General Conference]. If you will do so, I do not hesitate to promise that you will be uplifted, your resolution to do what is right will be stronger, you will find solutions to your problems and your needs, and you will be led to thank the Lord for what you have heard” (source).

Are you ready for General Conference? I’ve still got some work to do. Here are some of the things I’m doing to prepare, so my family can get the most out of General Conference.

We had a special Family Home Evening lesson this week to prepare our children for conference weekend. The Ant Bug asked if we are going to play the “game where we listen for words (“temples” or “faith” of “Jesus Christ”, etc) and get to eat a candy (skittles or M&Ms) when we hear the word?” Obviously this game made an impression on her! You can get the key words file in this document.

As always, Sugardoodle.net is the place to look for General Conference helps. One of my favorites is the General Authority ties which has been updated and can be found here.
These Apostle Cards are something new I’m trying this round. They have pictures and basic facts about each apostle (did you know President Monson can wiggle his ears?), and as soon as I get them laminated tomorrow we’re going to start talking about them . During the sessions we’ll use them to play “Match the speaker”.

This activity worked really well last April, so we’ll be repeating it. Remove the poster from the most recent conference Ensign. Hang it on the wall, and then the children get to put a sticker on the picture of whoever is speaking.

The Church has put together a General Conference Notebook for activities to do before, during, and after General Conference (it’s on the right hand side of the page). It’s a great journal keeping tool for older children.

I’m also rounding up toilet paper rolls to make miniature versions of the Prophet Spyglass.

With both of my girls in varying stages of illness this week, I didn’t feel comfortable bringing them along to my Visiting Teaching appointments (yes, I know we are last minute–we’re working on that!). When I saw this idea for a conference goodie bag I thought it would be perfect for the sisters I visit.
This is what the note says:

Just POPPING (popcorn) by to wish you a meaningful conference weekend. Sit back, relax and SOAK (lotion) it all in. Hope you learn something EXTRA (gum) and take NOTE (notepad) when you feel the spirit. Enjoy!

Love,
(Your name here)

I think I’ll use some of those same items in a basket for my girls!

Looking for more? Check out my General Conference posts from the past. You can find some great coloring pages and activity packets here.

Preparing for General Conference–With Children (Spring 2009)
General Conference Activity Packets (Fall 2008)

Preparing for General Conference–With Children

Nurture Mama 3 Comments

Viewing General Conference is a different experience now that I have young children in my home. I feel very fortunate to be able to see and hear the words of the living prophet in my home (hooray for BYU-TV). But if I expect to be able to actually listen to any of the conference proceedings with two children, it’s best to be prepared.

Sugardoodle.net is the best place to look if you’re searching for General Conference packets and resources to use with your children. Melanie has one page indexing the General Conference activities on her site. There are a lot to choose from! Since my oldest daughter is 4yrs old, this Conference Coloring Booklet is a good match for us. Here you can get the one sheet page to color the General Authorities Ties.

This packet that Melanie created is great for older children. And this packet by Jodi is a great combination for older and younger children.

Did you see this excellent article in this month’s Ensign magazine? Preparing Children for Conference. Kate took the ideas from the article and compiled them in an easy-to-read list. These two ideas sounded like fun to me:

• Hang the pictures of the apostles near the T.V. and each time a new speaker gets up to speak, find his picture on the poster. When the picture is found, put a sticker on that person’s picture.
• Have a bowl of small treats for each session. Next to the bowl place objects that represent key words for that session. Each time the children hear one of those words spoken from the pulpit they can help themselves to one treat.

With still a week and half to go until the big weekend, it’s quite likely that more resources will still appear. Check the main page for any new postings. Thanks again to all of the wonderful people who have shared their ideas with us on Sugardoodle.net.

You can also check out Mormon Momma for more ideas on Making General Conference Memorable.

That should give you plenty to last through four sessions. Or, really, with the attention span of most children, that’s probably just enough for one session. When all else fails, I am thankful we can read the proceedings of conference online and in the Ensign!

General Conference Activity Packets

Nurture Mama 3 Comments

Our family is enjoying General Conference this weekend. What a blessing it is to be able to hear the inspired words of a living prophet and living apostles.

To keep things a little more calm and focused on Conference and things of the Spirit, I put together a packet of activities for the Ant Bug to do during the sessions. Thanks to Sugardoodle.net, I had a wealth of resources available to select from.


Sugardoodle.net is the LDS woman’s dream website (especially if you have children or a calling in the Primary or Nursery or Young Women or Enrichment Committee or…). Basically it is an online file folder of any kind of helpful LDS resource you can imagine, with countless contributors. You can find me visiting the site every few days.

If you’re looking for General Conference packets and resources to use with your children, I saw somewhere around 9 or 10 different links posted in the last two weeks. Just start working your way down the list on the first page and you’ll find them.

My favorites are the Apostle Cards, and the General Conference Coloring Book. The Ultimate General Conference Packet looks excellent also, but some of the activities are a little beyond the reach of my nearly four year old. But the Friend Coloring Book will be making an appearance in our home on a Sabbath day soon to come.

To all the wonderful contributors on Sugardoodle.net, thanks so much for sharing your work and ideas with us!