19 Fun and Quirky Holidays to Celebrate with your Kids in September

Back to school, after school activities, homework, etc!  Life gets crazy again once September hits.  These awesome holiday calendars are full of fun holidays to celebrate with your kids.  Some can be educational such as Patriot Day and other like "talk like a pirate day" will have you and your kids laughing.  Whatever you do its a great time to slow down and connect with your children.

We've been using these calendars all year and my kids still think they are so fun!  We pick a few and for the most part keep it pretty simple.  You do not need to celebrate all of them (we don't) just pick and choose what works for you and your family.

Download a copy of the calendar, print, display, and have fun.  

Download your copy here

I'll be posting ideas as I finalize my plans and also as we celebrate some of these holidays.  My hope is that this will be something fun for your family and a way to create some special memories.  I'd love to hear your ideas and see pictures of your celebrations!

Random Acts of Kindness day

Huge and amazing idea lists found here, here, here, and here

Scooby Doo Day

found here

Johnny Appleseed Day

Apple ideas here

and here

Amazing graphics by:   Prettygrafik, Melonheadz, Krista Wallden - Creative Clips, My cute Graphics, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs,Educlips, ChalkStar, P4 Clips Trioriginals,  Creating4 the Classroom, and fonts by Hello Literacy

Love One Another Lesson Helps (Lesson 32, Primary 2) Free Printables

Here are a few lesson helps for (Primary 2) Lesson 32 Love One Another (lesson found here).  I'm so grateful for the chance to study all of these lessons.  This is one of my favorites.  I loved rereading the scripture stories about our Saviors perfect example of showing love to everyone.  I also really loved the story towards the end about the Prophet John Taylor.

With a lesson on love I couldn't help myself but go all out with hearts and x's and o's.  You can find all of these printables in a free download at the end of this post.   I hope you find something that will help you plan your lesson:)

Scripture Poster or Puzzle:  This first page goes with the Scripture Story section.  Display it as is or cut it into a puzzle.  My class seems to love puzzles and its even better if I hide the pieces around the room.  2 activities in one :) (There is a black and white option as well)

Scripture Story Bean Bag Toss:  These hearts go with the Scripture Stories and Discussion Section.  Assign each story a number.   Cut out the heart and either lay them on the floor or tape each one to a bowl.  Have the kids take turn tossing the bean bag.  Once they land on the number (or in the bowl) share the story and questions that goes with that number.

 Love One Another Tic Tac Toe: This goes with the situation questions and I included some review questions from the lesson.  Before class Print out your tic tac toe board, the page of x's and o's, and question cards.  I recommend cardstock for durability. Divide the class into two teams.  One side will be the x's and the other the o's.  The teams will take turns picking and answering a question.  If they get it correct they will place their X or O on the board.  First to get 3 in a row wins.  There are enough cards and some blank ones that it can be played a few times.

 Coloring pages and puzzle activity alternative: I have two different options for you.  The first is a black and white copy of the poster from the beginning of the lesson.  Use as a coloring page or print one for each child and cut into a puzzle for each child to take home.  The second option is a fill in the blank coloring page.  Help the children answer the question "I can show love by..." and write their answers in the hearts.

Love Note Activity.  (Goes with Enrichment Activity #1)  Print and cut one out for each child.  Have them write a letter to someone telling them some reasons why they love them or draw a picture.  I tried to make these pretty plain so there would be lots of space for the kids to decorate and personalize their cards.

I love this video clip called Dayton's Legs and plan to show it at the end.  It goes really well with Enrichment Activity #4.

Download The FREE Lesson Helps here!

Adorable graphics from Creating4 the Classroom,   Krista Wallden - Creative Clips,  Jen Hart Design,  Clip Art Connection, Mather's Music, Chirp Graphics, and fonts by Hello Literacy

"Be the nice kid" free printable

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I remember reading this quote a few months ago and it actually made me a little teary eyed.  I remember thing "YES!  This is what I want to teach my kids."   Be the nice kid, do the right thing, other peoples success doesn't take away from yours, be happy with being YOU!.  Fast forward to a few days ago, my kids were getting ready for there first day of school.  Every year I like to have a little motto for the school year.  The night before school starts we have a fun back to school dinner and I share the new motto for the year.  As I was trying to think of something this quote popped into my head. It's perfect.  

 I created this cute print to display in our home where we can see it every day.  You can download this free print below.  Print at home or send it to your favorite print shop.  Please note this is for personal use only.

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To continue with this theme you can read the book Wonder or watch the movie.  I just finished this book and I can't stop thinking about it.  It is so well written with amazing characters you can't help but fall in love with.  One piece of advice...Grab a tissue :)  It's now on my kids "mom's required reading list" haha.  Now looking forward to watching the movie asap!

Or check out this post.  It was for a church activity (activity days) but there are some great ideas and my favorite you-tube video that you can use at home that promotes kindness and self esteem.

I will Obey the Law (Lesson 31, Primary 2)

Here are some fun lesson helps for Lesson 31 "I will Obey the Law".  You can download all of these fun ideas for FREE at the end of this post.  These are also really fun for Family Home Evening.

Attention activity- animal and fence printables

The lesson suggests play-dough and while I love letting my kids play with play-dough it can be messy.  If you need an alternative I've created a cute 3d farm set.  There are six different animals that the kids can color.  They will love that they stand up on their own!  I'm actually going to be using these for our farm preschool unit we have coming up in a few weeks as well.

There is enough room inside the fence for all the animals.

I do recommend cardstock if you have it.  I tested this out to make sure this idea would work. I did cardstock for the fence and it easily stood up.  I used regular paper for the animals and it worked but they tip over easily.

Discussion Rules and laws keep me safe and happy- fence activity.  To help with your discussion and to carry on with the fence theme we are going to build a large fence.  Here's what it will look like when you are done.

As you ask the questions in the discussion (ex. What are some rules in your home?) You will place the "Home" fence post on the board.  Write their answers on two of the fence slates (Not sure what you call them...the rectangles).  Move on to school and primary.  In the lesson there is a story before the discussion on town and country laws.  You can wait or keep going.  To close off the fence add the last post that reminds us why we have laws and rules.  

Here's what the pieces look like in the download.

Story Cards:  Print and cut apart.  I've noticed my class does a little better listening when they have a visual.

Word strip section and Enrichment Activity 1

12th article of faith-leave as is or turn it into a puzzle.  My class loves when I hide things around the room.  Let them find the pieces and put the puzzle together.  If you choose to help them memorize it, pull pieces off to make it more challenging.  Even better until all the pieces are gone!

The obey game: Everything you need to play scenario cards, numbers, and 2 badge options. I also included a page of blank cards in case you need to add some more scenarios.  Oh and three badge options because I couldn't decided which one I liked more :)

Coloring pages- 2 options.  The first one goes with Enrichment activity #2.  The second one goes with the theme of the lesson. 

Here's an extra idea ...Stop and Go activity.  Print, cut, color (they are black and white in the download), and attach to Popsicle sticks. 

1. You can use them to play red light, green light (reverently).  Switch it up by having them tip toe, hop, move slow like a turtle.

2. Use them with the coloring pages-When you hold up the go sign they start coloring and when you hold up the stop sign they have to stop.  Switch it back and forth sometimes quickly.  I've done this with my own kids at home and they thought it was hilarious.  Their coloring wasn't quite as nice as it normally is because they are rushing during the go time but its a lot of fun.

Download your Lesson Helps here

Adorable graphics from Promoting Success ,Drew Doodles, Dancing Crayon Designs,   English Unite, Melonheadz,  Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs, Creating4 the Classroom, Educlips, Chirp Graphics, Prettygrafik,   Graphics From the Pond, Instruct and Inspire, and fonts by Hello Literacy

I can be Obedient (Lesson 30 Primary 2)

I have just a few lesson helps today...It's my off week from teaching but I couldn't help myself from creating a few fun things.  These are for Lesson 30 I can be obedient.  There are a ton of fun activities in the lesson manual (you can find it here).  I'm really loving the treasure hunt idea.  

Maybe you don't teach primary, these can easily be adapted for an FHE lesson. I'm going to use the chicken game for my family!

Update!!!  Now includes story cards.  These cute story cards go with the first story in the lesson about Theodore M. Burton visiting his grandma's farm. 

This goes with the wordstrip section.  Have the children repeat the word "obedience."  This would also be cute to display on the board during the lesson.

Noah's Ark Activity (goes with enrichment activity #5 & #3)  

Print the ark page and the 2 pages of animals.  (color and black and white option).

Carefully cut along the dark line on the ark (look at sample picture below)

Cut out the animals.  

On the back of the animals write the activities from #3 ex. Shake hands with each member of the class.  You'll need to add 2 of your own if you want to use all the animal.

Display the animals and the children take turns picking one.  Have them obey what is written on the back. 

Then they can put the animal in the ark by sliding it through the slit you made.

Obedience Necklaces.  Print, cut, and hole punch the top.  Let the kids add some yarn and tie around their necks.  It would also be fun to bring beads or fruit loops and let them string them on their necklace.

Coloring page (Enrichment activity #5)

(Enrichment activity #1) I changed up this activity to fit in with the story at the beginning of the lesson.  Play just like it says except you are going to place the chicken in the barn (see the lesson for much better instructions :) .  

Print out the barn and chickens.  Put a piece of tape on the back of the chickens and blindfold the child.  See where it ends up.  Let all of the children try.  Then blind fold one and let them place a chicken in the barn while someone is giving them instructions. (Think pin the tail on the donkey)

Download Lesson helps here and here.

Adorable graphics from  Krista Wallden - Creative Clips, Chirp Graphics, Prettygrafik, my cute graphics,  Graphics From the Pond, Instruct and Inspire, and fonts by Hello Literacy

"Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives" FHE based on President Nelson General Conference talk

I'm back with another FHE and this one is based on President Nelson's General Conference talk "Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives." (Find it here).  There is so much in this talk!  I loved reading and studying the words of our prophet.  I'm so grateful for him and his guidance. 

For this lesson I decided to focus on the few paragraphs on finding answers to our questions.  You can find the free download with all of my lesson printables at the end of this post.  

For our lessons I do not plan out word for word but like to ask questions along the way and see where our discussion takes us.  Here's my outline including the quotes I shared.

Here are the puppets for the story of the First Vision.  Print on cardstock and tape/glue to a Popsicle stick.

 (If you have a daughter in Activity Days you can have her tell the story to pass off one of her requirements.)

Life Size board game.  Place your pieces on the floor and your kids become the game pieces.  Another option would be to tape it to a poster board or lay on a table and use as a regular board game.  I printed all of my board game pieces on colored paper.  I also included a dice for you to print.  Print preferably on cardstock, cut, fold, and tape together.

There are 2 pages of cards with instructions. When you land on this card you must do what it says. My kids loved this!

There is also a page of blank cards for fillers.  I cut out 3 pages of these to create a longer board game.

There also 2 pages of octagons.  They are numbered 1-7.  Place these in order through out your game.  When you get to one of these you must stop.  Pick it up and read the step. (These are all from the talk).  Discuss then it can be set aside. The player that landed on it will move to the next box. The rectangle that says "as you repeat..." will be your Finish line.

I always like to create a printable that we leave up all week as a reminder of our lesson.   It's included in the download.

 If you just want the printable 

Click on the picture above.  Right click to save to your computer.

Print at home or send it to your favorite place to print pictures.

If printing at home I like to insert the picture in a word document.  Size and print on cardstock.

It's formatted as a 5x7 but can easily be resized to fit your needs.

Download your FHE pack here

You can find our other General Conference Family Home Evening here.

Adorable graphics from Melonheadz, & Chirp Graphics. Fonts by Hello Literacy

I Can Be a Good Example (Primary 2 Lesson 29 )

I have a few fun lesson helps to go along with Lesson 29, I can be a good example.  You can find the lesson here.  These also work for Family Home Evening too!  Also I'd love your input for future lessons.  What works for your class, what doesn't, favorite games and activities, or any other suggestions or requests?  Let me know!

This first one goes along with the discussion section. Scripture mix up if you kids are old enough to read.  Print and cut the words apart.  Have them work together to to put the words in order.  You can have them look up the scripture for some help.  

Explain that letting our lights shine means to be a good example.  You can display this cute poster on the board.

Next are some story helps (children can be good examples section)

Each story has a basket, candle with a name, and a puppet to show while you tell the story.

If you print these on cardstock use some of the left overs to cut a small rectangle not much bigger then the candle.  Tape to the bottom of your basket then slide your candle in.

You can hold them up and the candle will stay in place until you gently slide it down.

Here are the character puppets for each story.  Aren't they cute!

After the three stories I combined the child participation, scripture, and song into one activity.  Here's what I'm going to do.  

Sing Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam.  "Help them understand that being “sunbeams” for Jesus means letting our lights shine, as the scripture says." (from the lesson).  Pull out the last candle and basket.  "Ask a child to remove the basket. Explain that the “?” on the candle stands for any child who has been a good example."  

Sun Activity: print, cut, and color the printable or print on yellow paper.  Cut several yellow strips of paper for the sunbeams.

Display the center of the sun printable.  "Invite the children to tell about times when they were good examples." write their answers on the yellow strips and tape around the center circle to create a sun.

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Activity: Light bulb match game.  Print 2 on cardstock and cut.  Take turns finding a match.  Each card has a number that corresponds with a review question or one of the scenarios from the lesson.  When a match if found ask the question that goes with that number.

Here are the review questions I came up.  You can use these or some of your own.

Candle Activity.  Have the children write their name on the candle.  They can write or draw some ways they can be a good example around the candle or just use it as a coloring page.

Download Lesson 29 Packet Here

Adorable graphics from   Melonheadz,  Krista Wallden - Creative Clips,Creating4 the Classroom,Clever Cat Creations, Instruct and Inspire,  Chirp Graphics   and fonts by Hello Literacy