Sheep Color Matching Game

Good Morning and happy Mother Goose Day!  (If you do not know what I'm talking about check out this post-really you should it's awesome :)  Yesterday morning I had the idea to create a huge packet for you full of nursery rhyme fun and have it all ready and posted before now.  Well lets just say the day didn't go as planned.  I have it almost done and I'll share the rest with you as soon as I can.  It will be worth the wait I promise and nursery rhymes are super fun any day!  But I did want to give you something to use so I have this adorable color sheep match game. Print 2 on cardstock or back with colored paper.  While you play teach your little ones Mary Had a Little Lamb, Baa Baa black Sheep, or Little Bo Peep!

Download Match Game Here!

Adorable graphics are from  Educlips and fonts from Kimberly Geswein Fonts

23 May Holidays your Kids will LOVE

Last year I created fun holiday calendars that are full of your common and not so common holidays.  My kids loved them but with our busy schedules I wasn't planning on doing them this year.  I missed them and so did my kids.  After 4 months without them I'm bringing them back!  So come back each month to find your updated calendar.  

  Slowing down and creating memories with my kids is very important to me.  This calendar makes it so easy to do just that.  We don't celebrate every holiday and we keep it pretty simple  For example this month we'll make lemonade and drink it outside on the 6th and eat pizza while watching a movie on the 17th.  Simple but your kids will love it.

Download a copy of the calendar, print, and display.  You do not need to celebrate all of them (we probably won't) just pick and choose what works for you and your family.

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!

Holiday's came from here, here, and here. 

Amazing graphics from

 The Learning Attic, Creative Clips, Graphics4kids, Prettygrafik,  Dorky Doodles, my cute graphics, Cathy's Store,Isma Clips, revidevi, Teacher Laura, Laine Sutherland - A Little Peace of Africa,   P4 Clips Trioriginals, and fonts from Hello Literacy

Come Follow Me: John 7-10 (April 29–May 5)

The next Come Follow Me lesson covers John 7-10.  We are going to focus on Jesus Healing the blind man and the parable of the good shepherd.  These ideas are great for families but can also be used for primary as well. 

John 9 Jesus healing the blind man. 

My kids love to watch the bible videos you can find this one in the lesson (found here).

To break the story down even more I made a simple book for us to read.  I included a black and white version that can also be used as a mini coloring book.  To make print out the 3 pages.  Cut along the solid line in the center and staple the pages together.  

Puppets-This is a fun way to retell the story.  Start by cutting out the two faces and glue back to back on a Popsicle stick.  For some extra fun we are going to add clay.   By clay I mean playdough (this one would be awesome) or you can use chocolate pudding, maybe mud, or just pretend to rub clay on his eyes.   Pretend to wash it off and flip over to the happy face.  If possible I would laminate so you can use them over and over.

Coloring page- How cute is this coloring page.  In the blank spot draw a picture of a way you have been blessed.

Sequencing activity-This is a great review activity or a fun way to tell the story.  Cut out the pictures.  Glue, tape, or use Velcro to attach to the number page.

Additional idea- To help you kids understand this story a little more we are going to try some activities blindfolded.  
Here are a few ideas:
 1. blindfold one person and have them try to walk across the room.  Make it more challenging by adding some obstacles.
2. Try to complete some tasks while blindfolded such as fold laundry, make a sandwich, shoot a basketball.
After talk about the blessing this man received and some blessing you have received.

The Good Shepherd
Start with this game- Its called wolves and sheep.  Its kind of like red light, green light but with a fun twist. After share the parable of the Good Shepherd.  Talk about the purpose of the shepherd and how he loves and protects his sheep.

You can find the video here

Break down the parable- pictures and labels.  In the I&F manual it suggests drawing the different parts of the parable.  I am terrible at drawing so I added some clip art to represent various parts of the story.  Match the picture to the label and talk about what each person/thing represents.

Sheep Hunt- Pick 1 page of sheep.  The first has different things the good shepherd does.  There is a blank one if you would like to add your own. The second one is blank for you to write children/family names.  The Good Shepherd knows each one of his sheep by name. Your little ones will love find their name on a sheep.
Cut the sheep apart and hide around the room.  Gather the sheep and tape around the image of Jesus with a sheep.

Sheep Craft-Finish this cute sheep by gluing cotton balls on the circles to make the little sheep fluffy.  Anther fun idea would be to paint him with white puffy paint.  To make puffy paint you need equal parts shaving cream and white school glue.  (about 1/2 cup each)  Mix well.

As I live the truths taught by Jesus Christ, I will come to know they are true.

....John 7:14–17.  This idea come from the primary manual.  Print two copies of this page on cardstock or back with construction paper.  Take turns find a match to different commandments we keep.  Share an experience of a time you kept a commandment and gained a testimony of its truth. 

John 7:24-" Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."I thought the idea to teach this verse in the Individual and family manual was fun.  It's the first idea under the ideas for family scripture study and family home evening.  It involves heading outside and getting dirty.  I have a couple of kids that would love this.  Another idea I had to go along with the concept of not judging appearances was to show this video clip.  It is not a church video but it is so amazing and worth checking out. Lizzie shares her experience of being named "the ugliest woman in the word" and how she didn't let the mean comments bring her down.  I love this video so much and her positive outlook on life. There is so much you can talk about-but I plan to use it to teach that words, actions and judgement can hurt others.  Also how our judgement is often wrong and if we take the time to get to know someone we will discover they are pretty great.  I used if for activity days a little over a year ago (you can find that post here).  I know this verse talks about appearance but you can pull in the story of the woman who had sinned and talk about not judging others actions as well.

 That's all for this week.  Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope there are a few things that will work for your family or primary class.  As always I'd love to hear what you do and have planned for the week.

Download your free printables here

Adorable graphics from Melonheadz,   Educlips,   Susan Fitch design, Chirp Graphics, P4 Clips Trioriginals and Fonts by Hello Literacy and Kimberly Geswein Fonts

Come Follow Me: Matthew 18, Luke 10 (April 22-28)

Hello everyone I'm excited to share the next set of lesson helps for Come Follow Me. You can find the lesson here.  This week we are covering Matthew 18 and Luke 10.  I decided to focus on the topic of forgiving others (Matthew 18:21–35) and kindness (The Good Samaritan).   Most of these activities are from my primary lessons I put together last year.  They are two of my favorites and decided they fit so well why not use them.  Those posts are very long so I compile the activities I thought would work best for this weeks lesson and included them in this weeks download at the end of this post. There are a few additional activities and coloring pages in the original posts that may work for you so I included the links below.

The Good Samaritan
I thought this video was cute-its little kids telling the story in their own words.

If you want to act out the story I included some cute character cards.  Print (cardstock works best) and cut on the lines.  Hole punch the top and use as a necklace so each person knows who they are in the story.

The rest of these ideas are from last years primary lesson-you can find the full post here.
Cute story about bread and jam-There are story cards you can use as you tell the story.  It would be fun to eat some bread and jam as a treat after the lesson.

Situation cards-Print and cut apart.  Have the kids take turns drawing one or hide them around the room.  Read the situation and answer the question.

I can be kind game-cake walk.  Print and cut out the hearts (there are 8).  Place them in a circle on the floor.  Have the kids each stand on one.  Play music (there are a few suggested in the lesson-Jesus Said Love Everyone, “Kindness Begins with Me”,  “A Special Gift Is Kindness”).  As the music is playing have them reverently walk around the circle stepping on the hearts as they go.  Randomly stop the music and have them freeze on the closest heart.  Ask each child how they can be kind to the person on their heart.  Once everyone has answered start the music again and play again.

reminder bracelets-Print and cut.  You can print them on colored paper or have the kids color them.  Once you are done tape them around their wrist.  For some of the smaller kids you might want to cut a little off the ends.

One other idea I had-There is a cute story in the friend this month called A Friend Like Mark.  Share this story and then take turn tossing a ball into a basket.  Each time it goes in the basket have them share a way they can be kind this week.

Forgiveness-The following ideas were all created for my primary lesson last year. I thought these would go well with teaching Matthew 18:21–35.  The following activities are found in the download at the end of this post.  YOu can find the full post with additional activities here.

This activity was based on some of the wording in a primary lesson. This is a great way to help your little ones understand what it means to forgive someone.

idea #1-cut around the pattern hearts BUT leave a little bit on the side so it stays connected but becomes like a little door. Glue the paper with the words directly behind it so when you open the little "door hearts" you can see the words.  Have the kids take turns opening the "doors" and read what's behind it.

idea #2.  Leave the pattern heart page as is.  Cut out the hearts with words and hide them around the room.  Have the kids hunt for them and when they are found glue them to the top of the patterned hearts.  

In addition to the scripture story in this weeks come follow me lesson I thought it would be great to use the following story of Jesus on the cross to show Christ's perfect example of forgiveness.  (all images are from lds.org). Each page  has the words from the last years primary manual.  These specific words brought the spirit into my heart so strong and I felt that I needed to share them word for word.  I teach the 7 & 8 year olds and will be using these with my class.  However, decide if your class (and age) group will be okay with seeing these pictures.  

In the download there are 4 pages with words for this story.  I've included both full page for each as well as the smaller story cards size that can easily be printed and cut apart.  For the full page you can print them or save some ink and show on your computer or phone.  If there is interest I can also include the jpeg. version that you can have printed at your favorite store. Let me know :)  

Story about Kent:  Instead of my usual story cards we are going to do puppets!  Cut around each image and attach to a Popsicle stick.

Discussion and Review activity: Going with the leaf theme I have 3 ideas for this game as well. 

1st idea: Print the leaves and the rake.  (cardstock for the rake).  Cut around the leaves and the rake.  Attach a magnet on the back side of the rake.  Add paperclips only to the leaves with numbers.  Mix and dump the leaves on the table. Have the kids take turns raking up the leaves until they find one that sticks.  Ask the question that corresponds with the number on the leaf. (I'll add some pictures of this in action soon)

2nd idea: Print just the extra page of leaves.  Number them 1-9 (you will need to take off 2 of the questions from the review page).  Place them in a bag and let the kids draw a leaf and ask the question.

3rd idea: Print and cut all of the leaves (not the extra page of leaves) and the rake (2 if you want to make it a race).  Spread them out on the table or floor.  Call out a number between 1 and 11.  Have them quickly find the correct number and slap it with the rake.  Ask the question that goes with the number.  You can add magnets and paper clips for some extra fun.

I love this paper airplane idea to teach the importance of forgiving others.  After decorate and make paper airplanes.  Here's a cute coloring page to go with the airplane idea

Another great visual idea: found here

Download Here

Come Follow Me: Easter (April 15-21)

This week is all about Easter. There is not a specific set of scriptures for the week and I think we go over many of the suggested scriptures later this year as well.  With that being said I am not diving deep into any particular topic but I hope with the following activities my children (and primary class) will feel the spirit as we talk about our Savior and the precious gifts he gave us.  

For our scripture study this week we will be following this awesome outline I found in the Friend.  Each day has a couple of sentences about Jesus's life and a scripture to go along with it.  There is also a song for each day but I ran out of room so I didn't include it in the printable-if you are interested in the songs you can find them in the link to the Friend.

I have two options for this activity.  The first is paper eggs and basket (included in the download at the end of this post).  Print the basket, the eggs, and the 2 pages of quotes (the ones that are vertical).  Cut out the eggs and quotes.  You will not need the numbers above the quotes but they are there as a reference so you can glue the quote to the correct egg.  You can cut out the basket or leave it as is.  Tape the eggs to the basket.  (cut along the top of the basket to tuck them inside) Starting Sunday take off egg #1.  Read the sentences and look up the scripture reference.  Repeat each day ending with egg #8 on Easter Sunday.

The Second option to do this is to use plastic eggs and the full page of quotes (the ones that are horizontal).  Cut the word strips out and place one in each egg numbered 1-8.  There are NOT numbers on this page but they are in order.  So be careful as you place them in eggs to number them correctly.  We are doing ours this way and I made a set for each one of my kids.  There is also a little candy inside the egg.  

To set up for this activity I hid all the eggs and we went on an Easter egg hunt.  I didn't worry about the numbers until after all the eggs were found.  We sorted them to make sure every one had eggs numbered 1-8.  I am actually on top of it this week because we did this for Activity Days today and only had 2 girls show up-one being my daughter haha.  So I had quite a few extra.  I originally planned to use just one for my family and have an extra bag of candy so they would all get one each day.

For our craft we are going with the same egg and basket theme.  Print the basket that says "I'm trying to be like Jesus"for each person.  Color the basket.  During the week an egg can be added to their basket as they do different things to follow Jesus this week.  An couple of examples-help mom with an extra chore or play with someone that needs a friend at recess.  They can color the egg and glue it to their paper. (you can cut along the top of the basket to tuck the eggs inside)

Variations- 

1.instead of the paper eggs use dot markers to make an egg.

2. make just one for the family instead of individual ones.  At the end of the week share some ways you tried to be like Jesus.

3.  Print the plain black and white basket-instead of adding eggs for acts you do draw a picture on the egg that corresponds with your reading that day or your favorite stories of Jesus.  There are a couple of blank eggs but the back of the decorated eggs would work for pictures.

This week I will be sharing this book I made for my family last year.  It has the words from the General Conference talk Elder Utchdorf gave last year.  I love it.  The words are so powerful.  I do have little kids and I read it to them.  They may not understand all of it but I hope they can feel the spirit as we talk about our Savior and the wonderful gifts he gave us.

Here's a few more pictures

You can find the download for this book here.  

We are also going to use these awesome puppets (not sure what to call them) to tell the story of The Atonement, Crucifixion, and Resurrection.  You can find them here.  I also included a smaller set you can use as a coloring page.

The post also contains a game to learn part of the 3rd article of faith, a coloring page, and questions for a game.  You can download all of these here.

Additional ideas:

"Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet"  a great video showing a story from one of Elder Holland's talk. It's a good one that I plan to share with my family this week. (Also referenced in the Sunday School Manual)

Gethsemane song: This is one of my favorite Primary songs and a great way to talk about the events of the atonement.  I love this sweet version or this one from lds.org

Easter story from the Friend that is perfect for little ones (found here)

Great video Clip called Because of Him (found here)

Bible Videos 

excerpts from the Living Christ

Download your Free Printables here!  

(Remember the Book and puppet links are separate and can be found above by their picture).

I have an awesome Bonus for you today!  Heather from My LDS Preschool has kindly offered her R is for Resurrection set free for my readers!  Her activities are so fun and perfect for Come Follow Me this week. 

Here's what she has to say about this set:

This week for Come Follow Me we have the special opportunity to reflect on Christ’s life and love as we celebrate His resurrection this Easter.

My LDS Preschool is excited to share part of their curriculum to enhance Come Follow Me this week. In “R is for Resurrection,” you will find free lesson plans and printables which focus on the Savior’s resurrection. While each lesson plan has many resources to combine gospel principles with a preschool curriculum, there are two sections that you will find most appropriate this week.

From Lesson 1 you will find their “Scripture Lesson” which provides an object lesson and helps teach about the resurrection of Jesus with an interactive cut out printable. In lesson 2 you will find their “Storybook Lesson” which tells a delightful story to illustrate the symbol of the Easter lily and what Jesus’ resurrection means for us.

Happy Easter!

R is for Resurrection Lesson Plan 1

R is for Resurrection Lesson Plan 2

R is for Resurrection Printables

These ideas are so fun and I'm excited to share the cute Easter Lily story to my kids.  Did you also see the Resurrection Roll recipe!  Thanks again Heather :)

Also the adorable graphics used in this weeks post are from Clever Cat Creations and fonts by Kimberly Geswein Fonts