Week 9: Chapter 8 - Crossing the Sea

The Book of Mormon
Chapter 8: Crossing the Sea

"Nevertheless, I did look unto my God, and I did ^apraise him all the day long; and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine afflictions." 1 Nephi 18:16


There are a few scriptures in this weeks reading that I really enjoyed. One other that I just couldn't go past (which may or may not apply to me at the moment).... "And it came to pass that I ^aprayed unto the Lord; and after I had prayed the winds did cease, and the storm did cease, and there was a great calm." verse 21. I need some calm in my life, could it be that I'm not praying enough?

This week, Laman and Lemuel are back at it. Why oh why did that family bother to bring those boys along? They were trouble from the start. They are just two big bullies. Can you imagine being stuck on a boat with them for too long? Although, being stuck in a small place with your entire extended family is going to make you do some crazy things. Maybe I have a little bit of sympathy for them.

I can see some water play happening with this weeks activities. Lots of water swooshing and maybe I can tie LQ to a pole for a few days, just so she knows how poor Nephi felt. Ok... just joking - but really, does anyone else blame me? The terrible twos are setting in. Other non restrictive activities include:

• Making our own boats and sailing them in the bath. Make a storm with fans, hands and watering cans.
• Packing a picnic lunch (packing the boat) and taking it to the park (the promised land)
• The Living Scriptures have a booklet "Journey to the Promised Land". I will be using some of the colouring pages

Ideas from the Friend:

• November 2000 - Journey to the Promised Land Game - a simplistic board game that I think LQ may enjoy for two minutes
• January 1996 - For older children another board game - Lehi's Journey to the Promised Land

There's not much more from the Friend (for this weeks ideas) that hasn't already been mentioned before on this blog. So go have a look at previous posts ... there should be a few links to the Friend that will correspond to this particular story.

I have been trying to think of an activity that involves the Liahona, but have been drawing a blank. If you have any ideas, please let me know, as I think the Liahona is a pivotal part of this story.

Week 7: Chapter 7 - Building the Ship

The Book of Mormon
Chapter 7: Building the Ship


My apologies for the post delay this week. LQ and I have already started our scriptures for this week, but another project has consumed all my "LQ nap" time. So today I made myself sit down and work out what else LQ and I are going to do this week for scripture study.

LQ is still responding well to the quicktime version of the stories. Dal was making fun of them last night - whatever works I say. LQ also enjoyed flicking through my scriptures this morning while I explained to her that Heavenly Father blesses us when we keep the commandments.

This week Nephi and his family are building a ship. His brothers are being naughty again and Nephi gets to shock his brothers by touching them. I had a thought for an object lesson, I could build up a bit of static electricity and let LQ have it..... Bordering on child abuse, you say? Ok, I may let that idea slide then. Other non-abusive activity ideas include:

• Using blocks to build a boat
• "Sewing" a sail for the boat (you can make a sail out of cardboard and punch holes around the edge. Then your toddler can have fun sewing with string or wool)
• The Living Scriptures has an activity book to go along with their dvd "Journey to the Promised Land". Remember you can download these activity books for free if you register (for free). There are a few colouring pages that can be used for this particular story.

Ideas from the Friend:

• March 1992 - Sharing Time: Nephi Builds a Ship (diorama)
• March 1988 - Nephi Builds a Ship - you could do as the article suggests, or you could also use the pictures for a matching card game.
• November 2000 - Journey to the Promised Land - This one is too old for Toddlers but is a great game to play with the entire family

My favourite scripture from 1 Nephi 17 is verse 3. I have been reading this one to LQ over the last two days. It is easy to summarize and it has a great message to it.

As always,... I am eager to know how you are doing. Send me an email sometime.

Week 2: Chapter 2 - Lehi Warns the People

Book of Mormon
Chapter 2 - Lehi Warns the People

I am really excited about the chapter this week. It is only one page and it only covers 20 verses of 1 Nephi chapter 1. My excitement stems from the fact that I may not "drown" in the story telling this week.

As far as posting goes, I have decided to do things a little differently this week. Because there is such a range in understanding among little children, I thought I would give you all my ideas for this week in this post. This means having a less rigid structure for each day and if there is something that works particularly well, you (or I) can do it maybe more than once during the week.

It's all about going with the flow and learning from our mistakes.

Here is what I have so far:

The living Scriptures (or LDSFamilyFun as I have found it to be called) has an activity booklet for "Nephi and the Brass Plates." The first few colouring pages cover Lehi warning the people. I think I will use those during the week.

The January 1996 Friend has a board game about Lehi and his travels. You could use this to introduce this story and the next in the book for children a little older. The linked page doesn't actually give you a diagram of the board game.... but it seems to me like it would be easy enough to make up (from reading the directions).

Role Play - Standing on a table (if mum allows it!) and preaching to the wicked people from Jerusalem (any stuffed toys that you have) should be a hit. I am also looking forward to pretending to be asleep and having a vision... that one should be fun!

Particular scriptures that I will read and explain include - 1 Nephi 1:1 (I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents), 1 Nephi 1:5, 1 Nephi 1:19 (over a few days), 1 Nephi 1:20 (again over a few different days)

I don't have any craft ideas for this week, but if you do, let me know!