Week 15: Chapter 15 - Alma Teaches and Baptizes

Book of Mormon
Chapter 15: Alma Teaches and Baptizes

I'll admit it - I have back-dated this post so it looks like I was diligent and posted it two weeks ago instead of the beginning of June. But if you don't read this paragraph I am sure you will be none the wiser.

This week Alma teaches and baptizes a slew of people. I have just taught a lesson in Primary about the blessings of being baptised that included the story of Alma teaching and baptising. The blessings included: 1) We become members of Jesus Christ's church; 2) We get the gift of the Holy Ghost; and 3) Heavenly Father forgives us.

These important blessings are outlined in Alma's story and would definitely be a great guideline for teaching the story this week.

Other activities that you may want to do:

• Help your child realise the importance of writing in his/her journal. After hearing what Abinadi had to say, Alma immediately wrote down everything that had been said. Write in a journal or draw a picture about something you have done during the day.
• Build a tent and hide in it for a day. You know I love me a tent!
• LDS Family Fun (aka the Living Scriptures) has an activity book about Abinadi. The last part of the book covers part of this Alma story.
• You could also use the flash cards at the end of the LDS Family Fun activity book to make a card match up game.
• Invite the missionaries over for dinner.

Activities from the Friend:
July 2005 - Help your toddler complete the diorama used for sharing time

Week 12: Chapters 11 & 12 - Enos and King Benjamin

Book of Mormon
Chapters 11 & 12: Enos and King Benjamin

I have combined these two chapters because, although the King Benjamin chapter is quite lengthy, Chapter 11 (Enos) is just about Enos praying about E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

LQ and I are going to read the Enos story on one day and then cover King Benjamin for the rest of the week.

King Benjamin is going to be read in a makeshift tent made from blankets and chairs. We will also dress up like a king and build a block tower.

Other ideas that I have for this week include:

• Making cookies and giving them to our friends (covering the service part of King Benjamin's speech)
• Look at all the pictures we have of Christ's earthly life and talk about that (just like King Benjamin)
• Colour, cut and paste the first two images on this page
• Sugardoodle.net has this idea for using a refrigerator box to make a tower

The possibilities are endless because King Benjamin taught a lot of different things. What ideas have you had?

Week 10: Chapter 9 - A New Home in the Promised Land

Book of Mormon
Chapter 9: "A New Home in the Promised Land"

If you look at the scripture references for this chapter, you will notice that 2 Nephi is all summed up in this chapter. Lucky for LQ... she doesn't have to deal with Isaiah JUST yet.

Of course, this means that I can pick out some wonderful scriptures to read to LQ this week. One of those scriptures will be 1 Nephi 19:23

I encourage you to go through the last part of 1 Nephi, 2 Nephi and the first chapter of Jacob and pick out your favourite scriptures to read to your child. LQ really believes she is getting a special treat when I read to her from the scriptures. She isn't allowed to touch mummy's scriptures otherwise. It's nice that she has that excitement.

The story this week focuses on the Nephites setting up and the Lamanites being cursed. I thought of some fun activities that tie in with those themes.

• Plant some seeds and watch them grow (get that quick growing grass seed... toddlers attention span and all that)
• Set up a tent in your living room
• Tame wild beasts
• Search for gold and silver in the sandbox
• Build an altar with blocks (my favourite because it's so simple)
• Build a temple with blocks or recycled boxes
• Sing the second verse of "Love is Spoken Here" (Children's Songbook, pg 90)
• Talk about Lehi blessing his sons and then relate to your child the importance of the priesthood. This lesson from the new nursery manual has a colouring activity that explains how the priesthood is used.
• The Living Scriptures "Journey to the Promised Land" activity booklet has a few pages at the end that relate to arriving in the Promised Land.
• Talk about the different types of homes the Nephites lived in (tents, ship, houses) and then sing "Home" (Children's Songbook pg 192)

I know some of these are a stretch, but because the chapter spans such a huge amount of scripture, I really think you could slot in any subject you would like your toddler to learn. If you wanted to attempt Isaiah you could even talk about Christ's coming, etc.

If you have a particular problem or just need a sounding board for your own ideas for your toddler, send me a comment or an email. Hopefully I can help you out.