Hand Prints

Lately, Family Home Evening has been very basic.  We mostly have read stories from The Friend Magazine.  But Joshua has been asking to make hand prints so I turned it into FHE.  It took about 30  seconds to prepare.

We read Psalm 82:6 and talked about how God gave us our bodies.  Then we made pictures to remind us that we are children of God.

Joshua wanted orange fingerpaint so we even added a little science lesson into it.  (Red and yellow make orange)

One set of hand prints was not enough for Joshua so we let him go crazy.  Then we ate ice cream and gave him a thorough bath. 

Time For Addison

I used to find it very difficult to think of ideas for Family Home Evening for a toddler.  I have pushed through that and now I think it is lots of fun.  But I have complained with lots of parents that it is hard to find ideas.  I decided it might be fun to share a bit of what we do. 

A couple things to note:

• I usually get my ideas from other places and then tweak them.  I will be sure to link to all my sources.
• Lessons last about 2-5 minutes.  Therefore, I refuse to prep for more than 10 minutes.  These are not examples of cuteness perfection.
• I always try to include a scripture that we look up in physical scriptures.
• My child is a very kinesthetic learner so my lessons reflect that.

 Tonight's lesson is going to be the story "Time for Addison," from the January 2017 Friend Magazine.  First, we look up the scripture, John 13:34.  Then we read the story, but to keep Joshua focused, he will act out building the tower, then playing with figures, and then the cards. 

Attached to the story is a "Choose The Right Card" One of the challenges to to show love for your family every day in a week.  I threw together a little chart with hearts so when we do something that shows love every day, he can add a heart.  I have a few ideas in mind of what we might do - art projects, little chores, playing with Henry etc.  I have found that little things like this help keep the lesson with him.

And that's it.  Super easy!  Joshua loves the time we spend together and I like finding creative things to do.

Superheroes

On Monday night we did a superhero Family Home Evening based on an idea I got from the Friend Magazine.  It shares all the qualities that kids have that make them super - brave, loved, patient etc.  We dressed up like superheroes for the night.  Joshua was super thrilled to be a part of it.  We ran around the house a couple dozen times yelling "Superhero!!!"

Henry tends to sleep through FHE, but luckily the next day Joshua wanted to spend the whole day being super.  So he got a dishcloth cape.

I'm not sure Joshua has retained any new knowledge of his divine nature, but he sure does kow how to be a great superhero.