Teach the Doctrine: Younger Children
The Holy Ghost teaches me gospel truths.
One of the Holy Ghost’s roles is to teach us truth. What experiences can you share with the children to help them understand this?
Possible Activities
Show objects or pictures that represent ways we learn about the world (such as a school, book, or smartphone). What can we learn when we use these things?
Explain that in 1 Corinthians 2:11, 14, Paul taught that we can learn about God only through the Spirit of God, which is the Holy Ghost. What can we do to learn “the things of God”?
Assemble this before the children see it. Put the Holy Ghost puzzle on top of the the paper with the pictures of children. ONLY cut the Holy Ghost picture. After you read the scripture and discuss what Paul taught, have the children choose a piece to pull off and discuss how we feel after we are kind to someone, or we read the scriptures, or pray. After each one testify that feeling is the Holy Ghost.
The children may wonder who is in this picture and why He doesn't have a body. This would be a good time to teach about the three members of the Godhead. If you would like to use the first article of Faith to help them see that he is different than God and Jesus, because he has a spirit, and can be with us when we need Him.
Clap your hands as you say each syllable in the sentence “The Holy Ghost teaches us truth.” Ask the children to clap their hands and repeat the phrase. Share with the children an experience when the Holy Ghost helped you know that something was true.
Click on the image to be taken to this story.
Sing together a song about the Holy Ghost, such as “The Holy Ghost” (Children’s Songbook, 105). Help the children find words and phrases in the song that teach how the Holy Ghost speaks to us and what He teaches us.
Click on the image to be taken to the churches website, to watch this song.
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Jesus Christ is my foundation.
Children are laying a foundation for their testimonies, and you can help them build a solid foundation on Jesus Christ.
Possible Activities
Read 1 Corinthians 3:11 to the children, and explain that Jesus Christ is our foundation. Show the children several pictures of things we can have testimonies of, including a picture of Jesus Christ. Help them arrange the pictures so that the picture of Jesus is on the bottom, like a foundation, and the other pictures “build” on a testimony of Him.
If would like to just use pictures like the primary manual suggests, you are welcome to use these pictures.
Or you can use cups:
Create actions for the song “The Wise Man and the Foolish Man” (Children’s Songbook, 281), and sing the song with the children. Give each child a rock with “Jesus Christ is my foundation” written on it. Let them take the rocks home to remind them what they learned.
Share pictures that depict some of your favorite stories from the Savior’s life, and ask the children to tell you what is happening in the pictures. Let them share some of their favorite stories about Jesus. Bear your testimony that Jesus Christ is the foundation of your faith.
There are mega smarties sold at Dollar Tree and Walmart. Click on the images to be taken to Etsy.
My body is like a temple.
How can you help the children appreciate their bodies as gifts from God and have a greater desire to take care of them?
Possible Activities
Show the children pictures of temples (see this week’s outline in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families), and read these words from 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.” Help the children understand that Heavenly Father wants us to keep our bodies clean and holy, like a temple.
Display a picture of a child, and put pictures around it of things that are good for our bodies and things that are bad. Invite the children to take turns identifying the good things and removing the bad ones.
This is from an old primary manual.
I've added some more things so the children have something to remove. Notice how some things aren't entirely bad, they just need to balance when to eat candy and watch tv. Only take medicine when you are sick etc.
Attach these to paper bags, this is a fun idea! My sunbeams laughed so hard when I did this....I miss sunbeams.):
Sing together a song about bodies, such as “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” (Children’s Songbook, 275), and ask the children why they are thankful for their bodies.
A fidget spinner or paper clip would work better than this paper spinner.
I am now doing Youth lessons, if you could help me get the word out(:
Teach the Doctrine: Older Children
Being wise means trusting in God’s wisdom.
The children you teach will find—if they haven’t already—that some people teach things that contradict God’s wisdom. Studying 1 Corinthians 1:23–25 can help the children understand that we can trust God’s wisdom because it is greater than ours.
Possible Activities
Ask the children to review some of the things they learned in Junior Primary about the wiseman and the foolish-man. "Have they ever tried building something on sand and rock? What did the rock represent?
Today you are going to build a different house, not like anything they ever saw in Junior Primary (:"
Then build this cute little house. 4 cups and a piece of paper, NOT card stock.
Ask them if they like your house.
Agree with them that you don't think it looks very great, or strong.
Pull out a small tissues box, or cotton balls (I used cotton rounds). Ask they children if they think the house is strong enough to hold something as light as this cotton/tissues?
"Yep, you are so wise, you knew it wouldn't work."
Read together 1 Corinthians 1:23–25. Explain that when we trust God's wisdom instead of our own it isn't foolish. And other things from the primary manual.
Then you say, "How many of you think if we tried a second time it would work?" Yes, you are tricking them, but God is forgiving(:
This time you take the same paper and fold in back and forth (small folds) like an accordion. Place it on the cups like the pictures, THE DIRECTION OF THE FOLDS DOES MATTER. Have the students place the cotton balls or tissue box on the roof of the house. It should hold it now.
Bear your testimony of trusting in God, even when others think it is foolish.
Ask the children to read 1 Corinthians 1:23–25 and find the words wisdom and foolishness. Explain that many people thought Paul’s teachings were foolish, but Paul explained that believing Christ’s gospel is true wisdom. Why is it wise to believe what God teaches?
Help the children role-play how they could respond to people who think God’s commandments are “foolish”—such as the commandment to have faith in the Savior, keep the Word of Wisdom, or obey the law of tithing. For example, they could testify of the blessings that come from living these teachings.
Share an experience when others thought that your beliefs were foolish, or share an example from the scriptures. Let the children share similar experiences. How can 1 Corinthians 1:25 help us remain faithful when others call our beliefs foolish?
Click on the image to be taken the Friend magazine to print this.
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The Holy Ghost teaches me gospel truths.
How can you help the children recognize that they need the Holy Ghost to understand “the things of God”?
Possible Activities
You can have the children choose these clue cards, as an introduction for what you are going to be talking about. Prep them that if they know the answer before the last card is drawn to keep quiet or/and raise their hand.
Ask the children to make a list of ways we learn about the world—for example, books, school, and the internet. Then read together 1 Corinthians 2:11–14. What do these verses teach about how we learn “the things of God”?
Tell about a time when you learned something through the Spirit of God. Help the children identify times when they felt the Spirit. What “things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11) has the Spirit helped us understand?
Invite each child to read one of these scriptures: 1 Corinthians 2:11–14; 1 Nephi 10:17; Moroni 10:3–5; and Doctrine and Covenants 8:2–3. Ask the children to share what they learned from these scriptures about how the Holy Ghost teaches us. Why are we grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost?
(Can print on colored card stock)
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I should treat my body with respect and keep it holy.
Understanding that our bodies are gifts from Heavenly Father will help the children keep their bodies sacred, even when they are tempted to do otherwise.
Possible Activities
Bring a container with pictures of a child and a temple inside. Invite the children to read 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 and guess what is in the container. Let them open it and discuss how our bodies are like temples.
Talk with the children about how we should treat a temple. If our bodies are like temples, how should we treat our bodies? Singing or reading the words to a song about temples, such as “The Lord Gave Me a Temple” (Children’s Songbook, 153), can help answer this question. When we make mistakes, how can we make our “temples” clean again?
Read together “Your Body Is Sacred” (in For the Strength of Youth [guide, 2022], 22–29). Invite the children to list on the board the counsel they find about how to care for our bodies.
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