Teach the Doctrine: Younger Children
I will live again after I die, just as Jesus did.
The Atonement of Jesus Christ, including His Resurrection, is the most important event in history, and it is the foundation of Christian faith. As you read about the Resurrection, ponder how you will help the children build their faith in Jesus Christ.
Possible Activities
Tell the story of Jesus’s Resurrection in your own words. (If needed, use “Chapter 54: Jesus Is Risen,” in New Testament Stories, 139–44, or the corresponding video on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.)
Explain that when Jesus died, His spirit left His body. When He was resurrected, His spirit and His body came together again. Ask the children to take turns repeating the story back to you.
This fits child size hands. They can repeat the story over and over as they remove and replace the body on the spirt body.
Ask the children how they would have felt if they had seen Jesus alive again.
Here are some masks with speaking parts for each child. They can act like the people in the story, and then you can talk to them about how that would really feel to see Jesus alive after He died.
Show the video “What Happens after We Die?” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org), and tell about someone you know who has died. Share your testimony that everyone will be resurrected someday. Invite the children to share their testimonies.
Sing a song about the Savior’s Resurrection, such as “Did Jesus Really Live Again?” (Children’s Songbook, 64). Ask the children to imagine what it will feel like to see Jesus. Let them share their thoughts with the class.
Click on the image to be taken to Etsy. Look through the photos on the listing so you know what size to print.
If someone has peanut allergies you can look into a bag topper, so you can put any kind of candy you want inside. It doesn't say "Easter" on it anywhere, just the advertisement.
Click on the image. Frames are sold at Dollar Tree.
Left for girls camp, next week will be late, expect it Sunday or Monday.
I can have faith in Jesus Christ even though I can’t see Him.
Consider how you can help the children understand what faith is and how they can exercise faith in the Savior.
Possible Activities
Show the picture Christ Approaches Thomas (ChurchofJesusChrist.org) while you tell about Thomas’s experience in John 20:24–29. Repeat the story, but this time ask the children to provide some of the details.
Show a box with an object inside that the children can’t see, and describe the object to the children. Ask them if they believe the object is really inside the box and why. Then show them the object, and explain that faith is believing in things we can’t see. The most important faith we can have is faith in Jesus Christ.
I love this idea, I think it would be fun to tell the children that there is an elephant in the box. Only you hold the box, and don't shake it, or they might hear the paper inside. If you have a stuffed animal of an elephant, or a tiger etc (and a bigger box), that would be better, but if not you can use this. If I was teaching I would open the box and show the other team teacher (only for them to see), and they she can say "Yep, there is an elephant in the box."(: Ask them if they believe if there is an elephant in the box. Those that do let them see it. Then follow up till everyone has seen the elephant.
If you need a box, you can print this on card stock (colored opt.) and cut and fold.
I can show my love for Jesus by serving others.
How can you inspire the children to love and help those around them?
Possible Activities
Read John 21:15–17, or show the video “Feed My Sheep” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org). Help the children understand what Jesus wanted Peter to do: share the gospel and invite everyone to believe in Jesus. Give each of the children a paper sheep, and ask them to write or draw on it something they can do to help someone they know to come closer to Jesus.
Help the children think of things they are doing to love and serve others. What else can we do to show our love?
Attach to a bag or tissue box, have the children feed it the nice things they think of, and draw or write on a card.....like the primary manual says: “Help the children think of things they are doing to love and serve others. What else can we do to show our love?”
Here are some cards you can use, they children will draw on them and feed the sheep.
Write the name of every child in your class on pieces of paper cut into the shape of sheep, and scatter these sheep around the room. (Include the names of children who don’t attend regularly.) Invite the children to gather the sheep by finding the one with their name on it. Help the children think of ways they can reach out to a friend who doesn’t come to church.
Teach the Doctrine: Older Children
Because Jesus was resurrected, everyone will be resurrected.
It’s natural for children to wonder what happens after we die. Consider how you can teach about the Resurrection in a way that will build their faith.
Possible Activities
Invite the children to close their eyes and imagine that they are sitting by Jesus’s tomb while you read John 20:1–17 or summarize the story of His Resurrection (see also “Chapter 54: Jesus Is Risen,” in New Testament Stories, 139–44, or the corresponding video on ChurchofJesusChrist.org). What does it mean to be resurrected? What would it have been like to see the resurrected Savior?
Ask each child to study the experience of someone who saw the resurrected Savior and share with the rest of the class what he or she learned.
You can use the masks (in the Junior primary section), or costumes of your own to act out the story of the resurrection with the class, as you read and study how each person saw Jesus after His resurrection.
Watch one or more of these videos with the children: “Jesus Is Laid in a Tomb,” “Jesus Is Resurrected,” “Christ Appears on the Road to Emmaus,” and “The Risen Lord Appears to the Apostles” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org). Invite the children to share why the Savior’s Resurrection is important to them.
I can have faith in Jesus Christ even though I can’t see Him.
How can you help the children strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ?
Possible Activities
Invite the children to read John 20:24–29. (See also the video “Blessed Are They That Have Not Seen, and Yet Have Believed” on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.) How can we know Jesus Christ lives, even if we can’t see Him?
Write each word in the phrase “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” on separate pieces of paper. Invite the children to put the words in order. Invite them to tell of experiences in which they felt the Savior’s love even if they did not see Him.
You can print on colored card stock. You can hide these around the room and let them unscramble them it.
Invite the children to draw pictures of things they can do to strengthen their faith this week. Ask them to share what they drew, and share what you have done to strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ.
Ask for a volunteer, tell them it needs to be someone who trusts you. Put a blindfold on them and let the other students quickly build an obstacle course out of the room. As they listen to you talk, you can lead them through the obstacles, with your words. At the end, ask them why they trusted you. Point out that they had faith in what you were saying because they knew you. They probably figured that you being the teacher you wouldn't let them get hurt. Our faith in our Savior will increase as we come to know Him. How do we come to know the Savior better?
You can buy feathers in the craft section. Give each of the children a feather and tell them they need to keep it in the air with only their breath. You can even play a game to see who kept it in the air the longest. After, ask them what made the feather float or fly? (Air, breath) How do you know? You can't see it? How can you believe in something you can't see? They will likely respond with, they can feel it, they can see the object that it pushes. Ask them how this applies to faith in Jesus Christ. Can we feel Him (or the power of the Holy ghost that testifies of Him)? Can we see the effect (or good things) that believing Him has had in our lives? What can we do in our lives to be able to feel that more often?
I can show my love for Jesus by feeding His sheep.
Children can greatly influence those around them. How can you encourage them to strengthen others in the gospel?
Possible Activities
Read John 21:1–17 together. When you read verses 9–13, ask the children to think about a time when someone made a special meal for them, and invite them to think about ways that Jesus feeds us spiritually. When you read verses 15–17, replace Simon’s name with names of the children. Who are Jesus’s sheep? How can we help Him feed them?
Share a simple snack with the children. As they are eating, ask them how sharing the gospel with someone is like feeding them.
Goldfish crackers are a good snack(: