Teach the Doctrine: Younger Children
The sacrament helps me think about Jesus.
Help the children understand that taking the sacrament is a chance to remember what Jesus has done for us.
Possible Activities
Summarize the account of Jesus introducing the sacrament. You might use “Chapter 49: The First Sacrament” (in New Testament Stories, 124–26, or the corresponding video on ChurchofJesusChrist.org), or the video “Sacrament” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org). Why do we take the sacrament? Help the children understand that we remember Jesus during the sacrament.
(Click on the image to be taken to the churches website to watch this.)
Show the children a piece of bread and a cup of water. Ask them if they know what the sacrament bread and water stand for. Explain that these emblems help us remember that Jesus died for us and rose from the dead.
Ask the children to close their eyes and think of someone they love, and then invite them to tell you about that person. Ask them to close their eyes again, think of the Savior, and then share things they know about Him. Encourage them to think about Jesus during the sacrament each week.
Here is an activity to review the promises made during the sacrament.
Invite the children to show you what they can do to remember Jesus and be reverent during the sacrament. Help the children make the booklet described on this week’s activity page and use it to help them think about Jesus during the sacrament. Or let them search some Church magazines for pictures of Jesus and create a collage they can look at during the sacrament.
I love this idea of creating a collage. Here is a book and pictures, they can put that in.
Here are some pictures you can add, or you can have the children cut some out of the Friend magazines.
(Click on the image to be taken to Etsy)
I can love others as Jesus did.
Jesus showed His love by caring for those around Him. What opportunities do the children you teach have to show their love for others?
Possible Activities
Show pictures of stories the children have learned this year when Jesus showed His love for others (see past outlines in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families). Read John 13:34–35, and help the children repeat the phrase “As I have loved you, … love one another.” How can we show our love for our family and friends?
Hand out the black and white pictures to the children. Laying the pieces on the ground, tell the story (one at a time of how Jesus loves and wept with the people, or how he included the man in the tree). Then (one at a time) ask the children how we can included or love and ask who has the match as you move along with the pictures and stories.
Invite a child to hold a picture of the Savior as the class sings a song about the Savior’s love, such as “Love One Another” (Children’s Songbook, 136). Give the children paper hearts and invite them to draw a picture of themselves doing something to show their love for another person.
(This also has clips of people serving/loving each other.)
Print top of song Here
Print attachments to song Here
Click on the image to be taken to Etsy.
Teach the Doctrine: Older Children
The sacrament helps me remember Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for me.
How can you help the children have a more meaningful experience with the sacrament?
Possible Activities
Hide these around the room, have the children find them, and with the hints unscramble the letters to make the word sacrament. After they figure it out, tell them this is what we are learning about today.
Invite the children to take turns reading the verses in Matthew 26:26–29 or Mark 14:22–24 (see also Joseph Smith Translation, Mark 14:20–24 [in the Bible appendix]) and Doctrine and Covenants 20:75–79. What words and ideas are similar in the two passages?
Print on colored card stock, to add a little color.
Ask the children what they do to help them think about Jesus during the sacrament. Help them find scriptures or words from sacrament hymns that they could read during the sacrament, and then list them on a card that the children can refer to the next time they take the sacrament. Sing a few of these songs with the children (see Hymns, nos. 169–97).
How bout list them on a bookmark?(:
Write key phrases from the sacrament prayers on the board, and help the children memorize them. What do these phrases mean? Why is it important to renew our baptismal covenants every week?
Invite an Aaronic Priesthood holder to tell the children about his experience preparing, blessing, or passing the sacrament. What helps him prepare to do this? How does he feel as he does it? How do the bread and water remind him of the Savior?
Ask children who have been baptized to share what they remember about their baptisms. How did they feel? What covenants did they make? (see Mosiah 18:8–10). Tell them that every week when we partake of the sacrament, it can be like being baptized again—we can be forgiven of our sins, and we renew our covenants.
Click on the images to be taken to Etsy.
Jesus Christ showed me how to serve others.
The account of the Savior washing His disciples’ feet can inspire the children you teach to lovingly serve people around them.
Possible Activities
A few days in advance, ask one of the children to read John 13:4–9 and share the account with the class from the perspective of Peter. What was the Savior trying to teach Peter and the other Apostles? The children could talk about what they learn from this story about Jesus Christ. What do we learn about serving others?
Cut out the pieces and have the children place it over the top after the scripture is read. The picture tells a story and this kind puts it in order. I did take some liberties in assuming the guy in the corner betrays him(:
Read together John 13:12–17. Ask the children to each write about a time when the Savior served another person. Encourage them to include what they learn from His example. If they need help, they could look for examples in the video “Christlike Attributes” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org). Invite them to share what they wrote with the class.
Disciples of Jesus Christ love others as He did.
When we are baptized, we make covenants to become disciples of Jesus Christ. In John 13:34–35, the Savior described how we can show that we are His disciples.
Possible Activities
This movie covers everything in this lesson: Sacrament (last supper), Washing feet, and inviting his disciples to love one another.
Write on the board one another; as I have you (John 13:34). Invite the children to look up the scripture and fill in the blanks. What other things can we do to show we are disciples of Christ? The children might think of other words that would complete the sentence on the board, such as serve and served or teach and taught.
Invite the children to read John 13:35 and think of people they know who are examples of disciples of Jesus Christ. Ask them to share how these people show love for others as the Savior did.
Here is a card they can give someone, who they feel is a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Front:
Inside:
This is such a great story or service, especially since we are also learning about the sacrament.
(Click on the image to be taken to the churches website)
Encourage Learning at Home
Invite the children to share with their families something they will do because of what they learned in class. For instance, they could share how they will remember Jesus Christ during the sacrament.