Preparing for the BIG Weekend!

So I have much to share in preparation for the exciting event of General Conference that awaits us.  Read through the whole post for a myriad of ways to prepare yourself and your family to hear the word of God:

1. Go into General Conference remembering that it has something just for YOU!
   
   Elder Holland said, “If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal little, prophetic epistle just to you.”
   
   Enjoy this video and you may also enjoy reading THIS arcticle from the September Ensign about a Sister's experience in finding out that Conference had something just for her.
   
   

 2. This week ponder about and write down some questions or concerns that you have and pray to receive answers and direction for those specific things during Conference.  Answers will come.

 3. Create new General Conference traditions or plan to carry out old ones.  This can give something similar and concrete about each Conference for your children (and yourself) to look forward to.  You can find one of our traditions HERE.

 4. Play some games or watch this video sometime this week to get your kids thinking about what is coming.
You can find an Apostle Matching Game and Fun Fact Cards HERE.  There are also a few fun online games from lds.org you can find HERE.


 5. Get some of these printables ready for your children to use throughout Conference:
LDS.org Printables
Sugardoodle.net Printable Packets for all ages.
Sugardoodle.net Other Conference activities and printables.
Deseret Book Printable

And there are so many other creations, ideas, and printables all over the internet.  I hope you find something you like.

6. Think about joining in this fun Video Conference event, check out this video to learn more:

6. I was sent a document with many FAQ about Genereal Conference but don't know how to put the information on my blog.  If you are in need of answers to any of these questions leave a comment with the question you'd like answered and your email address or email me with this information at becominglds@gmail.com. 

• How can I access General Conference?
• When will conference materials be available?
• What languages are available?
• Can I put General Conference on my mobile device?
• Can I download just the music from General Conference?
• Is General Conference on Twitter or Facebook?

7.  And finally, I know this challenge comes a little late but do you remember our semi-annual no tv weeks well since things have changed in that department quite a bit at our house we aren't holding an official one but if you'd like to try it out and turn your tv off for the week it really does make turning on the tv for Conference such a refreshing and wonderful experience.  I dare you! ;)

Now let's all get prepping!  What does your family do to prepare for Conference?

Our Kitchen Table is Getting Ready for General Conference, Are You?

Well, General Conference is just around the corner and it is time to get the creative juices going, print off some activities, and gear our children up (and ourselves) for the 8 hour spiritual feast (or 10 hours if you are a Preisthood holder).

In October we pulled our small kitchen table into the living room and let the fun roll.  We had my little boy doing things from painting prayers rocks, to coloring the ties of the apostles and prophets, to playing with playdough, to playing general conference bingo.  I had activites selected for different topics, prayer rocks were done while someone spoke abour prayer.  Playdough was done while someone spoke about love and we tried to shape it into hearts. Etc.  It was a successful experience last time around.  He was entertained and yet he listened.  I remember him shouting out "he just talked about Jesus", or missionaries, or anything that was on the bingo sheet.  We even left the table there for our meals and our 3 year old, at the time, loved the fun change.  It could get a little more interesting this time around since our 1 year old only has one nap now.  Last time she went down around 10 and 2 and it was perfect so we shall see how this time rolls. 

If nothing else our table is ready for its job.  When I told my son that General Conference was almost here he got super excited and said something like, "so we get to bring the table in here and do tons of fun stuff".  I hope I can pull something together that will hold that excitement and keep him listening and learning throughout the whole 8 hours.

What do you do to keep your kids and yourself glued to the TV and supping up every last morsel of general conference goodness?  What General Conference traditions do you have?

Here are a few links that may help in your preparations:

• Sugardoodle.net has a ton of packets that they have created ranging from packets for Nursery aged kids to Adults (there are 7 different packets).
• You also may want to check out the regular General Conference page on Sugardoodle for activities, ideas, and printables that fit any conference session.
• On lds.org there is also a page that has printables as well as activities to do in this upcoming week to prepare your children for conference.  Ranging from a printable bingo game to online apostle matching games.
• Deseret Book also has a packet that you can download.
• Mormon Share also has various ideas and printables.
• There is a nice article at Mormon Times that shares 10 ideas for a meaningful conference for children.
• About.com has a ton of activities and games.
• There also some fun ideas over at The Idea Door.

I really could go on and on.  The internet is just full of ideas, activies, and printables for this exciting event.  Please share your preparations or traditions.

FHE in a Jar

So I came across this simple way of doing a quick FHE lesson when you've dropped the ball again and didn't think ahead ;). Or maybe this doesn't happen to you and in that case this could be a great morning devotional while your kids are eating breakfast or even a quick spiritual pick me up for you in the afternoon while kids are at school or taking naps.

Here is how it works:
Print out this page, cut each strip out, and drop them in a mason canning jar. Pull out a strip whenever you’re in need of a quick and easy lesson. Sing your song, say your opening prayer, and read each scripture. Then discuss the information under Topic.

Thanks JennySmith.net!

Some Things To Check Out

• If you haven't checked out the new Mormon.org which has profiles of members you ought to click on over. You can read other's profiles and even add your own. What a great missionary tool. Check it out HERE.
• My son and I found a fun scripture site called Scriptures 4 Kids. It has 4 reading levels of Book of Mormon stories. Your child can read it on there own or they can click on a button and it will read it to them. There are also games and printable pages, etc. Check it out HERE.
• There is a wonderful scripture page where you can highlight and make notes online as you read. I haven't played around with this much myself but it looks like a really neat page and it is created by the Church. You can check it our HERE.
• I've posted some of these before but I thought I'd highlight it again just in case you've never seen these videos made by Mormon's Made Simple. They are great because they explain in simple terms things like missionaries, temples, our church services, etc. Check it our HERE.
• I am sure most of you have seen the Mormon Messages on youtube or the front page of lds.org but they are worth their own link so you can check out all of the wonderful videos that have been posted. Check them out HERE.
• The Church has come out with new mobile phone apps to help you study on the go. They have anything from reading, highlighting and making notes while you read the scriptures to Conference talks and church magazines. Check it out HERE.
• There are many new features on the Relief Society page. You can check it our HERE.

So there are quite a few links for you to check out. I hope you all find something you like or haven't used before. If you ever find any new or fun links let me know so I can post them. Thanks to a few of my friends for making me aware of some of these. :) Happy Sunday to you all!

The Time Has Come and I'm Excited...General Conference April 2010 Is Just Around the Corner

Last Conference was full of wonderful moments like these:

And all of these young people enjoyed the words of Prophets and Apostles:


So how can we help our children and youth to participate more in Conference this time around?

The Church has come out with a General Conference Page which includes activities for children along with many other great resources. Some of the activities would be great to do before conference and some are meant to be used during conference. Yea! I love all of the help we can find online to engage our children in General Conference.

Below are a few more links that have some great ideas and printables:

Melanie Day's General Conference Packets

Sugardoodle General Conference Page

My Past General Conference Posts (Some include links to printables/games)

How do you plan to involve your children in this wonderful spiritual weekend? Let's hear some ideas of how you do things in your home to engage both your little ones and your teens. Let us prepare this week to listen to Prophets and Apostles, to be taught, and to be guided. Yea, Conference!!!

Choose the Right Memory Game

Here is a simple printable memory game to play with young children - click HERE.

by Diane Brown

1. Print 2 copies of the "Choose The Right cards" (Cards 1-5)
2. Print 1 copy of the "Choose The Wrong" cards (2 cards)
3. You should have a total of 12 cards. Mix them up well and place them face down in 3 rows of four or 4 rows of three.
4. A child turns over two cards. (Have the child read each card or the teacher may read the them.) If they are a CTR match they keep the set. If they do not match they are replaced face down in the same spot. (In eather case it is now the next childs turn.)
5. If at any time a child turn over a CTW Card they stop playing, replace the card(s) and it is the next students turn.
6. Play until all the CTR matches are found.

New Updated Apostle Printables

I have posted these printables (found at sugardoodle.net) before but I was asked for updated versions including Elder Andersen. Enjoy!


Apostle Memory Cards by Kerri Madura (Matching Game)


Apostle Cards by Melanie Day (Include Fun and Informative Facts About the Prophets/Apostles)

General Conference Activities October 2009

Yea!!! General Conference is on its way! I am excited to hear the wonderful messages this time around and I am back yet again with a General Conference Prep Post in hopes to help us all to include our children more in conference and to gain more out of it ourselves.

First, enjoy this great video about listening to our Prophet's voice. It is from the Friend's main page and is just about a minute long.

Now here are a few ideas and printables to help keep your children involved and part of General Conference:

PRINTABLES

General Authority Ties by Amber McNeil

General Conference Packet by Melanie Day

General Conference Activity Cards by Melanie Day

Conference Coloring Book by Jennifer Lund

GAMES

Conference Chase by Ondrea Slade

LDS Bingo - printable bingo boards

Let us all prepare ourselves and our families for this General Conference:
"Decide now to make general conference a priority in your life. Decide to listen carefully and follow the teachings that are given. Listen to or read the talks more than once to better understand and follow the counsel. By doing these things, the gates of hell will not prevail against you, the powers of darkness will be dispersed from before you, and the heavens will shake for your good." - Elder Paul V. Johnson, "The Blessings of General Conference", Ensign, Nov. 2005, 50.

First Presidency Puzzle

I came across this puzzle of the First Presidency (created by Regan Ashford) on Sugardoodle.net and thought it looked simple and fun. Enjoy!

Preparing Our Children for General Conference

With General Conference just around the corner and with the reminder of a great article in the Ensign I figured it was about time for a post to help us all to be a little more prepared for Conference this time around.

You can read the ariticle from the Ensign here ---> Preparing Our Children for General Conference.

To read the ideas found in this article but in a more condensed form you can read this document put together by Kate found on Sugardoodle.net.

In addition to this great article filled with ideas are these great activities to keep your children involved during Conference:

2009 General Conference Packet by Melanie Day.

Here is my post from the last General Conference. This post is filled with links to many activities, some of them will still work this time but others will be missing some of the changes.

I hope this helps everyone get ready to have an enjoyable conference experience with the whole family. I'll be sure to post more if I find more packets and activities and would love to hear what traditions or activities your family takes part in each time Conference rolls around.

Picture Courtesy of LDS.org

Sacrament Quiet Activities

Well, I assume that I am not the only one that wrestles my little boy in Sacrament Meeting and tries every week to come up with something new to capture his attention and keep him happy and quietly engaged. So...I thought I would share a few items I've found helpful or that I hope to find helpful in the future. Enjoy!

Gospel ABC Cards - "These cards are designed to help your little ones be reverent during Sacrament Meeting or something similar. Just print them, laminate, and punch a hole in the corner. Put a metal ring clip through the hole to hold them together." - Found on Sugardoodle.net

~I just printed these and put them in a binder in sheet protectors. My little boy loves that they are personalized with pictures of us, grandparents, and him.


Gospel ABC Book - "I have taken Ann's idea and added pictures, so you can make your own or just print this one! You will just need to add your own pictures in a few spots." ~Liz at The Idea Door

Reverence Wheel by Leslee Edward from California - found on Sugardoodle.net

You may also find these items about Apostles and Prophets helpful from a previous post.

You can also find File Folder Games at this post.

If you have any tips, tricks, or ideas please send them my way!

LDS Taboo

Have you ever played the game Taboo? Well, if you have or even if you haven't, you might enjoy this printable version of LDS Taboo. It could be a fun FHE activity or any night activity for that matter.

For example...this is how the game goes:
You need to make your team figure out that the word is Bishop.
"How do you get your team to say BISHOP?
You can’t say WARD, LEADER, CONDUCT, or FATHER. They’re Taboo— utterly unmentionable words!

Think fast, talk fast and don’t say a Taboo word or you’ll get called and lose a point!

You might say:
• “HE LEADS OUR CONGREGATION”
• “HE HAS TWO COUNSELORS”
• “HE REPORTS TO THE STAKE PRESIDENT”"

Check it out...it looks like a lot of fun.

LDS Taboo
Rules
Cards

FHE: Armor of God

Well, this started as an attempt to keep our little toddler occupied at church and ended in a random, thrown together FHE lesson that turned out to be simple but a success.

So I printed off a coloring sheet of a little boy with armor. (I couldn't find the one I originally used but this one at this link is cuter anyway.) We had our little boy color it at church then Monday night rolled around and once again we were not so prepared. It has become a bad habit at our house especially when it is our little man's turn to do the lesson. I just tend to forget that it really is "my" turn again. Anyway, that was a side note.

So my husband says, "Should we start FHE?" Now you have to read this in a hurried manner...this all happened in approximately 5 minutes or so. I look at the clock and then at our FHE chart and my brain starts churning. Lesson...Thinking...Lesson...Hmmm - Got it! I grab the coloring sheet out of the diaper bag. I cut and cut and cut, and cut some more. I run upstairs to look the Armor of God scripture up on the computer - Ephesians...Ephesians chapter 6...11..got it! While searching for the scripture another idea pops into my head and I run into our play room and grab our knight helmet, a shield, and a few other items. And then...(you can read more slowly now) we sit down for FHE and it goes a little something like this:

With a little direction from me and some tape our little boy put together the most fearsome looking, crooked looking, armored man I've ever seen. It was great and we had ourselves a little paper man wearing the Armor of God.

Then we read the wonderfully short (perfect for an almost 2 year old) but powerful scripture - "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." We didn't go into the detials of what each of the pieces of armor meant (although this would be great to do with older children) but stuck to simple things. We made a short list of things that can be our armor like: prayer, scripture study, family home evening, and attending church (all things that our boy somewhat grasps).

Then without much connection to spiritual things our little boy dressed up in the "Armor of God". With a grin on his face and a helmet on his head this week Family Home Evening was a success.

It wasn't the usual battle of wanting to sing "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" for the tenth time instead of having a lesson. Or the battle of convincing that FHE is fun when blocks, puzzles, and balls are in the next room. Or the giving of a lesson over the screaming-tantrum-thrower in the corner.

It was simple, it was fun, but the most important part was that it was with our family, home together for the evening. So every week, rain or shine, scream or smile, FHE will go on.

I am sure you all can relate to the successful FHE nights and well, the nights that almost seem to be good-for-nothing. When it comes down to it though we "have [been] promised that our dedication to this program will help protect our families against the evils of our time and will bring us abundant joy now and throughout the eternities."

We had a simple lesson on the Armor of God but all the while we were creating and strengthing a small portion of our literal armor, we were helping to protect our family from the evils of our time. So the next time Family Home Evening rolls around and whining persists or chaos prevails just remember that through the screams, the whines, and the groans you are putting on the Armor of God.

Apostle Printables

New updated apostle games and cards (including Elder Andersen) can be found HERE.

Apostle Cards and Apostle Cards 2 by Melanie Day

These cards are great. There is a picture of each member of the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles (I am sure that they will be updated when the new apostle is called and I will post them again then) along with a few interesting facts about each of them.

Memory Game by Anonymous

You match their picture with their name and symbol. Each Apostle has a symbol to help remember their name. For example, President Packer has a Back-"Pack" and Elder Oaks has a oak leaf.

Apostles Coloring Page from LDS.org

Apostles Crossword Puzzle by Rachel Woods on lds.about.com

I hope you find some of these fun or helpful!

Calling Helps

All of these links will lead you to pages on Sugardoodle.net. There are so many wonderful ideas, printables, lesson helps, activity ideas, etc. to help us all out in our callings. You may find that there is something there for you that you have been meaning to do but why recreate the wheel when someone has already done it for you. While your there take a look around at all of the other great things Sugardoodle has to offer. I hope this will help some of you.

Young Men
Young Women
Youth Activity Ideas

Primary

Relief Society
Enrichment Ideas

Prayer Printables

Image Credit

Prayer Puppets from Sugardoodle.net
Prayer Chart from lds.about.com
Praying to Heavenly Father Puzzles by Julie Wardle from LDS.org
Prayer Puzzle from Sugardoodle.net

For additonal prayer ideas and printables you can visit this page.