POST-AND-PRESENT ACTIVITY. THE PROPHET IS OUR COACH Heavenly Home-Run Baseball. Youth can learn to win from this (game of life) that Heavenly Father has sent us the prophet as our coach. They may learn from playing this game that in life they may have a base hit, a foul ball, or strike out. The important thing is that they eventually have a HOME RUN to return to live with Heavenly Father again.
Use for COME FOLLOW ME Primary and Home (family home evening) lessons
POST-AND-PRESENT
ACTIVITY: The Prophet Is Our Coach (Heavenly Home-Run Baseball)
YOUTH can teach this lesson to Primary children or for FHE (family home evening).
Objective: Learn to listen to the prophet as he coaches us through life’s trials, teaching us what we must do to live with God again (to make a heavenly home run). Help youth think carefully about their choices as they learn skills from the prophet to win at the game of life. Divide into teams giving each team a name, e.g., Danger Dodgers and High Fliers. Read the coach’s (prophet’s) words to guide you when you are up to bat.
TO MAKE VISUALS: Print, color, and cut out images that follow, making two sets of the “OUT” balls page (to make ten). Laminate. On a green poster, draw a baseline two inches from the border with a heavy marker (as shown). Laminate the entire poster. With tape, mount base plates on the poster. Fold and glue together dice.
ACTIVITY: Introduce activity as follows.
1. Tell children that playing a good game of sports requires learning skills to play the game well. When you play baseball, you have to hit the ball to get to first base. If you get three strikes, you’re out.
2. To win the game of life, Heavenly Father has sent us the prophet as our coach. The more we listen to the prophet and the harder we try, the better we will play the game of life. Getting back to heaven requires that we make the right moves and play well. For example, if we don’t make an effort to do as the prophet has said, we will hit a foul ball. But if we try hard, we might make a base hit, or if we go the extra mile, we can make a home run! Heavenly Father has promised us that the prophet will teach us the right moves in life and that we can trust the prophet to coach us back to our heavenly home.
HEAVENLY HOME RUN GAME:
1. Divide into two teams, writing a name for each team on the chalkboard (e.g., the DANGER
DODGERS and HIGH FLIERS). See 4A and 4B below to score.
2. Teams take turns playing an inning until they make three strikeouts (see 3B and 4D below).
The competing team is reverent until it is their inning to play.
3. Team members take turns at bat. The leader pitches the ball to the batter by drawing a ball
from the pile and reading it aloud.
(A) If the card contains words from the prophet, the leader says, “The prophet coaches us
to” (then read words [e.g., “PLANT A GARDEN”]). See #4 to read the rest of the card.
(B) If the card reads “OUT! Take one ball off a base,” the player didn’t listen to the
prophet and strikes out. The player removes a ball from a base (if one is on).
4. Then the player at bat rolls the die (to hit the ball) to see where the ball goes.
(A) If the die reads “HOME RUN!,” the player moves his or her baseball around the bases
to home plate to receive 4 points for his or her team. The leader then reads the HOME RUN
action on the ball that tells how they played the game (e.g., “You liked to dig deep for weeds and
watered every day,” showing an extra-mile action to follow the prophet).
(B) If the die reads “BASE HIT!,” the player moves his baseball around the field according
to the next base starting with 1st. Then the leader reads the BASE HIT action on the ball (e.g.,
“You pulled only the big weeds and watered only when Dad told you to,” showing only a fair
effort to follow the prophet). Once a player returns home, they score 4 points.
(C) If the die reads “FOUL BALL,” the player gets to bat again. But first the leader reads
the FOUL BALL action on the card (e.g., “You liked to drop the seeds in, but hated to weed and
water,” showing no effort to follow the prophet). If the player rolls “FOUL BALL” again, his or
her turn ends.
(D) If the die rolls “STRUCK OUT!,” the player strikes out.
5. Continue playing until the time is up, then add up points to determine the winning team.
THOUGHT TREAT: Jesus’ Team Baseball Cookies. Details in the pdf
THIS ACTIVITY CAN BE USED FOR Come Follow Me
• FEBRUARY Lesson 4 “Why do the choices I make matter?”
• MAY Lesson 1 “Why is it important to listen to and follow the living prophets?”
• JUNE Lesson 5 “What does it mean to sustain my church leaders?”
