USE FOR: COME FOLLOW ME, Primary and Home lessons, Family Home Evening, Young Women, Activity Days, Sunday School, Bible Study
POST-AND-PRESENT Activity
TEACHINGS OF JESUS – Blessings Wreath
OBJECTIVE: Help children understand that remembering Jesus helps them choose the right. When they live the teachings of Jesus their family will be blessed.
TO MAKE Print in color (or color), and cut out the wreath, ornaments, Jesus, and cards (teachings of Jesus). Position the four parts of the wreath in a circle, then mount on a poster, and laminate the entire poster. Cut out the wreath. Mount the example situations on the back of the matching ornaments and laminate the ornaments and the Jesus visual.
ACTIVITY: Show children the wreath. Then place Jesus in the center and say, “This wreath is made of evergreens, symbolizing that Jesus’ love for us is always alive. The wreath is in the form of a circle, which has no beginning and no end, so it is a symbol that God’s love for us is eternal.”
Tell children that Heavenly Father sent His Son to the earth to teach us how we can return to live with them again someday.
Ask children to help you decorate the wreath, filling it with the teachings of Jesus as follows. Have various children come up and repeat the following steps to decorate the wreath.
STEP 1: Read the teaching of Jesus found on one of the cards, e.g., “Jesus taught the people to serve one another. One day, after a long journey, Jesus washed His Apostle Peter’s feet. He did this because He loved Peter, and wanted him to also serve others. (John 13: 5-6, 8, 10, 12, 14)” Then find the ornament it matches, e.g., SERVICE.
STEP 2: Read the action on the back of the ornament telling how someone followed Jesus’ teaching, e.g., “Whitney’s mom asked her to feed the baby so she could get dinner ready. Whitney did this, and then next time Mom was making dinner Whitney volunteered to feed the baby.”
STEP 3: Say how your family would be blessed for following that teaching of Jesus and place the ornament on the wreath (using double-stick tape).
When all the ornaments are on the wreath, have the children say with you, “I will help my family follow Jesus through . . .” and name all the ornaments found on the wreath as you point to them: THROUGH: Service, Prayer, Obedience, Sharing, Gratitude, Love, Forgiveness, and Kindness.
References: Joshua 24:15; 3 Nephi 27:21-22; Primary 3, lesson 3; “Agency,” in True to the Faith, 12.
THOUGHT TREAT: Circle of Love Circle Candies. Give each child a Lifesaver candy as you talk about how Jesus’ teachings will help us remember that His love is never going to end; it just keeps right on going through eternity. Hopefully, we can show our never-ending live by keeping His commandments eternally so we can live with them eternally.
