fhe with little ones.

Family Home Evening is really hard with little ones.  We try really hard to always have it no matter what.  Some weeks are better than others.  Our typical FHE consists of singing lots of primary songs, having family prayer, listening to Daddy tell a story with a picture from the Gospel Art Kit, and ending with a treat (our favorite is ice cream or donuts).  I have a new goal to make it more interesting and fun for the kids.  This weeks lesson was such a success I had to share.

We did the classic object lesson where you put the oatmeal (or rice, or beans, or cereal... whatever) into the jar first, representing all of the things that we need to do eat day.  I poured a little in at a time and had the kids say things that they love to do each day.  Then we added the things that we need to do in order to be truly happy in life... church, family home evening, prayer and scripture study.  (I stuck them on some of Peter's toy blocks).  When we put the oatmeal in first... we couldn't put the lid on.  But when we put the important stuff first, we could put the lid on. 

The kids were enthralled.  They thought it was the coolest thing ever.  Graham especially could not believe that it actually worked!  We went through each important thing and talked about how we are doing as a family.  Pretty good on FHE and church... but we need to work on prayers and scripture study.  Each child chose one thing that they were going to be the 'special reminder person' for. 

Lincoln = scripture study

Grace = family home evening

Graham = family prayers

Jayne = church

They love feeling like they are 'in charge' of something.  While the lesson only lasted about 7 minutes... I declare it a huge success!

P.S.  I'm going to try really hard to post our Family Home Evenings each week.  Maybe there is someone out there reading that can benefit from it.