Make your next camping adventure meaningful with Family Devotions for Camping! Connect with God using these fun and impactful activities.
22 Summer Bible Verses you can download, print, and use immediately for kids, summer camp, family devotions, Bible Bees, VBS, and more!
Make your next camping adventure meaningful with Family Devotions for Camping! Connect with God using these fun and impactful activities.
Make your next camping adventure meaningful with Family Devotions for Camping! Connect with God using these fun and impactful activities.
This post on the beatitudes for kids provides great explanations for the meanings of Jesus's words as well as coloring pages and activities.
Make your next camping adventure meaningful with Family Devotions for Camping! Connect with God using these fun and impactful activities.
Need ideas to help your kids grow in their faith? Here are great Christian summer time activities that will help keep Christ the center of your summer!
I’ve been thinking about easy, fun ways to encourage prayer this summer. One of our favorite family activities is a backyard campfire with S’mores. Using that inspiration, I came up with a very sim…
#2 - The Bulb The second thing you need for flashlight to shine is the bulb. The bulb represents the light that each Young Woman shin...
When in Kids Ministry, or teaching kids in any capacity, Pop Culture is a HUGE tool to capture the attention of those you are teaching. Many time I have structured entire series around the latest...
There are plenty of activities for camp, and one of the best activities is incorporating funny camp skits. These funny camp skits are sure to get a laugh!
7 Devotionals Kids Will Love- My kids love them- so maybe yours will too! To encourage my children to have their own individual quiet times
If you're looking for some LDS Girls Camp ideas, then you're at the right place. Here's everything you need to host girls camp.
Read Acts 5:1-4verses 1-11 if you deem appropriate for your child's age.) Pinocchio Revisited: (Printable version now available at the end of the post!) Geppetto, a lonely carpenter with no children, decided that he wanted a boy. He carefully carved
This summer began for us with the advent of two young guests. They’ll stay a couple of weeks and then head off to their grandma’s. I warned their dad before they arrived that they should be ready for morning devos! Morning devotionals are a summertime tradition at my house. For my homeschooler, during the school year, Bible is an academic subject. My public school teen and I talk about how to apply God’s principles to her school life all the time. But when the rigors of school are over, when summer slows everything down, we take a few minutes everyday after breakfast and read the Bible together. We memorize God’s Word and think His thoughts after Him. These moments are precious. For me they offer insight into my children’s spiritual development and opportunities to address the questions and subjects on their minds. It also offers me the chance to confess to them. As we talk, I can be first to admit my failings. Children and teens can easily feel isolated and overwhelmed in their struggle against sin. Although they see our faults all too clearly, it isn’t always easy for them to see that we acknowledge that these are sins to be repented and confessed. For the kids the blessings are abundant. Devotionals help them get their day started with a regular scheduled time with God a habit we hope they carry into adulthood. They bring ideas in front of them that might not come up in Sunday School. They allow children and teens to interact directly with the Word (as opposed to a story/lesson book) and gives them an opportunity to have spiritual conversations with their parents. These morning times with God put kids in a different frame of mind. This summer the kids (right now all 4 of them! I am sending all my respect right now to you mothers of larger families!!!!) and I are working in Colossians. We have begun by memorizing Colossians 3:1-4 (See the note below for some awesome links to help you get started on your memorization journey!). Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4) I want to be seeking the things above as the verse says. I want my kids minds to be pointed heavenward where Christ is. The best way I know to make that happen is to be studying with them. I would love for you have the chance to do that with your kids too. So this summer I will be posting a series of short devotionals that will include the scripture we are studying, questions for you and the kids, and particular insights we gleaned from our study. We did this last year with “6 Short Kids Devotionals from Daniel." So if you are ready to get started with devotionals and don’t want to wait as the Colossians posts come out one by one, go for it! If you want to make sure not to miss any of the posts, send me an email ([email protected]) with the subject “Summer Devo Series” and I’ll be sure you get an email letting you know when each one comes out. And of course you are always welcome to subscribe. Use the box above on the right, or if you want email me at [email protected]! Until our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed in glory! Helene PS. I know how hard memorization can be. And how discouraging! So I reached out to some bloggers I care about and came up with these great links. 10 Bible Memorization Tips That Won't Take All Day Making Colorful Scripture Cards 5 Better Ways to Memorize Scripture Scripture Challenge! SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave
Read Matthew 7:21-29. The Three Little Pigs, Revisited: Once upon a time, there lived a family of pigs. Daddy Pig and Mommy Pig decided their boys were old enough to live on their own, so they sent them to market
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 God's words are powerful. His message is life giving. Even the youngest
Flip Flops and Friends Women's Ministry Theme for women's ministry events, such as ladies retreats and ladies ministry activities. Based on Jude 1.
Olympic Gold Medals. Every athletes goal and dream. They inspire kids to swim, run, and jump. They represent being the best in the the world. Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win...
My oldest son is getting closer and closer to Jr. High. OH MY! Does this ever give me heart palpitations. Jr. High was a rough time for me. I felt lost through quite a lot of it. I didn't have a lot of confidence and found myself seeking whatever friends would take me. I have learned throughout my life that friends can have a profound impact on our lives. The people we choose to spend our time with contribute to molding our character. L. Tom Perry, in the February 1993 New Era said, "The friends we choose to associate with are main contributing factors in the formation of our character. We form social habits by association with our friends. These habits can be useful when directed towards the formation of a wholesome personality. I have found that the right friends have a powerful influence on your life. Choose your friends wisely. Make certain they will help build within you the right standards with which to govern your life." I wanted to impress upon my kids minds how vital choosing good friends would be in their lives. This was the object lesson we came up with..... (I have to apologize for the picture quality. My camera was out of town with my hubby and the cell phone was all we had. Not great, but better than nothing! :) ) These 4 bowls of water represent different interests people may have. I had the kids name a few interests that different people may have. We had a group that liked video games and movies, a group that liked driving and race cars, a group that like sports and a group that liked games. We filled each bowl with pre-cooked pasta. The noodles were representations of people, or friends. We talked about how usually we make friends based on having similar interests as they do. We talked about how it was good to be kind and friendly to everyone, not just those that we spent the most time with, because of our similar interests. Then we started talking about what happens when a person or two in our group of friends start to make bad choices. As I dropped a few drops of blue food coloring in one bowl we talked about how one of the friends in this group started using cuss words to express himself. Little by little, others started making this same choice. Before long these choices started to affect, or change the character of each of the friends in the group. There was a little guy that didn't like the cussing, but liked spending time with his friends. We talked about how he decided he was going to stick with the group, but he wasn't going to get caught up in the same bad habits his friends were involved in. Before long, he too was starting to get stained from the bad choices being made in this group. We talked about how perhaps because the boy was surrounded by these words all of the time, they were the words that came to mind when he got upset and before he knew it a few of them had made their way into his vocabulary. This group was our video game & movie group. These guys got caught up in playing video games that were violent and movies that were filled with inappropriate language, violence, etc. Our red guys were getting caught up in drugs, smoking & alcohol. (You can, of course, adjust each groups "sins" based on your feelings and your kids age. Remember, kids are exposed to things MUCH younger. Go bold with this. Bold, but appropriate. If your kids don't hear this from you first, where would you like them to hear it from? Their peers?) This group is our group of friends that have committed to each other to not allow these sort of bad choices to define them. They lovingly encourage each other to stay clean. They have found that life is MUCH more fun without the cussing, drugs & inappropriate games and movies. I took one of the noodles from the "good" bowl. He decided he wanted to hang out with the blue group. They had similar interests and he was certain he could spend time with them without getting trapped in the same bad habits. In fact, he thought that he could actually become good friends with them, hang out with them all of the time and maybe they would choose to follow his example and stop making the choices they were making. Little by little their choices started to define his character. As he was in the center of it, the things they were doing didn't seem so bad and little by little he started making similar choices. Before long, those choices became a central part of the definition of his character. He was blue. This was a great opportunity to talk about helping others and setting a good example. It is SO important to do these things. So how do we do it without getting caught in it ourselves. I asked the kids if they thought it would be easier to help a friend out of a deep pit from down in the pit with them, or from the ground above. They chose the ground above. We talked about throwing them a rope, a ladder, etc. The were so many options, but from inside the pit, our only option was being stuck and needing to be rescued ourselves. I told them that I once had a very good friend that I loved so much. We had been good friends for most of our lives. She was always a good example to me. One day I met a boy that I really liked. I started to date him. My friend knew that his friends weren't the kind of friends she wanted to spend time with. I knew it wasn't a good choice, but I liked the boy I was dating. I promised I wouldn't make any of the choices they were making and kept spending all of my time with them. A while later I could see that my life had changed. I wasn't making choices that were allowing me to stay close to the spirit. I wanted out. I didn't see my friend much during that time of my life. She didn't want to get involved with the new friends I was spending my time with. When I did see her, I could feel how much she loved me. She helped me remember that these choices weren't the real me. I felt sad about the choices that I had made and I wanted help to get out of them. My good friend was getting married soon. She invited me to her bridal shower. I remember how happy she was to see me. She was about to get married in the temple. I could see the example that she was setting. She didn't know it, but that night was an answer to my prayers. I was in the pit. She was casting me a ladder through her love and example. She helped me out. I let my friends know that I had to change my life and that I couldn't spend time with them anymore. It was hard, because I enjoyed them personally, but the choices we were making all together couldn't be a part of my life anymore. Although it was a hard thing to do, it was the best choice I had ever made! I was so thankful for such a good friend that set such a good example to me! If she had started coming with us and got down in the pit with me, we both would have been lost. But she didn't. She kept trying to send down help. That is the kind of friend WE need to be. I gave the kid a noodle and told them that it represented them. They got to pick the group of friends they wanted to be with. We also discussed how sometimes in our lives it will feel like we are alone. Maybe all of our friends are making bad choices and we feel like we don't have any friends. We talked about how no matter what, we always have our family and we always have the Lord. Those are the important relationships that last forever. They said that they would rather be on their own than getting stained in the other groups. And then my son Jake took this whole lesson to the next level. That is what he tends to do. We talked about how we can always repent and have these sins washed clean from us. We read, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." -Isaiah 1:18 Jake asked if we could spray bleach on the red noodle to represent the Atonement cleaning our sins. I didn't know that it would work, but I thought it would be worth a try. It totally worked! It wouldn't work on the green or blue, but totally worked on the red! Great! It goes with the scripture perfectly! :) The Atonement is the most important part of all of this lesson. We all make choices that we wish we wouldn't have, at one time or another. Some more severe than others. The important thing for our kids to understand is that there is ALWAYS a way out and a way to be washed clean and it is only through the power of our Saviors Atonement. I am so glad we did this lesson! Mallory talked about it for days after! It will be something we repeat often. Perhaps each year just before school starts! Let me know how it goes for you, or if you come up with any variations. I always love hearing other ideas!
Object lesson using a ziplock bag of water and 3 pencils. Illustrates how we need to trust the Lord even when things seem impossible. An object lesson sure to WOW your audience.
Object lessons are one of my favorite ways to teach children important truths. These 20 Bible object lessons for kids should help equip you to teach scriptural truths to your children in meaningful ways that kids will really remember. I have gathered ideas I found around the web as well as including some of my...Read More
What does God think about lying? Explore these questions and more in this Honesty Object Lesson for kids based on Genesis 3.
Audience Children, Teens, Adults Time 10-15 minutes Description This game helps participants to understand how important it is to step our of our comfort zones in order to grow. You can use the st…
If you're looking for some LDS Girls Camp ideas, then you're at the right place. Here's everything you need to host girls camp.
Use the dramatic story of Ai and Achan, along with a jar, bowl, toilet paper roll, and a tennis ball, to teach a fun self-control object lesson!
Use the story of the repentace rock to teach your family about the power of repentance. The lesson and activity is perfect for Famiy Home Evening.
Summer means it is time for camp but not just any camp. I can't wait to show you how I'm setting up a travelers journal for Revival Camp this year.
This fun, interactive salvation object lesson uses money to demonstrate how salvation is a free gift from God!
Although this summer has already been busy (Dave and I had our retreat, and I taught a weeklong journal camp for kids), I have had some time in the studio. I have been woking in the journal as well as on some small scale mixed media pieces, but I have also been working on some pieces that are starting to move into new directions. For some time now I have been enamored with topographic imagery, and I have explored it a lot in my journal over the last couple of years. I love maps and the way they connect us to each other and our environments. I love how they are representational of those connections and relationships. I think the main reason why I have been attracted to topographic ideas has a lot to do with how they can not only show how high something is, but also how far something recesses - thinking of canyons and rifts. On a flat surface, the lines of elevation are only shapes and how close or far away from other lines, represents the steepness or flatness of an area. But once those shapes are cut out and stacked up, they begin to show the form. As a lover of paper, I am fascinated, also, by how a flat surface can be used to create form. More specifically, I like how the paper can create a form that recedes into the surface - how it can stack layer upon layer. I even experimented with some thin drawing paper back in February. In the example above, I used twenty-five 11x14 inch sheets of Strathmore Imperial Watercolor paper to create the recession. Using a very sharp X-acto knife, I cut each piece individually beginning with the top layer. I haven't glued them yet, and I think that I want to cut out a couple more recessions that bleed the edges and break up the surface a bit more. The stack is about a half inch thick, and I'll probably glue it all together and seal it with Golden Soft Gel Medium and mount it on a cradle once I am finished cutting. I love the white relief, so I have no plans to paint it.
Here's a great Object Lesson for Kindness - The Domino Effect. Equipping you to raise kids with character and concern for others.
God's fingerprints are all around us pointing us to Who He is through what He has created. This object lesson takes a look at His identifying marks in creation using Colossians 1:16!
Day 6: Today, we shared the segment about "The Celestial Room" in the temple (start at 6:00). You can find the video here. We talked about how the Celestial Room is a place of meditation and prayer. It is a very peaceful and beautiful room. After the video, we talked about how to pray by …
Try these 11 Bible study ideas God and draw closer to him, even in the busy days of summer-and download free journaling printables!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you you grew up in a Christian circle, chances are you’ve heard the song “Life without Jesus is like a donut, ’cause there’…
Are you a fan of Disney? This Bible Study is for you. Download "God Chose You For A Reason: A 10 Day Disney-Themed Devotion Series" today.
Looking for youth camp themes that your teenagers will actually enjoy? This list includes 15 epic youth camp themes complete with scriptures to back them up.
Get ready to laugh and have a great time with the kids when you play camping themed charades or Pictionary. There are over 90 words/phrases to get you started.
