How sensory processing works across the 8 sensory systems in the body - with a look at the sensory spectrum, sensory development in infancy, and SPD.
Are you worried about how to help your kids deal with bullying? Check out these 10 powerful ways that you can support & teach your child to handle bullies.
Looking for Latter-day Saint mutual activities for youth? You have come to the right spot! Here are TONS of ideas for fun activities - both for individual
Do you want your children to know the Old Testament? Here are my tips & tricks that I use with my students to memorize the books of the Old Testament.
Scripture Reference: Exodus 11-12:51 Suggested Emphasis: It is important to obey God’s instructions. Memory Verse: “Love the Lord your God. Obey his orders, rules, laws and commands.” D…
Leadership “Whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a randsom for many.” – Matthew 20:27-28 Teaching leadership to kids is something that can begin happening at a young age. We want...Read More
A Jar Full of Feelings is a visual sensory regulation activity to help children recognize and respond appropriately to their feelings.
By Alexis Tanner A couple years ago, back when cell phone batteries didn’t last longer than a day, my husband Alan and I were invited to his best friend’s wedding at the Draper temple. We stayed at my parent’s house so we could drop off our daughter, but we forgot our cell phone chargers so our phones had died the morning of the wedding, leaving us without a map to the temple. But we thought, we can see the temple, we can find it. However, that morning it was super cloudy and the temple was completely covered and we couldn’t see it. We tried our best to figure out the streets up to the Draper temple and even asked someone for directions, but we couldn’t find it and we missed the wedding. It was really disappointing. I share this story with you not so you remember your cell phone chargers when you travel, although that is important. But it also taught me that we can’t just hope to get to the temple, we have to prepare and we need to help our youth prepare. Recommend The first thing our youth need to get to the temple is a temple recommend. It’s important that we explain that a temple recommend is more than a piece of paper and it’s more than checking off a to-do list to be worthy to enter the temple. Having a temple recommend and being worthy to enter the temple blesses our lives every day. President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “It would please the Lord if every adult member [and I would add youth] would be worthy of—and carry—a current temple recommend. The things that we must do and not do to be worthy of a temple recommend are the very things that ensure we will be happy as individuals and as families.” Sometimes the youth may feel uneasy or worried that they aren’t worthy to enter the Lord’s house. I love what Elder Djarot Subiantoro said in his talk called “Always Having a Temple Recommend”, ”If we are striving to be true and faithful to the principles of the gospel, then we will always be temple worthy.” When we are trying our best and trying to live the commandments, then we can be sure that we are ready to enter the Lord’s house. I think it’s important to remember that God doesn’t ask for perfection, He just asks for you to try your best and want to follow Him. In the October 2020 General Conference, Elder Ronald A. Rasband shared a story about his father-in-law who was nearing the end of his life. He had asked the bishop to interview him to renew his temple recommend because he wanted to die being “recommended to the Lord.” I love this way of thinking about a temple recommend as a recommendation to the Lord. Having a current temple recommend is so important. Family history work One of my favorite things about going to the temple is the opportunity to do the work for our ancestors. My family has a lot of family history work to do. My mom is a convert and the only member in her family. And my dad’s side is pretty new to the church. So your family might be like mine and have more work than you’ll ever have time for. If you have the opportunity, help your youth take your family names to the temple. I have had some wonderful experiences at the temple when I have the name of my ancestors in my hands. But finding your ancestors can be really hard. Or you may be like my husband whose family work has pretty much all been done to the point of getting professional help. Or you may not know how to find your ancestors. There are still other ways the youth can connect families besides taking names to the temple. They can do indexing on familysearch.org, write their own personal history for their posterity, interview living relatives and get to know their stories, or learn about their ancestors as they explore their own family tree. Knowing our past helps our entire family. Studies have shown that people who know about their ancestors have higher self esteem and are better able to deal with the effects of stress. As we get to know our ancestors, we feel more connected to them and connected to the world around us. As I’ve done family history work, I have felt guided by some of my ancestors to find their records and records of their family. One of my favorite experiences was when I was looking at the records of my great grandmother’s sister Margaret. She had passed away as a young mother. She had a twin sister Catherine who married Margaret’s husband after she died, raised Margaret’s older children, and then went on to have children of her own. One afternoon, as I was doing family history work, I was looking at Margaret’s grave online. It was in Chicago which was near where I lived at the time. On the grave was listed a Baby Margaret, among a couple of other names, so I couldn’t tell who baby Margaret belonged to. After a lot of searching, I found the death certificate of a baby Margaret who died on the day she was born, the same day as her mother Margaret. When you find records of babies, there isn’t any temple work that needs to be done, but I was able to add her name to our family tree. Later that night as I was saying my prayers and thanking Heavenly Father for helping me find baby Margaret, I had a really special experience where I could feel the joy and happiness coming from Margaret and her daughter Baby Margaret. I didn’t even do any temple work for this situation, but getting to know a bit of their story and participating in finding their records was a special experience I will always treasure. Connecting with our ancestors outside of the temple also allows us to connect with them inside the temple and to better understand that families are eternal. Keep the Temple on Your Mind My third tip for preparing the youth for the temple is to help keep the temple on their minds. Something I like to do with my kids is to point to the temple whenever we see them. And in Utah that’s a lot. My kids can’t always remember the names of the temples so sometimes they’ll give them nicknames like the Provo temple was the “cupcake temple.” The Bountiful temple is called “the temple where mom and dad got married.” And to my younger kids, most of the other temples are the Salt Lake Temple. When we intentionally look for the temples around the valley and when we’re driving around, it keeps it on our mind. In our own home, we try to have pictures of the temple in each room. President Spencer W. Kimball said, “It seems to me it would be a fine thing if every set of parents would have in every bedroom in their house a picture of the temple so the [child] from the time he is an infant could look at the picture every day and it becomes a part of his life. When he reaches the age that he needs to make this very important decision, it will already have been made.” With the current COVID restrictions, getting an appointment to the temple can be hard. But when we look for the temple, have a temple picture in our room, and even spend time just on the grounds, we can begin to feel how sacred that place is and hopefully have a desire to be there as often as we can. In the last General Conference, President Nelson said, “If you don't yet love to attend the temple, go more often — not less.” As the world becomes a harder place to be in, the temple can be a place of strength and eternal perspective. Don’t let your youth get stuck unprepared like Alan and I were when we couldn’t see the temple and missed experiencing his friend’s wedding. Prepare your teenagers in whatever ways you can to make the temple a special place for them because it is a special place where we can better connect with our Heavenly Father, our Heavenly Mother, and our families. Alexis Tanner is a mother of five, podcaster, and writer. She loves reading, family history work, taking her kids on adventures, and podcasting with her husband at the Parenting In Real Life Podcast. You can find Alexis on Instagram @parentingIRLpodcast.
We all know as practitioners that best therapy outcomes are associated with parent involvement, especially in the early intervention population. Yet, many therapists do not actively include caregivers in their therapy sessions. Rather many will debrief families during the last 10-minutes of the session. I am often perplexed by this therapy model as I wonder if that is enough to make a difference. I suppose one could argue that it depends on that parent’s learning style. Perhaps simply explaining
Play these family games for a fun way to help your kids build executive function skills to improve their focus, planning and impulse control.
As Christians, communion is a very meaningful and sacred part of our relationship with Jesus. The symbolism we find in taking Holy Communion is something that we need to begin teaching (and showing) our children from the time they are young until the day we depart to be with the Lord. Today I am sharing
Teach children about emotions with activities to identify, express, and manage their feelings appropriately in school with these tips!
Here is a freebie that I get asked about all the time. These are my Behavior Notes that get sent home with students at the end of the day. These notes are in my Behavior Calendars that I will be updating by the end of the month.
This blindfolded maze game teaches obedience to children. My kids loved playing this game, wanting to try completing the maze over and over again. Teaching through games speaks volumes to kids. The concepts resonate with them because kids learn through play. Some people are questioning whether obedience is outdated. They don’t want their children being...Read More
Great news! We've created a series of free, easy to use anxiety resources to help parents, teachers and loves ones get kids talking about their worries.
Word cloud collages are a great end of year class project or a fun activity for any youth group. An easy activity with a powerful lesson in kindness.
Art museum activities encourage children to explore art and express their own creativity. Try our art museum activities with your kids!
Guess what? It's the weekend! Two glorious days of sleeping in and lazing about (I wish!). And boy, do I deserve them after the week I have had with my precious treasures. :) The first few weeks of Prep (or Kindergarten if you're not from 'round these parts!) are always tough as the kidlets get used to the routines and rules of school. Throw in a handful of boys with 'tricky' behaviour and you've got yourself a recipe for days that feel like they go on forever... during which you use your 'cranky voice' more than once. This week I found myself using a few behaviour management ideas that are truly 'magic' in a slightly desperate attempt to get things in my classroom back on track. Day-to-day I use the famous 'clip chart', known in my room as the 'peg chart', for kidlets to monitor their behaviours. I use the Monster Manners pack from Growing Kinders as a springboard for moving up (to the pink card - Super Kid!) or down the chart. Seriously, you need this pack! So cute and so effective (also helps that it's free)! I refer to my display daily and the kids get it. Within a day, one of my precious treasures said "You sit criss cross, and that's the bottom of the line!" (If you use this pack, you'll understand!) This year, the clip chart was working for about 90% of the kidlets... and those remaining 10% sure were giving me the run around. Bring in the magic tricks! Trick number 1 is a life lesson, as well as a magic cure for some tricky classroom behaviours. All you need are some dollar store bubbles, and you have some 'Self Control Bubbles'! Take your class outside and sit them in a circle. Explain that you are going to blow some bubbles in their direction, and the first time you do they can pop away as much as they want. Go ahead and let them go wild (within reason... I always tell my kidlets their bottoms must stay on the ground). Make sure everyone gets a heap of bubbles to pop. The second time, explain that you are going to blow more bubbles, but this time they MUST NOT pop a single one... even if it lands right on their nose! Explain that the feeling of really, really wanting to do something, but holding back, is called self control. Ask for a volunteer to go first and choose someone you know will resist the bubbles. Praise them for using self control. Then go around the circle and blow more bubbles at each kidlet (I make sure to get right 'up in their face' so they really, really have to control themselves!) - making sure to encourage all of them to think about how it feels to have self control. As the weeks go on refer back to this activity any time one of your kidlets is struggling with those behaviours that require them to practice more self control. They will be able to recall the feeling, trust me! You might like to repeat the bubble activity a few times during the year - my kidlets LOVE knowing that they are pros at something... and self control ain't a bad thing to be pro at! :) Grab this free pack from my TpT store that will help you use this activity in your classroom. It contains an explanation of how to complete the Self Control Bubbles activity, a label for your bubble bottle, and 3 simple recording sheets. And for my second trick... Quiet Spray! All you need for this is an empty spray bottle. I bought mine from Kmart for less than $2. Fill it with water. My spray bottle wasn't clear, but if it was I would have added a drop of food colouring or some glitter to make it look more 'magic'. I also would have taken time to make sure my label was size-appropriate for my bottle... but you live and learn! :) I added a few drops of rosewater to my Quiet Spray... mostly because I wanted lavender, couldn't find it at the grocery store, but wanted my Quiet Spray to smell calming. Here's how it works: Any time you want your kidlets to work quietly (I used mine today before group work), explain that you will use the Quiet Spray to help them work the best that they can. I ask my class to take a deep breath in through their noses and out through their mouths as I mist Quiet Spray over their heads. MAGIC! You could even use Quiet Spray at the beginning of each day along with some relaxation techniques, or for individual students who need some extra magic in their day. :) There you have it folks, some new magic tricks for you to try with your tricky kidlets. :) Please let me know if they work for you! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend! :) Lauren
Check out this engaging lesson on Peer Pressure using an M&M game.
What is a prayer jar? Find out how to create one for kids and how to use a prayer jar printable to fill it with kid-friendly prayer prompts.
Find 50+ goal setting ideas for LDS youth for the Children and Youth program
Awesome and updated list of themes for kids yoga classes with video and free printable list of the best themes for kids yoga!
Need ideas and resources for teaching your children art? Dianna Kennedy shares her favorite art resources - and they're FREE!
THIS IS A DIGITAL FILE **PLEASE READ** This is an instant download. You will not receive a physical product in the mail. Upon your purchase, you will receive a link to download your order in your email and it will also be available from your “purchases and reviews” tab on your Etsy profile. FORMAT/SIZE This is standard letter size (8.5" x 11"), however, we would be happy to modify the size for you after purchase. ACCEPTED USE You can reprint and utilize digital files for personal or professional use - you CANNOT edit or resell. REFUNDS All products in the Oakwell Etsy Shop are for instant download digital files. I do not offer refunds on the digital files. Once the file is received, the sale is final. I will however, do my best to ensure you are satisfied with your order. If you have problems, I will work to address the issue.
Separation anxiety in children can easily become overwhelming but these easy tips will make things a lot easier! These ideas are perfect for dealing with the separation anxiety that comes up when kids are starting
Grab the FREE Identity in Christ For Kids printables here & let's talk about equipping our kids with a foundation for who they are in Christ.
The Ten Commandments Lap Book And Moses returned from the mount, carrying the two tables of the testimony in his hand,
Leadership activities for kids develop the skills of successful leaders at a young age. It helps them become better athletes, performers, and also good friends.
How to prevent bullying of kids with autism! With 9 ways to stop bulling & 15 anti-bullying activities, learn how to educate, protect & empower our youth!
Art therapy helps kids express themselves! These art therapy worksheets were designed by Andrea Jensen, Licensed Psychotherapist for kids and adults who would like to increase emotional intelligence and healing through creative exercises. These worksheets is perfect for parents, teachers, and therapists who would like to engage kids in a creative CBT and art therapy practice that is both fun and engaging. This book is perfect for ages 8 and up. This file includes 30 exercises that get the creative juices flowing. Once purchased, you can download the digital files immediately.
