Come Follow Me January 1-7, 2024 – Introduction to the Book of Mormon and the Witnesses
The Come Follow Me manual says, “Children learn gospel truths more effectively when these truths are taught repeatedly through a variety of activities.”
So not only do activities serve as the bait on the hook to get kids looking forward to Come Follow Me, but they make learning more effective!
These activities will be great for primary-aged children in a home setting, in a primary lesson, or for activity days!
If you want more ideas for next week’s lesson, sign up for my email list!
Start a Fresh Book of Mormon
Materials needed:
- An unhighlighted copy of the Book of Mormon. One that the missionaries hand out is all you need, but a hard-covered copy would be even better!
- A scripture marking pencil.
- (optional) paint-markers or stickers to decorate the cover
With the new year, it would be nice to start a fresh copy of the Book of Mormon to highlight verses about Jesus Christ! Each child would love their own copy.
Decorating each Book of Mormon would make them extra special. gluesticksblog.com has a good plan for making an activity out of it! I’m going to try to mod-podge pictures onto the cover of our family’s Book of Mormon; painting takes talent.
The Red Crystal made this adorable free Book of Mormon reading chart so that your family or class members can mark off each chapter after you read it!
My family is starting a fresh Book of Mormon to read and to highlight mentions of Jesus Christ this year! I’m looking forward to thumbing through it at the end of the year to see all of the verses about Jesus Christ. I hope my kids will find it on the bookshelf in the future and notice that the Book of Mormon truly is a testament of Jesus Christ!
Here’s a pro-tip for your personal study this year: have something to write down your thoughts as you study. The scriptures are a great tool for receiving spiritual guidance for yourself and those you teach. Consider writing quotes you want to share and talk about.
Game – Restoring What Was Lost
Material needed:
- A printed picture of Jesus Christ
- Scissors
- Cereal box
- Glue
- A marker, or typed words
Use this game to Illustrate the role of the Book of Mormon in restoring plain and precious truths that were lost or changed in the Bible!
- Print out a picture of Jesus Christ and glue it to cardboard from a cereal box to give it better durability.
- After the glue has dried, cut the picture into puzzle pieces. The pieces may need to be put under a heavy book overnight to help them lay flat.
- Choose 4 key pieces, such as His face and hands, and turn them over. On the back of those puzzle pieces, write (or print and glue) some truths that the Book of Mormon restored. 1) Alma 13:3 We lived before we came to Earth. 2) 2 Nephi 2:22-25 Adam and Eve Fell as part of God’s plan. 3) Moroni 8:10 No Baptism for little children who cannot sin. 4) 3 Nephi 11-26 Jesus visited the Americas (and organized His church there).
- Before the lesson, hide the 4 puzzle pieces that have references on them. Consider hiding them in a copy of the Book of Mormon!
- Bring out the puzzle for your children to put together as you discuss how important the scriptures are. The scriptures teach us truth about God and His Plan for us to live with Him.
- When the kids have discovered that there are missing pieces, explain that after Jesus died, most of the apostles were killed one by one. Governments eventually became in charge of the remaining church. Many plain and precious truths were taken out or changed in the Bible. When Joseph Smith was a boy, there were many different churches who argued about what was true. He didn’t know which one to join. He read James 1:5, which told him that to ask God. God had prepared a way for the truth to be restored at a time when there was a government that allowed religious freedom. Through Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon was translated by the power of God. It restores many truths so that we can have a true knowledge of God and His plan for us.
- Choose the child that has been the most attentive to the lesson to pretend to be Joseph Smith. Whisper to them where you hid the missing pieces (in the Book of Mormon) so that they can bring them back to the puzzle.
- Read the references and explain the restored truths on the backs of the missing puzzle pieces.
- Make sure that if you feel the Holy Ghost present in your lesson, that you ask the children what they are feeling. Let them know that this is the Holy Ghost telling them that what they are hearing is true.
Game – What do You Witness?
Materials needed:
- An opaque container or box
- Objects for your kids to describe
- A bag or another container to hold all but one of the objects
- (Optional) Paper
- (Optional) Something to write with
This goal of this game is to help kids understand what a witness is.
Choose some objects that your kids can describe to everyone else. I picked a nativity scene, a Book of Mormon, a statue of Jesus Christ, and a temple. If you’re teaching a primary class, try to choose enough objects for everyone to have a turn! If you don’t have many things to bring, or are limited on space, consider printing out some pictures of scripture stories for them to describe instead.
- Put one of the objects into the opaque container.
- Choose someone to come see what is inside.
- Ask them to describe what the object is so that everyone else can try to guess what it is. An optional twist on the game is for the children to draw what the witness is describing.
- When an object has been guessed, swap the object for a new one and pick another person to describe the object.
- Continue playing until everyone has had a turn. For a small group, consider allowing the children to have two or three rounds.
- Explain that what they just did was witness what was in the box. Explain that God allowed Joseph Smith to have witnesses to the plates of the Book of Mormon who then wrote their testimony of what they saw. Read the Testimony of Three Witnesses together. It’s powerful!
Ponderize
Materials needed:
- Dry erase markers or chalk.
- Whiteboard, blackboard, or a piece of paper. Hang this up where your family or class can practice.
Ponderize is a reference to Devin G. Durrant’s talk in 2015 “My Heart Pondereth Them Continually“. He said, “… the primary goal of ponderizing is to provide an uplifting place for your thoughts to go – a place that keeps you close to the Spirit of the Lord.”
My family ponderizes a new verse every week. We usually use the verse on the free We Believe app because they have a verse and discussion questions for kids every week. It’s a great way to have a Come Follow Me lesson when time is short!
For this week, my family will be ponderizing this sentence from the Title Page of the Book of Mormon: “And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.”
To help your little ones engage in memorizing the verse to ponderize you could help them to make up a song for it, write it and erase words, or do an action or clap for each word. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination!
The key thing to remember is that memorization is not the most important part, it’s pondering the truth found in the scripture. If your children don’t memorize it word for word, but understand the main idea, that’s great! To help them to dive deeper, think of some discussion questions that you can ask your kids about the scripture. Help them to apply it to their lives.
My oldest was 2 or three when we first started to ponderize scriptures as a family. I was so surprised by how much he was able to remember! Of course, the most important part is to learn the doctrine behind the scripture, so don’t forget to discuss it!
Why do We Need the Book of Mormon? – Missing Directions Activity
Materials needed:
- A copy of the Book of Mormon
- 2 papers
- Scissors
- A pen or pencil
My family typically has a dessert after Family Home Evening on Monday. This time, they’re going to have to find it!
- Choose a place to hide a treat. For example, my family will be led to find a plate of snickerdoodles in the warming drawer of the oven. For a primary class, consider hiding it somewhere you can enjoy the treat without making a mess, such as the kitchen, gym, or outside.
- Write or type and print out 2 copies of directions of how to find the treat. The starting place could either be where you are having your lesson, or from the door of the room you start in.
- Place one copy of the directions discretely into the Book of Mormon. Cut the other copy of directions into paper strips with one direction on each piece of paper. Throw away a couple of directions, especially ones that make finding the treat easy. Mix up the remaining pieces of paper so that the directions are not in order.
- When it’s time to play, explain the symbolism of the game. The treat represents returning to live with God and having a knowledge of Him. The first set of directions represent what the Bible says about God and what we must do to return to live with Him after many plain and precious truths were taken or changed (reference to 1 Nephi 13:26-40). For a primary class, set ground rules that they 1) all need to stick together as a class to find it and 2) are not allowed to make a mess or else we won’t be able to play the game.
- Ask your kids to read the directions on the strips of paper, or help them to read the directions.
- Allow them to try to use the paper pieces to search for the treat. They’ll likely give up trying to follow the directions on the paper.
- When they obviously aren’t trying to follow the pieces of paper, ask them to read James 1:5 together. Explain that Joseph Smith read this verse when he was trying to find the right church to join. He was told that he must join none of them. Instead, God restored the gospel of Jesus Christ through him. A major part of the restoration was translating the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
- Suggest that they look in your copy of the Book of Mormon for directions. This is where you have the complete copy of the directions to the treat. Because many plain and precious truths were lost or changed in the Bible, God prepared a way for these truths to be restored so that we can learn about Him and live with Him and our families again someday.
- Allow them to follow the directions and enjoy the treat together as you review the symbolism of the activity.
Building your Testimony – An Activity from the Friend Magazine
Materials Needed:
- For older children- An index card and a pen
- For younger children- blocks for building a tower
This month’s Friend magazine has an activity to try this week!
For younger children, build a block tower with them and talk about how they can build their testimonies of the Book of Mormon. You could even list things that build your testimony of the Book of Mormon on a sheet of paper, cut them out, and tape them to the blocks that make up the block tower. My four year old loves cutting and taping papers!
Older children can write their testimony of the Book of Mormon and put it in their scriptures. I’d encourage them to write their name and the date on it so that they can look back on it.
Role Play- Tell a Friend about the Book of Mormon
Materials Needed:
- Two people
This is a great way to review what the kids know about what the Book of Mormon is! Role plays are important teaching tools for helping your children to practice situations in an environment where they feel safe so that they have greater confidence when the situation occurs in real life. So, I wouldn’t skip it!
In this role play, someone will act as a friend who hasn’t heard of the Book of Mormon. The other person will give a brief explanation about the Book of Mormon and their testimony of it.
In a primary class, this might a lot to ask for some children who have stage fright. I would start by demonstrating the role play with your co-teacher. Have your co-teacher ask “What is the Book of Mormon?”. Give a brief description based on what you’ve talked about in your lesson, a short testimony of it, and end by asking your friend if they’d like to read it.
For the first child’s turn, I would ask for a volunteer to be the friend. Then ask for a volunteer who would like to tell this friend about the Book of Mormon. If you don’t get any takers, the co-teacher could tell the volunteer about the Book of Mormon.
For the next round, I would ask for another child who would like to pretend to be the friend. If you haven’t been getting many volunteers, I would ask the child who was previously the friend if they would like a turn telling a friend about the Book of Mormon. They should warm up to the role play as they see it and get used to the idea. I would give everyone the opportunity to do it, but I wouldn’t use pressure.
Move Night – Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration
Materials Needed:
- Popcorn or other movie snacks
- A comfortable place for everyone to sit
- A tv, computer, or projector
- A good sound system
- Internet Connection
Everyone loves a movie night, right? This movie is an hour long so you would have to do some skipping to fit it into a primary lesson or activity day, but it shows a powerful depiction of Joseph Smith and the dedication he had in doing the Lord’s will, no matter the cost. This video is better suited to older primary children; there are some intense moments. Make sure to discuss the feelings that your children have as they watch to help them to identify the Holy Ghost testifying to them that what they are learning is true. Bear your testimony.
Supplement your Lesson with Short Videos for Come Follow Me
Materials:
- A tv, smart phone, or computer
- Internet connection
Short videos can help children to get a good overview of stories and main ideas from the scriptures. Follow up with discussion questions after the video to make sure that they were paying attention!
My family loves videos from these YouTube channels:
Thanks for Reading!
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