Friday, December 23, 2011

55 FHE Ideas with a Toddler

We have been pretty bad at doing Family Home Evening the past few months because we haven't been able to figure out the balance between us doing something and including Aidan.

In Relief Society the other week, we were asked to set some goals to improve our spirituality and other areas of life and I had this brilliant idea to come up with FHE ideas and lessons that we could include Aidan in.

I just put a basic header with the topic of each lesson. We'll talk about what we can related to the subject and then do the activity. Some of these ideas are better for a younger toddler and others are for an older toddler. Those with an asterisk are for holidays and special occasions. I've hyper linked some of the ideas to their sources. All of the songs are from the Children's Songbook unless they say otherwise.



PRAYER
Song: A Child’s Prayer #12
Activity: Use the prayer puppet. Talk about how you’re supposed to pray and help your toddler say the closing prayer

DAVID & GOLIATH
Song: I Will Be Valiant #162
Activity: Tell the story of David & Goliath. Make paper rocks and throw them at Daddy.

AMMON
Song: Book of Mormon Stories #118
Activity: Have your toddler pretend to cut off arms.

TOWER OF BABEL
Song: Children All Over the World #16
Activity: Build a tall tower out of jenga blocks or marshmallows and toothpicks.

ARTICLES OF FAITH
Songs & Activity: Go through the Articles of Faith songs #122-132

FAMILY HISTORY
Song: Family History #94
Activity: Go through pictures of grandparents, cousins and other family members and practice saying their
names.

MASTERPIECE MAKER
Song: My Heavenly Father Loves Me #228
Activity: Watch Create (Mormon Message). Make things with PB Dough and snacks

FAITH
Song: Faith #96
Activity: Talk about how faith is like a seed and needs nourishment to grow. Plant a garden or indoor plant.

ORGANIZE YOURSELVES
Song: A Young Man Prepared #166
Activity: Sort objects by color, shape etc.

GOSPEL ART KIT
Song: I Want to Live the gospel #148
Activity: Have your toddler pick a picture and then talk about the picture and point out things and people they might recognize.

FORTIFY OUR FAMILIES
Song: Families Can be Together Forever #188
Activity: Have a Lego fort built. Knock it over and rebuild it.

JESUS CHRIST
Song: The Church of Jesus Christ #77
Activity: Print out The Story of Jesus Christ and have it ready to color and talk about.

LEHI’S DREAM
Song: The Iron Rod Hymn #274
Activity: Have a piece of string taped up around the house. Hold on to it and follow the string from room to room.

REVERENCE
Song: Reverence #27
Activity: Cut out the reverent child and talk about what it means to be reverent and why

HEAVENLY FATHER
Song: I Need my Heavenly Father #18
Activity: Trace your toddler’s body on butcher paper. Talk about how Heavenly Father has a body like us.

KEEPING COMMANDMENTS
Song: Keep the Commandments #146
Activity: Talk about how keeping the commandments keep us safe. Use toy animals and Legos to surround them and talk about how animals can’t get out into trouble because the fence keeps them safe.

NOAH’S ARK
Song: Follow the Prophet #110
Activity: Use the page from the quiet book to tell the story and name the animals.

OBEDIENCE
Song: Quickly I’ll Obey #197
Activity: Play Mother May I, Simon Says. Talk about how obedience to our parents keeps us happy and safe.

LEHI’S JOURNEY
Song: Nephi’s Courage #120
Activity: Set up a tent in the living room “Father dwelt in a tent” and read the story

TEMPLES
Song: I Love to See the Temple #95
Activity: Make Temples out of play dough.
Activity #2: Go walk around the temple grounds

USING OUR TALENTS
Song: When grandpa Comes #201
Activity: Draw pictures for great-grandparents and grandparents

HEALTH CARE
Song: For Health & Strength #21
Activity: Put together Humanitarian Aid Kits. Help your toddler put objects in a bag.

WORD OF WISDOM- HEALTH
Song: Healthy Wealthy & Wise #280
Activity: Create and do an obstacle course together or practice physical activities (e.g. jumping, running)

WORD OF WISDOM- FOOD
Song: The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden #237
Activity: Eat and name healthy snacks

FOLLOW THE PROPHET
Song: Follow the Prophet #110
Activity: Popsicle stick puzzle with President Monson’s face

GENTLENESS
Song: I’m Trying to be Like Jesus
Activity: Put your hand into a bag to guess and grab objects

JESUS CALMS THE SEA
Song: Tell Me the stories of Jesus #57
Activity: Create a tempest in a bottle

JONAH & THE WHALE
Song: The Books in the Old Testament #114
Activity: Eat Goldfish/Whales

THE HOLY GHOST
Song: The Still Small Voice #106
Activity: Play the Listen Game

WISE MAN
Song: The Wise Man & the Foolish Man #281
Activity: Teach the song and movements

CHOICES
Song: Choose the Right Hymn# 239
Activity: Play a game where you give them directions. You can have one parent be the good parent and the other give bad directions or just both direct them.

BOOK OF MORMON
Song: Book of Mormon Stories #118
Activity: Teach the song and movements

MUSIC IN THE HOME
Song: Pick various songs
Activity: play piano, maracas, teach how to conduct etc.

RAIN IN THE DESERT
Song: Rain is falling all around #241
Activity: Make rain in the tub or over sink

FISHER’S OF MEN
Song: I Feel My Savior’s Love #74
Activity: Put peanut butter on celery and go fishing for goldfish on plate

I SPY
Song: Two Little Eyes #268
Activity: Create an I spy bag with object related to gospel or things your toddler recognizes

NEPHI
Song: Nephi’s Courage #120
Activity: Create floating boats and put them in the tub or go race them down a local stream

MANNA
Song: Follow the Prophet #110
Activity: Bake and eat bread

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR
Song: Love One Another #136
Activity: Heart Attack the neighbor’s House

TITLE OF LIBERTY
Song: The Books of the Book of Mormon #119
Activity: Create and wave around a homemade version of title of liberty.

WORKING HARD
Song: The Things I Do #170
Activity: Create a Toddler Chore Chart

DANIEL & LION’S DEN
Song: Keep the Commandments #110
Activity: Chase your toddler around like a lion. Maybe, have one parent protect them from the lions.

THE ARMOR OF GOD
Song: I Will be Valiant #162
Activity: Dress your toddler in armor using kitchen utensils, paper etc.

GOLDEN PLATES
Song: The Golden Plates #86
Activity: Color Foil on cardboard like plates.
Activity #2: Put together puzzle of Joseph Smith

ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
Song: Choose the Right Way #160
Activity: Dominos

MISSIONARIES
Song: I Hope they call me on a Mission #169
Activity: Dress up as a missionary. Color and make your own tag

*EASTER
Song: Easter Hosanna #68
Activity: Dye Easter Eggs
Activity #2: Make Resurrection Cookies

*RESURRECTION
Song: On a Golden Springtime #89
Activity: Resurrection Easter Egg hunt

*BIRTH OF JESUS
Song: Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus #36
Activity: Act out the nativity

*THANKSGIVING
Song: Thanks to our Father #20
Activity: Trace hands and make turkeys

*CHRISTMAS SYMBOLS
Song: Have a Very Merry Christmas #51
Activity: Create a poster board with symbols of Christmas and have a cut out of each symbol. Have your toddler match the symbols as you talk about what they each mean.

*YEAR IN REVIEW
Song: A Happy Family #198
Activity: Look at pictures from the past year and organize them

32 comments:

Kiirst said...

Just found this! Love it! Pinned it! From one striving mommy to another... THANK YOU!!

Cadenza said...

pinning this one! Thank you! We have such a hard time making FHE work with our two toddlers.

Vanessa said...

Found your post on Pinterest. Thank you so much for creating this list and sharing it! I have been trying to think of ways to incorporate our 18 month old into Family Home Evening. These ideas are amazing! Can't wait to try them this year. :)

Nicole Sorenson said...

Also found you on Pinterest! These ideas are SO helpful and amazing for toddlers! I'm so excited to put them to use. Thank you so much for your time in putting these ideas together!

Anonymous said...

Love this, thank you!

Our Paper Plates said...

Simple and fun - perfect for my active toddler. Great ideas!

Allison and Mason: said...

I love this!! Thank you!!! You are so creative!! Thank you for helping me do something we've been unsuccessful at thus far!!

Krisling said...

You are some kind of genius! Thank you for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so so much! I feel like FHE can be beneficial for my 2 yr old now. I'm so excited to try these!

Michelle said...

THANK YOU!! We will be starting these ideas tomorrow!

Blooming Mommy said...

Thanks so much for sharing! :)

Jenny said...

Great ideas, thanks! I also love using the new Nursery Manuel for FHE. It's perfect for the nursery age kids and easy to adapt for preschoolers. Plus there is a song, picture, and a coloring page with every lesson. 5 minute FHE's are about all my toddler can handle at this age. It's great to have so many ideas to choose from!

Janelle said...

These look great. Thanks a ton for sharing your ideas! :) My 3 little kiddos and I can all benefit from them.

Brad and Tiff said...

You are inspired, thank you so much! These are blessing our lives.

Trying to be a good paitriarch said...

I'm a father who has a hard time making sure we have FHE, let alone figureing out how to incorperate our toddlers. I stummbled across your list here and it is awsome. I think my toddlers will like the david and goliath one soo much they will want to do it regularly. I'm also glad your list has shown me alot of ways to keep it short and sweet. I was having a hard time trying to pull that off.Thank you for sharing,I hope this list stays up for a good long while.

Robyn is the worlds greatest.. said...

I just googled FHE for toddlers, and came across your blog. It was very helpful. Thanks for sharing. I'm about to post now, and will be linking to you!

Lauren Stanford said...

Thank you! You are wonderful!!

Love and prayers to you and your family!

Unknown said...

This list is just what I've been looking for! Thanks for putting it together

Ruthanne said...

I officially printed these off tonight so I have these ideas all ready for Mondays. Thank you so much!

Anonymous said...

What great ideas! I love them! It's always so hard to think up great ideas for little one. Perhaps I will use some of your ideas for a future blog post on my site, if I may?

Christine said...

Also found this on Pinterest. Thanks for the great ideas! This is definitely the best list for toddlers that I've seen so far. Short, sweet and super interactive with activities that apply, but are fun! THANK YOU. I'm having a hard time with a couple of the links, though.. the reverent child and prayer puppet don't come up.

Unknown said...

This is just what I need! Thank you very very much!!

Hailey said...

Fabulous ideas!!!!!!!! Thank you so much

Andrew & Kristin said...

Thanks for sharing! I love the list and ideas. The best part is they are short and simple, just what we need!

Randi said...

So excited to use one of these ideas tonight! Thanks for sharing!

Rachel Belk said...

These are great! Thanks!

Stephanie said...

We just did the David and Goliath lesson. The kids LOVED getting to throw "rocks" at Dad! And he was a pretty good sport about it too. Thanks for this fun list. :)

Raquel Amaral said...

Just what I needed! Thanks!

The Arctic Andersons said...

Wow, what an awesome list! I definitely plan to use these. I laughed at the David and Goliath idea, but then quickly realized it wouldn't go over well with my boy. He would probably terrorize his sister by throwing paper (or other material) balls at her in the future. I think a picture of a giant or monster might be better, especially if it is leaning on something and can be knocked down. Here are a couple ideas we've done with our two toddlers:

Creation:
Read the creation of the earth and animals in Genesis. Activity: jello bath with ocean animals. Activity #2: Watch an episode of Blue Planet or another animal planet type of show.

Family's are Forever:
Song: Families Can Be Together Forever. Lesson: Talk about circles and how they are round and go on forever. Show them mommy's and daddy's wedding ring (they'll want to try it on, of course) and how it is a circle to symbolize that their love will not end. Show them a wedding photo with a temple and tell them because mommy and daddy got married in the temple, all of our babies - including each by name - get to be with us forever. Activity/snack: Show them a fruit loop and how it's also a circle and doesn't end. Then make fruit loop necklaces :)

I was also surprised to not see any links to felt stories. My children love felt boards.

Anonymous said...

I knew spells were real because i have seen it manifest in the life of my husband due to his change of attitude towards me and my kids. My husband who used to be lovely suddenly turned out to be a monster and my marriage became a living hell for me until i saw a post of how Dr Zadson helps bring back lost husbands and mends broken relationships. I contacted him and told him my experience and he promised to give me result in 3 days i was a bit doubtful though but he beat me to my imagination when my husband actually came back to me apologizing for his wrong deeds and to be taken back. I took it upon myself to put his email on every possible site to enable those in urgent and desperate need meet a man of trust and integrity. Below is his contact

eduduzadsontemple@gmail.com or call
+2348071222070

Scott and Abby said...

Thank you! Thank you! I feel like these are things that I can actually do :)

Grace said...

Love them!!! Thanks a million~