GOD KNOWS MY NAME AND LOVES ME

These are the handouts we gave the kids during this weeks lesson.


Hearts with each of the kids names on them, indicating the Lords love for them.


On the back of the hearts I wrote the name of the lesson so the parents would know what we talked about so they would hopefully reinforce what we were teaching them.


After the lesson we had them do a little activity where they placed letter stickers to spell out their names on a "name tag". I handed each letter to the kids in the right order so it would spell their name. The kids loved getting to use stickers.

AS A CHILD OF GOD I AM NEVER ALONE

These are the handouts that I made for our lesson this week. They were my husband's idea and I loved it! (Thanks hon!)


We spoke about how sometimes it seems as if we are alone, but the important thing for us to always remember is that we always, always have Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost standing behind us.

And beside us. :)



For their activity we kept it simple and I just had them color this picture of "them" with Christ and the title "As a child of God I am never alone" typed underneath it. I got the picture from LDS Clipart.

GOD SEES ME AS I CAN BECOME

This was a fun lesson! We talked about how Heavenly Father knows each of us as individuals and knows our potential and what we can become. We talked about since Heavenly Father knows us so well, it is important for us to rely on him and stay close to him so he can lead us to become the best that we can. We traced the kids outlines onto contact paper, and drew little missionary name tags to symbolize the church aspect of what they can become. We taped them onto the wall and had the kids color them and the kids loved it!! It was a little bit hectic because it was out of the norm for us to not be sitting at the table, but it was worth it. The kids really enjoyed it!

Lesson 1: I AM A CHILD OF GOD

I got this handout here at Mormon Share. I thought it was so cute and I loved that it allowed for each of the kids to personalize it; that they, in all of their differences, are still children of God and are still important and special.

I also thought of making or buying the kids crowns to help them realize that they are children of God and that that is a very special thing. I decided not to because I think I'll be using that idea for a later lesson.

Pin The Nose on the Snowman

This is just a fun activity the kids enjoyed doing during the time when we're waiting for their parents to come pick them up. It's always nice to have extra activities on hand so that the class doesn't turn into chaos, and sometimes it does regardless, but being prepared makes such a difference.

Organzing Handouts

We have a lot of kids in our nursery and it is hard to keep things organized in there!
In order to help us get on the ball and have things running a little more smoothly in there we have a method for handouts.


One Sunday we had each of the kids paint their own clothespins and I wrote their names on them.


Hook them onto a rope.


And clip the corresponding child's handout to their clip!

Fun and easy.

Singing Time

Singing Time is our nursery kids favorite part of the day (aside from snack time). I like to be silly with them and use a lot of props. They love it and get so in to it.

These are the songs I have on my singing list.

Opening:
Here We Are Together
Hello, Hello

Play:
Do As I'm Doing
Old McDonald
Ring Around The Rosie
Hokey Pokey
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Twinkle Little Star
Mary Had a Little Lamb
If You're Happy And You Know It
Wheels On The Bus
Give Said The Little Stream
Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
Five Little Monkeys - Crocodile

Church Play:
Popcorn Popping
Follow The Prophet
Book of Mormon Stories
We Are a Happy [Nursery] (instead of "Family")
If You Chance to Meet a Frown
The Chapel Doors
Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam
Once There Was a Snowman
Wise Man/Foolish Man
When Daddy Comes Home

Reverent:
I Am A Child Of God
I Love to See The Temple
I Know My Father Lives
Teach Me To Walk in The Light
Jesus Said Love Everyone
I Am Like a Star

I think the most important thing about doing singing time is providing a lot of props and activities to keep the kids interested in what you're doing.


This is Buddy. The kids named him themselves and he is my most favored prop that I use. When I pull him out the kids come running and are so excited to start singing time.


Inside his mouth I have slips of paper with song titles on them. The kids who are being reverent and singing along with us get to be the ones to pick the next song from Buddy's mouth. I think this is probably the best idea I've done in nursery. It's a huge success with my kids.


This is our instrument tub. All of my instruments fit inside the tin. It's just an empty food storage container that I'm sure any of you probably have a few of laying around.


These are my instruments. The tin that I keep the instruments in turns into a drum when it's empty and you hit it with a spatula. I have bells wrapped around pipe cleaners, and shakers made from Crystal Light containers.


These are the props I use for the song If You Chance To Meet A Frown. I just made them out of paper plates.


I use the big one and give each of the kids the little ones.


This is my Itsy Bitsy Spider. It's not very itsy bitsy, but the kids get a kick out of it. I use this one when singing the song.


And I made these ones for the kids.


These ribbons on sticks, I feel, were a great idea. I use them when we sing a reverent song. The kids just sit or stand quietly and wave their wands in the air. It's perfect!


Also for reverent songs I use stickers. These stickers are for the song Love One Another.


These ones could be used for Book Of Mormon Stories. You can find stickers like these at the Distribution Center or Seagull Book.


Another favorite of the kids is the Magic Juice. I have one of my leader helpers spray a little juice in the the kids mouths when they are singing and participating. It's such a great motivation to the other kids when they see their friends getting the juice. I use Crystal Lite so it's not packed full of sugar (because heaven knows toddlers don't need any help getting more energy). The spray bottle makes it easy to squirt in the kids mouths without spreading germs.


Also in my bag of tricks, is a birthday hat. I bring it out only on the Sunday's when we are celebrating a child's birthday. Of course, the birthday boy or girl gets to wear it while we sing to them. On our birthday hat we have bells attached to it and we always have the kids jump up and down to make them jingle. They love it!

Most of these ideas have come from sugardoodle.net. I have other plans for other props, but just haven't finished making them yet. I'll post them as we get more. Any other ideas, please share!!

January 2011 Lesson Schedule

Since the new lesson manual, Behold Your Little Ones, only has 30 lessons in it and there are 52 Sundays in the year 2011, I'm not able to do a lesson from the book each week. The manual states that lessons can be repeated, if that's what you want to do. For me, I wanted to start the new year off with the first lesson from the manual and carry on with that theme throughout the month so I've come up with titles that I think are appropriate and follow the theme.

Our lesson schedule for this month will go as follows:

January 2: Lesson 1 - I Am a Child of God
January 9: God Sees Me As I Can Become
January 16: As a Child of God I Am Never Alone
January 23: God Knows My Name and Loves Me
January 30: Heavenly Father And Jesus Are My Friends