Bring a small candy like a starburst, set it on the table and ask "who wants the candy? Who REALLY wants the candy? " Whoever seems most eager, pick for the example. Say, "Joey, (or whoever) you really want the candy. It'll make you very happy. So you can have it, but you can't use […]

You'll need a stool and some youth leaders. Have a youth stand on the stool.  Demonstrate that with a little effort, if the person stands alone, you can knock him/her off the perch. Point out that it's very difficult for someone to Stand in Holy Places all alone. How can they "be not moved?"  Scripture […]

Last week we were doing housekeeping things during class and did not get to cover the stories that students were reading in as much depth as I would prefer.  I used this method to quickly cover 4 chapters students had read before class, as an introduction to the next chapters in Acts. RULES: Each zone […]

If you've got a lot of material to cover in a short amount of time, you can cover the material more efficiently when you know what students already know about the topic.  One way to quickly assess student understanding of series of events is to give them strips of paper with the main events summarized […]

I used this object lesson to teach about hypocrisy to my Seminary class. First, I printed chewing gum inserts on card stock.  Each insert was 140mm x 18mm and fit inside a Juicy Fruit wrapper. On each was written the following references and words: "Thou Whited Wall" Acts 23:3 and  "Full of Dead Men's Bones"  […]

Vanessa S. shared this on the Come Follow Me Facebook Group, and I asked her permission to share it here.  She said: "[A]fter some initially rather disastrous experiments having my girls teach, I eventually came around to this handout, which the girls told me has been very helpful. It outlines the steps for preparing a […]

Movie watching during class can be dull and non-interactive, and -- let's be real -- sleep-inducing, when you're teaching seminary early in the morning. I like this quote: Showing movies in class should not be a Friday fun day activity.  Okay, I don’t mind if you show them on Friday or even if students enjoy […]

This idea came from a Pinterest post by Erin Guinup.  She didn't post a link to a website, but posted a picture of her chalkboard from doing this activity that you can see at right. You can see her pin on my Seminary Pinterest page. Basically, you start with a topic.  Each student is given […]

The purpose of this activity is for kids to learn to pick out what is the most important information in a section of scripture and to summarize it.  This is a valuable skill to learn for preparing talks or lessons. Hand each student a mini post it note.  Have them place the post it note […]

Ah, the dreaded Pop Quiz. There's a reason that this old-style teaching method hasn't been thrown out: it's super effective. This evil-sounding tool can be used by the wise teacher to help cover a lot of material very quickly, review previously studied material, or to determine how well students are understanding material.  Plus, it takes […]