The purpose is to show that some people do not take the blessings of Christ's atonement, but he still suffered for their sins. Why not take those blessings happily, instead of denying them.
You take the ding-dongs or whatever you have and ask one person if they want that object. They will say "yes" or "no". No matter the answer the young man who is doing the push-ups does 5 or 10. Do this for the entire class.
some food
Lay out the food so everyone can see it, but do not let anyone eat any. Talk about as a group how yummy the food looks, how its good for you, etc. After the discussion ask the students if they are all full and if you should pack up the food. They will say no. Ask them why not. They will answer that you need to eat it for it to be any good to you.
Liken the real food and physical bodies to spiritual food and spiritual bodies.
Discuss what spiritual food is (the gospel). Just like we need food every day we need spiritual food every day.
This is a good thing to do as part of a refreshment for an activity.
Many years ago, I did this object lesson for our YW. I put a purse in the room that the girls knew belonged to one of the YW.
This "designated" YW left the room. After she left, I opened it up and asked them who wanted what.
If the girls didn't speak up for it, I would just give it out. "Here, you can have this gum." "Do you want her lipgloss?" etc. The girls were shocked. Then I told them just as you wouldn't give away your friend's belongings, you should not give away your friends' secrets...
1 Timothy 5:13: " And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not."
Pretend like the glass of water is the world. Have the class give examples of sin in the world (smoking, swearing, not telling the truth, etc.) As they are giving examples, shake pepper into the glass of water. Talk about the advice given by prophets to be in the world but not of the world.
Take your index finger and put it in the water. Let the class see that it is VERY hard not to become "of the world" (the pepper will stick to your finger)
Then wipe off your finger and talk about the armour of God. Tell the class how it can protect you from the world if you put on the "whole armour of God" (D&C 27:15; Eph 6:11)
Explain to the class that the sandwich bag is the armour of God. Discuss things we can do to put on the whole armour. Rub your finger in the bag with the dish soap (also a bar of soap will work but not as good) Then place your "protected" finger in the glass. (all of the pepper is repelled from your finger and none sticks to it when you pull it out)
Before class starts build a fortress out of Legos and one out of wooden blocks.
While talking about making choices now about what you will do when you're tempted you can use the fortress of wood blocks as someone who didn't decide before hand what to do when a temptation came and the lego fortress as someone who decided what to do before they were tempted.
Have a child toss the ball at the wood fortress (remind them to toss softly so as to not break anything in the room). If the ball makes contact a few blocks will fall and it shows the difficulty of defending against temptation. You could even have a child try to build up the fort as the ball heads towards the blocks but even with them moving blocks to build it up. They won't be able to save all of them from falling and possibly knock others over trying to protect it.
Then show them the Lego fortress be sure to build it up strong . I prefer the interlinked double-wall design. the have a child toss a ball at the lego fortress, and as long as they don't throw it like a base ball, it should stand up to it. This can be shown as someone who decided what to do before the temptation arose.
(Jenny - I tried to find pictures of an interlinked double-wall design, but I don't know what it is. If you can share instructions or pictures of how to build a super strong Lego wall, please post below.)
Tape the contrasting label directly over the canned food label.
Make sure no part of the true contents are showing. I used a Green bean label and covered over a can of pears.
I asked the children if they liked green beans.
Most said they did not, I elaborated on this issue and afterward I proceeded to open the "Green Beans" what they found on the inside of the can was sweet and juicy and delicious and wasn't at all what they were expecting.
I then told the children just because something or someone is different looking on the outside doesn't mean what's inside isn't worth getting to know and enjoy. We shouldn't "label" others wrongfully just because they seem different.
I used this by showing the class how the silver looked when it was tarnished.
Then as I was talking about how the church was restored, I was also cleaning the spoon with the silver cleaner. It probably took about 3 minutes. Then I washed off the cleaner in the bowl of water.
After that I dried it off and let the class look at how it was restored to what it was supposed to be like. I hope this helps someone.
After starting the lesson, I asked for a volunteer to read a passage from the lesson.
I continued with the lesson.
About half way through the lesson I told the same volunteer that I need her to separate and put a copy of the lesson handout in a sheet protector. I told her that I would need this done so that we could make sure the girls would have their handouts before they left.
I continued on with the lesson.
After a while, I asked the volunteer how she was doing. Then continued on with the lesson.
As soon as she was finished I asked her to physically hand each girl a copy of the handout (no passing down). We had all three groups so there were about 30 girls. While she was doing that I continued on with the lesson.
As soon as she sat down, I asked her to read a part. I had this volunteer do all the work throughout the lesson.
At the end of the lesson, I explained that if I would have let someone help her with the tasks then the work would have been completed much quicker and she would not have felt the burden of all the tasks.
Explain that the feather represents ourselves and place it on the kitchen scale.
Add a pile of rocks on top of the feather.
As you discuss each step towards repentance, take off a rock and label it as that step.
When you have gone through all the steps, the "burden" should have been lifted from the feather, making it free again.
This is not for the faint hearted! It is a little expensive, but well worth the cost for the lesson that is learned.
Arrange the mixer and the ingredients on the table in a way so that everyone knows you are making chocolate chip cookies (or whatever your family favorite is). You've already got them thinking, "Cookies! Cookies!" from the time they walk in the door and look at the table!
I tell them that since we are in church we gotta make the cookie dough fit in with some "churchy stuff."
We discuss and name the blessings we have in our life as we add the ingredients for the cookie dough. I let them help me add the ingredients. I *really* talk up how yummy everything is, I let them smell the vanilla, smell the dough--really get their mouths watering.
After the cookie dough is finished (and they get a good look at it), we talk about how wonderful life is. Then, I add potting soil that I have kept out of sight.
It has to be real potting soil (yes, you ruin the cookie dough--really-- I cannot stress enough that you should not use crushed Oreos!--the end effect is not the same!) The first reaction I get is, "That's not real dirt, that's crushed Oreo cookies."
My answer, "When was the last time your parent or Primary teacher or leader lied to you? Why would I lie to you?" (see why it is important to not use Oreo's?! You'll notice another reason later on.) Hmmmm.... usually there is an astounding amount of silence at this point.
They realize that I have just used the best ingredients that I could find--I didn't spare any expense--and then I ruined it to make some sort of point!
They have no idea what the point is yet, because all they have been *really* thinking about is the cookie dough and that they are going to get a treat. They "say" what their blessings are, but most kids are more intent on the cookies than on really thinking about what is wonderful in their life. If the kids really insist that I added Oreos, that I would lie, and that I would never ruin the cookies, I pass around the bag that had the dirt in it so that the children (and teachers) can smell it and learn on their own that it is real dirt. (Potting soil works best because it looks like Oreo's. Sometimes bad stuff looks good or fun until we get close to it and realize that it isn't good.)
There is no way that *I* can get that dirt out. I've really ruined the dough! When I make a mistake, I can repent, but I can't get the "dirt" out. The only one who can "take the dirt out" or wipe away my sins, is the Savior. That is His job. If we did not have the Savior then as soon as I sinned, that would be it. The end. But because Jesus Christ is our Savior, we can be forgiven of our sins. I also tell them that the dough is still there mixed with the dirt, our blessings are still there when we sin. We don't enjoy our blessings as much when we sin, just like we can't enjoy the cookie dough when it has dirt in it.
I use the scriptures: 2 Nephi 25:26 (And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins) (you can have the students count how many times Christ is state in that scripture, too) and Matthew 16:16 (And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God).
I usually get some boys that want to taste the dough. (Not a surprise!) I tell them that if their parent comes in and gives their okay, then they can taste it. Most parents say no, but once in a while, I'll get a one that says yes. The kids find out it is real dirt. I always have kids that want some cookies after it's over. For Family Night, that might be okay. For Primary, it is not! They remember the lesson better if they don't get a treat right after the lesson. They think about the concept longer, they go home and talk to their parents about what happened, sometimes they come up to me years later and ask, "Do you remember the time you made cookie dough and put dirt in it?" "Yup, I remember. Do you?"
