Design a menu that would really be difficult eating with only one kind of utensil. The discussion during this meal would focus on talents.
Everyone has different talents and gifts. All are valuable at one time or another and we should use and share our talents and acknowledge that they are valuable. A spoon may not seem too important but sometimes you need a spoon, and only a spoon will do.
You may not know you have a talent for eating spaghetti with a spoon until you try.
Themes to discuss: developing talents takes practice, everyone has different talents, talents may be hidden or unknown, talents are valuable, you may see someone else's talent and wish to develop that in yourself, you can share your talents with others (give Johnny your spoon for the Jell-o), etc
Source: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/4746/lessons.html, some additions by Jenny Smith
I have 2 small drawstring bags, one filled with Legos and one filled with junk (broken Popsicle sticks, small rocks, broken hunks of concrete, twigs, etc.)
I have 2 children each come to the front of the room, in view of all, and build a house out of their materials, so we can then compare the different "houses".
Our good, carefully thought out decisions are like the Legos. If we make a good choices, we have a strong, healthy, safe future and life. If we make poor choices, our building materials are poor, and we end up with a shaky future that won't take more than one shake to send it toppling to the ground.
Questions to ask: Which house do you want to live in? How can you make choices that will result in strong testimony?
ALTERNATE:
Choose three or four children to come up to the front and try to build a house out of the contents of the first box. (Obviously it will not work very well) Then choose three or four children and have them come up and try to build a house out of the contents of the second box. (Hopefully, if the kids cooperate, it will work much better)
This can lead into a discussion about how we use the very best to build the House of the Lord. You could show pictures of various rooms inside the temples to give them an idea. You might also be able to use the song, "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man" or "I love to see the temple." Source: http://www.eprimary.dk/ - (visit the Primary Object lessons section)
Source: http://www.eprimary.dk/ - (visit the Primary Object lessons section), additions by Jenny Smith
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Have a volunteer come up and put his/her arm in a sling then stand there while you give the rest of the object lesson.
Ask the group or volunteer: What would happen to your arm if you left it in this sling and didn't use it for a year? Listen to all comments and weave them into the rest of your presentation.
Here is the direct quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley from which this lesson comes from:
"The Church will ask you to do many things. It will ask you to serve in various capacities. We do not have a professional ministry. You become the ministry of this Church and whenever you are called upon to serve, may I urge you to respond and as you do so, your faith will strengthen and increase. Faith is like the muscle of my arm. If I use it, if I nurture it, it grows strong; it will do many things. But if put it in a sling, and do nothing with it, it will grow weak and useless and so will it be with you. If you accept every opportunity, if you accept every calling, the Lord will make it possible for you to perform it. The Church will not ask you to do anything which you cannot do with the help of the Lord. God bless you to do everything that you are called upon to do."
This lesson also applies to using our talents wisely
Source: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/4746/lessons.html
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From https://www.kitchensanctuary.com/cookie-experiment/
The first batch of muffins were light and fluffy and everyone fights for the last one. The second batch seems to be taking a long time to bake and doesn't look the same as the first. When they cool off they are hard and heavy. It is discovered that the missing ingredient, baking powder, Baking powder is the ingredient that is used in the smallest proportion when making muffins. Yet, it was of critical importance.
If you are part of an organization and think your contribution is only a tiny part, you may be underestimating your importance to the organization. You never know where your volunteer help is making a big difference to someone.
Source: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/4746/lessons.html
For an object lesson regarding marriage, partnerships, working together, etc. I used a simple clothespin. I showed the class that if I only have one side of the clothespin it does not perform it's full function.
However, with the two sides of the clothespin being bonded together by the Lord the clothespin can perform it's full function. In relationships if one side is trying to do it all, the relationship will not always work. But by working together with the Lord it is amazing what can be accomplished.
Source: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/4746/lessons.html
Decide beforehand which "theory" you are going to test. It could be something simple like theory of gravity, or something else that both you and your audience understand very well. I will use gravity for my example here.
You say, "I am going to test the theory of gravity today. I have here some different size and weight of balls and marbles."
Now leave the items and go to the other side of the room.
Say, "It's like I was suspecting, that this gravity thing is not like I thought. People must have been lying. Those balls and marbles aren't doing anything, therefore the theory of gravity is a hoax."
Discuss with your class what is wrong with this picture.
"Testing a theory" means that you get in the middle of it, try it, experience it. Only then can you say with any truth that you believe it or not. It is the same with "testing the gospel." You cannot test it by staying away from church and seeing what comes of that. You test God's word by getting in the middle of it and trying it out and living it.
Bear testimony about experimenting upon the word from scriptures like Alma 32, expecially verse 27. See also Alma 34:34.
Source: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/4746/lessons.html, additions by Jenny Smith
Roses that are grown in a hot-house are very beautiful but their scent is weak. Why is that?
Hothouse roses don't have to develop a heavy scent to attract bees in order to flourish. They are fed, watered, and watched over by the gardener, all in ideal conditions.
Outdoor roses face much harsher conditions: wind, rain, cold, heat, and bugs. Outside, roses must develop the strong rose scent in order to attract the bees. Roses raised out of doors are both beautiful to see and to smell.
If we lived under perfect conditions with no temptation or adversity, we would not develop our "scents" as best as we might have, had we been strengthened through adversity.
It is those who are tempered in the heat of the Lord's oven of adversity who develop a beautiful "scent". They bring joy and gladness to all around them and are beautiful spiritually.
Source: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/4746/lessons.html
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Dr Adrian Rogers gave a Focus on the Family devotional and this story is from that devotional:
A minister was giving a sermon that was several hours long. There was a small break for the audience to get up and walk around at bit. The minister knew many of the people in the audience and he went down to talk to some of the people at the front. He was talking to a man whose wife had left the room for a few minutes. The minister asked the husband if that was his wife's bible, and asked if he could look at it. The minister took the bible and put a $5 bill inside then told the husband that in a few minutes he would be asking for a volunteer and he would call on the wife. The husband was to make sure the wife brought up her bible, but not to tell her that she was going to be chosen.
So the sermon got started again and after a few minutes the minister asked for a volunteer from the audience and then pointed out the wife and asked her to come forward. The husband told her to bring her bible because she might need it. The minister then says, "Do you believe I am a man of God?" "Yes" "Do you know me as a friend and trust me?" "Yes" "Do you think that I would lie to you?" "No, of course not" "If I gave you a very simple task, that you could accomplish right up here with me, would you do it?" "sure" "OK. Give me $5 [right now]"
The wife looks at him strangely and gives a questioning gesture. "Just let me go get my purse." "But I said you could do this simple task right up here. Don't you trust me? Would I lie to you?" "But I don't have $5" This conversation goes on for a few more lines and then the minister asks the wife to give him the bible. He opens it and shows her the $5 bill. She says, "How did that get in there?" "I put it there."
Adapt the example to your class, or tell it in your own words, then you can go on to sight some scriptures that show us that God will never give us a task that he has not already given us the talents and ability to accomplish. We may not see them at first, but he has put them there and we must ask for his help and strength in doing his will.
Jenny says: I think you could set this object lesson up by watching for a student to leave the class to go to the bathroom and place the $5 in her scriptures or purse, contact a student's parents to get them to help you, or pass out hymn books or scriptures to those who need them with the $5 already in them (just make sure you don't need the scriptures or hymnal BEFORE you give the lesson! ) God qualifies the called.
See also 1 Nephi 3:7
Source: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/4746/lessons.html, additions by Jenny Smith
Ask someone to stand and play a specific church hymn on the instrument. (Be sure to pick someone who doesn't know how to play it.)
When they reply that they can't, then ask them how they could learn to do so. The answer is to read and study its manual and learn about how to play the instrument, then practice playing it everyday using the instructions from the manual (hold up the instructions for playing the instrument).
The same applies to being in tune to the Spirit. In order to be so, we must first learn how to recognize it by reading "the manual" (hold up the scriptures), then "practice" daily by following the manual's instructions.
Adapt this object lesson to the interests of your class: This lesson could also be taught with a laptop or PDA, and its manual; or a model airplane and its instructions; or a puzzle with out showing the picture of the final result. Ask a student who can't code to write a computer program that will tally up tithing records for all the members of the Church, or ask someone to put the model airplane together; or to the puzzle together without seeing the completed picture first. It's not impossible, but can be done if you (hold up the manual or a picture of the completed puzzle) read the instructions.
The same applies to being in tune to the Spirit. In order to be so, we must first learn how to recognize it by reading "the manual" (hold up the scriptures), then "practice" daily by following the manual's instructions. Had another thought--how about using a map and asking the class to plot the most direct course to a location on it.
Source: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/4746/lessons.html, some additions by Jenny Smith
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Each of us are made up of two parts: a body and a spirit. You can see a body and feel it and it can move and talk and do all those wonderful things. You can't see a spirit, but it is also there.
Can you see radio waves coming into your radio? Can you see music waves coming out of a piano?
Instruct the children to blow into their hands--can they see the air? No, but we know all those things are there.
This glove represents your body and my hand is your spirit. (Put the glove on the hand)
Your body has to have a spirit inside, or it wouldn't be alive and able to move around. When it is time to die then the spirit leaves the body and goes back to be with God, who created our spirits. (Take off the glove)
The body is not alive anymore, but the person that we know and love still exists but as a spirit. We can't see spirits, but we know they are there. The body stays right here on earth until it is time for the resurrection. What is that? It is when your spirit is joined again to your body. (Put the glove on again)
After a person is resurrected, the spirit and body will always stay together and never be separated again!
It is sad when people we love die, because it means that we won't see them for a long time. When Jesus was resurrected, he made it possible for us to be resurrected too. We know we will see our friends and family because Jesus was resurrected.
Source: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/4746/lessons.html, with some changes by Jenny Smith
