Activity: Preparing to Go to the Temple

Help children prepare to go to the temple for the first time.

Depending on the needs and circumstances of the children in your ward, this activity can focus on preparing children to enter the temple to be sealed to their family or to perform baptisms and confirmations for deceased family members.

Invite the bishop (or a member of the bishopric or branch presidency) to talk to the children about the temple. Consider the following ideas:

• Play 21 Questions. Tell the children the bishop represents something very important to Heavenly Father, and they can ask him up to 21 yes-or-no questions to find out what it is. Children can guess anytime during the game once they’ve figured out what he represents (the temple).
• Invite the bishop to share his experience attending the temple for the first time and explain to the children what their experience might be like when they go.
• Have the bishop show a temple recommend and talk about what it is and how to receive one. Also talk about what it means to be worthy to enter the temple.

• If the children have visited a temple before, ask them about their experiences. How did they feel there? What did they like best? What questions did they have?
• If the children are preparing to be sealed to their families, talk about how the temple allows families to be together forever. If possible, make paper chains to represent how the temple connects families across generations.
• If the children are preparing to perform baptisms and confirmations for deceased family members, talk about what it means to be a proxy for someone else. Consider inviting a youth who has been to the temple recently to share his or her experience.
• Help children color or draw a picture of the nearest temple and write down why they want to go to the temple. Invite them to put their picture where they will see it regularly to help them look forward to going to that temple one day.
• Service idea: Help the children learn how to index, enter family names into FamilySearch.org or the My Family booklet, or find names on FamilySearch.org so that those individuals can be one step closer to receiving their ordinances in the temple.

Encourage children to talk about how what they are learning can help them and others grow closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Discussions can take place before, during, or after the activity and should last just a few minutes. You could ask questions like the following:

• Why are temples important to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?
• What can you do now to be worthy to go to the temple?
• How can you help others learn about and prepare for the temple?

• Learning about My Family
• Family Stories
• Making Good Choices in Media
• Thinking Helpful Thoughts
• Feeling the Importance of the Sacrament
• Preparing for General Conference
• Understanding Lehi’s Dream
• Building Positive Communication Skills
• Learning to Recognize the Holy Ghost
• Feeling the Power of the Articles of Faith