Activity: Trying to Be Like Jesus

Help children become more like Jesus Christ by developing His attributes.

Play a game about Christlike attributes:

• Write (or draw) several ways children can be like Jesus, and print them on name tags. Some ideas might include the following: I can pray, I can be grateful, I can be obedient, I can read the scriptures, I can obey my parents, I can work hard, and so on. For more ideas, see “How Do I Develop Christlike Attributes?” (Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service [2018],null121–32).
• Attach an attribute to each child’s back so it is visible to the group but not to the child wearing it. Give children time to ask each other questions to help them guess what it says on their back.
• After the activity, take all the tags and place them on a table. Have the children gather around the table. Talk about how Jesus showed these attributes and how the children can show these attributes in their lives.
• Invite the children to choose an attribute they would like to work on that week.

Please adapt activities as necessary to ensure all individuals are able to participate, belong, and contribute.

• Explore the stories of Jesus’s life: Put pictures of Jesus’s life around the room. Have the children hold a picture and tell the story the picture is depicting. Discuss the attributes Jesus showed in that story. After all the children have shared their stories, hide the pictures and see how many stories the children can remember.
• Play a matching game: Make a set of cards with one attribute of Christ listed on each card. On another set of cards, write (or draw) a description of each attribute and how children can live it in their lives, or write a phrase from a scripture about each attribute. Shuffle all the cards together and lay them out face down. Have the children take turns turning two cards over to try to find an attribute and its matching description.
• Service idea: Talk about how Jesus Christ spent His life serving others. Invite the children to look for ways to serve others in the coming week. Remind them that when they are serving someone, they are also serving Heavenly Father (see Mosiah 2:17).

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:

• How has someone blessed you by living the attributes of Jesus Christ?
• What is something you can do to remind yourself to follow Jesus’s example?