Additional Sharing Time Ideas, June 2009

The following are additional ideas Primary leaders may use with the Sharing Time printed in the June 2009 Liahona. For the lesson, instructions, and activity that correspond with these ideas, see “Foundation for Happiness” on pages F14 and F15 of the children’s section in this issue.

1. Repentance helps me return to Heavenly Father. Loosely wrap string around a child’s ankles, and help the child balance so he or she doesn’t fall. Ask him or her to step up onto a stool without hopping or jumping. Explain that just as the string prevents the child from climbing onto the stool, sin keeps us from progressing toward Heavenly Father’s kingdom. Help the children understand that Jesus Christ made it possible for us to repent through His Atonement. Unwrap the string, and have the child step onto the stool. Explain that repentance is similar to removing the string. Repentance frees us of our mistakes and sins and lets us progress to return to Heavenly Father. Ask the children to listen for things we do to truly repent while you sing together the second verse of “Help Me, Dear Father” (Children’s Songbook, 99). Ask for responses (“Making things right, and changing my ways”). Tell a story from the Liahona or a personal story that demonstrates repenting and making things right. Read together 3 Nephi 9:22. Testify that Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to repent and be forgiven of our sins through His Atonement.

2. As I forgive, I will be forgiven. Before Primary, fill a bag with rocks that you have labeled with the following words: anger, hurt, resentment, revenge, hate. Begin sharing time by singing the first verse of “Help Me, Dear Father” (Children’s Songbook, 99). Let several of the children take turns carrying the bag of rocks. Ask how it feels to carry the heavy rocks. As you take each rock from the bag, explain what the word means, and explain that when we carry these feelings in our hearts, it is like carrying a bag of heavy rocks. Cut the word forgive into puzzle pieces, and post the pieces around the room. Invite the children to find each piece and then put them together to form the word forgive. Read together Matthew 6:14, and discuss what it means. Read and then act out the parable of the unforgiving servant (see Matthew 18:23–35). Help the children understand that if they want Heavenly Father to forgive them, they must be willing to forgive others. Explain that we can receive the strength to forgive as we pray for help. Sing again the first verse of “Help Me, Dear Father.”

3. Song presentation: “Seek the Lord Early” (Children’s Songbook, 108; Liahona, Mar. 1996, F13). Make eight wordstrips with one of the following words on each: youth, truth, there, prayer, obey, say, abound, found. Post them in random order on the board. Tell the children that each sentence in the song has two words that rhyme. Sing the first sentence to the children. Have them listen for the word that rhymes with “youth.” Put those two wordstrips next to each other on the board. Sing the first sentence together. Continue this pattern with the rest of the sentences. Display pictures that correspond to concepts in the song. Possible pictures include Gospel Art Picture Kit 605 (Young Boy Praying), 617 (Search the Scriptures), 618 (“My Gospel Standards”), and Thomas S. Monson (Liahona, Apr. 2008, F4). As you sing each phrase, ask a child to choose what picture (or pictures) could go with the sentence. When all the pictures have been chosen, invite the children with the pictures to stand at the front of the room and raise their pictures when their phrase is sung. Sing the whole song together.