“February: When We Choose the Right, We Are Blessed,” 2017 Outline for Sharing Time: Choose the Right (2017), 4–5
“February,” 2017 Outline for Sharing Time, 4–5
February
When We Choose the Right, We Are Blessed
“If ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you” (Mosiah 2:22).
Song: “Choose the Right”
(Hymns, no. 239)
Supplement the ideas provided here with some of your own. Each week, plan ways to (1) identify the doctrine, (2) help the children understand it, and (3) help them apply it in their lives. Ask yourself, “What will the children do to learn, and how can I help them feel the Spirit?”
Week 1: Noah was blessed for choosing the right.
Identify the doctrine (playing a matching game): Draw a simple ark on the chalkboard. Prepare several sets of two identical animal pictures. Give one picture to each child. Ask the children to stand and make the sound that the animal in their picture makes and to listen for someone else who is making a similar sound. When the children with matching pictures find each other, have them stand together until all the animals have been paired. Ask the children to come as pairs and put their animals on the ark drawing. Ask the children, “Which prophet did the Lord ask to gather the animals into the ark?” Point out that it was probably a difficult task to gather so many animals into the ark, but Noah chose to obey the Lord’s command.
Drawing available at sharingtime.lds.org
Click here for drawing.
Encourage understanding (reading scriptures): Show the children a picture of Noah preaching, and read Moses 8:20. Ask the children why they think the people did not listen to Noah. Divide the board in half, and write the following questions on one side, with the scripture references in random order on the other side: What was the Lord going to do to destroy the wicked? (Genesis 6:17). What did He tell Noah to do to save his family? (Genesis 6:18). What did Noah do to choose the right? (Genesis 7:5). Ask the children to read the scriptures and find which one answers each question. Show the children a picture of Noah building the ark. Explain that sometimes it is hard to choose the right. Ask, “How was Noah blessed for choosing the right?” Encourage the children to share how they will be blessed as they choose the right.
Week 2: Jesus’s disciples were blessed by choosing the right.
Encourage understanding (reading scriptures, coloring, and using puppets): Read with the children the following accounts of how Jesus’s disciples chose the right: Luke 10:38–42 (Mary); Matthew 4:18–20 (Peter and Andrew); Acts 9:1–9, 17–20 (Paul). Discuss some of the blessings these people received for choosing the right. Draw some simple figures for each child (or use the scripture figures in “Funstuf,” Friend, Jan. 2006, 35; and “Funstuf,” Friend, Feb. 2006, 31). Let the children color the drawings, cut them out, and make them into stick puppets or paper sack puppets. Invite the children to use their puppets to retell one of the stories. For example: “My name is Paul. I used to persecute people who followed Jesus. I saw a vision of Jesus. Jesus asked me to stop persecuting Him. I chose to follow Jesus and was a missionary for the rest of my life.”
Simple puppets can be used to dramatize parts of a lesson. They are valuable tools for strengthening the main idea and attracting the children’s attention (see TNGC, 176–77).
Encourage application (reviewing scripture stories): Invite the children to use their puppets to retell the scripture stories to their families at home. Encourage them to share with family members how the individuals in the stories chose the right and how they were blessed. Ask the children how they can choose the right during the next week.
Stick puppets available at sharingtime.lds.org
Click here for stick puppets.
Week 3: Nephi was blessed for choosing the right.
Encourage understanding (participating in dramatizations): Have the children act out times when Nephi obeyed his father and the Lord (for example, see 1 Nephi 16:18–24, 30–32; 1 Nephi 17:8, 17–18, 48–53; 1 Nephi 18:9–21). Consider having them use simple costumes and props (for information about dramatizations, see TNGC, 165–66). Read together what Nephi said in 1 Nephi 17:3.
Visual aids can enhance learning. Keep visuals simple. This allows the children to focus on the message of the lesson rather than on the visual.
Encourage application (singing a song): Show the “choice and consequences” stick from January, and invite the children to share what they remember about choices and consequences. Tell them that many blessings we receive are consequences of the good choices we make. Invite the children to think of ways they can be like Nephi and make good choices. Have the children sing “Nephi’s Courage” (CS, 120–21) and pass around the “choice and consequences” stick while they sing. Stop the music at random. When the music stops, invite the child holding the stick to share a good choice she or he can make. Have the child pass the stick to another child, and invite him or her to share a blessing that comes from making that good choice. Repeat as time allows.
Week 4: Church members today are blessed for choosing the right.
Encourage understanding (sharing stories): Invite several parents or grandparents of the children in your Primary to share stories about how they or their ancestors chose the right. This could include stories of how they chose to join the Church. Before each story, ask the children to listen for ways these Church members chose the right and how they were blessed for doing so. After each story, ask the children to tell how the members were blessed for choosing the right. Consider asking the children to draw pictures about the stories as they hear them and then share their pictures with others in Primary and at home.