I Am Thankful for My Home

Purpose

To encourage each child to feel gratitude for his or her home and to help take care of it.

Preparation

Prayerfully study 1 Nephi 2:2–6; 17:7–8; and 18:6, 23.
Materials needed:
1. A Book of Mormon.
2. A container with water, a container with soil, and a small branch. If you prefer, bring pictures of a lake, soil, and a tree.
3. Paper and crayons or pencils.
4. Picture 1-60, Lehi and His People Arrive in the Promised Land (Gospel Art Picture Kit 304; 62045); picture 1-61, Exodus from Nauvoo (Gospel Art Picture Kit 410; 62493).
Make the necessary preparations for any Enrichment Activities you want to use.

Learning Activities

Invite a child to give the opening prayer.

Attention Activity

Show the container or picture of water and ask what animals or insects make their homes in water. Help the children think of as many as possible. Show the soil and then the branch, and help the children think of animals and insects that make their homes in the ground and in trees.

What do you think it would be like if your home was in the water?
What might happen if your home was in a tree?

There are many different kinds of homes

Explain that animals and insects live in many different kinds of homes. People also live in different kinds of homes.

Story

Show picture 1-60, Lehi and His People Arrive in the Promised Land, and display the Book of Mormon while you tell about Lehi and his family and the kinds of homes they lived in (see 1 Nephi 2:2–6; 1 Nephi 17:7–8; and 1 Nephi 18:6, 23). Lehi’s family had a comfortable home in Jerusalem, but when the Lord told them to leave Jerusalem, they traveled in the desert and lived in tents. After many years the Lord commanded Nephi, Lehi’s son, to build a ship. Lehi and his family lived in the ship while they traveled to the promised land, a place Heavenly Father and Jesus had prepared for them to live. After arriving in the promised land, Lehi and his family lived in tents again until they could build more permanent homes.

What different kinds of homes did Lehi and his family live in?

Story

Show picture 1-61, Exodus from Nauvoo. Tell about the early members of the Church who built a city called Nauvoo. They worked hard to build their homes and a beautiful temple. But some people around Nauvoo did not like the Church members and forced them to leave. The Church members traveled with only the belongings they could fit in covered wagons. Because the covered wagons were small, many of the children had to leave their toys behind. Some of the people lived in their covered wagons and in tents for a long time.

Why would it be hard to live in a covered wagon or tent?

Activity

Have the children stand and do the following action verse:

The pioneer children walked and talked (walk in place);
Then they played games and skipped and hopped (hop or jump in place).
When it was night, stars sparkled and gleamed (close and open hands);
Inside the wagons they slept and dreamed (close eyes, lay head on hands).

Home is a place where we are loved

Explain that the kind of home we live in is not important. We might live in a large house, a small house, an apartment, a tent, or a boat. The important thing is that our homes are places where family members love each other. Tell about your own home and what you do to make it a loving place.

Why do you like to be at home?
How do you know your family loves you?
Have you ever spent the night away from home?
Where did you sleep?
How did you feel when you came back to your own home?

Remind the children how good it was to come back to their own homes and beds.

Song

Have the children stand and listen as you sing or say the words to “Home” (Children’s Songbook, p. 192). Tell the children to give themselves a hug whenever they hear the word home. If you desire, repeat the verse and have the children sing or say the words along with you.

Home is where the heart is
And warmth and love abound.
Home is where warm, circling arms
Go all the way around.

We can help our families take care of our homes

Explain that we need to take care of our homes so they will be good places to live. Every family member should help keep the home neat and clean.

Activity

Have the children pantomime some things they can do to help keep their homes neat and clean, such as picking up their toys, sweeping the floor, and folding and putting away their clothes.

Invite the children to come up one at a time and stand next to you. Describe to each child a situation in which he or she could be a good helper in the home. Ask the child what he or she would do to help in that situation. Use the following examples or make up your own situations to fit the class members:

You accidentally spilled a glass of water on the floor. What should you do?
You played with your blocks all afternoon. Now it is time to eat. What should you do with your blocks?
Your mother is in a hurry to get dinner on the table. She needs someone to set the table before the family can eat. What could you do?
Your clothes are washed and neatly folded. What should you do with them now?
You have been playing outside and your shoes are covered with mud. What should you do before you come into the house?
Your bed is messed up when you get out of it in the morning. What should you do to it?

Encourage the children to talk about things they do to help keep their homes neat and clean. Tell the children how you work to keep your home neat and clean.

Activity

Give the children paper and crayons or pencils and have each child draw a picture of something he or she will do during the week to help out at home. Label each picture I am thankful for my home.

Testimony

Share your feelings about your home and express your gratitude to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ for blessing you with a home.

Enrichment Activities

Choose some of these activities to use during the lesson.

Bring some common household objects (at least one for each child) in a bag. Let each child choose an object from the bag and explain how to use it while helping around the house. For example, a cloth can be used for dusting or drying dishes, a spoon can be used when setting the table for a meal, and a toy can be put away when cleaning a room.
Sing or say the words to “Fun to Do” (Children’s Songbook, p. 253), using phrases such as “Making my bed is fun to do” or “Setting the table is fun to do” while pantomiming the action.
Trace each child’s hands on a piece of paper to take home. Label each paper I have helping hands. Talk about what the children’s hands can do to help.
Have the children pretend that their chairs are covered wagons. Have them pull their chairs into a circle like the pioneers did at night for protection from unfriendly people and wild animals. Have them act out building a campfire and cooking supper, singing and dancing after supper, and climbing into their wagons (chairs) to go to sleep.
Bring pictures of different kinds of homes, or draw them on the chalkboard or a piece of paper. Discuss with the children what each house is made of and what it would be like to live in. You might include a tent, an igloo, a castle, a cabin, and a house on stilts.

Additional Activities for Younger Children

Sing or say the words to “When We’re Helping” (Children’s Songbook, p. 198). Let the children act out things they can do to help around their homes.
Help the children do the actions to the following finger play:

Busy little fingers (hold up a fist),

Who will help us to obey?

“I will.” “I will.” “I will.” “I will.” “I will” (raise a finger with each “I will” until all the fingers are extended),

The busy fingers say.