I Am Thankful for Food and Clothing

Purpose

To help each child feel and express gratitude for food and clothing.

Preparation

Prayerfully study Genesis 1:11–12 and 1 Kings 17:8–16.
Materials needed:
1. A Bible.
2. A fruit or vegetable with seeds in it.
3. A beanbag or other soft object.
4. Cutout 1-5, fish; cutout 1-7, pig; cutout 1-8, sheep; cutout 1-9, cow; cutout 1-22, chickens (similar cutouts can also be found in Primary Visual Aids Cutouts set 4); or find pictures of animals that provide food and clothing in your area.
5. Picture 1-15, Blessing the Food; picture 1-50, I Can Dress.
Make the necessary preparations for any Enrichment Activities you want to use.

Learning Activities

Invite a child to give the opening prayer.

Attention Activity

Give the following instructions, filling in the blanks with common breakfast foods:

If you like to eat for breakfast, raise one hand.

If you like to eat for breakfast, raise the other hand.

If you like to eat for breakfast, stand up.

Continue with other actions until you have named at least one food each child likes. Then say, “If you are thankful to Heavenly Father for the food you eat, sit down and fold your arms.”

We use plants and animals for food

What other foods do you like to eat?
Where do we get our food?
Who created the plants and animals from which we get food to eat?

Talk about some of the foods you eat and where they come from. Explain that we get many foods from plants.

Break or cut open the fruit or vegetable you brought and point out the seeds.

What are these?
Why do plants have seeds?

Explain that Heavenly Father planned for plants to have seeds so the seeds could grow into more plants to provide food for us (see Genesis 1:11–12). When a plant such as a fruit or vegetable grows, more seeds are formed.

Activity

Do the following activity verse with the children:

Seeds Are Buried Deep

Seeds are buried deep (bend over and touch floor with hands).
In the soil they sleep (place one hand on top of the other, palms together).
Yellow sun shines bright (put arms overhead to make a circle).
Raindrops fall so light (wiggle fingers as they move down).
Gentle breezes blow (sway arms overhead).
Little seeds begin to grow (wiggle fingers up from floor).

Have you ever helped plant seeds?
What did you plant?
What foods do we get from plants?

Help the children think of several fruits, vegetables, and grains. Explain that bread and cereal are made with grains. Tell the children how thankful you are to Heavenly Father for seeds that grow into fruits, vegetables, and grains.

Show the seeds again.

What do these seeds need in order to grow?

Story

Tell the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, as found in 1 Kings 17:8–16. Help the children understand that there was not enough food because there was no rain. Without the rain to bring water, no food would grow.

How would you feel if you didn’t have any food to eat?
How was the widow blessed for sharing what little she had with Elijah? (See 1 Kings 17:15–16.)

Explain that not all of our food comes from plants.

Where do we get milk?
Where do we get eggs?
Where do we get meat?

Talk about how some food comes from animals. Using the appropriate cutouts or pictures, discuss the animals that are used for food in your area.

We use plants and animals for clothing

Point out that food is not the only thing we get from plants and animals. Show picture 1-50, I Can Dress.

What is this boy doing?
What do you put on when you get dressed?

Activity

Have the children pantomime putting on articles of clothing such as a shirt, a dress, shoes, a coat, and a hat.

Why do we need clothing? (To cover our bodies, to protect our bodies, to keep us warm when it is cold.)
What is clothing made of?

If the children can name some of the materials used to make clothing, ask if they know where those materials come from. Explain that we get materials for making clothing and shoes from plants and animals. Tell the children what plants or animals provide materials commonly used for clothing in your area. For example, cotton and linen come from plants, and silk comes from silk worms. Wool comes from sheep, and most leather comes from cows.

We can be thankful for food and clothing

Activity

Ask the children to think of foods for which they are thankful. Toss or hand a beanbag or soft object to each child, one at a time. Have each child name a food for which he or she is thankful and then toss or hand the beanbag back to you. Discuss where the food named comes from before tossing the beanbag to the next child. Remind the children that each plant or animal was created by Jesus, under Heavenly Father’s direction.

Repeat the activity, asking each child to name an article of clothing instead of a food.

Show picture 1-15, Blessing the Food.

Whom should we thank for our food?
Whom should we thank for our clothing?
How can we thank Heavenly Father for these things? (One way is to mention them in our daily prayers.)

Testimony

Express your gratitude that Heavenly Father and Jesus have made it possible for us to have clothing to wear and food to eat.

Enrichment Activities

Choose some of these activities to use during the lesson.

Give each child a piece of paper with a line drawn down the middle and the words I am thankful for: written across the top. Let each child draw a picture of a food on one side of the line and an article of clothing on the other side.
Help the children sing or say the words to the first two verses of “Thanks to Our Father” (Children’s Songbook, p. 20).
Let the children pretend they are seeds. Have them crouch down as though they were planted in the ground, then rise slowly as the sun shines and the rain gently falls on them. You may want to let the children take turns being the sun and the rain.
Bring a fruit or vegetable and give the children small samples to eat. Describe the kind of seed and plant the fruit or vegetable came from. (Check with the children’s parents to make sure no child is allergic to the food you bring.)
Describe a familiar food to the children and ask them to guess which food you are describing. For example, you could say, “This food is white or brown on the outside. It has a shell. It is laid in a nest. What is it?” (An egg.) Repeat as many times as you want. You may want to bring an example of each food that you describe.
Bring dress-up items such as sweaters, coats, and hats and let the children try them on as you talk about clothing the children are thankful for.

Additional Activities for Younger Children

Help the children sing or say the words to “A Song of Thanks” (Children’s Songbook, p. 20) or “For Health and Strength” (Children’s Songbook, p. 21).
Have the children pantomime getting dressed as you say the words to the following activity verse:

Children, put your pants on, pants on, pants on.

Children, put your pants on, one, two, three.

Children, put your skirt on, skirt on, skirt on.

Children, put your skirt on, one, two, three.

Children, put your shirt on, shirt on, shirt on.

Children, put your shirt on, one, two, three.

Children, put your socks on, socks on, socks on.

Children, put your socks on, one, two, three.

Children, put your shoes on, shoes on, shoes on.

Children, put your shoes on, one, two, three.

Children now are all dressed, all dressed, all dressed (clap hands).

Children now are all dressed; let’s go play!