Monday, May 23, 2011

Quote Scramble

If the kids are old enough to read, make quotes to unscramble. This is a great, fun way to review the quotes we've been learning.Materials:
Construction paper

Simply write the quotes out on different colors of construction paper, then cut them out. If the quotes are different colors, it helps separate them for the kids.

Some quotes we've been learning:
  • "Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues."
  • "O Son of Spirit! My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart..."
  • "Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path."
  • "O Friend! In the garden of thy heart, plant naught but the rose if love..."
  • "That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race."
  • "Supremely lofty will be thy station, if thou remainest steadfast in the Cause of thy Lord"

World Unity

"So powerful is the light of unity that it can illumine the whole earth."Unity: Something whole or complete that is composed of separate parts

Summary: Using the craft activity to help explain how even though we have differences, we're all part of the same whole.
Materials:
Large paper circle: for the earth
Paper human cutouts: preferably different colors
Glue sticks: for gluing humans to the earth
Decorating supplies: colored pencils, glitter glue, crayons, etc...

(This activity would also work well with chalk outside on the sidewalk. ^__^)

I'd suggest starting by having the kids decorate the earth and simply talking about the world and all the people living here. Then pull out the human cutouts and have then glue them around the outer rim of the earth. Add the finishing touches of decoration and make sure to talk about the oneness of mankind and how even though we're all different, we're all part of the same family.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Truthfulness: Peter and the Wolf interactive story

"Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues."

Summary: When telling the story of 'Peter and the wolf', the kids act out different roles
Cast:
Narrator: A person who knows the story
Peter
The Wolf
Villagers
sheep
sheepdog

  • Give everyone a role to play in the story. Obviously the most important ones are Peter, the wolf, and at least one villager. The kids act out the parts as the narrator tells the story.

"One day in a village there lived a little boy named Peter. In his village his job was to watch the sheep to make sure wolves or other animals didn't harm the herds. His parents and all the other adults and kids were very busy doing other jobs so sometimes Peter would get bored.

On a particularly slow day he decided to make it a little more interesting.
Peter yelled, " WOLF! There's a WOLF attacking the sheep! Help!"
Everyone came running from their homes and jobs to come help get the wolf away, but when they got to the fields they realize the call for help was a lie. Peter just started laughing. He laughed and laughed, because he played such a joke on everyone. Angrily, the villagers went back to their duties.

The next day, Peter went out with the sheep. Eventually, he became bored again. It was so funny yesterday that he decided to play the same joke on everyone.
He yelled, "Wolf! There is a wolf attacking the sheep!"
The villagers came running to the fields to Peter's aid only to find that again, Peter had lied. There is no wolf. Peter just laughed and laughed.
"How silly your faces are, running out here! Ha ha ha!"
Very angrily, the villagers return to their work and homes.

The following day Peter is out with the sheep. Peter began to realize that the villagers were very angry with him so he was going to behave today.
Suddenly, out from behind a bush, a wolf appeared!
Peter was so scared and yelled, "Wolf! There's a wolf here! Help!"
He looked to the village.... no one was coming. He yelled again ,"Help!"
Again, no one came.
Peter watched as the Wolf ate up all the sheep.

You see, when Peter kept lying to the villagers, they stopped trusting him. Eventually, Peter lied so many times that when he actually was telling the truth, they didn't believe him.
In the end,the Wolf tried to eat Peter to... but he just barely got away.

After that, he remembered to tell the truth."

Humility/Pride Game

Summary: Someone comes up with situations where humility or pride occurs and the kids identify which one it is by running (and some times jumping) to the appropriate word.
Supplies:
Sidewalk Chalk
Some active kids
Water: in case anyone gets thirsty
  • All you need to do is write 'Humility' on one spot and 'Pride' on another, then identify a starting point (kind of like a base-camp).
  • Say one of the words or a situation where the word occurs and have the kids run to it, then back to the starting point.
  • Take turns coming up with situations such as at school or at home.
For example:
At school, Lucy loves to run and often tells everyone else how she is the best runner. Better than everyone else. What is this an example of?

Over at Mark's house, Mark's mom makes the best cookies! Everyone knows it, even if she doesn't tell them they are. What is this an example of?

The Tortoise and the Hare: coloring book page

The story of why the tortoise beat the hare in a race is a great lesson about humility. Made this coloring book page to go with the story.

Feel free to download and use.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Quotation Poster

A quotation poster is something a kid can decorate and hang in their room. In this scenario they are quotes we started to learn in previous weeks.
Supplies:
A large piece of paper
Favorite quotes written or printed. (It helps to have them pre-cut out for quicker application)
Glue sticks
Decorating supplies: colored paper, pencils, crayons, stickers, etc...
(Oh my goodness they love glitter-glue o_O)

Simply glue the quotes onto the board and then decorate. You can use string to hang them as well.... or to attach quotes to the board as you can see below.

Virtue Tag

Virtue tag is very simple. It has the exact same rules as Freeze Tag, but to unfreeze your team-mate, you need to come up with a virtue.

For example: Andy gets tagged by the person who is 'It' and freezes in place. When Andy's friend Carly runs up to unfreeze him she yells, "Honesty!" Or some such virtue.

Another note is you're not allowed to say the same virtue twice in a row.

Pretty straight forward but a nice way to review what has already been learned.