Behold Your Little Ones: I am a Child of God 1 (p. 8-11)
Opening Prayer:
Opening Song: I Am a Child of God (
CS 2) (God is another name for Heavenly Father.)
Scripture: You have a mom and a dad on Earth who love you very much. You also have a Heavenly Father who knows you and loves you as well. (Open the Bible and read to them Psalm 82:6 "All of you are children of [God].
Lesson:
We are spirit children of Heavenly Father
Who is Heavenly Father? (Use the children’s responses to give you direction in explaining this section of the lesson on the appropriate level.)
Show picture 1-1, The World. Explain that before we were born on earth we lived in heaven with Heavenly Father. We were spirits there. A spirit is what is inside of us that makes us alive. When we were spirits, we didn’t have flesh and bones like our bodies have now, but we looked the same.
Explain that Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits, and we are his spirit children. We don’t remember living with Heavenly Father before we came to earth, but we know we are his spirit children because we read it in the scriptures.
Show the Bible and read
Psalm 82:6, explaining that the most High means Heavenly Father. Emphasize that every person on the earth is a child of Heavenly Father.
Activity:
Heavenly Father Knows Me
Heavenly Father knows me (point to self)
And what I like to do.
He knows my name and where I live (make a roof by touching fingers of both hands).
I know he loves me, too (cross arms and put hands on shoulders in hug).
He knows what makes me happy (put fingers on smiling mouth).
He knows what makes me sad (put fingers on down-turned mouth).
I know he wants to help me (point to self),
And that’s what makes me glad!
Ask a child to come to the front of the class. Using what you learned from the child’s parents, explain that Heavenly Father knows about that child’s admirable characteristics. For example, you could say, “Heavenly Father knows that Emily is a loving daughter, helps her mommy take care of her sister, and is usually cheerful and smiling.” Continue until each child has had a turn.
Explain that when we do kind and loving things, we are being like Heavenly Father.
Scripture Story:
Heavenly Father has important work for us to do
Story
Show picture 1-2, Moses in the Bulrushes, and tell the story of how Pharaoh’s daughter saved Moses from danger when he was a baby, as found in
Exodus 2:1–10.
Explain that Moses grew to be one of Heavenly Father’s important helpers, a prophet. Heavenly Father told Moses that Moses was his son (see
Moses 1:4, 6) and that he had an important work for Moses to do. Read the first phrase of
Moses 1:6 to the children. Moses did this work when he brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, where they were treated very cruelly, into another land, where Moses taught them Heavenly Father’s commandments.
Have the children come to the front of the class one at a time, and help each one repeat the first phrase of
Moses 1:6, substituting his or her own name: “I have a work for thee, (child’s name), my son (daughter).”
Explain that Heavenly Father has important things for us to do while we live on the earth, such as being a mother or a father, a missionary, a teacher, a helper at church, or a helper in the community.
(Show Moses picture.). Moses was a great prophet who lived a long time ago. Moses went to a mountain to pray. Let's climb a mountain with me and pretend to pray like Moses did. (Open the Pearl of Great Price and read Moses 1:4 "God said to Moses, Behold thou art my son." Moses learned he was a Child of God too.
Picture: Show the picture on page 10 and ask if the children are A Child of God too.
Closing Prayer:
Activity Verse:
1. Help the children do the actions to the following activity verse:
If you’re very, very tall (stretch and reach arms up),
There’s a place at church for you.
If you’re very, very small (crouch down),
There’s a place at church for you.
Tall (stretch up)
Small (crouch down)
Tall (stretch up)
Small (crouch down)
Heavenly Father loves us all.
2. More Activities to do with the kids: I printed out "books" for the kids to do together at
Mormon Share.
3. Make cards with a picture of each child on the card and write their name on the card too. In addition to each child, make a few extra cards for Thomas S. Monson, Nephi, Jesus etc. Show your family the cards of each one and ask what they each have in common.......we all have eyes, all need love, we all eat etc. Tell them we are all - even the prophets - children of God.
![GordonHinckley3[1]-711372](https://lh3.ggpht.com/-O9kHqpXFfxE/TqYeMQYrljI/AAAAAAAACY4/uOYaIoTbFiA/GordonHinckley3%25255B1%25255D-711372_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800 "GordonHinckley3[1]-711372")
For our Treat tonight we are having Pizzookies. They sounded absolutely delicious.
![GordonHinckley3[1]-711372](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-qlJYg0hETAs/TqYeMPvYj7I/AAAAAAAACYw/BPOK9dEH_hY/s1600-h/GordonHinckley3%25255B1%25255D-711372%25255B3%25255D.jpg "GordonHinckley3[1]-711372")
