***Note: Please read the post called “10 Lesson Helps” found under “Primary Lesson Listings” before reviewing any of my Sunbeam lesson plan ideas.
“If you have begun preparation early, you will be more aware of experiences, stories, and scriptures that will help those you teach. Thoughts may come to you as you ponder the principles to be taught and the needs of those you teach. This is one way that the Spirit can guide you in your preparation. You may want to carry a notebook so you can write down ideas as they come to you.” (Teaching, No Greater Call, p. 99).
Materials needed: snacks, wet wipes, an ipad or tablet, a male puppet, pictures 1-71 and 1-60, strips of cardstock (or heavy paper) for each child folded like an accordion so there are 4 panels, scissors, glue sticks and copies of the 4 pictures for each child from the link below, pieces of paper numbered 1-10.
When the children come into the class, take away one of the chairs so there is one too few. When the children realize this, say “Uh oh, I made a mistake. I’m sorry!” and set up a chair.
Tell the children you have a snacks today, but they need to clean their hands first. Give some of the children a wet wipe, but skip a few. When they realize what you’ve done, say, “Uh oh, I made a mistake. I’m sorry!” and give the missing children a wipe.
Tell them to throw their wipe away, and when you throw yours into the garbage, miss the garbage can and throw it instead on the floor. Pick it up and say, “Uh oh, I made a mistake. I’m sorry!” and throw it in the garbage. If any child also misses the garbage, have them repeat the expression.
Pass one snack serving to some children, but miss a few. When they realize what you’ve done, say, “Uh oh, I made a mistake. I’m sorry!” and give the missing children their snack.
While they are eating, ask the children what kept happening. What did I keep doing? What did I say after each time I made a mistake? Why did I say that? Do you ever make a mistake? Discuss times when they made a mistake and what they did and said.
We are going to sing a song so we can remember what to say when we make a mistake.
(Sing to the tune “Mary Had a Little Lamb”)
“Mistake Song”
“Uh oh, I made a mistake, a mistake, a mistake,
Uh oh, I made a mistake, I am very sorry.”
Repeat until the children learn it well.
When we make mistakes we need to say we are sorry and apologize. I brought a friend named Jack who is going to tell us about how to say “I’m sorry.” (Have the puppet “tell” a story about how he was playing with his friend and wouldn’t share his toy car. His friend grabbed the car and Jack hit him. His friend cried and Jack felt bad. He said, “I’m sorry.” He decided to share the toy car and the two friends took turns playing with it).
Ask: What did Jack do that was wrong?
How did his friend feel when Jack didn’t share his toy?
When Jack apologized and shared the toy, how did they feel?
We can make bad feelings go away when we say we are sorry and do what is right.
In the Book of Mormon, there was a family that made a lot of mistakes. Their father was named Lehi, and he had sons named Laman, Lemuel, Sam and Nephi. Lehi wanted to get to the Promised Land but he had some problems with some of his sons. Let’s pretend this puppet is Lehi and we’ll put him on the #1 square. He wants to get to the last square #10 and we will call that the Promised Land.
Read the following scenarios and have the children decide if “Lehi” can advance because something good happened, or if he has to go back one square because one of his sons made a mistake. If he has to move back, they can sing the “Mistake Song” and then you can read the next scenario.
Lehi saw a vision from Heavenly Father and told his family about it.
Lehi’s sons Laman and Lemuel argued with their father and told him they didn’t believe in his vision.
Lehi’s sons Sam and Nephi believed their father and obeyed him because he was the prophet.
Laman and Lemuel said they were sorry and they obeyed their father.
The whole family left their home, followed their father Lehi, the prophet into the wilderness.
Laman and Lemuel got mad at Nephi and tried to hurt him while they were traveling.
Heavenly Father send an angel to tell Laman and Lemuel to be nice and they apologized to Nephi and Sam.
Nephi was commanded by God to build a ship and he obeyed.
Laman and Lemuel laughed at Nephi and made fun of him.
Nephi showed great power to his wicked brothers and they said they were sorry.
All the brothers worked on building the boat together. When they followed the Spirit and obeyed Heavenly Father, everyone was happy. (show picture 1-71)
When they were on the boat, crossing the ocean, Laman and Lemuel began being rude again. They hurt Nephi and everyone was sad.
A big storm came and rocked the boat so much everyone was afraid they would die. Nephi and Lehi prayed to Heavenly Father to calm the water.
Laman and Lemuel became so afraid, they said they were sorry to Nephi, and the storm stopped.
Everyone sailed peacefully and safely across the ocean. (show picture 1-60)
They all arrived at the Promised Land and thanked Heavenly Father.
Take out the 4 pictures cut out from the following link:
Sit the children on the floor and put the pictures, one by one, in front of them. Talk about what is happening in each picture. Then help the children put them in order. Discuss how we all make mistakes, and sometimes that makes others feel sad, like when Kelsey accidentally ripped off the stuffed frog’s arm. When we make a mistake, the Holy Ghost helps us feel bad so we can make things right again.
Have them children put their own 4 pictures in order and glue them on their own “story strip” of paper to take home. Have them tell you the story in order before they leave and encourage them to tell their family the story of Kelsey in their next Family Home Evening.
Watch “The Shiny Bike” from the Mormon Channel on the ipad. What did the boy do that was a mistake? How did he say he was sorry? What did he do to fix his mistake?
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2609209978001
A Spoonful of Parenting 