***Note: Please read the post called “10 Lesson Helps” found under “Primary Lesson Listings” before reviewing any of my Sunbeam lesson plan ideas.

“Each person you teach is precious in the sight of the Lord, and each person should be precious in your sight as well. Find ways to reach out to each person you teach (see ‘Reaching Out to the One,’ pages 35-36). As those you teach realize that you love them and are concerned about them, they will learn to trust you. They will become more teachable and less likely to cause disruptions (see ‘Love Softens Hearts,’ pages 31-12)” Teaching, No Greater Call, p. 79.

Materials needed: Pictures from the manual resouces, items for the “whisper” activity, the strips of paper and jar, the smile/frown chart to take home.

Begin with the activity song, “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” Repeat it with different variations: fast, slow, loud, soft. When done, remind the children that we all have different parts to our bodies.

Show picture of Heavenly Father and Jesus. They have a body. Do they have a nose?  Where is your nose?  Do they  have hands?  Where are your hands? (repeat with other parts of body).

We look like our Heavenly Father because he is our Father, just like we have a father and mother in our family on earth.

We are going to talk about another special person who works with Heavenly Father and Jesus.  His name is the “Holy Ghost.” He has other names like the “Holy Spirit” the “Still Small Voice” and the “Comforter.”  He doesn’t have a body, but is a spirit. He is very important because he helps us everyday to do the right things. You will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost as a constant help when you are baptized.

Tell the children you are going to whisper an important message in their ears. After they listen carefully, they are to do what you said. (Here are some ideas: “Hold up your scriptures above your heads” or “Eat this cracker I am putting in your hand” or “Smile at another child in our class”).

Who heard what I said?  You listened and obeyed my instructions that I whispered. My words were very quiet but you sat very still and listened carefully. I told you to….. You had to listen very carefully to my voice to hear it. 

They Holy Ghost whispers very softly to us and we have to listen very carefully.  He mostly whispers to our heart, so we feel what he says.  He doesn’t whisper in our ears like I just did. 

When we do what is right, the Holy Ghost makes us feel happy.  When we do something wrong, the Holy Ghost makes us feel sad. When have you felt happy? (get responses). The Spirit guides us to do what is right. He helps us feel good inside. When we do something wrong, He helps us to feel sad so we can say we are sorry.

Put the following sentences on strips of paper and put inside a jar. Wrap the outside of the jar with a piece of paper and draw a smiley face on one side, a frowny face on another. Seat the children in a circle on the floor.

Here are some things we do. We’ll roll the jar across the floor to a child and they get to reach inside and pull out a piece of. I’ll read it out loud.  I’d like everyone to make a smiling face or a frowning face, and a “thumbs up” if they are good choices or “thumbs down” if they are bad: (after each one, emphasize how the Holy Ghost will help them feel in their hearts either good or bad)

You help your mom clean up your room

You share your toys

You forget to say your prayers

You give your friend a hug when she got hurt

Your mom tells you to brush your teeth but you say, “No!”

You remember to say your prayers

Your dad says to pick up your clothes but you throw them on the floor

You come to church

Share an appropriate experience in your life when you followed or ignored the promptings of the Spirit and how you felt and what were the consequences.

Tell them that you are going to sing a song about the Holy Ghost (“Listen, Listen” Children’s Songbook, p. 107). While you sing, they walk around the room. When you finish, they stop in front of a picture that is posted on the wall (uses pictures that come with the manual that show children doing different things, good and bad).

Ask them to describe what they see in the picture. Are the children following the Holy Ghost or not? Everyone votes thumbs up or down. Repeat a few times. Then see if they can sing part or the whole song with you.

Play the “whisper game”  You whisper something in each child’s ear and they have to do that thing.  We guess what it is (jump up and down, sit on the floor, blink their eyes, hug a friend, clap their hands, etc.). We all do that action together. Variation: they whisper in someone else’s ear.

Share your testimony that listening for the feelings the Holy Ghost gives us will help us to choose the right and be happy.

Extension activity for home: Draw a line down the center of a paper. Put a smiley face over the lefthand column; a frowny face over the righthand column. Write the following instructions: Parents, we learned today in Sunbeams that the Holy Ghost will help us feel happy when we do what is right and sad when we make a wrong choice. This week, help your child identify when they have made a choice. Talk to them about how it made them feel and what were the consequences. Write down the choice in the happy face column or sad face column and discuss the power of the Holy Ghost guiding your life. If they have made a wrong choice, help your child to discuss how they can correct the wrong and make a better choice next time.