We will have the opportunity of listening to the Prophet's voice (and other servants of the Lord) this weekend. So I figured it'd be a great time to highlight some of the activities that people have devised for helping children "pay attention" during General Conference.
I remember when I was young at home with my parents, the one thing they would give me to help me pay attention to what was being said was the classic BINGO page. You know the one, it's got the grid filled with pictures that are labeled with words such as Prayer, Temple, and so on. As you hear the words you place a Cheerio or M&M on the space. Once you have 5 in a row, well, you eat your "treat." One place to find these is at the theideadoor.com (
here). About.com also has a page with BINGO pages (
here).
The Church has put out a 10 page notebook for children (
here). It contains ideas for things to do
before,
during, and
after General Conference.
Deseret Book also has an offering: the My Conference Booklet. You can get a copy
here.
Suite101 has a page listing some ideas for children to do during General Conference (
here). The list includes things like coloring pages, picture books, and one called Paste the Prophets. You give your children small pictures of the Prophet and Apostles. The kids glue the pictures into a notebook or onto a piece of paper as they listen to the talk given by that person.
Lastly, I wanted to share a post on the Mormon Momma, a blog written by several mothers. This post relates some of the traditions that they have started with their families in an effort to make General Conference a more memorable experience for their families (
here). The post is appropriately titled: Making General Conference Memorable.
They break up their ideas into 4 categories:
Preparation (things that help you think about Conference and get ready for it, like Pray for the Prophet),
Provisions (this category includes mainly food and things that can be done, like picnicking, between Conference sessions),
Participation (including things that can be done during the Conference sessions; one of the ideas from this category that I like and will use with my children is Art Book, where kids draw pictures of who is speaking, write the person's name and a little about the message they gave), and
Post-Conference Evaluation (things that can be done after Conference is over to help everyone ponder on the messages given and make them more meaningful).
Additionally, they include a nice list of links (at the bottom of the post) where you can find other activities related to General Conference. All in all, this is a great post with lots of good insights into ways of making General Conference a more meaningful experience for your family.
Hopefully we can all be prepared for and learn what we should be learning from General Conference. And hopefully we can help our children learn the importance of General Conference and hearing the words of the Prophet.
