Soft or Hard Heart Simple Object Lesson and Singing Time Game

**If you are wanting to see what the object lesson and activity are before you start preparing then skip to the part that says OBJECT LESSON and the part that says GAME.** 

 INTRODUCTION:

You could hear a pin drop in the primary room during this simple object lesson that teaches about having a soft heart or a hard heart.  I loved the answers that some of the youngest in primary gave.  I asked the question, "What does it mean to have a hard heart?"  A little Sunbeam rose her hand and in her sweet little voice, she answered, "It means that your heart is sad because it does not have Jesus."  So sweet, and so true!  You can correlate this object lesson and game to go along with anything that is being taught in CFM.

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

1. Play Dough (I brought many containers of Play Dough to primary, but the most important color to have is either red or pink to mold a heart)

2. Rock (preferably a rock that is the size of the palm of your hand)

3. White poster board

4. Black poster board (or a different color than white)

5. Post it notes or you can cut out paper that is about the size of a Post It note.

6. Paper to print out red hearts and rocks (If you don't want to print then you could draw and color rocks and hearts on paper and cut them out with scissors.)  

PREPARATION:

1.  Cutout a Tic Tac Toe (or the hashtag symbol) using the black poster board or whatever color poster board you have on hand.

2.  Glue the Tic Tac Toe board onto the white poster board.  (I like to get my poster boards laminated, but since it was late Saturday night when I was putting this together, I was unable to get it done.)

3.  Write or print out each song.  Make sure the title of the songs are small enough to be covered by a Post It note.  Tape or glue song names into each square of the Tic Tac Toe.

4.  Print out rocks and hearts for the Tic Tac Toe game.  Again, you can draw hearts and rocks.  The children do not care if the hearts and rocks are perfect!

5.  Optional:  Print out one picture that represents each song you are singing for the program.  Just, FYI, I think this was the children's favorite part of the activity.  I'll explain later in this post.

6.  I try to put everything together on my kitchen counter on Saturday night so I don't forget anything.  I also leave Sacrament Meeting a little early to set up the Primary room.  I can't get into the Primary room until the ward before my ward is out and that ward is not out of church until the middle of my Sacrament Meeting.

OBJECT LESSON:

(Keep the lesson short and sweet.  You don't even need to do the "wrap it up" part and it would still be great.  Most of the time should be singing.)

A. Call a child to come up to the front of the primary room.  Ask the child to mold the red (or pink) play dough into a heart.  Display the heart on the pulpit or somewhere in the room.

B.  Call another child up to the front.  Hand the child the rock and ask him to mold it into a heart.  Why can't you mold the rock into a heart?  (It's too hard.)

C.  What does it mean to have a hard heart?  (Have children give their answers.  Their answers are so pure!)  

"Having a hard heart means that it is too hard for the spirit to get into our hearts.  It means we have a hard time feeling love, especially from our Heavenly Father.  It means we can't be molded or accept anything from God."

D.  What does it mean to have a soft heart?  (Have children give their answers)

"Having a soft heart means that our hearts can be molded by Heavenly Father.  It means that out hearts will recognize the spirit and allow the spirit into our hearts.  Having a soft heart means that we can feel Heavenly Father's love."

I made sure to cover anything that wasn't covered in the children's answers.  They did such a great job that I didn't have much to say.

**At this point in the lesson, I talked about Alma the Younger's hard heart and how his heart became softened. You don't have to talk about any scripture prophet or you can talk about a scripture prophet that is part of CFM at the time you teach the lesson.**

Wrap it up: The gift of agency is one of the greatest gifts Heavenly Father has given us!  He desires to bless us, lead us, comfort us, heal us, strengthen us, and to reveal all things to us.  But He will never force us.  So, what will we do?  Will we harden our hearts and not be able to feel the Holy Ghost or Heavenly Father's love for us?  Or, will we soften our hearts and allow him to mold us into a better and happier person than we could ever be without him? 

SINGING TIME GAME:

How to Play:  Call on a reverent child to come up and take one of the Post It notes (or paper) off of one of the squares which will reveal a song.  If the children sing the song with all of their hearts (know the words, sing at a good volume, respectful) then they get to put a heart in the square.  If the children mumble the words, do not know the words, don't sing, don't sing at a good volume, etc, then a rock goes in the square.  We had the piano player play against the kids.  She was the rocks and the kids were the hearts.

VIDEO OF HOW TO PLAY THE GAME & HOW TO INCORPORATE THE PLAY DOUGH:

EXTRA (FYI, the kids loved this part)

I was only looking for one container of red or pink Play Dough.  I sent my husband to the store and he came back with a case of Play Dough.  I still have no idea what we are going to do with all this Play Dough since we no longer have little kids.  It worked out great for Singing Time though!  

After a child would come up and take the sticky tab off the Tic Tac Toe board to reveal the song, I would call on another child to come up to "mold" a picture that has to do with the song we were singing.  I printed out one picture to go along with each song.  The child molding the picture with the Play Dough would have the picture as a reference.  Then I would show the picture.  The kids thought this was so much fun.  I only called on kids that wanted to participate.  I also told them that none of us are professionals and creating something out of Play Dough is very hard.  I made a big deal about how wonderful each creations was.  The child chosen had plenty of Play Dough to choose from!  Haha!

Here are the songs and pictures I chose for the songs:

I Know That My Savior Loves Me

I Will Be What I Believe

Nephi's Courage

Scripture Power

The Liahona

We are singing about eight songs for the Primary Program, but these were the songs I wanted to concentrate on.

Jesus (or the Holy Ghost) Can Be Your Shadow

This has always been one of my favorite activities/lessons in primary.  It is visual so the children get the concept easily about Christ and/or the Holy Ghost being with them wherever they go or whatever they are doing.  This year I used this lesson/activity for teaching “I Know That My Savior Loves Me”.  Last time I used the shadow lesson I taught “If the Savior Stood Beside Me”.  You can use the shadow lesson with any song that has to do with Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost.

LESSON:

1. Show the Picture of the Savior with the Nephite children. 

“By a raise of hands, who can tell me what this picture is about?”

Were any of you there to feel the Savior’s arms around you?

“You might not have been there with him, but the Savior loves you just as much as the children of his day.”

 

2.  Shadow Puppets

What is something that follows you wherever you go and mimics your every action.  Sometimes it can be seen, and sometimes it can’t.  Sometimes even if it can be seen, you don’t notice it.  What is it?

Answer:  Your shadow

*Turn your flashlight on and turn the lights off in the room. Have a presidency member hold the flashlight and point it to the front of the room.  Show the children some shadow puppets with your hands.  Then move around.  Point out how your shadow follows you everywhere.  It is with you no matter what you do or where you go.

3.     What would it be like if Jesus was your shadow?  What if he went everywhere with you?

Jesus is like your shadow.  He is always there.  You may not see him, but he is still there.  Sometimes you may not feel him, but he is still there.  He is always there, just like your shadow. 

         Jesus loves each of you.  He knows you by name.  He knows your likes and dislikes.  He loves you no matter what!  Whenever you see your shadow, let it be a reminder that Jesus Christ loves you and is with you.  

 

SHADOW PUPPET VISUALS & 

INTRODUCING THE SONG:

   (The PDF shadow puppet visuals and the PDF song visuals will be at the end of this blog post.)

"Today we will be learning the song 'I Know That 

My Savior Loves Me'". 

        1. Ask a class or two to come up to help you hold the shadow puppet visuals.  Have the first child hold the first visual up and sing the line of the song.  Have the children repeat the line.  Do this for every shadow puppet visual.

 

        2.  Sing the entire song with the children holding up the visuals.  I stand by the child holding the visual of the line we are singing.  I basically go down the row of children as we sing the song.

        

        3 .  Put the visuals away and have the children sit down.

 

        4.  Show the children the visuals or flipchart of the visuals. When I am teaching a song for the first time, I tape the visuals to the board in front of the room, so they can see all the visuals and my hands are free. 

 

        5.  Sing through the song a few times.  Go over any lines or notes of the song that are iffy.

 

ACTIVITY:

     1.  Cut out a paper, felt, or foam heart.  Have the children pass the heart around as you sing the song.  Have the piano player stop randomly.  Whichever child has the heart when the song stops will tell how they know the Savior loves them.  I told the children before we started the activity that one of the ways I feel the Savior's love is when I am in nature.  I am in awe at the world around me.  I went first so that they had an example.  Many of the junior primary children wanted help from their teachers, which is great!

SONG VISUAL PDF AND SHADOW PUPPET PDF'S:

Song Visuals:     

I Know That My Savior Loves Me Visuals Verse 1 & Chorus

      

I Know That My Savior Loves Me Visuals Verse 2:

 

Shadow Puppets:

    (I got images off the internet and in the gospel library.  I used my cricut to cut them out.  If you are doing a different song other than "I Know that My Savior Loves Me" and need help making shadow puppets then please do not hesitate to ask me for help.  I do not know how to take multiple projects in Cricut and stick them all in the same PDF.  Each line of the song has it's own PDF.)

A long time ago in a beautiful place

children were gathered round Jesus

He blessed and taught as they felt of his love

Each saw the tears on his face

The love that he had for his little ones, I know he feels for me

I did not touch him or sit on his knee

yet Jesus is real to me

I know He lives

I will follow faithfully

My heart I give to Him

Here is a sample of the shadow puppet visuals:

I Will Be What I Believe Lesson & Song Actions

I strive to keep my lessons short since the children already have a lesson in Primary about what was learned in Come Follow Me during the week.  I do like to highlight who we are learning about in the Book of Mormon since this year in our primary we have been focusing on Book of Mormon heroes.  We were studying about Abinadi in Come Follow Me the week that I introduced "I Will Be What I Believe."  You can relay the message using whichever Book of Mormon prophet is being studied the week you teach "I Will Be What I Believe".  

Lesson:

"In Come Follow Me this week we read about Abinadi. Who was Abinadi? (Take 2 answers.) Abinadi was a prophet who taught about repentance. King Noah didn’t like what Abinadi was teaching so he arrested him and had him killed, but not before Abinadi gave a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ. Did you know there is a verse of Book of Mormon Stories about Abinadi?"

Sing:  Book of Mormon Stories #118 Verse 4: 

Don't forget Abinadi, who stood before the king.

All Chained up from head to toe, the gospel he did bring.

If he would deny it, then the king would set him free.

He was true, and he died righteously.

"Abinadi was a true hero.  He died standing for what is right.  He would not deny God or Jesus Christ.  He was brave, courageous, honorable, true, noble, and righteous.  Abinadi was what he believed." 

"Whatever you believe will determine who you are.  What you believe will be the deciding  factor on your words and actions.  It will determine the course of your life."

Introduce "I Will Be What I Believe":

I taught the first verse one week and the second verse the next week.  

Go through each line of the song.  Sing the first line and then have the children sing it back to you.  Do this with each line of the song.  Then teach the actions to the words.  Here are the actions that I used:

VISUALS TO "I WILL BE WHAT I BELIEVE":

If you would like visuals to "I will Be What I Believe" then you can find them HERE.

 

 

Scripture Power Verse 2 Lesson, Visuals, and Combat Sword Song Actions

ITEMS NEEDED FOR THE LESSON & ACTIVITY:

*Cardstock or Printing Paper

*Printer

*Scissors 

*Tape

PREPARATION BEFORE SUNDAY:

1.  Make the soldier and the Armor of God by printing the parts and cutting them out.  I laminated the soldier and the armor.  Here is what the soldier will look like with and without The Armor of God on:

My mom gave me the soldier and Armor of God.  I scanned them so I can share it with you.  There are also Soldiers and Armor of God parts that you can find on the internet.  Here are the PDF soldier and Armor of God parts for you to make your own soldier and Armor of God:

  

2.  Make a "sword" for each child in primary.  The "sword" is made by rolling a piece of paper.  I used cardstock.  You can either put a piece of paper under each chair in primary before primary starts and have the children roll the paper themselves, or roll them yourself and use a piece of tape to keep it in place.  I made all of the "swords" before church so that we did not have to take time having the children try and roll the paper and it possibly coming apart.  I put all the "swords" in grocery bags so it was easy to bring them to church.  Here is a sample of the "swords" I made:

3.  Learn the combat actions to the second verse of "Scripture Power".  This is where the paper swords will be used.  I got the combat actions here:

4.  Print off the PDF of the combat action reminder pictures.  The pictures are not great, but they helped me to remember the combat actions as I was teaching them to the primary. 

 

  

5.  Print off the visuals for "Scripture Power" verse two.  Here are the PDF visuals for "Scripture Power" verse two:

If you would like the visuals to the first verse and chorus of "Scripture Power" then you can find them here, along with a lesson and song actions.

PREPARATION AT CHURCH BEFORE PRIMARY STARTS:

I leave before Sacrament Meeting is over to go to the Primary room to set up.  There is another ward that is in their second hour of church when our ward starts Sacrament Meeting.  The other ward gets out about a half hour before our Sacrament Meeting is over.  I leave Sacrament Meeting in time to set anything up that I am using that day.  I am grateful for a Primary Presidency that helps me set up also!

Setup Before Primary:

1.  Tape the soldier to the board in front of the Primary room.  You will also need tape to put the armor on the soldier during primary.  Put the armor somewhere that is easy to grab.  Make sure there is enough room at the top of the board for the visuals to the song.

2.  Put the copy of the lesson and the combat moves reminder paper on the music stand so you can easily see them.

3.  Put a paper "sword" under each chair.

LESSON:

Here is the lesson plan for teaching the second verse of "Scripture Power".  The children loved it!

Lesson:

1. Point to the soldier taped on the board.

Is the soldier protected from an attack?  (no)

What does the soldier need to protect himself?  (armor)

We can have armor to protect us against Satan.  It is called the Armor of God. 

A.      Put the sword in the soldier’s hand. 

B.      A sword is an item that was used for defense against attack. When we are spiritually attacked, we need what is called “THE SWORD OF TRUTH”. 

C.       The SWORD OF TRUTH represents the word of God.  The words of truth found in the scriptures help us have a defense against Satan’s attack because knowing truth helps us recognize Satan’s deceptions.   

D.     The first line of the second verse is – “I’ll find the sword of truth in each scripture that I learn.”  (Put the visual on the board and sing the line) 

2.      The next line of the verse is – “I’ll take the shield of faith from these pages that I turn.”  (Put the visual on the board and the shield in the soldier’s hand.) 

A.     This is the SHIELD OF FAITH.  As we obey the words found in the scriptures, we see the good results, and we gain faith and trust in God’s words.  Our faith is like a shield that protects us against temptation.  (Sing the line)  

3.       The next line of the verse is – “I’ll wear each vital part of the armor of the Lord.” (Tell the children about each of the rest of the armor parts that are left and put them on the soldier.  Put the rest of the visuals to the song up.) 

         A.  With the armor of God, we are prepared to fight against the temptations of Satan and win!                                    

        B. (Sing “I’ll wear each vital part of the armor of the Lord, and fight my daily battles and win a great reward.”) 

4.      Sing through the entire song. 

5.      Teach the children the combat moves. 

6.      Make sure you give the children direction on behavior before they are able to get their paper sword from under their chairs.  I told my primary, “I brought a paper sword for each of you.  Do not get it out from under your chair until I say to get it.  We first need to go over expectations.  The expectations are that you may not touch anyone with your own body or your sword.  You may only do the combat moves when we are singing the songs.  You may only do the combat moves with me.  There will be no other combat moves allowed.  When we are not singing, you may sit reverently in your chair with your paper sword placed nicely in your lap.” 

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Here are the definitions of the Armor of God if you need a refresher or if you want to tape the definitions on the back of each armor piece:

Here is an example of what I did on the back of each piece of the Armor of God to make it easy to remember what each piece of armor represents:

My mind is known to go blank suddenly during primary so it is always helpful for me to have extra help!

Scripture Power Song Visuals, Lessons, Activities, and Actions

For teaching verse one and the chorus of "Scripture Power", each child will need a small felt finger cape.

SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR FINGER SUPER HERO CAPE:

*Felt (you can get felt at Walmart) 

*Scissors

*Permanent marker

(THERE IS A VIDEO OF HOW TO MAKE THE CAPES AND THE SONG ACTIONS AT THE END OF THIS BLOG POST.)

__________________________________________________________________ 

***SCRIPTURE POWER VERSE 1 LESSON, ACTIVITY, SONG ACTIONS & VISUALS:

(This year our theme has been Book of Mormon heroes.  I focus on heroic attributes of the prophets in the Book of Mormon.  We were learning about Jacob in Come Follow Me when I introduced the first verse of "Scripture Power" to the Primary children.  You can adapt it to what is being learned in Come Follow Me when you introduce it to your own Primary.  Each Book of Mormon prophet had powers given to him through the spirit.  You can point out the powers of whichever prophet is being learned about in Come Follow Me.)  

LESSON:

"Jacob, in The Book of Mormon, was a great missionary.  He taught the people about Jesus and choosing the right.  He was able to avoid deception when Sharem was telling lies.  He stayed on the straight and narrow path.  Just like Nephi, Jacob is a hero because he was courageous and did what is right. 

When you read the scriptures it gives you super powers.  You invite the experiences of the heroes in the scriptures to be part of you when you read about them.  As you read about the heroes in the scriptures, you will be able to take on their super powers.

You will find greater POWER to resist temptation. You will find the POWER to avoid deception. You will find the POWER to stay on the straight and narrow path. (CTR)"  (I explained what “temptation” and “resist temptation” means because some of the children did not know what the words meant.)

 

Ward Mission Fund Activity (Optional):

(This may not apply to the Book of Mormon prophet that you will be teaching about.  Obviously, this is optional.  Jacob was a great missionary by teaching about Christ.  I got a canning jar and lid.  My husband made a slit in the lid so that coins could fit through it.  I filled two snack size Ziploc baggies with coins.  You could use pennies or a combination of coins.  I told the children that the presidency would go around and see who was singing their best and being reverent.  The presidency handed out coins to the children that were doing their best at singing and being reverent.  One of the presidency members stand at the Primary door as the children walk out of the Primary room.  The children that earned coins put the money in the jar as they walk out.  Once the jar is full, we are going to present the jar to the bishop so that he can put the money in the ward missionary fund. Here is the label for the jar: Jar Label)

INTRODUCE SCRIPTURE POWER:

Make sure you put a felt cape under each chair before the children show up to primary.  Before the children can get the cape out from under their chairs, go over expectations and rules if they want to keep their cape.  I had the Junior Primary put their capes under their chairs at the end of Junior Primary so that the capes were ready for Senior Primary.

Cape Instructions and Song Actions:

(I got the cape idea and some song actions from Brytt Cloward on YouTube.)

I made up more actions so it is more fun for the children.  Click on the link below for my song actions:

My Song Actions

SONG VISUALS:

First Verse:

Chorus:

Don't Eat Nephi! (or any other prophet)

I came up with a version of the game "Don't Eat Pete" the last time we studied the Book of Mormon for Come Follow Me in 2020.  It does not have to be Nephi.  It can be any prophet.  It is a super easy and fun game that the children enjoyed.  Instead of saying, "Don't eat Pete", we say, "Don't eat Nephi!"

Supplies Needed: 

*Nine 8X10 pictures of Nephi (I printed pictures from the Book of Mormon movie.)

*Round magnets (I used these 1-inch round magnets.)

*Glue

*m&m logo for magnets (I searched on google for the m&m's logo)

*Snack-sized m&m's for each child in primary (optional)

Preparation:

1.  Print out the m&m logo on cardstock.  I looked up images of the m&m logo on google.  I had to figure out how large to make the image so that each m&m was the right size for the 1" magnets.

2.  Cut out the m&m logos and then glue them to the magnets

3.  Write names of songs or verses on the back of each picture.  We are learning "Nephi's Courage".  These are the song I wrote on the backs of the nine pictures:

Nephi's Courage verse 1, Nephi's Courage verse 2, Nephi's Courage verse 3, Nephi's Courage all verses, Book of Mormon Stories, Books in the Book of Mormon, chorus of We'll Bring the World His Truth, We'll Bring the World His Truth verse 1, I Will Be Valiant

Game Rules:

If you do not know the rules to "Don't Eat Pete", then you can see the rules here.

Singing Time:

1.  Tape the pictures to the chalkboard in this formation:

(I do not know why I put numbers on each picture back in 2020.  My only guess is that I assigned the song on the backs of the pictures with a number on the front of the pictures and gave the list to the piano player.  If anyone has any other guesses then please let me know.)

2.  Put one m&m magnet on each picture.

3.  Choose a child that is being reverent to go out of the primary room.  Then have another reverent child come up to the front and point to the picture (or number) that is going to be "Nephi".

4.  Have the child that went out of the room come back into the room.  Have the child take one magnet off at a time.  When the child takes the magnet off the picture that is "Nephi" then everyone will say, "Don't eat Nephi!"  

5.  Take the "Don't Eat Nephi" picture off the board and see which song is on the back.  Then sing that song.

6.  You can choose to play the way I played the game or not.  I did not tape the pictures back up after they were chosen as "Don't eat Nephi" so that we could get to all of the songs.

7.  I handed out snack-sized m&m packets to all the children as they left primary since the game is usually played with real m&m's.