NEW TESTAMENT 2023 KIDS CFM ACTIVITY PRINTABLES BUNDLE (JAN - JUNE & JULY-DEC)
This Come Follow Me 2023 Kids Activity Book for Families & LDS Primary gives you simple, easy Come Follow Me printables for church and home.
With activity suggestions for every week of the month (Jan-June), you'll always have something quick and easy to give your kiddos to further engage them in the lessons each week while giving them plenty of variety* and fun while learning!
(42+ PGS of fun for Jan-Jun & lots more July-Dec! - Get when you join the printables library).
Hello and welcome to LDS Primary Printables. I'm so excited you are here! LDS Primary Printables provides Come Follow Me, Gospel Topics, Primary Events, and Primary Singing Time Resources for Families, Primary Teachers and Primary Music Leaders.
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I need to prepare (my heart) to learn the teachings of Jesus.
Display different kinds of soil (or pictures of soil) as you summarize Matthew 13:3–8*. Give each child a seed, and ask what they could do to help the seeds grow. Explain that our testimonies are like seeds. How do we help our testimony “seeds” grow? (As kids name ways they can grow their testimony, make Sally the "testimony" Sunflower grow).
Use this week’s activity page (along with the Parable of the Sower Folder Game) to help the children understand what each type of soil described in Matthew 13 teaches about our hearts. Ask the children which type of heart Jesus wants them to have in order to learn His teachings.
Read Matthew 13:9, 15, and invite the children to point to different parts of their body when they hear them mentioned. How can we use these body parts to learn the teachings of Jesus?
Before the lesson, print out these body parts figures (or make your own) and bring the EARS & EYES and a HEART, (cut one out of red paper and bring along with the other figures), and as time allows, the others from the poem below. Put each figure up on the board as you say that verse of the poem.
BODY PARTS POEM
Say a line and do the actions and have the kids repeat:
How can our EARS help us learn the teachings of Jesus?
My ears can listen (put hand up to ears) to good things (thumbs up) -
PAUSE
[Have kids name good things they can listen to - ex: the scriptures audiobook, conference, friend-to-friend broadcasts, church music, church meetings (talks, testimonies), etc.]
My ears can block (put hands over ears) the bad (thumbs down) -
PAUSE
[Have kids name bad things people sometimes hear or listen to - ex: saying mean things, listening to people be mean and doing nothing or participating in being mean, listening to bad music or movies, etc.]
For if I listen (hand to ear) to the things I should, and not to the bad (thumbs down),
The Spirit with me, then can dwell (touch heart), which will make me very glad. (big smile)
How can our EYES help us learn the teachings of Jesus?
My eyes can read the scriptures (open hands like opening a book);
My eyes can read the Friend (open hands);
My eyes can watch (circles with fingers around eyes) only that which is good (thumbs up);
My eyes can focus (circles around eyes) on Jesus and never bend! (shake finger no)
How can our HANDS help us learn the teachings of Jesus?
My hands can open the scriptures (open hands like opening a book);
My hands can pray to God (do prayer hands);
My hands can take the Sacrament (grab and eat bread);
My hands can hold to the iron rod (grab rod and hold tight).
(Tell the kids that holding to the iron rod means obeying the commandment, which means making sure our hands only do things that keep the commandments - like not hitting anyone, using our hands to serve, etc.).
How can our HEARTS help us learn the teachings of Jesus?
My heart can want to learn and grow (tap heart repeatedly),
My heart can be open to learning new things (hands to heart then open out from body then touch temple)
My heart can trust even when I don't know, (I don't know/"what" hands)
My heart can praise and sing! (hands together like in prayer shaking then one to mouth and out as if singing)
I can choose the right even when those around me do not.
Matthew 13:44–46 (FAMILY)
Some of Jesus’s parables teach that at the last day, God will separate the wicked from the righteous. How can you use the parables to inspire the children to choose the right?
Let the children act out the parable of the wheat and the tares (see Matthew 13:24–30). [And add the pieces to the folder game - see below]. Explain that the wheat represents people who make righteous choices, and the tares (harmful weeds) represent people who do not. One day, Heavenly Father will gather the righteous people to live
Give the children some examples of right and wrong choices. Ask the children to say “wheat choice” when you describe a right choice and “tare choice” when you describe a wrong choice. (See also - "Choose the Right" folder game and Obedience Post ).
Bring pictures of stalks of wheat, and let the children draw on the pictures some ways they can be righteous.
(FAMILY)
How can you help your family members understand the importance of willingly receiving Christ’s word? To demonstrate “ears [that] are dull of hearing,” you might cover a family member’s ears while you quietly read Matthew 13:13–16. How much did that family member understand from the verses? What are ways that we can open our eyes, ears, and hearts to the word of God? (see body parts poem above).
My membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a treasure.
How can you use the imagery of treasure and precious pearls to help the children understand the value of belonging to Christ’s Church?
Hide pictures of a treasure chest and a pearl in the room, and let the children find them (or use the treasure folder game play mat page - see below). Use the pictures to teach about the parables in Matthew 13:44–46. Talk about why someone might give up everything they have for a beautiful pearl or a treasure in a field. Explain that sometimes we give up something good for something even better.* Tell the children why the gospel is valuable to you.
Place in a box or chest several objects or pictures that represent “treasures” in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, such as the Savior, temples, or the Book of Mormon. Ask each child to choose an object or picture and talk about why it is a treasure (or use the pearl treasure folder game play mat page-see below)
Sing together “The Church of Jesus Christ” (Children’s Songbook, 77), and ask the children to talk about reasons they’re thankful for the Savior’s Church. Testify of the blessings you’ve experienced because of your membership in the Church.
(Older Primary)
Invite the children to read Matthew 13:44–46 to themselves and share the parables in their own words with another class member.
Cut out several circles to represent coins, and put them in a treasure box. Invite the children to pick a coin and draw or write on it one thing they love about being a member of the Church. Ask the children to share what they put on their coin. (Coin printable in the library in the CFM 2023 Kids Activity Bundle Jan - June).
Invite a ward member to share his or her conversion story with the children and tell what he or she sacrificed to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Or ask the children to talk about sacrifices they make for the Lord and His Church.
(FAMILY)
What do the two men in these parables have in common? Are there additional things we should be doing as individuals and as a family to put the kingdom of God first in our lives? (See Jesus/Idols craft and Temporal/Spiritual Folder Game for some fun activities you can use to teach this concept).
How does the Savior “loose” us from our infirmities?
Have family members had experiences that caused them to feel that they could not “lift [themselves] up”? Do we know someone else who feels this way? How can we help? How does the Savior “loose” us from our infirmities?
When have you felt peace and hope through the Savior despite heavy burdens?
What might prevent you from coming unto Christ and exercising faith in Him so that He can heal you?
“He will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. … And he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11–12).*
OTHER THOUGHTS:
Jesus heals on the Sabbath and teaches about humility and caring for the less fortunate.
Read the following scenario aloud: You are sitting at lunch with several friends, and they notice a poorly dressed student sitting alone. One person in your group makes a rude comment about the student’s appearance, and your friends laugh.
Invite everyone to ponder how they would feel in this situation.
What are several different ways in which you could react in this situation?
Invite students to look in Luke 13–14 for what the Savior taught about interacting with people who are
