Family Home Evening Ideas

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Great question I'm still working on doing FHE but one thing I'm gong to do that we did as a kid that was really fun is after the lesson we'd go on scavenger hunt to find the FHE treat (which was usually chocolate licorice at our home a family favorite). My parents had cut out pictures of items around our home from the newspaper (I'd be able to find them on the internet now) and one picture would lead to another picture and then eventually the treat. It was one of the exciting things at the end of FHE. We also would read out of the kids book of mormon with pictures and one of us kids would lead the music, one would say the prayer then mom or dad would do the lesson till the kids got old enough to do it. My in laws family sometimes likes to pick a story out of the friend and the kids reinact it.

T.,

We have started, with our two young children, picking a theme for the week, finding a primary song and scripture that goes with it. We sing the song, and read the scripture together every night, and have other activites that go along with it. If you go to sugardoodle.net you can find lots of neat idea's. Just go to the file box and click on a letter, if there is a topic that intrests you clik on it and you will have coloring sheets usually and lots of different idea's. If you would like some specific idea's send me a private message and I can tell you what has worked for my family.

Good luck!

N.

For a lesson on David and Goliath make a minutare Goliath cut out and let the kids shoot mini marshmallows with a rubber band at Goliath.

My neighborhood created a moms group where we met a couple of times of year and each person created a lesson and duplicated it for the number of people in the group. We usually had 10 people. So for the work of creating one fun lesson and duplicating it you received 9 other lessons to use with your family. I got a lot of fun ideas from the other moms. My kids loved the lesson on the Atonement that used a hotwheels car to drive through life. It had the Savior creating bridges for us to get back across the flooded road, and with his help we finally make it back home.

We don't really plan our FHE's. We think of a topic that our family has been interested in during the week, or if we can't think of one of those, we just think of something. Or we have our oldest (6) teach about the lesson that he had on Sunday. Then we talk about it for a few minutes. We don't do it for very long at all, maybe 5 minutes. Sometimes we read from the Illustrated Scriptures books. Then often, our activity is making the treat, or going on a walk, or a quick craft.

That's it. But our kids remind us that it's FHE night, so they must enjoy it!

Topics we've discussed recently:

We got an impromptu "model" of the solar system to teach how the sun and moon and Earth orbit and rotate, and how day and night work. We used a few balls from the kids' stash and a flashlight. The kids loved that the lights were out, of course. And they love planets. We tied in how Christ created the earth and provided the moon and stars for light at night, and read the scripture about the earth and sun and all that.

We made a family emergency plan. We talked about what an emergency is, and what to do, like when to call 911. We let the kids practice using the phone and dialing 911, although we didn't let them press the button that would have sent the call through. Another night, we made a plan for other emergencies, like a fire. We decided to meet by the mailbox. Then we all went to our rooms for a second, set off the smoke alarm for a second, and then we all went out to the mailbox. We didn't all go together, either, so they would know to go by themselves. We also talked about who's responsible for getting the baby so the big brothers wouldn't try to save him. Stuff like that.

We've practiced paying tithing with a stack of ten pennies for each kid, and talked about what the money is used for. After a Fast Sunday, we talked about what Fast Offerings are used for, etc.

None of our lessons take much preparation. It's just a time to sit and talk about important things as a family.

Making cookies with thank you cards for someone who deserves a thank you from us.

Hi T.,

We use to have theme nights. We would dress-up and have dinner related to that theme. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved being creative.

R. Magby

We have started doing lessons out of Gospel Principles (the Relief Society/Priesthood manual). They're short enough and some have suggestions for families. Our kids even take turns (youngest is 7 ... so I don't know how well this applies to your family, but it may give ideas at least)

I'm not sure how old your kids are, but my 4 year old boy LOVES to help me or his father cook! I got him a special set of steps so he's tall enough and he loves to watch water boil, anything fry in a pan, helps stir and loves measuring ingredients out and dumping them in a bowl or cooking pot. He also LOVES helping with dishes! I'm going to get everything I can out of that before he realizes it's a "chore"! His little brother is only 2 and goes to bed pretty early, but I'll let him in on the "fun" in the kitchen when he's a little older.

Not sure how old your kids are but mine loved playing scrabble with me and dad by the time they were 5 or 6. Yahtzee was fun too. We always had board games to play.... when they got a little older 9 and 10ish we'd spend hours playing Monopoly. Games like tic tac toe are always fun too.
We always liked to do Science stuff as well.... like mixing baking soda with vinegar and things like that. You can make home made play doh together.
If you start racking your brain and take yourself back to when you were that age I bet all sorts of good ideas will come to mind.

at one time Desert book had a lesson plan. On Mondays that they give out free. Good luck. Have you gone to the site sugardoodle.net they have some to.

I bought the book "52 Weeks of Family Night" by Tamara Baggett. It is geared towards little ones. We have a 2 yr old and a 5 yr old and it works great with us. The lessons are short (usually around 1 1/2 pgs) and they have a scripture and a song that go with each lesson. We've enjoyed it a lot. We usually do those lessons 2-3 times a month and then do something else fun as a family (play games like Sorry, Chutes & Ladders, Candy Land, etc., go miniture golfing, go on a nature walk, go play at the park, etc.) I've got a bunch of other FHE lessons that I've gathered over the years, but they're geared toward a bit older kids. I like the idea that one mom posted about having a group of friends that would get together and swap lessons. I think that is great & I might try to see if I can get my friends to do the same! I think it is wonderful that you're doing this! Good luck & I hope you get some fabulous ideas!

-Shellie