Nursery Lesson 11: I Am Thankful for Fish
This lesson can be found at LDS.org
Notes: The nursery is for children ages 18 months to age three. The teacher uses the same manual as the Sunbeam class, which is for three and four year olds. The children in the nursery are young, and the lessons require some adaptation for them. I try to teach the entire lesson, but in a shortened form so that it takes only ten to fifteen minutes. I teach some sections in other parts of the nursery day, such as music time, the moments before snack, or while we wait for parents. These are only guidelines and you should always give priority to the manual, the direction of your leaders, and the promptings of the spirit. Each group of children is unique and teachers must consider the needs of their own classes rather than someone else's structure. Whenever I use additional materials beyond what is offered in the manual, I use only official church publications, as directed by the Primary.
This series of lessons are my favorites. They explore the days of creation and are so much fun for little ones. You will discover they require very little adaptation, and lend themselves well to a theme that can be carried out all day. Have fun with these! Keep the purpose firmly in mind, however. It can be easy to get sidetracked and forget the reason for the lesson.
The purpose of this lesson is to help children feel grateful for fish and water animals and to remember who created them. You can help children internalize this purpose by repeating the information again and again and by sharing your own gratitude for fish. You may want to spread a blue sheet on the floor and have the children pretend it is the ocean. Let them swim onto the sheet and sit on the ocean floor while you talk about fish.
Attention Activity: This can be taught as is, or skipped if you need to keep the lesson short. The next section’s opening is just as effective for attention getting, and may be easier if you just got the children settled and don’t want them to “swim” away. You may want to have them swim like fish later, during group play.
Heavenly Father asked Jesus Christ to create fish and other water animals:
This will be the most interesting part of the lesson for your students. Nursery children love to look at pictures. They may not be interested in too many facts about fish, but will enjoy talking about the colors and the setting. Toss in a few facts for the older children.
Activity: Now that the children have been sitting for a while, they will be ready to try this acting activity. Think about how to control it so you don’t lose your students.
Story: Jonah is fascinating to children. (Note that the Bible does not say it was a whale, so the lesson doesn’t say it either.) You can find good teaching aids for this story at LDS.org. Click on Gospel Library and do a search for Jonah in the Friend. Click here to find a flannel board story:
Flannel board pictures
Activity: Finger play. The children will enjoy this. Instead of small finger motions, you might want to use big motions. First do it for the children, and then invite them to “help” you do it. Repeat it each time you gather with the children today. You may want to do the other finger plays in this lesson at the same time, and then repeat them during singing time and while you wait for the parents. They can also do them while they wait for their snack.
Story: This story of Simon Peter can be told very briefly if your children are wiggly.
Purpose of Fish: Explain this briefly, but emphasize who created them and that they were created for us.
Story: Jesus feeding the people fish: You might want to tell this story just before snack and then serve goldfish shaped crackers.
Activity: Fishing. You may want to wait and do this during free play. Call a few children over at a time to play the game. Others will probably wander over out of curiosity and you can let everyone play who is interested. Tape their fish to the wall on a piece of blue paper to make a little ocean after you write their names on them. Be sure to add fish for any child who is not interested in playing.
There was enough to do in this lesson that the additional activities are probably not needed unless you want them.
By Terrie Lynn Bittner
Notes: The nursery is for children ages 18 months to age three. The teacher uses the same manual as the Sunbeam class, which is for three and four year olds. The children in the nursery are young, and the lessons require some adaptation for them. I try to teach the entire lesson, but in a shortened form so that it takes only ten to fifteen minutes. I teach some sections in other parts of the nursery day, such as music time, the moments before snack, or while we wait for parents. These are only guidelines and you should always give priority to the manual, the direction of your leaders, and the promptings of the spirit. Each group of children is unique and teachers must consider the needs of their own classes rather than someone else's structure. Whenever I use additional materials beyond what is offered in the manual, I use only official church publications, as directed by the Primary.
This series of lessons are my favorites. They explore the days of creation and are so much fun for little ones. You will discover they require very little adaptation, and lend themselves well to a theme that can be carried out all day. Have fun with these! Keep the purpose firmly in mind, however. It can be easy to get sidetracked and forget the reason for the lesson.
The purpose of this lesson is to help children feel grateful for fish and water animals and to remember who created them. You can help children internalize this purpose by repeating the information again and again and by sharing your own gratitude for fish. You may want to spread a blue sheet on the floor and have the children pretend it is the ocean. Let them swim onto the sheet and sit on the ocean floor while you talk about fish.
Attention Activity: This can be taught as is, or skipped if you need to keep the lesson short. The next section’s opening is just as effective for attention getting, and may be easier if you just got the children settled and don’t want them to “swim” away. You may want to have them swim like fish later, during group play.
Heavenly Father asked Jesus Christ to create fish and other water animals:
This will be the most interesting part of the lesson for your students. Nursery children love to look at pictures. They may not be interested in too many facts about fish, but will enjoy talking about the colors and the setting. Toss in a few facts for the older children.
Activity: Now that the children have been sitting for a while, they will be ready to try this acting activity. Think about how to control it so you don’t lose your students.
Story: Jonah is fascinating to children. (Note that the Bible does not say it was a whale, so the lesson doesn’t say it either.) You can find good teaching aids for this story at LDS.org. Click on Gospel Library and do a search for Jonah in the Friend. Click here to find a flannel board story:
Flannel board pictures
Activity: Finger play. The children will enjoy this. Instead of small finger motions, you might want to use big motions. First do it for the children, and then invite them to “help” you do it. Repeat it each time you gather with the children today. You may want to do the other finger plays in this lesson at the same time, and then repeat them during singing time and while you wait for the parents. They can also do them while they wait for their snack.
Story: This story of Simon Peter can be told very briefly if your children are wiggly.
Purpose of Fish: Explain this briefly, but emphasize who created them and that they were created for us.
Story: Jesus feeding the people fish: You might want to tell this story just before snack and then serve goldfish shaped crackers.
Activity: Fishing. You may want to wait and do this during free play. Call a few children over at a time to play the game. Others will probably wander over out of curiosity and you can let everyone play who is interested. Tape their fish to the wall on a piece of blue paper to make a little ocean after you write their names on them. Be sure to add fish for any child who is not interested in playing.
There was enough to do in this lesson that the additional activities are probably not needed unless you want them.
By Terrie Lynn Bittner