Nursery Lesson 6--Heavenly Father and Jesus Love Me
Read the lesson online.
Notes: The children in the nursery use the same lesson as the Sunbeam-4 class. Because the nursery children are so much younger, many teachers find it challenging to adapt the lesson. Following are suggestions for adapting this lesson for the nursery. It can also be used for Sunbeam classes that are less mature or less experienced. Remember that these are only my own ideas. Your first choice should always be to follow the manual, the advice of your leaders and the handbook. Naturally, you will also use prayer and inspiration to help you find the best way to teach this class.
Title: Heavenly Father and Jesus Love Me
Purpose:
To help each child feel that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love each of us.
Welcome:
Playtime: 35 minutes
The manual says children should, for the most part, play without adult intervention or control. Activities can be carried out, but children are free to participate or to refuse to participate. You might want to have the craft available during this time, for children who want to do it. Those who don't can be given one to take home.
Craft: This lesson comes with a craft. Many little children are not ready to color yet, so you might want to have some prepared ahead. While the children are enjoying free play, invite one or two children to do the craft with an adult. (Don’t require it of children who aren’t interested. They can be given a prepared craft.) Use large crayons and watch to be sure they don’t eat them. If you are trying to teach the children to glue, look for giant glue sticks. Let the children take the stick in the hands. The adult should place her hands over the child’s hands and guide him. Show them how to glue correctly. The older ones may soon learn to do this alone.
Gathering Time: 10 minutes
Since this time is somewhat more informal and is to include discussion, use the attention activity at the beginning of the lesson. Many nursery children do not talk well or don’t know how to answer questions. If possible, learn the answers to these questions in advance. If you can't contact parents before Sunday, have the parents write the names of two people who love the child and something those two people do for the child when the parents sign the child in. Ask each child the question, and wait to see if she answers. If not, answer for her. “Does your mommy love you? How does your mommy show you that she loves you? Does she tuck you in at night?”
If your group is small, you might want to give them dolls and let them pretend to be parents. Ask them to show some ways parents take care of children. You could also do this with flannel board pictures, asking the children to talk about them as you show them.
You might also want to use the mirror activity that is at the very end of the lesson. You can repeat it again later. Children love mirrors and you can't tell them too often how much Heavenly Father loves them.
Music Time: 10 minutes
There are two songs included in this lesson. When first introducing My Heavenly Father Loves Me, use pictures or real objects. If your objects are sturdy and safe, let the children hold them. (Have one per child.) Then teach them actions.
Jesus Loved the Little Children: You can add hand motions if it helps the children. For the first line, cross hands over your heart. Point to yourself for the second line. There isn’t an obvious motion for the third line. If you need one, nod your head. For the fourth line, pat knees.
This is a good time to review I Am a Child of God. Any previous action song is also good--point out that Heavenly Father gave us bodies because He loves us.
Snack Time: 10 minutes
For this lesson, natural foods--fruits, veggies--are good, since you can remind them Heavenly Father helped these things to grow because He loves us and wants us to have good food.
Lesson Time: 10 minutes
Show the picture of the First Vision to remind the children who God and Jesus are. Let them tell you what they remember. If you told a flannel board version in previous lessons, use it later in the day.
Heavenly Father and Jesus Give Us Blessings: Show pictures of things Heavenly Father created and talk about them in the context of this portion of the lesson. Little ones learn better from pictures than words, and many can’t answer your questions. (This is enrichment activity 3.)
Read the scripture called for in this section. Little children should see and hear scriptures being read. Hold up the Bible and tell the children what it is. “Do you know what this is? It’s a Bible. It tells us about Heavenly Father and Jesus. Listen while I read something it says.” The more often the children hear scriptures read, the more familiar they will become with the language and the content. Give them the reference even if you are sure they don’t understand you.
Jesus Showed His Love for Children: This story can be told in just a few sentences if your children aren’t listeners. Then focus on the picture and emphasize how happy Jesus and the children are together. If you have a small class, you might want to use the illustrated New Testament put out by the church. Use both pictures in this section, since your class is young. Show both and explain that these children lived close to where we live (if you live in the Americas) and are in the Book of Mormon. The other children live far away and are told about in the Bible. No matter where we live, Jesus loves us. These two sections combine nicely.
If you have a globe, have it available and during closing, show the children where the two places are that Jesus visited children. Even though they're small, they will enjoy this and it's not too soon to introduce a bit of geography.
Activity Time: 15 minutes
If you didn't do the craft during play time, make it available now. You could also offer it to children who didn't want to do it before.
Teach the activity rhymes from the lesson.
If your class is old enough and interested enough, invite them to act out various things Heavely Father and Jesus made for us--they can be tiny seeds in the ground that grow, act like a bunny rabbit, and so on.
Seed routine: First the children are gardeners. They kneel down and dig. Then they put in their seed. (While they're digging, let them tell you what kind of seed it is.) Cover the seed. Water it. Now the children switch and become the seed. Slowly grow taller and taller.
Bring out the mirror and let the children make funny faces.
Review a song.
Closing: Ten minutes
By Terrie Lynn Bittner