Alright people, I'm about to be real. For those who don't know, my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has two annual worldwide meetings known as general conference. It's 5 two hour sessions over two days of uplifting messages and instruction to be better people. It's great! That being said, this last one in October was the first time I had four children. I love my children immensely BUT 8 hours of gospel instruction over one weekend is a lot for their little bodies. (Note: I did do math correctly, one session is for members older than any of my children) With either that extra child or just the ages of my kids, I felt like I got the least out of conference in my life. This time, I wanted to have some activities under my belt to do. Here's what we've got:
I started with these popsicle stick puzzles. I just printed some pictures off on my computer - Christ, missionaries, temples, etc. and then lined up my sticks. I will tell you something that I learned. Printer paper isn't as sturdy as a photo, like she uses on her blog. The mod podge was smearing the colours and then transfering them to the container. Ugh. They also tear more easily, both in the application and the cutting. But, I have six ready to go and all things considered, they're pretty great.
Next up is a General Conference Wall. I'm doing it a little differently than she does. I'm going to put up pictures representing common words or stories from conference and whenever anyone hears one of them, they get to put a little sticker on the picture (in a page protector - don't worry, we're not wrecking pictures). Kids love stickers, right? Now, I need your input. The last few times, we've had chosen words and you'd get a candy if you heard it. I've decided, right now, that method doesn't help our home be peaceful and quiet while I'm trying to listen. Initially, I was thinking of just giving each of them a few treats after each two hour block. But now I'm thinking if each child has a different colour sticker, I could count up how many they have by the end and they get that many treats. Give me your thoughts on that. I'd love some other parent feedback.
If I get myself organized enough, I'd like to do this one also: conference mosaic. I think I'd just let them free for all the squares rather than drawing anything and having specific colours. I'll let you know how this goes if I do it.
Okay, now this one makes me a little vulnerable. I don't usually share things I have created for others to use but I thought this might help some of you fellow parents. I found a general authority memory game but it was quite outdated. I think 5 of the apostles have since died and all three women's auxiliary leaders have since been released. So I made my own. It has four pages. The first two are match the faces and the last two are match the person with their random fact. I'm sending them off to staples to print on heavy card stock. I won't have time before conference begins to do anything more than cut them. I might back them with fun patterned paper - two different types to differentiate the two games - or get them laminated...or both.
What are you doing with your kiddos over this conference weekend? Do you have any conference traditions?
If you are interested in checking out any of the sessions, they're at 10am, 2pm, 6pm (this is for the men in April and for the women in October) Saturday April 6 and 10am, 2pm Sunday April 7. You can watch here or live on youtube.
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