So, Sunday, I had the opportunity to teach sharing time in my ward. The topic was honesty, yet with pioneer day being two days away, I wanted to do something to talk about the pioneers too. I of course went to sugardoodle to look for ideas and I came across a great one to tell stories about pioneer children that were being honest. It was a great lesson. You can find that link here. The kids loved this idea so much that I thought it would make a great FHE lesson too.
I decided to make a campfire for our primary kids. I took blankets for them to sit on since we are such a small primary. It was so much fun, and I think they paid better attention this time than they have in a while. As I was preparing for the lesson, I thought that this idea would make such a fun family home evening too. I did not have any tissue paper on hand to make the campfire, so I had to use stuff that I already had at home to make it. I used the following:
Rocks from my yard
1 empty wrapping paper roll
Red, Orange, and Yellow foam
Glue
Brown ink or brown markers to color roll
To make the campfire, I cut up the wrapping paper roll into six pieces. Color the rolls brown to look more like wood. For me, I used my stamp ink pad in brown and just rubbed on the rolls. Then, I glued them together in two triangles, one on top of the other. I took my foam and cut out campfire pieces in three different heights then layered them inside the paper triangles. I took an orange marker to color additional flames on the foam. Then, I put rocks in a circle outside the roll pieces. Here is the final result.
We took little miniature marshmallows and “roasted” them on toothpicks for our treat. The little flames on the outside corresponded with the stories I told. I picked different kids to put the flames back in the fire. Then, we read the story that corresponded with the little flame.
For Family home evening, you could easily adapt this to your family. Share stories of pioneers from your heritage. Or, share stories about pioneers that your children may already know. No matter what you decide to do for the lesson, your kids will love sitting around the campfire in the house, and hearing stories about the Mormon pioneers and pretending that they are pioneers too!