Why is it Important to Listen to and Follow the Living Prophets?

I typed this up as an outline of a Sunday YW lesson, but it was also easily adapted to our family's FHE lesson the next night.  For both the young women and my children, I found that the process of highlighting and subsequently writing the prophet's words on the wall surrounding a picture of President Monson was a very powerful and memorable illustration. Click here for printable version of all images.
 Why is it Important to Listen to and Follow the Living Prophets? 
Lesson by Lara Goold

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE VERSION OF THE PICTURES

Suggested Songs:
"We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet,"  Hymns, page 19
"Latter-day Prophets," Children's Songbook, page 134
 "Follow the Prophet," Hymns, page 110

Lesson Purpose:  To help the young women to understand what a great blessing it is to have a living prophet on the earth to give us guidance and direction for these latter-days.

Scripture:  "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."  Amos 3:7

PREPARATION: 
1.  print enough copies of the talk,  Believe, Obey, and Endure for every YW (or member of your family)
2.  gather pens or pencils for every YW, also chalk and tape 
3.  Print off large picture of President Monson
4. (optional) print off wallet size pictures of President Monson for each of the YW to tape into their notebooks while they take notes

OPENING PRAYER:

ANALOGY OF THE GARDEN MAZE (see this link for printable version of pictures):     Imagine you are in a maze that is made up of tall hedges.  The bushes are too thick to see through, too tall to see over, and you can't tell whether you are heading towards a dead-end until you are right there. (SHOW PICTURE OF PEOPLE INSIDE THE MAZE) You start off knowing the approximate direction of where the exit is, but quickly lose your bearings and can't do anything more than wander aimlessly until you find the correct path out.  Then you notice a little look-out tower.  (SHOW PICTURE OF MAZE FROM THE LOOKOUT) You climb the tower and you can regain your bearings again and  plot a path to the exit.

Relate being lost in the maze to being lost in the maze of our lives.  Talk about how easy it is to get caught up in the "maze of life" and focus only on what is right in front of us.

ASK:  What are some of the concerns that are in your maze of life?  (you're looking for answers like a hard physics test, getting into college, boys, friends,  etc)

WRITE:  Have one of the YW come write on the picture of the people inside of the maze, some of the answers received.

TEACH:  There is someone we can look to who has been given the keys to be on the look-out  for our day and time.  They have the perspective of being able to see all the twists and turns in the maze and give us guidance and direction that will help us to the finish line (eternal life).

SHOW PICTURE OF PRESIDENT MONSON and tape to the top of the chalkboard.

DRAW a simple watchtower underneath the picture and explain that God has given him the authority to see.

BELIEVE, OBEY, and ENDURE: 
Hand out a pen and copy of the article to each student:  Divide the YW into groups and assign each  group a page of the article to read and to circle important messages that President Monson has given to the YW for this day and this time.

HAVE EACH PERSON SHARE SOMETHING THEY'VE CIRCLED IN THE ARTICLE:   and ask for a volunteer to come make speech bubbles around the prophet and write in the words of the prophet that the YW shared from the article.   If the girls have class journals, have them glue in a  wallet size picture of President Monson and reproduce this in their notebooks while you go around the room.

 Here are some of the things that our girls came up with:  Decisions determine destiny, seminary changes lives, they are a daughter of Heavenly Father, pray for guidance, fan the flame of your testimony, choose to obey, there is a way back!  

VIDEO:   watch this video  and discuss. 

SHARE A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF FOLLOWING THE PROPHET:  and the blessings you received.  Bear your testimony about what a remarkable blessing it is to live in a day and a time that there is a living prophet.

CLOSING PRAYER:


HANDOUT (printable version below):

Additional Reading Material: 
YW Lesson:  Why is it Important to Listen to and Follow the Living Prophet?


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Why We Need a Prophet Printable Pictures by Lara Goold

Teaching the Gospel Using Questions

Today's youth are used to information being presented in short little bursts.  Twitter and Facebook have shortened their attention spans to the point that it's difficult for them to concentrate on the same thing for 5 minutes, yet alone the length of the average church lesson. We all know that we learn better when we are engaged in the lesson being taught, but as a teacher sometimes the task of engaging the students is difficult in practice, because engaging the students means that as teachers we need to be better prepared and more engaged ourselves.

 In my article 14 Ways to Engage Students in the New Youth Curriculum, I presented some ideas of helping students to use both sides of their brain as they learn.  In this article I will present some more ideas from the same teacher training and talk about using questions to help students learn the gospel.

When Jesus Christ taught the people, he taught them with patience and understanding.  He sought to know his students enough, that he could teach in a way that connected with them. We've all read the accounts of Christ using parables and real life examples that illustrated what he was teaching far better than an hour long dissertation on the philosophy of it ever could.

Think of  when Christ answered the Pharisee's accusations in Luke 5 with the simple question, "Whether [it] is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?"  The act of curing the palsied man would have been remarkable enough, but with the question to provoke some deeper thinking, it was all the more a powerful teaching moment.  We can harness that same power when we teach.  Think of questions that invite thought and allow them to reach their own conclusions about what you are teaching.  Those kind of lessons will stick with them much longer than when all the information is spoon fed to them.

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The following are presented as a series of questions, in order from least to most thought provoking.  Our teacher encouraged using them in order as a way to build understanding during a lesson.


Different Types of Questions to use during lessons (with examples of how to use them)

1.  Search for information
Example:  What are the steps of prayer?

2.  Analyze for understanding
Example:  What things are appropriate to pray for?

3.  Invite feelings / testimony
Example:  What are your personal experiences with prayer?

4.  Encourage application
Example:  What will you work on this week to improve your prayers?

Using Time Wisely FHE Lesson

We actually used this as a mini YW lesson to help the girls pass off a choice and accountability value experience, but as I was teaching it I thought that it would make for a great family home evening lesson for older kids and teens as well.  A printable version of the handout can be found here. 

Opening Prayer:

Opening Song: Hymns #266, "The Time is Far Spent"

Scriptures:  Ecclesiastes 3:1, Doctrine and Covenants 60:13, Article of Faith #13

Materials Needed:  A clock, the video, and handout (click here to get it in a printable version)

Discussion:  Imagine for a second that each and every day, your bank account is credited with $86,400.    But at the end of each day the money disappears.    What would you do?

You would try to use up every penny of it every day.

Show:  Show them a clock and tell them that each and every day they are given exactly 86,400 seconds  to use as we choose.   We can't save them for another day.  Once the seconds are passed, they are gone and it is up to us how we use them.

Discuss:  According to studies, the average person spends 35-40 hours in front of a television or computer screen.  That is an average of 5-6 hours (=18,000 seconds) per day, which equates to approximately 20% of every day.    Think of what we could accomplish if we tried to cut that time down by half or fourth.

Quote:  
If you have a twenty-hour-a-week television habit and would repent and convert in into a gospel study habit, in one year you could read the Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, and the entire Bible.  In addition, you could read Jesus the Christ, Gospel Principles, the Relief Society manual, Preach my Gospel, the Miracle of Forgiveness,  and this would still leave you time to read the Ensign, New Era, and Friend each month.  This is based on your ability to read only ten pages an hour.
paraphrased from Elder William Bradford


Video:  Choose This Day (embedded below)

Recite Article of Faith #13 (emphasizing "seeking after praiseworthy pursuits"):
We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Discuss:  What kinds of things qualify as "praiseworthy"?  The answers could be reading scriptures, serving others, developing a talent, being a better friend, sharing the gospel, writing letters to grandparents or missionaries, helping a family member, staying caught up in school, doing family history, etc.

Conclude:  Encourage students to try to prioritize their time in such a way that they can use a greater portion of their time each day in more praiseworthy pursuits.  Bear your testimony  of how you've been blessed as you've tried to use your 86,400 seconds each day more wisely.

Closing Song: Scripture Power

Closing Prayer:


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Divine Nature Week: The Last Envelope

Okay, okay...I just realized that I promised to post about the final envelope in the Divine Nature Week a long time ago and haven't done it yet.   

The final envelope contained two things: 
1.  this letter 
2.  Two copies of a picture  (shown below) of each YW (printed in matte finish in 4x6 size at Costco).  One copy was for them to tape into their journals, the other was to hang up in their room.  Enlarged and framed, it would also make for a  special gift for a graduating senior or for a birthday gift.  

A couple of weeks beforehand I had handed out the following survey to the YW, the leaders,  and their parents.  Each parent would write 3 sincere compliments about their daughter and each YW and leader would write three sincere compliments about three other YW.  So each person had 4 different people (including their parents) who complimented them.  I tried to assign people to compliment people that they knew fairly well. 

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SURVEY 

--> Please write three sincere compliments about each of the people listed and turn into Sister G. before or during YW.   Please make sure the compliments are about them or their character (not something superficial like what they’re wearing, etc).   Thank you! 

Ana:
1.
2.
3.

Rachel:
1.
2.
3.

Kaili:
1.
2.
3.

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Afterward I compiled all of the responses into one long list for each girl.  Then in Photoshop Elements, I cropped the background out of their photos, and added the compliments in different fonts. 

It ended up turning out very well and the girls really seemed to treasure their photo as a very special keepsake.  The whole week ended up being very memorable for me as well as many of the young women.  It is my prayer that the young women will reread their letters and admire their photos often, especially as they hit discouraging or difficult times in their lives. 


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Baptism Candy Bar Note

I can't take any credit for this candy bar note whatsoever, but I thought it was so cute when the primary presidency presented it to my daughter at her baptism this past weekend, that I wanted to remember it for the future.  They attached everything with rolled up packing tape and used a sharpie to cross off the part of the title of the candy  that wasn't applicable to the message.  It was a perfect, inexpensive, fun little baptism gift with a great message.   It would be perfect for  primary presidencies or for anyone looking to give a little something special to someone who is getting baptized! 


Dear Ellie SWEETTARTS,
Congratulations! We are so proud of YORK decision today.  You know baptism in more than a FUNDIP in the water.  It is an EXTRA special covenant between you and Heavenly Father.  This promise will bring you so much ALMOND JOY.  You also received the gift of the Holy Ghost today.  Use it MOUNDS so you can always know how to FRUIT CHEWS the right.  It is UP2U to keep your covenant.  You shine like a STARBURST! 
Love,
The Primary

The Atonement and the Tree of Life

The Atonement and the Tree of Life

SONGS:
"Christ the Lord is Risen Today,"  Hymns, page 200
"He is Risen," Hymns, page 199
"He Sent His Son,"  Children's Songbook, page 34

ATONEMENT SCRIPTURES: 
Alma 34:9--the atonement is necessary or we will perish
Alma 34:14-16--mercy can satisfy the demands of justice
2 Nephi 9:26--atonement saves us from hell
Doctrine and Covenants 88:6--Christ can comprehend all things
Mosiah 13:27-32--why we cannot be saved by just keeping the law of Moses
John 3:16-17--God sent Christ to atone for us because He loves us

EASTER FHE LESSON IDEAS:
Christ's Atonement--with the Parable of the Ketchup
Easter Walk with Jesus--go on a family walk and find objects that symbolize Christ's atonement
Symbols of Easter--a fun lesson to help tie the Easter Bunny into the true meaning of Easter
Easter Coloring Book--a simple coloring book about the life of Jesus and His sacrifice for us

OBJECT LESSON IDEA:
Drops of Awesome

QUOTES: 
"No mortal can cry out, "He does not understand my plight, for my trials are unique."  There is nothing outside the scope of the Savior's experience.  As Elder Maxwell observed, "None of us can tell Chrsit anything about depression."  As a result of his mortal experience, culminating in the Atonement, the Savior knows, understands, and feels every human condition, every human woe, and every human loss.  He can comfort as no other.  He can life burdens as no other.  He can listen as no other.  There is no hurt he cannot soothe, rejection he cannot assuage, loneliness he cannot console.  Whatever affliction the world casts at us, he has a remedy of superior healing power."  Tad R Callister, Infinite Atonement


"Each of us will taste the bitter ashes of life, from sin and neglect to sorrow and disappointment. But the atonement of Christ can lift us up in beauty from our ashes on the wings of a sure promise of immortality and eternal life. He will thus lift us up, not only at the end of life, but in each day of our lives."  Bruce Hafen

"I suspect that many Church members are much more familiar with the nature of the redeeming and cleansing power of the Atonement than they are with the strengthening and enabling power. It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ came to earth to die for us—that is fundamental and foundational to the doctrine of Christ. But we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to live in us—not only to direct us but also to empower us...

The gospel of the Savior is not simply about avoiding bad in our lives; it also is essentially about doing and becoming good. And the Atonement provides help for us to overcome and avoid bad and to do and become good. Help from the Savior is available for the entire journey of mortality—from bad to good to better and to change our very nature."  Elder David A Bednar

“It is through the grace of the Lord Jesus, made possible by his atoning sacrifice, that mankind will be raised in immortality, every person receiving his body from the grave in a condition of everlasting life. It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts.”  Bible Dictionary

"There is one who understands, who sympathizes. He was misunderstood, rejected, knew supreme loneliness, was poor and had not a place to lay his head, suffered anguish and conflict of mind.  He understands.  He can give pardon and bring peace."  Marion D. Hanks

VIDEOS ABOUT EASTER AND CHRIST'S ATONEMENT

 

14 Ways to Engage Students in the New Youth Curriculum

I went to a stake leadership training meeting this morning and came out with an entire page of detailed notes about how to engage students in the new youth curriculum.  The teacher of the class, Sister Bowen, is my son's early morning seminary teacher and has the chance to use these methods with a group of sleepy  high school students every single day.  Some of the ideas may be a little better suited to a seminary class, but I think all of them have the potential to really engage the youth (whether it be in a church classroom or during family home evening) and get them to use different parts of their brain as they learn the information in the lessons.   I'm one of those people who really needs to do more than just listen to a lesson in order to really get it to stick, so I wouldn't mind if  Sunday School and Relief Society teachers used some of these sometimes too!

One of the concepts that really stuck with me from her lesson is that sometimes as teachers we get too wrapped up in each student "contributing" to the class and forget that "participating" can be done in many different ways.  Just as we don't always contribute to a testimony meeting by sharing our testimonies out loud, it doesn't mean that we haven't participated  and felt the spirit.  It's more important to engage students and help them to actively learn the material, than it is for them to answer all the questions.   Here are some of the ideas she shared with us on how we can do that:

1. One Thing--Instead of asking the youth to retell an entire story or explain a complicated gospel concept, ask everyone to share just one thing about it.  This will allow more of the class to be involved and makes it less intimidating to answer. 

2. Draw--Don't be afraid to pull out the crayons and markers.  Just because they're teenagers, doesn't mean they won't a enjoy a minute to illustrate a scripture story or concept.  It won't be fine art, but it will give them the opportunity to use the other side of their brain as they're learning the lesson. 

3. Every Third Person--When asking people to read scriptures or whatever, instead of going right around the room, have every third person do it.  It's just another way to "spread the love" and make sure that more of the class has an opportunity to participate regardless of where they're sitting in the classroom.

4. Mix it Up--If you find that your class tends to always sit in the same seats and next to the same people, find a way to mix it up.  Have everyone write down their favorite song (or whatever), then have them sit alphabetically based on the what they've written down. 

5. Quizzes--Occasionally give short (low pressure) quizzes to help make sure they understand the material.  To make it even more meaningful, have them take turns writing the quizzes themselves. 

6. White Boards--Buy cheap whiteboards and dry-erase markers (at the dollar store or Walmart) for each member of the class.  Ask them a question and have them write their answer on the whiteboard and display their answers all at the same time.  It gives them an opportunity to think of the answer independently and also introduces a tad bit of healthy competition.   

7. Chalkboard--Give them the opportunity to move their bodies and come write something on the chalkboard.  They can fill in the blanks of a scripture, write down class feedback, or draw out a chart. 

8. New Era--Don't be afraid to use stories and tidbits from the New Era (or Ensign).  It's an especially great place to find real life examples of people living the principles of the gospel.

9. Write--Provide paper and allow them to write.  It can be as simple as taking notes, copying down charts, or giving them a minute to write down their thoughts.   The act of writing things down will give their brains one more way to process the information, so that hopefully they'll remember it better.

10. Journals--Beyond just providing paper, give them class journals to take notes in, write down their thoughts or experiences, or glue in handouts.  You can use a composition notebook or small binder.  Either way it's probably best if they keep the journals at church, so they always have them during class. 

11. Caveman Speak--To liven things up, have everyone summarize their answers into 5 words or less (caveman speak). 

12. Epistles--Have the students write an epistle to someone about a gospel topic that  is meaningful to them. 

13. Facebook--print off a template of a facebook page and have them create facebook pages for people in church history or from the scriptures.  Make sure they include their beliefs, interests, and status updates. 

14. Media--Occasionally find ways to connect people in the media  with the lesson you're teaching.  It can be as an example of someone who's made bad (or good) choices, or someone who's sung a particularly meaningful song, or someone who's done contributed to society in a meaningful way, etc.    Our teacher shared how she brought in a bunch of pictures of Tim Tebow  and together they made a list of the scriptures he'd written on his face.  They looked up each of the scriptures and then had each class member pick the scripture they would write on their own faces. 

YW Divine Nature Activity

NEW:   Click here to see the final day's envelope. (the rest are listed below)

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Based on an idea I saw here, I wanted to make a special activity for the young women in our ward to help them to understand their great worth and divine nature.  I decided to link it to the lesson, "Who am I and who can I become?"  At the end of the lesson, I distributed a manila envelope to each girl filled with 8 individual envelopes to open on consecutive days.  I encouraged them to open them at quiet moments when they could devote a few minutes to reading it and writing in their journal afterward. 

Each envelope had a special message inside along with an encouraged action to complement the message....usually writing in their journals.  It ended up being a meaningful experience for me to put together, as well as a special activity for the girls.  I was really touched by some of the comments I heard from the girls and their parents.   I think the younger girls were a little more excited than the older ones, but I  figure if it touched even one of their hearts then it was a worthwhile expenditure of my time. 

Click here to read what I included in the envelopes  for days 1-7 (day 8 will be included in a separate post).   I was a little sad that my fun fonts and formatting did not transfer from Word to Google Docs, but you should be able to copy and paste it into your own Word document and make it your own.  Please note that a couple of the days include notes that share personal experiences.  You'll definitely want to change those up and make them your own.   Additionally, I personalized it wherever I could and tried to use their names as much as possible.   

Materials Needed (per person):
*8 envelopes
*one pencil
*printed notes  (find the link here, noting that you'll have to tweak at least Days 5 & 7 and  make them your own)
* a YW divine nature cootie catcher (see below)
*any desired embellishments to beautify the paper and/or envelopes

Here is the YW value cootie catcher included in Day 3's envelope.  Simply right click on the image, copy it, then paste it into a Word document and adjust it to the size you desire before printing.  Please note that it needs to be square shaped in order to fold properly.   See this demo for how to fold a cootie catcher, keeping in mind that you can skip the first three steps of the demo. 

And lastly here's a recap of the Personal Progress requirements they can pass off if they do each of the days' activities. 

Monday:  Individual Worth #3 or Good Works (write-in)
Tuesday:  Individual Worth #7
Wednesday:  Knowledge #3
Thursday:  Individual Worth #1
Friday:  Individual Worth #4 or Faith (write-in) 


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Day 8 was a little too much include in this post, so I've made another post about it.  Find it HERE!

Here's a sneak peek: 

Old-Fashioned Christmas Activities (based on Little House books)

Longtime readers of this blog might remember when I blogged about the summer craft clubs we do each year (read about them here or here).   They've been a very fun part of our summers the last few years and I love the friendships and artistic skills my kids have developed through their participation.  This year we decided that the summer just wasn't long enough for such fun things, so we opted to continue the group through the school year, meeting together one Friday night a month.  When I hosted this past week, I thought it would be fun to capitalize on the proximity to Christmas as well as my 7-year-old's fascination with the Little House books, so we made it a fun night of old-fashioned Christmas activities.  It was a blast and perfect for the age range of girls (7-9 years old).  They loved the quotes from the book that I read to accompany each activity.   I think that this activity would also be great for similarly aged boys (maybe without the Little House emphasis).   :) 


All quotes from this book:



Activity:  Making heart shaped cookies with sugar sprinkled on top


Prep:  Have the gingerbread dough made and refrigerated beforehand, so all that the children need to do is cut out their shapes and sprinkle them with sugar.  We made little tinfoil labels and tucked them underneath each cookie, so they could keep track of whose was whose. 

Quote:  (page 34) "And the stockings weren't empty yet!  Mary and Laura reached in and pulled out two small packages.  Inside each package was a little heart-shaped cake.  The tops of the little cakes were sprinkled with white sugar.  The sparkling grains looked like tiny drifts of snow."  


Activity:  Stitching together stockings 


Materials:  Embroidery floss, chenille needles (thick but still pointy enough to get through the felt), felt.

Prep:  Have the stockings cut out in advance, thread the needles and knot the threads (and maybe even make the first couple of stitches for them), so they can each get started sewing right away. 

Quote:  (Page 48)--this quote doesn't really talk about making their own stockings, but it does talk about hanging them up.  I figured that it was safe to assume that their stockings were most likely homemade.

"Aren't you girls going to hang your stockings?" Pa asked. 

"But I  thought Santa Claus was going to bring us horses," Laura said.

"Maybe he will," said Pa.   "But little girls always hang up their stockings on Christmas Eve, don't they?"  



Activity:  Apples studded with whole cloves

Materials:  plenty of whole cloves (found in the spice section) and apples (or oranges)--we actually used clementines when we did the activity, since they were on sale for a great price that week. 

Prep:  None

Quote:  (page 15) "Aunt Eliza had brought Ma a large red apple stuck full of cloves.  How good it smelled!"

Treat:  Peppermint sticks (I found them at Walmart and at the drugstore)

Quote:  (page 34) "They plunged their hands into the stockings again.  Out came two long sticks of candy.  It was peppermint candy, striped red and white.  They looked and looked at the beautiful candy.  Laura licked her stick, just one lick.  But Mary was not so greedy.  She didn't even take one lick."

Handmade Wooden Nativity Tutorial

This post is a little different than my standard fare here at The Golden Seven, but it's something that I'm excited about sharing with you, so I hope you'll bear with me.   A couple of years ago I went to an Enrichment meeting where people shared their ideas for inexpensive handmade Christmas gifts.   I don't remember much else that was discussed that night, except for this idea from my friend, Becca Tippets.  She had had a relative serve a mission in Finland who had brought them home a nativity set.  She looked at it one day and decided that she wanted to try to recreate it herself.  Armed only with the idea of her own nativity she went to the craft store and figured out how to do it from scratch.   Although I'm not sure I ever would have thought to make my own in the first place, Becca's  creativity proved to be as amazing as everything else about her and her version not only turned out beautifully, but she had also typed up detailed instructions of how to make it and shared it with the rest of us.  That Christmas season, my sister and I  (mostly my sister) made several handmade Finnish nativity sets for gifts for family members. 

This year I decided to make one more set and take more detailed pictures along the way, so that I could create this step-by-step tutorial and share it here with you.   The directions are still mostly Becca's with some slight modifications and tricks added that we learned along the way.  

Keep in mind, that this can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be.  We made the full version, but you could make only the Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus for a very simple and inexpensive version. Or leave out one or more of the animals. We used a wooden clementine box as the stable, which didn't add any cost at all, but you could also use fabric draped over stacks of books!  Enjoy!  

Click here for PRINTABLE VERSION ( the text with only the basic pictures).

Directions by Becca Tippets
Pictures and adaptations by Lara Goold

SHOPPING LIST  (shop in the wood aisle of a craft store) 

Materials Needed	Which figure it belongs to	Amount (type of packaging)	cost
Small wooden goose eggs (about 3-inches tall)	Bodies of people and animals	10	2.29 per egg (x10)
1 ¼ inch doll heads	Heads of people, angel	7 (come in value packs of 9)	3.99 per bag
5/8 inch round wooden beads	Hands of Joseph, shepherd, and 1 wiseman; feet of angel	5 (come in value packs of 7)	1.69 per bag
3/8 in round wooden beads	Head piece for angel and Mary and tops of crown for wisemen, ears for one animal	25 (come in value packs of 71)	3.49 per bag
2 inch doll head	Body of angel	1	1.99 per head
Pullet eggs	Heads of animals	3 (come in pack of 3)	1.19 per pack
Robin egg half (or a very small oval paper mache box)	Manger	1 (comes in pack of 2)	1.19 per pack
Assorted wooden bowls or 1-inch wooden wheels	Crown piece for wisemen	3 biggest (come in pack of 9)	1.19 per pack
Acorn dowel cap (1-1/8-inch)	Present for wiseman	1 (come in pack of 2)	1.29 per pack
Boy game piece	Jesus	1 (comes in pack of 3)	1.29 per pack
¾ inch block	Present for wiseman	1 (comes in pack of 6)	1.29 per pack
Wooden ring (in the jewelry section) or a dark wooden letter “O” 1-1/2 inches	Hat for Joseph and shepherd	2 big rings (comes in assorted pack in jewelry)	3.99 per pack
Shell rings (in jewelry section) or light colored letter “O”	Horns for sheep	2 broken in half (comes in pack of 5 in jewelry)	3.99 per pack
.47 cm  or 3/16-inch wooden dowel	Attach heads and arms to body	1	.29
3 pieces of floral wire 6-7 inches long	Staff for Joseph, Shepherd, and 1 wiseman		1.99
Yellow, purple, red, blue, white, brown, green paint	To color bodies		.69 each color
Clear finish spray paint (optional)	I used flat, but I think gloss would look better

wooden clementine box (for stable)
Total cost:  $56.77 (not including tools needed)

TOOLS NEEDED:
1.  drill
2.  7/32 drill bit
3.  hack saw
4.  wood glue
5.  hot glue gun
6.  wire clippers
7.  sander and sand paper

DIRECTIONS:

Joseph (green)

1.     Using 7/32 drill bit a.     Drill hole in top of goose egg (to place head) b.     Drill hole 1.5 inches down on the side (for arm) c.      Widen the hole (with the drill) in 1 ¼ inch doll head d.     Drill hole in 5/8 inch bead perpendicular to preexisting holes 2.     Paint whole egg (green) 3.     Cut  2 pieces of dowel about 1-inch long 4.     Put a dab of wood glue in all the holes 5.     Assemble head and body using dowel to connect the two 6.     Put the hand on using a dowel 7.     Cut a piece of wire and bend into candy cane shape to make a staff, put through hand hole 8.     Hot glue wooden donut ring (or dark colored wooden "O") to Joseph’s head

 

Mary (light blue)

1.     Using 7/32 drill bit a.     Drill hole in top of goose egg (to place head) b.     Widen the hole (with the drill) in 1 ¼ inch doll head 2.     Paint egg (light blue) 3.     Cut  1 piece of dowel about 1-inch long 4.     Put a dab of wood glue in all the holes 5.     Assemble head and body using dowel to connect the two 6.     String 10 of the 3/8 round beads into crown shape and glue onto head using hot glue

See pictures for Joseph for steps 1-5 (omitting drilling the second hole for a hand)

 

Wisemen (red, purple, yellow)

1.     Using Saw a.     Cut bottom .5 inches off of each egg (3 times) 2.     Using 7/32 drill bit a.     Drill hole .5 inches down from  top of goose egg (3 times) (to place the bowed heads) b.     Drill hole 1.5-2 inches down on the side of one goose egg (for a hand) c.      Widen the hole (with the drill) in 1 ¼ inch doll head d.      Drill hole in 5/8 inch bead perpendicular to preexisting holes 3.     Paint each wiseman a different color (red, purple, yellow) 4.     Assemble each body and head with a 1- inch dowel 5.     Assemble hand on one body 6.     Glue acorn cap on belly of handless wiseman using hot glue (as a gift) 7.     Glue cube on body of belly of other handless wiseman using hot glue (as another gift) or drill a hole in body and cube and attach with wooden dowel

Angel (white)

1.     Using 7/32 drill bit a.     Drill hole in round top of 2 inch doll head (to place head) b.     Widen the hole (with the drill) in 1 ¼ inch doll head 3.     Paint large doll head  and the two 5/8 inch beads white 4.     Using wood glue and a 1-inch piece of the dowel assemble head and body 5.     Cut (two) 2.5 inch strings and thread them through the 5/8 inch beads, then glue them to the bottom back side of the body so that the legs swing down. 6.     Paint 10 of the 3/8 beads white 7.     Thread the 10 beads together and hot glue onto angel’s head (for halo)

 

I did not take any more pictures of the angel process, but suffice it to say it is similar to the rest of them, except for gluing the legs onto the bottom.

Shepherd (brown)

1.     Using 7/32 drill bit a.     Drill hole in top of goose egg (to place head) b.     Drill hole 1.5 inches down on the side (for arm) c.      Widen the hole (with the drill) in 1 ¼ inch doll head d.     Drill hole in 5/8 inch bead perpendicular to preexisting holes 2.     Paint whole egg (brown) 3.     Cut  2 pieces of dowel about 1 inch long 4.     Put a dab of wood glue in all the holes 5.     Assemble head and body using dowel to connect the two 6.     Put the hand on using a dowel 7.     Cut a piece of wire and bend into candycane shape to make a staff, put through hand hole 8.     Glue small piece of material (about 3-1/2 x 2-1/4-inch) to Shepherd’s head 9.   Glue wooden donut ring (or dark colored wooden "O") on top of material on shepherd’s head

Jesus (dark blue)
1.     Sand bottom of Robin’s egg so it lays flat on table 2.     Hot glue gun raffia on for straw 3.     Paint cylinder part of boy game piece (leave head plain) --dark blue 4.     Hot glue gun boy game piece on top of straw
Animals (sheep--white, cow--brown)
1.     Sand long side of egg so that when egg is lying down it can be stable, not rolling (3 times)  (we found this MUCH easier to do with an electric sander) 2.     Using 7/32 drill bit a.     drill hole a little to the top of the egg center (3 times) (for the heads) b.     drill hole in pullet egg towards the wide end of the egg on the side (3 times) (to connect the head) 3.     paint two animals white (heads and body) 4.     paint one animal brownish yellow (head and body) 5.     assemble heads and body using 1-inch pieces of dowel and wood glue 6.     break shell donut rings into thirds and use two pieces for horns (you’ll need 4 pieces altogether) on the white sheep hot gluing them into place 7.     use two of the 3/16 beads for the ears of the brownish animal (paint them the same color as the animal)

 

*SHOPPING NOTES: 
I shopped in the wood aisles at Michael's and AC Moore craft stores.  Almost all of the items were "Lara" brand (cool name, but nothing to do with me).  The selection and prices between the two stores was similar, but there were a few items that were at one store and not the other, so I do recommend trying two craft stores if they are available.  You can also try looking online.   We easily found everything on the list two years ago when we made these the first time, but this year (2012) we had trouble finding a couple of items.  I adjusted the directions accordingly and listed substitute suggestions (some of which we used), but please note that in future years (or at your craft stores) that you may need to find substitute items for things that are unavailable.   Use the pictures as a basis for your creativity.  

GLUING NOTES: 
Use wood glue for everything internal (in a hole) and hot glue for everything external (gluing on hats, halos, gifts, etc)

PAINTING NOTES:
After painting several different versions, I decided I liked it better when the wood grain would show through the paint slightly.  I usually used one coat of acrylic paint and/or sanded it lightly to give it a bit of a distressed look. 

A CLOSER LOOK:
Here is a closer look at some of the items we used, so that you can see what they look like: 

wooden goose eggs for most of the bodies (need 10)

1-1/4-inch doll heads for most of the figures' heads

1-1/8-inch acorn dowel cap (for wise man's gift)

2-inch doll head for body of angel

wooden wheel (on left) vs wooden bowl (not available this year)
for wise man's hats
figures in this post are shown with the wooden wheel as the hat

boy game pieces for baby Jesus

3/4-inch square block for wise man gift

for the sheep's horns (or use a light colored wooden "O")

for Joseph's and shepherd's head piece
this was one that we had a hard time finding this time around and couldn't
find a substitute item we liked as well.  The "O" was okay, but did not fit
on the heads as nicely.
If you can't find them at the store, try finding them at Amazon