Gather actual seeds (or pictures of seeds and pictures of what they'll grow to be)--see below
Gather baby pictures of as many of the girls as you can.
Gather a list of each girls' divine qualities and be prepared to share it with them during the lesson (either verbally or typed out as a list)
Be ready to play or sing, "I am a Child of God" and "My Heavenly Father Loves Me"
LESSON:
Talk about what it's like teaching nursery.
(Lessons are short, simple, and have lots of pictures and music!)
Today’s lesson will be modeled on a nursery lesson.
SEED ACTIVITY:
Show seeds and have them guess what they will grow to be. Show them pictures of what they will be like when they are fully grown.
SHOW THEM BABY PICTURES (ideally of themselves):
Ask what they will grow to be.
Ask them some characteristics that they’ve INHERITED from their parents.
Ask what similarities and differences there are from person to person in this world.
What is the same?
Sing, “I am a Child of God”
If you are a child of God, doesn’t it stand to reason that they’ve also inherited characteristics from our Heavenly parents, just as we’ve inherited qualities from our earthly parents.
Discuss CHARACTERISTICS we’ve inherited from Heavenly Father. If you have prepared in advance, this would be a great time to present to them a list of divine characteristics that you've noticed in each of them. If you had a mature group of girls who would take the task seriously, you could also have them share divine characteristics they've noticed in each of their classmates.
IDENTITY THEFT:
Ask someone to summarize what identity theft is.
I don’t know if you all you knew this, but did you know that Satan is in the identity theft business? He’s not stealing credit card numbers and trying to Relate to Satan’s task to have us forget who we are and what our potential is.
How does Satan try to steal our identity?
Ask for ideas... (people who bring us down, media influences, etc.)
Read QUOTE.
"We know that Satan is totally dedicated to thwarting and derailing this marvelous plan-of-happiness knowledge and process. We know that one of his primary tools is to entice us to forget who we really are—to fail to realize or to forget our divine potential. This is the cruelest form of identity theft.
How does Satan do it? He is quite straightforward and predictable. First, he attempts to prompt doubts in our minds about our divine potential. He even cultivates doctrine in the world implying we are much less than we really are. He undermines our faith—and thus our confidence—in our ability to achieve our potential. He strives to bring us to a mind-set in which we believe that we, individually, are not good enough to ever achieve our celestial goals." Elder Robert C. Oaks
HOW DOES NOT UNDERSTANDING WHO WE ARE AFFECT OUR LIVES?
SHOW BABY pictures again.
Who of these is a child of God? WAIT FOR ANSWERS
You are. And so am I. And so are your parents, and so is that annoying girl from your math class, and that mean guy on the bus, etc.
Ask them to imagine a world where everyone truly understood that concept. It would affect not only how we view ourselves, but also how we view and treat others. Truly this world would be a totally different place. I believe that it would be the cure to all of life’s ills.
STRUGGLES:
Have you ever noticed that when you read a book or watch a movie, that they all have some problem they have to overcome. It got me to thinking and I realized that ALL stories, whether they be fairy tales, modern stories, or REAL LIFE have trials. We all have struggles in life.
When I was young I didn’t realize this fact. I had this notion that all you had to do was live righteously and God would bless you with a relatively easy and blessed life. haha. I am living proof that just because you’re living the gospel, doesn’t mean that life will be easy or without struggle. He doesn’t bless us with an easy life, but rather with strength and the tools to overcome and find joy in the journey.
Elder Uchtdorf said, “It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop.”
Sing, “My Heavenly Father Loves Me.”
Closing prayer:
