"Treat" Your Body Like A Temple {Includes Free Printables}

This month the Come, Follow Me topic for the Youth is The Plan of Salvation. As I was reading through the outlines for this month, I immediately had an idea for the lesson "Why should I treat my body like a temple?" found here.

I like to include a little something fun to eat with my handouts and it only took a minute to come up with a little play on words for the lesson:

My body is a "sweet" gift from Heavenly Father and I should "treat" it like a temple . . .

And it just so happens that Hershey's Miniatures are perfect building blocks for the temple as well as a "sweet treat"!

I made some candy bar wrappers and labeled each with a reason we should treat our body like a temple. I found the reasons from the lesson outline as well as a talk by Sister Susan W. Tanner. You can find her talk here.

When the handout was complete each block of the temple completed the sentence at the top of the handout: 

My body is a "sweet" gift from Heavenly Father and I should "treat" it like a temple . . .

. . . because my body is God's sacred creation!

 . . . because my body houses my spirit!

. . . and I will receive blessings!

. . . and if I live worthily my body can one day be sanctified and exalted!

I think that the handout turned out pretty cute!

You can view and download a copy of the handout here.

You can also view and download a copy of the candy bar wrappers here.

Enjoy!

The "Rolls" of the Holy Ghost Handout

UPDATE (3/5/2017) You can now view and download the file for the Tootsie Roll handout. Scroll to the bottom of the post for the link!

A couple of years ago I posted about the lesson I taught on The Roles of the Holy Ghost. You can find the details of my Tootsie Roll idea here. The post has been really popular and many, many people have asked for the PDF of the Tootsie Rolls to use for their lessons. Because I have received such a positive response to the idea, I decided to create a handout to go along with the lesson and here it is! You can use this handout if you want your students to remember the lesson even after the treat is gone!

The handout lists the "Rolls" of the Holy Ghost and is the perfect size to attach a Tootsie Roll snack bar!

I am currently working on adding my files to the blog so that they can be downloaded by my followers. In the meantime, if you would like a PDF of the handout, you can email me at addapinchofsparkle{at}gmail{dot}com

Enjoy!

UPDATE (3/5/2017) You can now view and download the file for the Tootsie Roll handout here!

Young Women in Excellence: Preserve Your Values

A couple years ago I was in charge of planning Young Women in Excellence for our Ward. I realized the other day that I never posted anything about it. Better late than never, so here are some pictures from that night!

The theme I came up with was "Preserve Your Values". Some of the definitions for "preserve" I found from the Merriam-Webster dictionary included, "to keep safe from injury, harm, or destruction: protect", "to keep alive, intact, or free from decay", "maintain", "to keep or save from decomposition". Not only does "preserve" refer to yummy foods, but it also has several definitions that tie in perfectly with what we teach/ are taught in Young Women- we want to PRESERVE our values! 

 I used mason jars and gingham print in a variety of colors to decorate for the night. 

The refreshments were Buttermilk Cupcakes in a Jar. These cute little cupcakes have a cream cheese frosting and are supposed to be served with preserves so they were perfect for the theme. Plus, they taste delicious! You can find the recipe here.

I printed off labels for the mason jars, tied a spoon to each with a ribbon, and added a flower. I think they turned out pretty cute!

Here is a closeup of the "Refreshments" banner and the variety of preserves we had. I chose Smucker's because the packaging matched perfectly with the theme.

Each girl in Young Women was assigned a value or theme and asked to decorate a table with what they had done over the year to learn and grow in that area. We had one Senior who was preparing to graduate in the Spring. Her table was about the Young Women program over all and how it helped her learn, grow, and gain a testimony.

Each table was decorated in a value color and the "Young Women" and "Personal Progress" tables were decorated in a light pink.

Each table had a banner stating the value or theme. I made the banners with my Cricut.

The banners were tied to wooden dowels I wrapped with green floral tape.

The dowels were placed in mason jars with flowers in value colors.

I used glass gems in the bottom of each mason jar to weigh it down and hold the flowers and dowels in place.

I also decorated the mason jar lids with a variety of fruit that I cut with my Cricut and then tied them to the jar with gingham ribbon in the appropriate value color. It was a little difficult to find fruits that matched the color of some of the values, but I did it!

Here is a closeup of the pink mason jar lid.

Each table had a white table cloth and then a square of colored fabric to match the value or theme.

I got the gingham paper used on the banner and lids and the gingham ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

I really like how everything turned out! The Bishop spoke on the theme of "Preserving Your Values", a couple of the Young Women spoke about their value and what they had done over the year to learn and grow in that area of their life, and all the Young Women sang, "I Walk By Faith". I love that song because it goes through all of the Young Women values!

This was such a fun theme to plan and decorate for! I hope you enjoyed the ideas I shared!

Celestial Marriage Cookies

Today I want to share an idea I used when I taught my Young Women the lesson entitled, "Why is temple marriage important?" You can find the lesson outline here. Although the talks I used when I taught the lesson are not on the current Come Follow Me outline, this idea can still be used! I used the following quotes as the basis for my idea:

Celestial marriage is a pivotal part of preparation for eternal life. It requires one to be married to the right person, in the right place, by the right authority, and to obey that sacred covenant faithfully.

- Russell M. Nelson

(you can find his talk, Celestial Marriage, here)

and

There is no substitute for marrying in the temple. It is the only place under the heavens where marriage can be solemnized for eternity. Don't cheat yourself. Don't cheat your companion. Don't shortchange your lives. Marry the right person in the right place at the right time.

-Gordon B. Hinckley

(you can find his message, Life's Obligations, here)

I decided to take the four "Rights" listed in these two quotes and present them to the girls in a fun way- by making Four Ingredient Celestial Marriage Cookies!

As a visual, I displayed the four "Rights" on a "wedding cake". I took four different sized round boxes I found at Hobby Lobby, wrapped them in wedding wrapping paper, and set them up to look like a wedding cake. I even used my daughter's Little People Prince Eric and Princess Ariel as cake toppers!

As we talked about each "Right", we opened one of the boxes. Inside was an ingredient for our cookies. We then spent some time reading quotes about that "Right"/ingredient.

The first ingredient was the right person. I said this was like the chocolate chips for our recipe. Because they add sweetness, they represented our "sweetheart".

The second ingredient for the recipe was the right time. I used an egg to represent this ingredient because the egg reminded me of an egg TIMEr! 

The third ingredient for the recipe was the right place. This was represented by sugar in the recipe and symbolized the whiteness of the temple.

The final ingredient in the recipe was the right authority. This is the priesthood authority that will seal families together. In the recipe I used peanut butter to represent the right authority because it helps everything stick together.

 After we discussed all the ingredients, I gave the girls the baked cookies with a recipe card attached. This is what it said:

Recipe for: Celestial Marriage

Ingredients: Right Person

Right Time

Right Place

Right Authority

Directions: Mix ALL ingredients together with lots of love, faith, and a commitment to the commandments of God. Work out the lumps with communication and selflessness. This is a recipe that gets better with time. "Your companionship will sweeten through the years, your love will strengthen. Your appreciation for one another will grow." ("True to the Faith" pg. 101)

This recipe serves: 1 Eternal Family

You can find the recipe to make the actual cookies here!

I think it turned out to be a successful and sweet way to teach about the importance of temple marriage!

Are you teaching the Youth this month? What ideas are you using to teach about the importance of temple marriage?

Want a PDF of the Celestial Cookies recipe card? Email me at addapinchofsparkle{at}gmail{dot}com !

Cup of Inspiration

I'm really excited to share one of my favorite lesson ideas I've used in awhile. Our Young Women lesson was on personal revelation. When I am planning my lessons I read through the outline and then start searching the Internet for inspiration on unique and interesting ways to present the topic. As I was looking up ideas for personal revelation, I found several "recipes" for personal revelation. I liked the idea, but all the recipes made full batches of different treats. As I was thinking about this, I thought it would fit more with the lesson if I could find a recipe for an individual treat, after all it is personal revelation. From there, ideas just flowed. I decided that I would make one of the popular "dessert in a mug" recipes because they make an individual serving and I thought it would be super cute to decorate the mugs with the words "cup of inspiration" to go along with the lesson theme. Everything came together perfectly!

I first picked up a bunch of plain white mugs at the dollar store, then I set out to decorate them. I searched all over the Internet and found a bunch of tutorials for DIY Sharpie mugs. After taking all the best tips, this is what I did:

I washed the mugs.

Next, I wiped the area to be drawn on with some rubbing alcohol.

Then I decorated the mug with regular Sharpies.

Next, I baked the mugs at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. I put the mugs in a cool oven, then turned it on to 450 and once it was heated set the timer. After 30 minutes, I turned off the oven and let the mugs cool over night. Some of the colors faded during the baking process, but there wasn't really any rhyme or reason to it. Sometimes it was light colors, sometimes it was dark colors, some colors faded on some mugs and not on others. They still all turned out pretty cute in the end.

*note* I did a trial run with one mug at 450 degrees and didn't have any problems other than a little fading. When I baked the rest of the mugs they ended up with a little brownish tint to them, kind of like a toasted marshmallow. I am not sure why this happened. Maybe overcrowding in the oven, or maybe the oven was too hot. Next time I would probably do two batches and bake at 425 degrees instead of 450.

After the mugs were cooled, I baked a special individual-sized cookie in each one. The recipe is super easy and meant to be made in a mug and cooked in the microwave. You can find the original recipe here. This picture was taken right after the cookie was baked. It was still warm and a little gooey. It tasted great!

After I had made all the cookies and they had cooled, I put the mugs in some little treat bags I found at Dollar Tree and attached a recipe to each one.

I assigned each ingredient in the recipe to a piece of counsel that is important for receiving personal inspiration. I found this counsel in the book True to the Faith found here.

Here is what I put on the recipe card:

For: Personal Promptings

The following recipe will prepare

an Individual cup of Inspiration.

           Ingredients: 1 Tablespoon Prayer (Butter)

                                     1 Tablespoon Reverence (Granulated White Sugar)

                                     1 Tablespoon Firmly Packed Humility (Dark Brown Sugar)

                                     3 Drops of Keeping the Commandments (Vanilla Extract)

                                     Small Pinch of Partaking of the Sacrament (Kosher Salt)

                                     1 Regular Scripture Study (Egg Yolk)

                                     Scant 1/4 Cup Time to Ponder (All Purpose Flour)

                                     2 Tablespoons Studying it Out in Your Mind (Chocolate Chips)                                         

Directions: Combine ingredients necessary for personal promptings. Start by melting your butter in the microwave. Add sugars, vanilla and salt. Stir to combine. Add the yolk. Stir to combine. Add flour, then stir again. Add the chocolate chips, and give a final stir. Now your mixture will look like cookie dough. Cook in microwave 40-60 seconds, start checking for doneness at 40 seconds. Do not cook past one minute. Remember to be patient as you seek God's will.

Recipe adapted from www.number-2-pencil.com

I handed the cookies and recipes out to the girls and we discussed the importance of each "ingredient" in the recipe.

There you have it! A recipe for personal revelation that makes a single-serving treat in a special "Cup of Inspiration". What do you think? I think the girls enjoyed it!

Object Lesson: Follow the Prophet

Today I want to share a fun object lesson idea I found here. I used it for my recent lesson on following the prophet in Young Women. I think the girls enjoyed it.

I set out two identical boxes on a table. Inside one box I put some candy and I left the other box empty (I added the tissue paper so you couldn't hear the candy rolling around). I left the boxes closed and asked the girls to raise their hands to indicate which box they would choose. About half chose each box. When I asked them why they chose the box they did, they didn't really know. 

I then had one girl come up and look inside both boxes. I had talked to her beforehand, so she knew to choose the box with the candy in it. When I pointed to the empty box and asked the girls to raise their hands if they chose that box, everyone looked at the girl who had seen inside the boxes. Because she didn't raise her hand, no one else did. When I pointed to the candy box, the girl who had seen inside raised her hand and everyone else did too.

When I asked the girls why they had all chosen this particular box, they said it was because they followed the girl who had seen inside the box. I then told them that they had made a good decision and showed them that one box was empty and the other box had candy in it.

As I passed the candy around, I explained to the girls that the Prophet has "seen inside the box". Heavenly Father speaks to him and in turn he tells us what we need to know to stay safe, to have joy, and to return to our Father in Heaven. When we follow the Prophet we receive blessings, just like when they followed the girl who had seen inside the box they got a treat!

I like to use object lessons when I teach to help make the lessons more clear to the girls. I think this object lesson did just that!

One "Foot" In Front Of The Other

 

I made a quick and cute handout for our recent Young Women lesson on following the prophets. One of the talks in the lesson outline was President Monson's "Believe, Obey, and Endure" (found here). Near the end of the talk was a quote I really liked and I knew I had to use it for a handout:

"Life by the yard is hard; by the inch it’s a cinch. Each of us can be true for just one day—and then one more and then one more after that—until we’ve lived a lifetime guided by the Spirit, a lifetime close to the Lord, a lifetime of good deeds and righteousness."

I knew right away what treat would go well with the quote- a Fruit by the Foot! I put together a little handout with President Monson's quote on it and added the following to tie it in more clearly with our lesson:

Put one "foot" in front of the other as you follow the prophets and endure to the end.

I found some cute "ruler" ribbon at Hobby Lobby and used it to tie the quote to the Fruit by the Foot.

I think it turned out great! What do you think?

The Lord's Lighthouse

I thought I would share an idea I am going to use for an upcoming Young Women lesson on following the Prophets.

This idea is based on President Monson's talk, "Believe, Obey, and Endure" (found here). In the talk President Monson talks about three signals from the Lord's lighthouse that will lead us back to live with Him. These three signals are believe, obey, and endure.

I knew right away that I wanted to make a little lighthouse to give to the girls to remind them of the lesson and President Monson's talk. It only took me a few minutes on the Internet before I found this cute idea that I thought would be perfect! The link gives instructions on how to make your own lighthouse, but I made a few changes.

First of all, the instructions ask for white plastic tape. I searched all over for plain, white tape and could not find any! No Washi tape, no mini Duck Tape, nothing. None were just plain white. Finally, I found Post-it Full Adhesive Roll (this is what it looks like) at Walmart and decided it would work. It was a little thick, so I cut it down the middle to make my stripes. 

As I wrapped the tape around the cup, I had to slowly angle it downward to keep it from wrinkling. This also made some interesting gaps so I covered them with some black cardstock and called them "windows" similar to the instructions, but not exactly.

Another couple changes I made: The instructions say to cut the bottom off the clear cup, but I just left it as is and started the stripes lower. I used a 1-3/4" punch to make my black circles for the top of the clear cup which fit perfectly and took a lot less time than tracing!

Finally, I added the words "Believe", "Obey", "Endure" to the stripes on the cup. It was really convenient that I used the Post-it tape because it was made to be written on. 

I plan to ask the girls to share something they believe in, a commandment they have been blessed for obeying, and something they have endured- or something that has taken courage to withstand (President Monson's definition).

I hope that the girls will keep this lighthouse in a place where they will see it often and that it reminds them of our lesson. I love this quote from President Monson's talk:

". . . there is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what the lighthouse of the Lord can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. It calls, "This way to safety. This way to home." It sends forth signals of light easily seen and never failing. If followed, those signals will guide you back to your heavenly home."

-President Thomas S. Monson

(source)

Are you teaching the Youth this month? How will you teach about following the Prophets?

M&M: The Merciful Shall Obtain Mercy

UPDATE (3/5/2017) You can now view and download the file for the M&M tag. Scroll to the bottom of the post for the link!

Here is one last handout for our recent lesson on forgiveness. 

I asked each girl to share a time when she forgave someone. After she shared I gave her a pack of M&M's with a little tag that said:

"Blessed are the Merciful: for they shall obtain Mercy."

-Matthew 5:7

I reminded the girls that in order for us to be forgiven for our sins, we must also forgive.

I love it when candy fits so perfectly into the lesson!

If you are still working on a lesson for this month, here are some ideas that I have posted on the topic of The Atonement that you may be able to use this week. Or you can just file them away for next year!

What is the Atonement of Jesus Christ? (link to Come Follow Me)

An "Egg-stra" Special Gift

How Can Repentance Help Me Every Day? (link to Come Follow Me)

How Repentance Heals Us

Object Lesson: A Change Of Heart

Repentance Road Map

Repentance Is Like Soap

What is Grace? (link to Come Follow Me)

Grow In Grace

Why Do I Need to Forgive Others? (link to Come Follow Me)

"Fortunately" We Have Forgiveness

Object Lesson: A Change Of Heart

Grudges: Let Them Go!

Forgive Yourself!

How Can the Atonement Help Me During My Trials? (link to Come Follow Me)

The Atonement Can Help Us During Our Trials

UPDATE (3/5/2017) You can now view and download the file for the M&M tag here! Enjoy!

"Fortunately" We Have Forgiveness

For our recent lesson on forgiveness in Young Women I made this quick little handout to give to the girls.

The handout said:

We all make mistakes, but "Fortunately" we have forgiveness!

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

- Isaiah 1:18

I gave each girl a fortune cookie and inside some of them were scriptures and quotes from talks on forgiveness that we used to learn more about the topic.

I thought it was a fun way to introduce the topic and it helped the girls be a little more engaged.

March is almost over! Have you taught about forgiveness this month?

Grow in Grace

In Young Women on Sunday we talked about grace. Grace isn't something that we discuss a lot in our Church, but it is really a very important part of the Gospel. Because the girls weren't too familiar with the concept, we spent a lot of time going over what the meaning of the word "grace" is. 

This is a great definition of grace:

Grace is divine help and strength that we receive through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Through grace, we are saved from sin and death. In addition, grace is an enabling power that strengthens us from day to day and helps us endure to the end. Effort is required on our part to receive the fulness of the Lord's grace.

(source)

During our lesson we focused primarily on how grace gives us strength to face challenges and trials in our day to day lives. We talked about how this aspect of grace is depicted in the parable of the vine and the branches in John 15:1-10.

As we read and discussed the parable, I used this Easter Egg Tree as a fun visual to help the girls better understand grace. We discussed that the vine is Jesus Christ and that the branches are the members of the Church. We can receive strength and nourishment from the vine. We talked about how the husbandman, our Heavenly Father, must "prune" us through challenges and trials. Although difficult at the time, this helps us to learn and grow and bring forth "much fruit" (good works). It is through this process that we "grow in grace" (2 Peter 3:18) through the help of Jesus.

(You can find a great talk that explains the parable of the vine and the branches and how it relates to grace here.)

I had each girl share how they have "grown in grace" or been given the strength to do something that they could not accomplish on their own.

After each girl shared her experience, I gave her a handout to remind her to "grow in grace":

Peter taught us to "grow in grace . . ." 

- 2 Peter 3:18

If we are "rooted" in Christ, His grace will give us strength to overcome trials and challenges, learn and grow in this life, and bring forth much "good fruit".

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing"

-John 15:5

The girls also got some "good fruit" in the form of Starburst Jelly Beans to remind them of what can be produced through grace.

Did you teach the Youth about grace this month? Did you find that they were not too familiar with the concept? How did you help them to better understand what grace is?