Lesson 9: I Am Thankful for Water

This week's lesson on water is always a favorite one. There are so many fun things you can do with a Sunbeam class. In the past I have brought a large plastic bin, about 24" W x 30" L x 6" H, and an assortment of cups, spoons, and anything you have that will hold water. I put a few pitchers of water in the bin and let the children play in the water.

This year I helped the children make an ocean in a bottle to take home with them. I used the tutorial at Delicious Mom as a basis for this activity. The materials you will need are a clear plastic bottle (about 16 - 18 oz. in size) for each child, baby oil or mineral oil, sand, seashells, blue and green food coloring, glitter, and a hot glue gun.

This picture doesn't capture how fun the bottles turned out, but you can see the layers of the sand, shells, water, and oil.

I found sturdy water bottles that were the right size, but they had ridges on the sides and it was difficult to see what was inside. Be sure the bottles you use are smooth. I ended up using the bottles the baby oil came in, which were perfect because they had child-proof lids. If you use bottles with regular lids you will need to use a glue gun to glue the lids on the bottles before the children take them home.

I also found I needed to rinse the sand several times before I used it. I had a new bag of play sand but when I put it in a bottle and added water, the water turned muddy. After rinsing the sand with water the small particles washed away and the water was clear. Before class I put clean sand in a bottle for each child, and I mixed together a pitcher of water with one drop of green food coloring and two drops of blue. This water will be too dark so dilute it until you have the color you want. The combination of blue and green will give you a pretty ocean color. I filled several water bottles with this colored water and took those to class.

During class I had the children put a selection of seashells in each of their bottles, and then I helped them pour the blue green water into the bottle, filling it half full. If you have a large class you may need additional help for this activity. After the water I helped the children put a pinch of glitter into the water, just for fun. The final step is to fill the rest of the bottle full with baby or mineral oil. Secure the lid with glue. Once the lid is in place you can tip the bottle. The sand and shells will stay at the bottom, and the water and oil will make waves as you gently roll it.

Before the children took the bottles home I tied a tag on the bottle that said, "I am thankful for water." As you make the ocean bottles with the children you will have the opportunity to talk to them more about water, and have them tell you about a time they visited a beach or played in the water. They are always excited to bring home their very own ocean.

Download the tags here.

Download the note for parents here.

Lesson 8: I Am Thankful for the Day and the Night

The lessons in the manual for the next six weeks will cover different aspects of the creation story. This week focuses on the day and the night. Salt dough clay is one of my favorite activities to do with preschoolers, so this week I made space dough for my class.

I based this activity on the "Homemade Grape-scented Galaxy Dough" instructions at the blog Inner Child Fun. Look at that page for an idea of how to make your own salt dough clay that looks like stars in the sky. I've tried several recipes for salt dough and my favorite one comes from the blog How Does She. It has less salt than other recipes and has a smoother consistency. I'm still using a piece of this dough that I made more than three years ago.

Once I made the salt dough I drew a set of cutouts to accompany the lesson. The figures are Jesus, along with the sun, the moon, and the stars. Print out a set for each of the children in your class on card stock or heavy paper. Cut them out and glue or tape a popsicle stick on the back of each one. In class I gave the children their own piece of salt dough, colored purple and with glitter kneaded into it. I gave each child several sequins and let them put them into the dough to represent stars. I then gave them the cutouts (you can let them color them, or color them yourself) and let them poke the end of the sticks into the dough as they play. I let the children take home their dough and the cutouts in zip top baggies.

Download the cutouts here.

Download the note to parents here.

Lesson 7: The Holy Ghost Helps Me

The Holy Ghost can be an abstract concept for three and four year olds to understand. One way I have found to explain this to young children is to use a blanket as an analogy. Most children have a favorite blanket, and I explain that the Holy Ghost helps them to feel safe and warm, just like a blanket.

I purchase a pieces of white fleece at a fabric store and cut it into a square. I then cut fringe around the edges to make it look like a blanket. I typically do this to a 30 inch square of fabric, but the blanket can be any size. Even a small square a few inches in size can be a fun reminder for the children to take home. I created a tag you can pin or tie onto the blankets you send home.

The handout this week is a coloring activity that also helps teach patterns. I drew a quilt and a set of corresponding pattern pieces. Cut the pattern pieces out and have the children color them. Then help them glue them onto the quilt. This glues together quickly if you use a glue stick and spread the glue onto the face of the quilt. The children can then place the pattern pieces onto the glue.

Download the quilt and pattern pieces here.

Download the tag for the blankets here.

Download the note for parents here.

Lesson 6: Heavenly Father and Jesus Love Me

It can't be a coincidence that this lesson on Heavenly Father and Jesus' love for us falls near Valentine's Day. That makes this a fun lesson for the children and a chance to celebrate Valentine's Day in class. The file for this week is a project to help the children make valentines to give to their family. If you have a small class you can have the children make a valentine for each member of their family, or they can make them for their parents.

Download the valentine file here. 

Download the note for parents here.

Lesson 5: Jesus Christ Is the Son of Heavenly Father

Lesson five, "Jesus Christ is the Son of Heavenly Father," contains an important concept that can be a little difficult for three-years-olds to understand. The lesson manual states:

Tell the children that each of them has two fathers: an earthly father and a Heavenly Father. Our earthly father is the father of our physical bodies. Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits inside our bodies. Jesus only has one father, because Heavenly Father is the father of Jesus' spirit and his physical body. That is why Jesus is called the Son of God.

To help children understand the difference between their earthly father and their heavenly father I created a chart they can glue pictures on. To complete this chart you will need to talk to the parents and have them send you the following:

• A photo of the child's father
• A photo of the child as a baby
• A recent photo of the child

You can still complete this project without photos, but it makes it much more personal if you have them and the children love seeing pictures of themselves and their families. If you don't have photos you can have the children draw their own pictures of themselves and their fathers.

The first row of the chart has spaces to glue a picture of Jesus as an infant, Jesus as an adult, and Heavenly Father. This helps the children understand that the baby Jesus we celebrate is the same Jesus who grew up and is our Savior, and that His father is Heavenly Father. In the next row the children can glue a picture of themselves as a baby and themselves now, to show them that they are growing like Jesus did, and that they can become like Him if they choose the right. Finally the children can glue in a picture of their own father and you can explain again that this is their earthly father, and that Heavenly Father is also the father of their spirits.

One thing to consider is that not all children have fathers in their lives. This activity may not be appropriate if that is the case for a child in your class.

The picture of the infant Jesus comes from "The Nativity," the picture used in the lesson (1-16). The pictures of Jesus and Heavenly Father are from the illustration "God the Father and Jesus Christ."

Download the chart here, which includes pages for boys and girls.

Download the cutouts here. The file includes two sets of pictures.

Download the note for parents here.

Lesson 4: I Can Pray to Heavenly Father

The scripture story in this week's lesson on prayer is Daniel in the Lion's Den. This story is always a favorite with the children I have taught so I created puppets of Daniel and the Lion made with toilet paper tubes. The children can take the puppets home and use them to act out the story.

The first page to download has one set of cutouts and the instructions to put them together. Refer to the photo above for the placement of the cutouts when you help the children glue them on the tubes. I like to have the tubes covered with paper and the pieces cut out before class. The children can color the pieces and help you glue them on. Older children can cut out the pieces themselves.

A second page has all of the pieces for two sets of puppets, without instructions. Use this file to save paper if you have a larger class and need to cut out several sets. Finally there is a note to parents that explains what the children learned this week.

Download Daniel with instructions here.

Download 2 sets of Daniel here.

Download the note to parents here.

If you have a large enough class you can have the children act out the story. There is a cute set of printable masks for Daniel in the Lion's Den available at Mormon Mommy Printables.

Lesson 3: Heavenly Father's Plan for Us

Lesson 3 is an introduction to the plan of salvation. This handout was inspired by two different articles in The Friend, "The Plan of Happiness," from January 2005, and "When I Lived with Heavenly Father," from February 2009.  I have used both of these handouts in the past and found they were both a little too complicated for three year olds. I combined elements of both of these and created my own dot-to-dot coloring book. The pages are accordion fold and glue together like this.

I cut the cover out of a piece of scrapbook paper that was 6 inches high and 9.5 inches wide. This makes the cover larger than the pages so that the children can help glue the pages in the cover and we have plenty of wiggle room if the pages are a little crooked. You can cut a cover the exact size of the pages if you would like. Put glue on the back of the first and last pages and have the children help you press them onto the inside of the cover paper.

Download the booklet here.

Download the note for parents here.