FHE: Doing Good & Other Good Things

Tonight's FHE was about Doing Good & Other Good Things. The idea mostly formed when I thought that we should play something fun together, especially since life has been crazy with our house all messed up due to the flood (more on that later... maybe). I just wanted to do something fun, something GOOD. These thoughts somehow lead to my breaking out in song- the 13th Article of Faith song. Hence that direction. It's kind of a longer FHE (not just 30 minutes, with the game, etc, anyway), but I think it's a good one.

Note: I got most of this lesson from this link via Sugardoodle.net. I love that site! I get lots of great ideas for teaching Primary from there, too!

Okay, here it is.

Song: "The Thirteenth Article of Faith" (Children's Songbook)

Scripture: "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." (Article of Faith 1:13)

Discussion 1: Break down the 13th Article of Faith and explain what it means- focusing first on the We believe... in doing good to all men part. Explain/discuss that Heavenly Father has commanded us to love Him and to love others. We show our love for others through our thoughts and actions. One way we show our love is by doing good to others.

Sit in a circle and take turns drawing a slip of paper (on which are written the listed items below). When someone draws a slip, read it and answer the following: What are ways you can do good to others? Tell how you would do good to:

1. A new boy at school.

2. Your mother when she is really tired.

3. An old man that lives next door.

4. Someone you know who is serving a mission.

5. A new Primary teacher.

Activity 1: Play "Spin the Bottle" - saying something you can do that is GOOD when the bottle points to you. (Examples are: help mom do the dishes, play nicely with sister, be honest, help cheer up a sad friend, etc.)

Discussion 2: Explain and discuss the “. . . If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” part of the 13th Article of Faith. Explain that to “seek” means to “look for.” Even when you think you are already doing good things, you can still seek after more things that are good.

Name some things and have the family decide if they are GOOD things. If they are, shout "YES!" or something similar in happy, fun voices. Some examples are:

___ butterflies

___ playing with toys

___ the scriptures

___ reading

___ picnics

___ lying

___ writing in a journal

___ music

___ fighting

___ talking rudely

___ laughing

___ saying naughty words

___ rainbows

___ throwing toys

___ honesty

___ love

Activity 2: Play a GOOD game or similar fun, good activity. (We played with trains together like James had been wanting to do for a few days... The Thomas Game, he called it. You could also go for a walk or something similar.)

Treat: Cherry pie and ice cream (since we didn't end up eating it last time) ... Mmm!

*Image from here.