Children Reenactment of Amalickiah Uses Treachery, Murder, and Intrigue to Become King of the Lamanites

Each month we invite friends over to our home to enjoy a potluck dinner and join us in a gospel discussion. It has worked well to plan something for the children while the adults have their discussion. Last month the children had a great time Reenacting Ammon Protects Lamoni's Flocks. This month we decided to learn another exciting story.

First we told them the story found in Alma 47 where Amalickiah uses treachery, murder, and intrigue to become King of the Lamanites. None of the children knew the story when we started.

Gratefully we had a lot of children show up on Sunday. We needed Amalickiah, the king and queen, Lehonti, Amalickiah's servants, the king's guards, an obedient Lamanite army, and a rebel Lamanite army. After hearing the story, everyone decided which role they wanted to play.

We read a few verses out of the scriptures and then filmed the children while they acted out the story. It works well to read the scripture while they are acting so we have enough footage for the video. We only film a small section at a time. Most of the footage is their first run through. The idea is to have a lot of fun and learn the story. We have children of all ages, so keeping it fast paced helps keep everyone's attention. It's fun to see how the little ones follow along as the older ones lead out in the show.

This is proving to be a successful means of teaching the scriptures to young children. They learn the story, act out the story, and watch the story over and over because children love watching themselves. We included the original text from the Book of Mormon, so they learn the scriptures while watching the video.

Enjoy the show!

Book of Mormon Puzzler

The children love playing Book of Mormon Beanbag Toss, but we wanted to play another game to change things up a bit.

We love putting puzzles together. It's a relaxing pass time you can do with others or by yourself. We get most of our puzzles from the Dollar Store. They usually have a large selection of puzzles and they're only a dollar.

Materials: Book of Mormon, Book of Mormon Trivia Questions, & a 24 piece puzzle (We have several different puzzles the children can choose from.)

Object: Put the complete puzzle together

How to Play: Have a child read a verse from a Book of Mormon Trivia Chapter

Ask another child a Book of Mormon Trivia Question.

Alternate back and forth between children until all the questions have been answered for that verse.

Now its time for everyone to pick out puzzle pieces. The child reading the verse gets to reach their hand into the puzzle box and randomly pick out two pieces. For every question they answer correctly, they get two more puzzle pieces. If they ask for help with their question, they still get their two puzzle pieces. Anyone helping to answer a question also gets two pieces.

Have them lay their pieces out in from of them. They can start using their pieces to put the puzzle together.

Have another child read the next verse and continue playing the game until the puzzle is finished.

Variation #1: Using a 24 piece puzzle, lay out all the pieces before starting the game. The children get to choose which puzzle pieces they want. It is not a random selection.

Variation #2: Using a 100 piece puzzle, lay out all the pieces before starting the game. The children get to choose which puzzle pieces they want. It is not a random selection. Instead of giving them 2 pieces for reading a verse or answering a question, give them 4-8 pieces.

Scripture game time for this age is 15-30 minutes.

Book of Mormon Beanbag Toss

We live in a competitive culture, but Zion is a society of cooperation. While studying the Book of Mormon we want to encourage cooperation instead of competition.

Book of Mormon Beanbag Toss

Ages: Elementary Children

Materials: beanbags, balls, or some other object you can throw; three baskets; Books of Mormon; questions to Book of Mormon Trivia; paper & pencil

Objective: As a family, earn 50 points during scripture game time

Setup: Place three baskets different distances from the throwing line. The closest basket is worth one point, the next basket is worth 2 points, and the farthest basket is worth 3 points. If your baskets are different sizes, the smallest basket is placed farthest from the throwing line.

How to Play:

• Level #1 Have a child read a verse from the Book of Mormon. Then Mom/Dad asks a question that goes along with verse. The child reading the verse has the first option to answer the question. If needed, they can ask another team player for help. If there is more than one question for the verse, have other team members answer the other questions.

• Now it's time to score. The child reading the verse gets 3 beanbags, and anyone who helps answer questions gets 3 beanbags. Everyone with beanbags goes to the throwing line and scores points for the family. They count up their points in the baskets and make tally marks on the score card for points scored.

• Continue playing until the family scores 50 points and then scripture game time is over.

• Level #2: After they have successfully played the game and are familiar with the questions & answers, have them answer the questions without reading the verses.

• Level #3: When the children are successful at level #2, mix up the order of the questions from the chapter.

• Level #4 When the children are successful at level #3, combine questions from different chapters. Always give them the chapter number, so they have context for the questions.

*Feel free to adjust the rules to fit your family. You may add or change questions to help your child see what is being asked or to give greater understanding to a verse.

Our teenagers go to school 1 ½ hours before our elementary children. We play scripture games in the morning after the big kids leave for school.

Benefits of Scripture Game Time for Young Children:

• The game helps develop their reading and comprehension skills. If there is a verse they don't understand, take time to discuss the meaning of the verse before moving on.
• The children are awake and alert during the entire scripture game.
• They are searching the scriptures for answers and looking carefully at the verses.
• They are excited when they find answers.
• There is success for everyone, and its okay to ask for help.
• They look forward to playing a game with Mom or Dad everyday.
• It's fun, but when they reach 50 points the game is over. They are not ready to stop, and are excited to come back to the game tomorrow.

Don't play the same game everyday. It keeps things interesting. We will be posting other games ideas. You can use the Book of Mormon Trivia Questions with many different types of activities.

Book of Mormon Trivia - Alma 17

With preteen children, we want to help them get familiar with the stories in the Book of Mormon by doing a variety of activities. My children love to play games with me, so we're going to make scripture study into a game.

Book of Mormon Trivia is a fun way to read the scriptures. You can read these questions in order, or you can mix up the questions. Start by keeping the questions in order. Once the children know the story, you can mix up the questions and combine questions from different Book of Mormon chapters.

I included the scripture reference so they know the context of the question. When they see the answer is in Alma chapter 17, they should know this chapter's basic story line. If they don't know the answer to a question, have them look it up; then have them read the verse aloud. This will help them in their ability to read and comprehend the Book of Mormon. We want them to have fun and not stress because they don't know an answer. When they're ready for the challenge of knowing the answers by memory, we can incorporate that into the game.

You can play a game using these questions, or you can use questions your family creates. Next week I'll post a few different games you can play, or have fun creating your own game.  

Creating the questions and game might be interesting for one of your older children. It all depends on the child. Ideas that work for one child might not work for another child. That's okay. We are sharing a variety of ideas to help get you thinking of the many different ways you can study the scriptures.

Alma Chapter 17 Questions:

Where was Alma coming from when he came upon the sons of Mosiah and learned what happened on their mission to the Lamanites? What direction was he going? Alma 17:1

Where was Alma going when he came upon sons of Mosiah and learned what happened on their mission to the Lamanites?  Alma 17:1

Where were the sons of Mosiah going when they came upon Alma and told him about their mission to the Lamanites? Alma 17:1

Who was with Alma when the angel first appeared unto him? Alma 17:2

What are the three things the sons of Mosiah did to receive the spirit of prophecy, the spirit of revelation, and power and authority to teach? Alma 17:2-3

How long had the sons of Mosiah been teaching the word of God to the Lamanites when they met up with Alma again? Alma 17:4

What were three things of the sufferings of the sons of Mosiah on their mission to the Lamanites? Alma 17:5

What year of the reign of the judges did the sons of Mosiah leave their father? Alma 17:6

What did Mosiah desire to give his sons, but they refused and went on a mission to the Lamanites? Alma 17:6

What are the five weapons the sons of Mosiah brought with them on their mission? Why did they bring weapons? Alma 17:7

Where were the Lamanites living when the sons of Mosiah came to preach to them? Alma 17:8

The sons of Mosiah wanted to bring the Lamanites to a knowledge of the truth. Why did they believe things that were not correct? Alma 17:9

What did Lord say unto the sons of Mosiah when he visited them with His spirit? Alma 17:10

What comforting promise did the Lord give the sons of Mosiah on their way to teach the Lamanites? Alma 17:11

What two things did the Lord ask the sons of Mosiah to do to show forth good examples on their mission among the Lamanites? Alma 17:11

After the Lord made a promise unto the sons of Mosiah, what did they do? What was their feeling about going among the Lamanites? Alma 17:12

Where did the sons of Mosiah separate themselves and depart one from another on their way to teach the Lamanites? Alma 17:13

How did the sons of Mosiah describe the condition of the Lamanites when they started their mission? Name at least three different descriptive words. Alma 17:14-15

Why had a curse fallen upon the Lamanites? Alma 17:15

Why did the sons of Mosiah go on a mission to the Lamanites? Alma 17:14-16

Did any of the sons of Mosiah have a missionary companion when they went on their mission to the Lamanites? Alma 17:17

Who blessed them and imparted the word of God unto the sons of Mosiah before they departed into the land of the Lamanites? Alma 17:18

Which Lamanite land did Ammon go to? Alma 17:19

What did the Lamanites do with Ammon when he entered their land? Alma 17:20

What did the Lamanites do with Nephites who fell into their hands? Alma 17:20

What four things did the Lamanite king normally do with Nephites that fell into his hands? Alma 17:20

What was the name of the king of the Lamanites who was over the land of Ishmael? Alma 17:21

Who was Lamoni a descendant of? Alma 17:21

What question did Lamoni ask Ammon when he was brought before the king? Alma 17:22

How long did Ammon think he would be missionary among the Lamanites? Alma 17:23

Why did king Lamoni cause that Ammon's bands should be loosed? Alma 17:23-24

Why did king Lamoni want Ammon to marry one of his daughters? Alma 17:24

Instead of marrying king Lamoni's daughter, what did Ammon want to do? Alma 17:25

What was Ammon's responsibility as a servant of king Lamoni? Alma 17:25

How many days had Ammon been a servant of king Lamoni before Lamanites came and scattered the king's flocks? Alma 17:26-27

Where did Ammon and the servants go to water the king's flocks? Alma 17:26

What did the group of Lamanites do to the flocks of King Lamoni? Alma 17:27

What did the servants of king Lamoni do after the king's flocks were scattered? Alma 17:28

Why did the servants of king Lamoni weep after the flocks were scattered? Alma 17:29

How did Ammon feel about having the flocks scattered? Alma 17:29

Why was Ammon's heart swollen with joy when he saw the Lamanite servants weeping over the scatter flocks? Alma 17:29-30

What did Ammon tell the servants to do so they wouldn't get killed by the king? Alma 17:31

Why did the other servants follow Ammon in gathering the flocks together again? Alma 17:31-32

What did Ammon tell the servants to do when the Lamanites came to scatter the flocks again? Alma 17:33

What did Ammon do to protect the flock while the servants surrounded the flock? Alma 17:33-34

How many Lamanites came up against Ammon? Alma 17:34

Why were the Lamanites not afraid of Ammon? Alma 17:35

Why was Ammon not afraid of the Lamanites? Alma 17:35

Why did the Lamanites scatter the flocks of King Lamoni? Alma 17:35

What was the first weapon Ammon used against the Lamanites at the Waters of Sebus? Alma 17:36

Why couldn't the Lamanites hit Ammon with their stones? Alma 17:35-36

When the Lamanites saw they couldn't hit Ammon with their stones, what did they do? Alma 17:36

What happened to the Lamanites who lifted their clubs to smite Ammon? Alma 17:37

What did the Lamanites do when Ammon started cutting off their arms? Alma 17:37

How many Lamanites fell by the sling? Alma 17:38

Who did Ammon slay with his sword?? Alma 17:38

What did Ammon and the servants do after Ammon drove off the Lamanites? ? Alma 17:39

What did the servants of king Lamoni do with the arms? ? Alma 17: 39 Why?