A Scripture Picture Book– Alma 32

Children love a good story. The Book of Mormon has some of the best stories I know. It's full of suspense, marvelous manifestations, family challenges, secret plots, miracles, war, life lessons, and a walk with God. It will change your life.

Sometimes we feel like we need to simplify the original words for children, but much of the rich content is lost when we do this.

Children love to look at the pictures when we read together, so we created a simple picture book using the words from Alma 32 and some Google images.

If you want to use this book, here's how to put it together:

• First copy page 2 on the back of page 1, page 3 on the back of page 4, page 5 on the back of page 6, page 7 on the back of page 8, and page 9 on the back of page 10. The pictures are formatted to fit on an 8.5"x 11" sheet of paper.

• Make sure the papers are stacked in the correct order.

• While stacked fold the 8.5”x 11” papers in half.

• Open up your book and put a couple staples down the middle crease.

• Your book is ready to read.

• Note: The mastery scriptures are written inside the front cover.

Take time to stop and talk about what you've read to make sure your child understands the passage. Have them tell the story back to you in their own words. Talk about words they might not understand. It's okay to paraphrase parts of the story to help them understand the story line, but eventually you'll want to read the words as printed in the book.

Reading the Book of Mormon also helps develop the reading skills of young readers.

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 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.