FHE Lesson- Baptism

We try to hold a family home evening every monday night- it's a night designated in our church for families to draw closer together.  I've decided to start sharing fhe ideas on this blog- feel free to steal any ideas you like!  Some are my own, others are borrowed from church magazines and church Family Home Evening manuals.

Family Home Evening usually consists of a prayer, song, lesson, activity, and a treat- (saved for the end- a great way to bribe kids to cooperate!)  Unfortunately, many of these nights don't always go as planned- and turn out something like this!

But every once in a while we get it right.  And this was one of those special nights.  Celeste is turning 8 this week, so she'll be baptized soon!  In our church we believe children are born innocent and have no need for baptism until the age of accountability.  So for FHE, we wanted to make sure she felt prepared and ready for this important step in her life.  We wanted to make sure she understood the covenants she would be making with the Lord.  We started out with a song: "When I am Baptized" and a prayer.  It's so important to emphasize the need to pray for the spirit to be with us.  With all these young crazy kids, we need all the help we can get!

Then Celeste read a couple scriptures about baptism.  We always try to incorporate scriptures in family home evening.  The word of God will touch the hearts of our children more than anything else.  Then we watched this beautiful video on baptism that helped the kids quiet down and bring a spirit of reverence.  Music is also a powerful tool to teach and testify spiritual truth.


For the lesson, I held up 2 pennies, one shiny and new, and one dirty and tarnished.  Each kid got a tarnished penny and I explained that although we come to this life clean and pure, we make mistakes along the way.  But through the blessing of baptism, we can be washed clean of our sins through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 
Then they each dropped their pennies in this solution- 1/4 cup vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, and the tarnish disappeared.  The pennies were shiny and new again.  Love object lessons!  It captures kids' attention and helps them understand and remember important principles.
(Oh- one tip- don't spill vinegar on carpet.)

Then Celeste had a chance to answer some possible interview questions about baptism, and then she got to practice what it will be like to be baptized.  Daddy didn't say the actual sacred prayer of course, but they just went through the motions:

And then the mayhem began...

And lastly, for a special baptism tradtion- when the kids turn 8, they get to choose a temple from our temple book- and it gets framed and put up in their rooms.  Celeste chose the St. Louis Missouri Temple. 

And for refreshments, we had pudding- Celeste's choice in honor of her special day coming up. 

But here's a cuter idea I found:

Immersion Cookies!



Just make sure they get fully dunked. ;)