Primary Sharing Time
Sharing time is the part of primary where the children as a group (or sometimes split into two groups by age) give talks, share scriptures, and participate in activities to learn the gospel. For those who are called to prepare shaing time, it is good to remember that young children have a short attention span (10 minutes-ish). Therefore, there should be a varitey of activities. Sharing time and singing time tend to work best when they are combined together (not
treated as seperate sections). This enables us to use the music and other
parts of the sharing time to work together to bear a strong testimony of the truthfulness
of the doctrines presented.The following are some general ideas that may give you a springboard. However, please remember to follow the instructions provided in Teaching: No Greater Call and the Primary section in the church Handbook of Instructions.
Think About It
Pick words related to the Jesus' mission: Savior,
Redeemer, Mediator, etc. and give stories, plays, or explanations to help the children
understand the various terms.
Let Me Tell You a Story
Children love hearning stories. Pick favorite stories of Jesus and tell them
from blessed people's perspective. Share how Jesus blessed them and how grateful they are
for what he did. Share testimony about Jesus' power and love.
Tell a story of an event that happened in a
prophet's life and how it relates to the children
Who Am I?--Guess who these people
are who saw and were helped by the Savior
1) I came to Jesus by night
I am a Pharisee
Jesus told me I needed to be born again
I asked how I could be born again if I am old
Jesus told me that baptism was the way back to Heavenly Father (See John 3:1-21)
--Nicodemus
2) I saw Jesus walk on the water
At first I thought that Jesus was a spirit and I was afraid
I wanted to walk on the water too
I started to walk on the water, but then I got scared and started to sink
Jesus helped me walk on the water
I learned that with Jesus, I can do all things (Matthew 14:25-33)
--Peter
3) I was very sick.
I died before Jesus could heal me.
Jesus said I was only sleeping and some people laughed at him.
Jesus raised me from the dead. (Mark 5:22-24, 35-43)
--Jairus' daughter
4) We followed Jesus everywhere he went.
We were on a boat with Jesus.
When Jesus is sleeping, there was a terrible storm and the boat was blown and tossed
around.
We were afraid and woke Jesus up.
We saw Jesus calm the wind and the waves.
--The 12 Apostles
What Would Jesus Do?
March around the Primary room to the song "Do as I'm Doing" (CS 276). Then present the following examples--act out what not to do. Then have
the children say, "Wait! What would Jesus do?" Then act out the
right way to handle the situation. March around again and sing the song, then stop and act
out another situation.
-A friend asks you to go riding in the dirt hills near your house.
You know that your mom said it was dangerous there and she didn't want you to play
there.
-You notice that your friend forgot his lunch. Your mom packed you
two sandwiches because you get really hungry at lunchtime.
What if?
I wanted to share a successful sharing time we had on Sunday. I wrote the
following questions on pieces of paper and taped it under various chairs in the room.
Then we discussed what we thought the answers might be. Some of the kids got
so excited about them and their answers frequently bordered on profound--since the answers
related to what they should be doing in their own lives. The questions in
parentheses are ones I asked to follow up.
-What if Jesus came to your house? (What would you do the same? What would you do
differently?)--one boy started jumping around in his seat with the most joyful look on his
face and clapped his hands. You could tell he loved Jesus. Another girl said
that she would listen to Jesus--so I related briefly the story of Mary and Martha.
-What if Jesus came to your school? (What would happen if he came for lunch? What
if he were sitting alone? What if everyone wanted to sit by him?)
-What if Jesus drove with you in the car? (What would you do the same? What
would you do differently?)
-What if Jesus came to your neighborhood? Where would he go and what would he do?
-Do you know anyone that Jesus would try to help? (Who would he try to help
first?)
-If Jesus met your friends, what would he do? What would you feel about him
meeting your friends? --One girl said that Jesus would teach her friend the Gospel.
-What if Jesus came to sacrament meeting? (What would he do? What would you
do if he were there? Do you think he would bless the sacrament?)--I told them about the
first sacrament meeting and what it meant.
-What if Jesus was at Church today? (How would he act? How would
you act?)
There were a lot more responses than we had time for, but the kids enjoyed thinking about
these things. I noted that they had thought of a lot of things that Jesus would do
and what Jesus would like us to do. Then I asked them that if Jesus wasn't there,
who would do these important things? ~Jenny
Bring old sheets, bathrobes, bandanas, or blankets to act out scripture
stories.
Play Jeopardy with Church topics recently studied in class or talked
about in previous Sharing Times.
Play Charades with scriptural characters and items. (Lehi, Tower of
Babel, Liahona, Abraham, etc.)
Name that Temple (prophet, apostle, etc.) Have a list of clues starting
at the most difficult going to the easiest. Give the clues and see how many the children
need until they can guess which temple (or prophet or apostle) is described.
Play 20 questions with scriptural people, places, events in prophet's
lives, and things.
Play Concentration using pictures/word or picture/picture pairs.
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