Introduce the doctrine: Before Primary, write the phrase “Ye are the temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16) on the board. Show the children pictures of temples, and ask them what makes a temple so special (it is a house of the Lord, clean, well cared for, and a place where the Holy Ghost can come). Write their responses on the board. Explain that our bodies, like temples, are sacred and need to be treated with respect by ourself and others.
Encourage understanding and application: Copy the picture on page 47 of the nursery manual, Behold Your Little Ones. Cut out the circles in the picture, and put them in a container. Ask a child to choose one of the circles. Ask the children how the picture reminds them to treat their bodies like temples. Give each child a copy of the picture, and invite them to color it. Invite older children to write one thing under each circle that they will do this week to treat their bodies like temples. Invite the children to take their pictures home to teach their family how they can treat their bodies like temples.
Encourage application: Display a copy of “My Gospel Standards.” Ask the children to identify which gospel standards teach them how to treat their bodies like temples. Invite the children to turn to someone sitting nearby and share one way they are treating their body like a temple. Then ask them to think about one way they can improve. Invite a few of the children to share their thoughts with everyone.
I have based my ideas off of this article in the Friend.
(included in the download is this to print out on LEGAL paper-8.5x14)
In this article, the author poses 5 questions and they are just so good and perfect for what we need to get across that I didn't want to change them. They are:
What's great about having a body?
Why do we have bodies?
What if there are things I don't like about my body? (I love this one!)
Why doesn't everyone look alike?
How should I treat my body?
I have created board size printouts with these questions and an "answer" box for each that are all color coded. You can play different variations with these.
1) Bring in some sticky darts and see if the kids can "dart" the pairs then discuss. Bean bags are also great for this (with the ground rules of no throwing)
These sticky darts are the ones I always have on hand but you can typically find them at party supply stores.
2) Create key words for each of the answer boxes and have the kids try to match the key word (write or print on the back of the answer boxes) to the question.
3) Have all the questions up on the board, scatter the answer boxes around the room on walls, under chairs, etc. Have the kids find the answer box that goes with the question, then discuss.
I have also included some illustrations from different Friend magazines about some things we can do with our bodies. You can put these up with the temple pictures from the "Introduce the doctrine" and ask the kids how are our bodies the same as temples?
There are 5 in all for the illustrations.
I wanted you to be able to send the kids home with something to summarize the lesson and I just loved this illustration from Susan Fitch and knew that it'd be perfect for this handout.(download includes 8x10 and sheet of 4x6)
