Everyday object lessons

From Sarah in Minneapolis

This is an object lesson for teaching a song call the Wise and Foolish Man.

It could be used for any lesson using the idea of building upon the strong foundation of Jesus Christ.

We have been
singing the Wise Man and Foolish Man song now for a couple of weeks.
We sang the song,then I had a kiddo come up and sit in a chair. He had
to build a structure with blocks right on his lap. Of course it
toppled almost immediately. Next I had a kiddo come to the front and
build his structure right on the floor. By this time all the kids were
gathered around so they could see, and I had them all stomp their feet
to see if they could get the building to topple – with no luck. The
kids guessed the lesson they were supposed to learn right away – they loved it.

Start outside when the sun is very bright.  Tell students to stand so they are receiving the most and brightest sun available.  Then everyone moves to a spot that is not so bright, but that you can clearly see the sun is still shining – maybe in the shade of a tree.  Next move indoors but to a room with a window so you can still have the effects of the sunlight but less.  Finally move to a closet or room where it can be entirely dark.  If it is a warm time of year you know the sun is still shining because the building is still warm inside even tho you are in the dark.

This lesson has several applications.  Here are the ones my family came up with:  God’s love represents the sun.

It is our actions that take us out of the light.  God’s love is always there and always the same and always available.  My actions make it so I feel God’s love less.  I move, not God.

We started out in the light.  That is where we all came from – God’s presence.  We should ask for confirmation of this truth and then remember that light and God’s love when we are feeling discouraged and in the dark.

Idea from a speech by Sheri Rose Shepherd
For the object, get a sharp knife and hold it up from the sharp end as you give the story You know how toddlers are very curious and they ask lots of questions and they want to touch and get into everything because they are learning about everything in life.

Imagine if you had a toddler exploring around in the kitchen and you find your toddler holding onto a very sharp knife by the sharp end. Your heart leaps and you know you need to act quickly but carefully so the child doesn’t injure himself. The worst thing would be to scream and yell and grab the knife away. What you would probably do is to speak very softly and request the child give you the knife and maybe use something else to distract the child until you can safely remove it from view.

This is how God works with us in our school of learning called life. Many times we are like toddlers and getting into all sorts of things that could cause us great injury and harm. God calls us with a still small voice and gently seeks to persuade us to leave those things alone.

Add to this beginning any scriptures or more elaboration on the story so it fits with your lesson

Source: New Era magazine – Nov 99, p.44
You need a lazy susan or turntables that go in your cupboard for your spices. Demonstrate in some way how the things in the center spin much slower and don’t fly off like the things on the outside. If you can’t have the demonstration then just have them picture the last time they were on a merry-go-round and have the class discuss what happens to a person in the dead center and what happens to someone on the edge when the merry-go-round is going very fast. The lesson from the New Era is this: You’ll find that when you move away from the teachings of the Savior and the prophets, you find yourself taking risks you know you shouldn’t. And then you can suddenly find yourself far away from the Church. And it can be really hard to get back on the ride again once you’re off. If we stay centered on Him, following the teachings of the Church and the prophets, we won’t be tempted to take the risks that will throw us off the path that leads home.

Source: From a book by Robert Folgrum
Gather a small mirror and a bright flashlight. Turn the light off in the room. Have one person hold the flashlight up and shine it down on the mirror. (You’ll have to experiment to find the best way to do this) The person with the mirror’s task is to see if they can reflect the light into the darkest corner of the room. Let two or three people try this and see if they can light up a dark corner.

The story that goes with this would be that Christ or God represents the flashlight, and we are the mirror. The light or the power to bring light to the dark places does not originate with the mirror, it only reflects it into many different places.

That is our mission, our meaning in life, to reflect God’s light, or love into all of the dark places that we can.

Expound on this message in whatever way fits best and of course there are skads of scriptures that would be appropriate.

When I was a little boy, my mother used to embroider a great deal. I would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask what she was doing. She informed me that she was embroidering. I told her that it looked like a mess from where I was. As from the underside I watched her work within the boundaries of the little round hoop that she held in her hand, I complained to her that it sure looked messy from where I sat. She would smile at me, look down and gently say, “My son, you go about your playing for awhile, and when I am finished with my embroidering, I will put you on my knee and let you see it from my side.”

I would wonder why she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. A few minutes would pass and then I would hear Mother’s voice say, “Son, come and sit on my knee.” This I did only to be surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful flower or a sunset. I could not believe it, because from underneath it looked so messy. Then Mother would say to me, “My son, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre-drawn plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it. Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing.”

Many times through the years I have looked up to my Heavenly Father and said, “Father, what are You doing?” He has answered, “I am embroidering your life.” I say, “But it looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem so dark. Why can’t they all be bright?” The Father seems to tell me, “‘My child, you go about your business of doing My business, and one day I will bring you to Heaven and put you on My knee and you will see the plan from My side.” Author Unknown

Obtain a harmonica or some other instrument that most folks will likely not know how to play. Ask someone to stand and play a specific church hymn on the instrument. (Be sure to pick someone who doesn’t know how to play it.) ) When they reply that they can’t, then ask them how they could learn to do so. The answer is to read and study its manual and learn about how to play the instrument, then practice playing it everyday using the instructions from the manual. The same applies to being in tune to the Spirit. In order to be so, we must first learn how to recognize it by reading “the manual” (the scriptures), then “practice” daily by following “the manual’s” instructions.

Source: Vicki Claybrook
John 8:12 …I am the Light of the world…. Bring in several sources or pictures of sources of light. Have students identify the purpose of each. Next, have students identify how Christ functions in a similar capacity. See examples: Sun: Is the source of life for all things living on earth. (Christ provides resurrection/life for all men.)
Porch light: Serves as a beacon to help us find home.
Campfire/fireplace: Provides warmth and comfort
Lighthouse: Protects from dangers
Flashlight: Defines a safe path.
Nightlight: Banishes darkness and eliminates fear
Match with candles: Light can be shared or given to others
Car headlights: Let us know where we are heading
Tail-lights in a fog (There must be a better example): A guide that can be followed
Have students continue to add to the list and see if they can add to the analogy.

Submitted by Barb Prescott
This object lesson has to do with the spirit dwelling in a clean place (your body): Take a sock ( an old one preferably one you don’t care about getting real muddy), soak the sock in mud, get it real dirty and then put it in a plastic bag. Take it to your class and during your lesson ask someone if they would mind putting on a sock (of course they haven’t seen the sock yet), someone will volunteer. Then take out the muddy sock from the bag and ask them to put it on their clean foot. Hopefully no one will want to do this.Liken this to the holy spirit not wanting to dwell in an unclean body. How can you put your foot in a dirty sock and expect it to feel ok. You can’t ask the spirit to dwell in an unclean body, it absolutely will not.