Everyday object lessons

Bring a few combs to the class, or have them use their own combs. If you bring your own, please make sure they are washed and very clean before offering students to use them.
Have students comb their hair, with the stipulation that they cannot bend their elbows. This is quite a hilarious sight to see them trying to comb hair with straight arms. Its basically impossible unless the person has very long hair and can bend over very far. Then give the same comb to a neighbor and again with only straight arms, have the neighbor comb the hair. It is possible for this to happen

You can take this object lesson in several directions. It is the message that there are things we cannot do for ourselves. Another person must do it for us. This can be temple work for the dead, or it can be the savior’s atonement. Develop this idea any way you desire.

This lesson is on service. The teacher used ice cream scoops to teach an object lesson. He had two sizes of ice cream scoops and asked “If I were serving up some ice cream, which scoop would you want me to use?” Of course, everyone wanted the big scoop. He then explained that when we serve others, we are offering service to Christ and expressing our love and commitment to him. Holding up the two scoops, he asked “Would you like to serve Christ just a little or a whole lot?”

Source: Doug Hoffman from Kentucky
Here’s an an awesome object lesson that I use with my kids at camp – all you need is a can of fruit or vegetables, and take the label off…add a dent or two also. It’s amazing what and how much the younger ones can come up with! Put the can in the middle of the group and let the group examine it. Ask them to describe the can. Some may say that it’s shiny, that it has dents, and that it has no label. Then ask how this relates to people. Dents of course, because we aren’t perfect and we all have some sort of short falling. The reflection…we reflect what people say about us. Some may say we’re really good at something, and others not good and often we’ll do just that. Then the label. We don’t want to label people. Only God knows whats on the inside, yet as people we know how to look on the outside. We need to train ourselves to look on the inside. On that same note, we need to get to know people and people need to open themselves up in order to really get to know what’s inside. A whole different road can be taken in discussing what labels we have had, why we don’t like them, etc. Some cans may have a pricetag on them, and one can touch on putting value on people needs to only be done if we really value them (because sometimes people don’t get high value, when they really are).

This is a really cool object lesson, something we can get from our kitchen cupboard. Great for group discussion and learning about relationships and judging.

From Angela Spencer
I taught the children the subject “Jesus Christ is my Example” by using 2 object lessons. I first displayed 2 exact plants planted in 2 different containers. One container was beautiful and the plant looked wonderful. The other container was chipped and awful looking and the plant appeared less desirable. I then had the children choose which plant they liked best. Of course, they chose the plant in the nice pot. I then read a story from the Friend called Tin Pot. It told of a boy with disabilities and how his friend Annie learned an important lesson from her Mom concerning how things can look so different on the outside, but still be the same inside. We then, discussed examples Christ did while on the earth to make everyone feel of their Father in Heaven’s love and how the kids could use his examples today.

Source – Lynn G. Robbins
Satan is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. (3Ne. 11: 29). The verb stir sounds like a recipe for disaster: Put tempers on medium heat, stir in a few choice words, and bring to a boil; continue stirring until thick; cool off; let feelings chill for several days; serve cold; lots of leftovers.

This object lesson requires a magnifying glass, a sunny day , a piece of paper, and just a regular piece of glass. Take your class or family outside and give one person the magnifying glass and another person the normal glass. See who can burn a hole in the paper. The lesson could take many direction after this: In order to get quickly to the heart of a problem with a solution, you have to have concentrated effort, or,
Magnifying your calling means giving real concentration and the result is magnified power, or,
look what unusual powers glass can have when it is concentrated in that one spot . That is what can happen when a group works together to solve a problem. If they are all working together. If its not a concentrated effort, then there is no power, or,
you think of something else……..

What would you do if you were walking down the sidewalk in your neighborhood and you see a friend working in his yard and he runs up to you and has an armful of gooey mud that he wants to give you? Do you move closer and hold out your arms and accept all that mud? Yuck! Or do you say, “No, thanks. I don’t want that mud.” And keep on walking? The mud is like gossip or angry words or sarcasm or cutting remarks or criticism. People who dish this mud out of their mouths are wanting to give it to you. Do you have to take it? Or can you refuse? Of course, you have the choice to refuse. You don’t have to take offense, or get angry. You can choose to not let the other person’s angry words rub off on you.

If possible, get a brand new small box of legos (the kind that has the picture right on the front of the thing that could be built on the front). Here is the lesson: Here are some legos and right on front is a picture of what you can build with these. Do I have to build exactly what is here? Can’t I choose to make any design that I can imagine? In fact, there are lots of different choices of really fun things that I can make with just the legos that are in this box. If your friend makes a rude comment or does something mean to you, that is like handing you the box of legos. You can choose to react in any way that you want. The most common thing would be to get mad and maybe give him a punch or yell and say two mean things back. But you don’t have to. You can make a choice to react in a different way. The discussion could go on at this point about what the other choices might be.

Your supplies for this lesson are a backpack and lots of books. Show the class or family the backpack and ask one person to put it on. Then hand them one book and ask them if they think it is very heavy or not. See if they would carry it in the backpack and ask them to estimate for how long they would feel very comfortable carrying it around.

Then start putting in more books and as you do this describe the each book in some way. For example: This book represents when your teacher accused you of something you didn’t do. This book represents the car that bashed in your door at the parking lot. This book is the brother that broke your favorite toy…..etc. Put as many books as possible into the back pack until it is loaded up and very heavy. Then ask the volunteer how long they could carry the backpack comfortably now. Go on to teach the lesson about how carrying grudges and staying bitter and mad at people does not empower us and help us in any way, but it is a heavy burden that makes it more difficult every day to remain close to the spirit and to live joyfully.

Show the class or family a new plot of ground that has just been dug up and prepared to be planted and ask: If this ground were left alone for a year just like it is right now, what would it look like? Would it have flowers and vegetables or would it have weeds and grass? The new ground represents each one of us. We must actively sow seeds of service, unselfishness, forgiveness, courtesy, kindness and actively dig up and remove the ever-present weeds of contention, selfishness, & pursuit of worldly pleasures. We live in the telestial kingdom, the place where Satan freely roams and influences so we must work hard to stay above those influences, just like the gardener must work hard to have a beautiful flower garden or to grow abundant vegetables.