Update: 😪sadly, due to quarantine, I had to take this product off the shop. It isn’t virtual-friendly, but if you are interested, 😂message me on Etsy and I can bring it back as a custom order for you. Thank you!
********************************************
Aaaah this has been in the works for SO long and I am so excited to share it with you!
This was such a fun product to create last year, and it was the first one that got my (back then) brand new Etsy shop on the map and on some people's radar as a place for beautifully designed Latter-Day Saint teaching resources.
It has been such a year of transformation and growth since that shakily hand-lettered scribble-filled packet full of doodles and good ideas, design-wise!
As I learned (and continue to always learn) the art of graphic design this year, I knew that any second try would yield better results than the original teach the theme printables, but I was worried that I wouldn't be able to come up with fun activities, games, and messages again.
But inspiration and great ideas came (no doubt with a lil heavenly help 😂) and I can truly tell y'all that this is a pretty amazing packet! I ended up totaling the pages to see if it was a number worth bragging about and the calculator said 46 (If I ever claim to have done math without one, don't trust my findings!) and... I think that's a good number!
I'll let the pictures serve as previews of all the good stuff inside and explain a little more about everything you'll get with your purchase below!
This picture makes an... attempt to convey everything in this packet. There is a lot that I couldn't fit on one little Pinterest picture, but I feel like it also does a good job of showing the theme, which was sooooo fun to create!
Officially, it's "The Search for Spiritual Treasure," and aesthetically, it's where the Book of Mormon tropical fun scene, a treasure hunt vibe, and the faintest hint of a pirate look meet. It has super fun colors, and it is gender neutral so you can use it with YM & YW.
Oh yeah ofc also there are so many ways to use this! Our classic ward activity is this super fun kickoff night party thing, but we have made sure to design it so that it works as a BYD, 5th Sunday lesson, or fun girls camp experience. And it has also been created in a way that has an option for the youth to lead!
I love this because I feel like lately in the church there has been such an emphasis on...
-revelation. Think President Nelson -- "It will not be possible to survive spiritually without it" etc, and some, myself included, struggle at times to know exactly what revelation is, how to receive it, and like, will God ever talk to me?? Revelation is the heart of what this entire activity is about.
There are three "units" (which aren't crazy long or anything, that's just what we're going to call it) which are all about seeking, receiving, and acting on personal revelation.
-the youth leading things. This is so that your youth can teach the entire lesson. Invite your class presidency to pick one of the five sections and let him or her run with it. I've got enough structure to get the youth started, but enough leeway that he or she can make each section their own. The included planning pages and checklist will help youth and adult leaders coordinate for a smooth and successful event.
-not watering everything down. When I teach, (and sometimes in general) I tend to always want to make everything one giant party. If it's not fun, why force people through it? If something's boring, why don't we just start having a more interesting discussion?
But I've had to learn that there has to be a balance between super boring mega nap lectures and little kid parties when we teach the gospel.
While making things fun has a great effect, we also don't want to make it at a level that they are spiritually way past at where they are, not able to feel the Spirit, and not learning anything, and it probably is harder for people to come out and say "Um y'all we gotta be a lil more serious" instead of "SIESTA TO FIESTA, NOW!!"
This packet maintains a good balance between moments of fun and learning and moments of stillness and learning, if that makes any sort of sense.
As I said before, there's the 3 teaching units! I also added in the closer because having 3 items wasn't super working aesthetically; in reality there are actually 5 parts to this: the introduction, unit 1, unit 2, unit 3, and a fun closer, which have all been carefully created to be fun and spiritually sustaining; I explain about them in more detail below.
It's all about revelation y'all! This may seem random or strange, but as we discuss in the packet, revelation is at the heart of Nephi's famous words. Nephi didn't always understand why Lehi did what he was doing, or follow along blindly with his father's will. Which is no less noble of him and I think actually makes him a much more relatable figure, which is good.
So how did he get from an average teen to the big BOM hero this activity is all about? He sought personal revelation. It's nearly impossible to understand what's going on with Nephi with the "go & do" phrase, even with the whole verse included.
What is Nephi going to go and do? Yes, I know it's "what is commanded" but what is commanded? Where? When? Why? How? All you need to do is back up a few verses to be enlightened about the situation.
As any person would be, Nephi is confused about the situation. "What's going on with Dad? Why do we have to move into the wilderness? I kinda like how things are now."
His sibs feel the same, although it seems that the L bros are lil more vocal about their concerns. But what sets Nephi apart from them and puts him on a trajectory to be great? Again! As we read in 1 Nephi 2-3, he sought personal revelation. The Spirit witnesses to him that it is true, it is real, and that he should listen to his dad.
So why is that personal revelation catchy crazy church buzzword what this packet is all about?
It's what Nephi's faith journey and personal journey (and our own journeys) are all about, and it's an important topic to learn.
That pic just details the organization of the packet a lil. There are lots of pages of teaching ideas, checklists, etc, that aren't the most graphic to be displayed but are key to creating a great activity experience.
Seek it! Yay! If the intro activity is good, you'll have a better chance of keeping the youths' attention, at least, that's my logic and experience! People often set their expectations through beginning experiences, and I wanted to be sure that this activity had a good one! And so, it all starts with a game.
This was soooo fun to make, and it's Book of Mormon themed. It's based off Spot It, super fun, super aesthetic and cute, just love how this game turned out. It was hard to create and engineer and everything, which makes it being completed that much more rewarding.
And ofc there's a devotional for each section including this part to tie things in. But I wanted the very first thing they did to be smth super fun.
And we're on unit 1! So fun! There was a lot of deep studying and poring over recent remarks from General Authorities, and I don't want to claim that they are all from the most recent one, bc I'm not 100% sure that every! single! quote! and teaching point came from there, but a lot really are. The fed but not nourished deer have a cameo, for example.
After I rounded up a ton of relevant quotes I had to turn it into a fun activity, and I thought, what could be more appropriate for this topic than a treasure hunt?
With the use of the giant treasure map (which is available as a poster or 4 8.5 x 11 pages) and special clues embedded within each important quote and lesson about seeking revelation, youth will gather information on where to find the spiritual treasure in the room.
*Also, this is important, I'm not going to spoil where it is/what the clues lead to bc that would be lame, but it's not a church-specific object where the treasure will be hidden, it's a household item that anyone and all church buildings have. You can do this activity anywhere!*
Unit 2 might be the climax of this whole thing, it's sooo good and I love how it turned out! Not to say that the other items aren't great, but receiving personal revelation is super important and a big skill to learn. You can't claim that God never talks to you if you don't know the ways God talks. As Albert Einstein said, (and I promise this is related!) "Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
It reminds me of the video about light, and I couldn't include it bc it had some topics that are fine for seminary age kids but might be a lil sketch to bring up with the little kids that are in the youth program nowadays... anyways, it's below, and it talks about how this dude thinks that if God is real, He will show Himself to the dude, and yeah, spoiler, it doesn't happen. He learns that revelation is a process requiring patience, something beautiful that happens over long periods of time as we attempt to step into God's glorious light.
Also a lil sidetrack here, but this LDSLiving article about when you can't receive revelation is soooooo good and super related to this topic!
Bottom line, revelation and receiving it are hot topics and they are heavily covered in this module with a scripture chase! It's pretty simple, but it's been dressed up a bit with cute printables.
But it's also like super powerful tho. The foundation of this was taken from Preach My Gospel, so that we knew that all of these examples were doctrinally sound, especially because they cited where they came from in the scriptures. This is a super great section!
And now it's time to act! This is a game that is designed to get the youth talking and having fun as they discuss ways to act in faith as demonstrated by Nephi's example in the theme. I really don't want to spoil what goes on in this one, but it's fun, it's a game, there's a ball 😂 as you can see above, and it includes quotes and connections to the recent General Conference.
And then we have a great closer! Classic, I know, to end with an invitation to act, but that's what it's really all about, right? "The gospel of Christ invites us to become something," Dallin H. Oaks said. I feel like that's actually a little harsh, not his idea, just the way it was worded.
We already are something amazing, a beautiful child of God! I think the point he was trying to make is that the gospel invites us to become someone new, which is a constant challenge and opportunity. This closing activity connects the Book of Mormon, goal setting, the theme, all sorts of fun stuff, and there's a super cute tag for treats.
I think I've put out plenty of information about everything in this packet, maybe even more than most care to hear, but, gotta fully answer all questions! Now onto the next big project.
Support the shop for free by following the Pinterest account or favoriting the shop.
And if you are interested in making or looking into a purchase, you can check out this digital download packet here!
No comments:
Post a Comment