Welcome everyone by name.
Practice the Hand Raising game. Children at this age need to practice hand raising without calling out. We usually start each lesson with a small snack and we practice raising our hands to respond to questions without calling out. We will make statements like, “Raise your hand if you like graham crackers,” or “Raise your hand if you are wearing red today.” We emphasize that they can answer the question not with calling out, but by raising their hands.
Give several commands for children to do, things like jumping jacks, jumping on one foot etc. Explain you are happy they obeyed your instructions because they have been sitting for a long time and it is good for them to get up and move. I gave each child one M&M as a reward for being obedient to what I had asked of them, in addition to getting exercise as a reward for their compliance. This will tie in later with the idea of receiving blessings for being obedient.
Explain that when someone who loves you and cares about you tells you to do something, you should do it. That is called obedience. Sometimes you might not like it, or not want to do it, but your parents, and your teachers at church are trying to help you. You should learn to be obedient. I struggled here with emphasizing that the children should obey their parents and the people who love them and care about them, like teachers at church. I think we don’t want children thinking they should obey and follow everyone, even strangers.
Ask the children if their parents have ever asked them to do something they didn’t want to do. Guide the conversation to the idea that even if we don’t want to, usually the things we are asked to do are good for us or others. Some examples might be to eat vegetables, take a nap, clean your room. All of those are not fun, but if you are obedient you will be happy and healthy.
Show a video or read a book about Peter Rabbit. Youtube has several good videos. I stopped the video in several places to point out that Mother Rabbit told Peter not to go into the garden, and why, but he chose to disobey her. There are several spots in the video (or book) where you can point out the consequences of Peter’s bad choice and the reward the other bunnies got for choosing to obey their mother.
Heavenly Father also gives us commandments and want us to be obedient also. Ask the children what some of Heavenly Father’s commandment are? (Come to church, pay tithing, don’t lie, etc.) Explain how Heavenly father gives us commandments to keep us safe so we should obey Him. Use pictures, or create a PowerPoint slide show of all the things Heavenly Father asks us to do, and talk about the blessings we receive from doing those things.
Read the story of Wilford Woodruff.
Ask the children how things would have been different if Wilford Woodruff had obeyed his father.
Imagine how our lives would be if we didn’t obey. Show the video of The Sting of the Scorpian and talk about both the blessings of obedience and the consequences of disobedience. Remind the children that they got an M&M for obeying you at the beginning of the class. Sometimes we don’t get immediate rewards, but we are kept safe from things we don’t even see or know about.
Explain that sometimes obedience is hard. We can ask for help and pray to Heavenly Father to help us be obedient. Use videos or pictures to tell the story of Nephi building the ship. talk about how he obeyed even though he didn’t know how to build a ship, and even though his brothers teased him. Create an activity or coloring page to go along with this story.
LDS Lessons in a Box 