Family Home Evening Fun!

Last night for Family Home Evening I printed off Pass The Sacrament.  We had a lesson on being reverent during the sacrament and the kids always love it when I pull out the games Grandma makes.  I followed the outline from Lesson #38 I Will Remember Jesus Christ During The Sacrament in the CTR A Primary Manual. 
I made some adaptions since only one of my kids is Junior Primary aged and two are Senior Primary.  Pass The Sacrament is designed to help you move through your lesson by playing while you teach the lesson.  We made 2 teams and each team took a turn answering a question.  Then they would draw a card that would tell them how many kids to pass the sacrament tray to.  It's all luck as to who gets to the end the fastest.  I was impressed when my 11 year old said, "It's OK if you didn't win, because really it means you took more time to think about Jesus while the sacrament was being passed."  Here is a list of some of the questions I asked. Download sacrament.pdf

Feel free to Post your comments on this Family Home Evening Lesson Idea.  You can share your comments on Pass The Sacrament or on teaching Reverence during the Sacrament to our families or primary classes.

HALLOWEEN FUN TIME!

It's great to be in fall! I don't know about you....but fall is my FAVORITE time of year! I love the colors, kids are back in school...and the HOLIDAYS are the BEST! Speaking of holidays...I think Halloween has got to be one of my all time favorites (Christmas is still on the top of my list!)...but there is something about the fun and excitement everyone has for the Halloween parties and games and activities we all do with friends, school and family. Because it is such a favorite of mine, I have TONS OF HALLOWEEN FUN in this months web site and in this month's blog. Today I want to share with you a fun game that I created several years ago for my own family and it quickly became an all time favorite. It is called "FRANK-EN-FUN!" and it is a super fun game for all ages (even for grandma and grandpa!). So it is yours for FREE..just add it to your shopping cart and use the coupon code: FRANKIE! I know your family will love it and it is great fun for those Halloween parties and classroom Halloween activities that you room mothers are in charge of! Check out all the other games we have (and we have a bunch!) for you to use for those fun parties or just to pass those long hours before the big day! Thanks for checking us out and I'll see you in a couple of weeks!

Creating File Folder Games for Young Children

What are File Folder Games?
File Folder Games are easy, inexpensive educational games made in a file folder.  You can use regular manila file folders or color file folders.  File folder games are fun activities for young children to do during Sacrament Meeting, Stake Conference, waiting at the Doctor's office, or long car trips.

How do you make File Folder Games?

Step 1: Copy or Print the pages that are for the inside of the file folder game onto regular weight paper.  They will seal better when laminated than if they are copied onto cardstock.  The playing pieces should be copied or printed onto heavier cardstock.  The cardstock will increase the life of these visuals.

 

Step 2:   Color using watercolor markers, colored pencils, or pastel chalks.  The markers give bright, vivid color and the pencils and pastels give the softer values you may need with some pictures.  Be careful if you use crayons.  They will melt when laminating and could spread beyond the coloring lines. Or print an all ready colored version from a CD or Download.   

 

Step 3:  Cut out and glue inside pages onto the file folder.

 

Step 4:  Laminate all cards, games and folders.  This will prevent anything from smearing or ruining your visual.  This will also make your game more durable.

 

Step 5:  Trim laminated file folder leaving about 1/4" of lamination around the file folder to keep the seal.  Cut out individual laminated pieces. 

Step 6:  Attach "sticky-back" velcro to game pieces to hold them on the file folder game in the positions they will be attached.  This makes the individual games and activities easy to manipulate and play.  "Sticky-back" velcro can be purchased at any fabric or craft store.

 

Where can you get File Folder Games?
Finch Family Games has several options for you to get your File Folder Games.  These file folder games are educational games and many of them also review a gospel lesson.  There are THREE options for getting your File Folder Games.

 First, you can purchase a Finch Family Games File Folder Fun Book.  In each of these four volumes you get 12 to 15 different file folder games for Preschool, Kindergarten, and 1st Grade Levels.  These books are designed for you to make copies of the black and white pages and color each game.  Also available for younger children is the Busy Book For Tiny Tots which has file folder games for preschool aged children.

Second, you can purchase the Finch Family Games JUMBO File Folder Fun Book with CD.  This book is the size of 2 Volumes and has 21 different file folder games for Preschoolers, Kindergartners, or 1st Graders.  In the book you will get the file folder games in black and white designed for you to copy each page and color them yourself.  The CD contains the same file folder games and provides you with both a Black & White Version and a Color Version of the file folder games.  These are available for you to print from your computer using our Finch Family Games Project Browser Software (on the CD) which catalogs and organizes your file folder games alphabetically and allows you to view and print each page of the file folder games.

Third, you can instantly download individual file folder games available in a Black & White Version for you to print from your computer and color yourself or a Color Version to save time and simply print out and move on to the assembling steps.  These file folder downloads can be found at Finch Family Games File Folder Downloads.

 

SUPER Song Visuals!

We are adding LDS Primary Song Visuals to go along with this years LDS Primary Theme "I Know My Savior Lives"  the visuals come from the Finch Family Games book "I Know My Savior Lives" Music Book.  The Song Visuals are available for download in either Black and White or Fully Colored with bright, vivid colors for you to print from your computer.  You can find all Primary Song Visual Downloads in the Primary Section under "Singing Time".  Or just do a search for "Song" and you will get a list of Primary Song Visuals available for download. 

These Primary Song Visuals are great for teaching the songs for this years Primary Program during Singing Time as well as reviewing the songs with your children at home to practice and better learn the Primary Songs.

NEW this week is the LDS Primary Song "I Often Go Walking" to teach a Mother's Day song.  You will love the happy and colorful visuals we have created for this song.

New Spring Projects

We have just added around 20 new Project Downloads in the last several days.  Be sure you take advantage of these NEW Spring Projects. 
Go to http://www.finchfamilygames.com/ and click on Shopping  then in the Quick Store Search form type in "General Conference", "Easter", and "Spring" to easily find some of these new projects!
And for all of you Lucky Blog Viewers use the Discount Code SPRINGTIME to get the Spring Clip Art Pack #1 for FREE!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Be sure you take advantage of our St. Patrick's Day Freebies!         

 We are giving away a Lucky Pack full of St. Patrick's Day Crafts and Activities for young children.

                 

MARCH MADNESS FHE IDEAS

Is your TV constantly on the March Madness Basketball Games?  Well, here are some great Family Home Evening games that will help you pull dad away form the game.  Book of Mormon Basketball and Old Testament Basketball are fun games to play with your whole family.  Create your own questions that go with any lesson, topic, or as a review.  Create balls to toss by rolling up old socks, using Nerf-type balls, or ping-pong balls.  Give each player a question to answer...if they answer correctly, they may toss their ball into the basket.  If they make it, they then can pick a basketball from the paper sack.  They keep it and the points it has printed on it.  When all the basketballs have been taken from the paper sack, the game is over and everyone adds up their score. 

Play Just Like Jesus for Family Home Evening!

Family Home Evening is a great time to reinforce what your children were taught in Primary.  Recently your Junior Primary children learned how Jesus was once a child too.  Being Just Like Jesus is a fun game that helps you teach your children to be more like Jesus and want to follow his example.  (This lesson compliments Lesson #9 in the CTR A Primary Manual, you can find this lesson here )

Weekly Primary Pick Section

We have added a new subcategory to the website in the Primary Section.  It is the Weekly Primary Pick section. Here you can find some ideas to go along with this weeks primary lesson.  We will feature not only current downloads that go with your lesson but also you will find NEW projects that have never been available as a download before.  Just click on this image on the splash page or click on "Primary" in the left Categories Menu then click on the "Primary Pick" Subcategory image.  Be sure to check back weekly  as we will update this section each Monday!

What's for Family Home Evening Tonight?

Need a Family Home Evening idea for tonight? 

Try Ark Animals and learn about Noah and his obedience and faith in the Lord.  
Or check out our Family Home Evening Downloads  for more game and activity ideas!

Valentine Freebies!

I am one of those "old dinosaurs" that is trying to enter this century....so here goes....I am trying to become "blog friendly"!! This month I have been working on some fun Valentine visuals that I would love for you to enjoy....for FREE! So check out our "FREEBIES" section and try out some of the fun crafts and games we have posted for your enjoyment! SHARING IS SO MUCH FUN! If these types of freebies are what you are looking for...write us back and tell us so...or just tell us what you might like to see there in the future. I am creating these daily, so I would love to be making something you personally have requested! Thanks for your interest and support!

LAUNCHING A NEW LOOK!

This week we launched our new website.  We are so excited about our new look and new shopping cart.  We hope we can make your shopping experience more enjoyable by being more easily able to find what you are looking for.

Whether it be a quick Family Home Evening activity for this weeks Family Home Evening, a game you can play with your Primary Class, or a File Folder Game for your Preschooler it will be easy to find using our Category Menu found on every page of the Website.  You can even search by theme by using the built-in Search button.  For example, you want to teach a Family Home Evening Lesson about Faith, simply type in "Faith" in the Quick Store Search field and click the "Online Store Search" Button

and you will be directed to a list of Books, CD's, and download games and activities that all have to do with "Faith".

We would love to hear what you think of the new website.  Please feel free to post your comments and suggestions on our Blog!