I am so excited to make this General Conference a memorable experience for my two little ones. We are more pumped up for General Conference weekend than we are for most holidays (although I cannot wait to celebrate Holy Week and Easter this year with our New Testament studies)!
Before Conference
Songs
Current Apostles Song (with actions), sung to the tune of the Beverly Hillbillies theme song. Or this version of the same song, but with lyrics and apostle faces showing.
Prophets and Apostles Song (with actions), sung to the tune of Books in the Book of Mormon from the Children's Songbook.
"We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet" (Hymn 19)
"Follow the Prophet" (CS 110) verse for President Nelson (written by Lynette Burke Hale):
Russell M. Nelson, gentle, kind and smart— That's why he became a doctor of the heart. Teaching faith in Jesus, as we seek and pray, He's still healing hearts, in another way.
(Lynette Burke Hale)
Activities
Make an I Spy the Prophet spyglass to use during Conference.
Play this General Conference Headbanz game.
Have older children watch through these Meet the Apostles videos and put together a scavenger hunt for younger siblings. Young children will be able to focus on the videos longer if they are engaged in watching for specific images or listening for specific words (e.g. In President Nelson's video, find a banana, a bar of soap, and a sunset, and count how many times the word "heart" is said.)
Teach your children to recognize the voices of each of the apostles by listening to soundbites in this Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice game (scroll down to find it.) You will need an updated apostles chart, such as this one.
Play Don't Eat Pete.
Match the faces of the apostles with this Bingo game.
Lay out sheets or blankets across the floor, bunched in rows as if waves of water. Have your children pretend to swim around in the "water" while you read to them Safe on the Sea, a short article by Thomas S. Monson about heeding the words of the living prophets. Then color the provided coloring page.
Play search and find with Conference Squares to make sure your young children know the terms and the image associated with each, in case you decide to use them for one of the activities listed below for during or after General Conference.
Make a magnetic "Who Is Speaking" game with the free printout, a cookie sheet, and magnets.
Make comfy Conference desks using a clipboard glued to small throw pillow (easily found at a thrift store.)
During Conference
Conference Wall
Hang up on a wall some Gospel Art Kit pictures that are familiar to your children, of topics that are likely to be mentioned in Conference (temple, missionaries, sacrament, Jesus Christ, etc.) Also cut up the bingo sheets of apostles from one of the Pre-Conference links. Tell your children to listen carefully for those topics, and when it is mentioned, to find the picture of the speaker and tape him onto the GAK picture. Or put the GAK pictures in page protectors and have your children tally mark them with a dry erase marker when the subject is mentioned. Here are two examples of this activity from the blogs We Talk of Christ and Hugs and Giggles.
Or do the opposite-- hang up pictures of the General Authorities and have your children tape one of these Conference Squares to each speaker during their talk.
Conference Reverence Tents
Make a tent out of blankets, chairs, and tables with the door facing the television like the Nephites listening to King Benjamin.
Speaker Stickers
Cut out the center fold from the last conference edition of the Ensign and tape it to the wall next to the television. Every time a new speaker goes to the podium, remind your children to find the speaker on the paper and put a sticker over his face.
Snacks
Replenish your 72 hour kits and eat the food as Conference snacks! They expire after about six months, so what better reminder than General Conference?
Kids will love having treat buckets, each with a picture attached of a topic that will likely be mentioned frequently in Conference (prophet, scriptures, temple, to name a few.) When you hear the topic in the picture mentioned, you go grab a treat from that bucket.
Printables
I Spy Sunday game from Teepee Girl
Coloring pages, draw the speaker pages, and more from A Year of FHE
Watercolor biblical paper dolls from A Lively Hope
Lacing cards from Little LDS Ideas
Bingo from Doodlecraft
Speaker Surprises
Fill fifteen lunch bags with a variety of snacks, mini toys, coloring/activity pages, and age appropriate activities to occupy your children during General Conference. Tape on each bag a small picture of a General Authority and when that man speaks in Conference, your children get to open the bag!
For slightly older children, I absolutely love the work done by Whitney Aston Morris. She compiled facts about each apostle and came up with corresponding items to put in each bag so that your children learn about the speakers during their talk.
See the pictures below for some ideas to fill your bags for young children. You can also search Google or Pinterest for "busy bags" for endless filler ideas. I spent about $20 at the dollar store and used various craft supplies I already had on hand (including a good amount of printing and laminating.) Please forgive the carpet stains! I live with toddlers...
You can print off the above face matching activity here. I colored them in before laminating.
I can't find my original source for the colored craft stick patterns, but here is another free one from Visual Learning for Life, including some more complicated patterns for slightly older children.
After Conference
Conference Review Poster
Divide one or two posters into sections for each member of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. In each section, place a photo of the speaker and write out a one sentence condensed summary of the talk, so that it is easily understood by young children. Also draw a symbol or picture to help your pre-readers remember. See Make Myself at Home for pictures of their poster.
Talk Topic Sticks
Go through your general conference notes and decide on the topic addressed in each talk, with the topics chosen from Conference Squares. Cut out the Conference Square and tape it to the end of a craft stick labeled with the speaker's name. Then on the backside of the craft stick, write a short goal you can do as a family to heed the counsel given in the talk. You can also make a can with the label "I 'can' listen and obey the Prophets and Apostles" to store your talk topic sticks. See pictures of this activity at KugAlls blog.
Conference Edition Ensign
Give each of your children their own copy of the Conference Edition Ensign with a special highlighter and their name written on the cover. Older children can mark their favorite passages while younger children can use their highlighters in any way they wish to add splashes of color to the Ensign. Even the photographs can be valuable teaching tools.
