General Conference with Kids

If you’re a member of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 

like me, you know that General Conference is coming up March 31 & April 1! This is a time when, every six months, the prophet, the twelve apostles and other general authorities speak to the church in a worldwide conference.

Everybody is welcome to watch and listen here.

We usually stay at home and watch General Conference over the internet. Having a few activities ready for the kids makes it more memorable and enjoyable for the whole family. Here is what I have planned this year!

  

• Conference BINGO … this is by far my kids favorite activity during conference. Great cards here.
  1. Print out the number of BINGO cards you’ll need. I print out one card per person per session (there are four sessions in two days). That’s 12 cards! Luckily, the link above has 12 different cards! Perfect.
  2. Tape the BINGO card onto a book or use a clipboard.
  3. Set out a small bucket of crayons. I usually keep it to 5-10 crayons. Enough to share. Not enough to make a huge mess.
  4. Give each of the kids their own bag of treats to mark the squares. My personal favorite is … GUMMY BEARS. They’re small and sweet and they don’t roll off the page or get melty in little fingers I count out 25 (plus an extra one of course) in a ziploc snack baggie.
  5. To Play:
     • As we listen to conference, any time the kids hear one of the words mentioned on their card, they color it in and place one gummy bear on the square.
     • When their card is full, they can eat their treats. It takes them a good 45 minutes!

• Conference Packet … there are so many wonderful conference packets available. This one is my favorite this year from Food Storage & Beyond.
  1. Click here and scroll down to “My General Conference Packets to Download”
  2. I printed the “Junior Primary Age Packet”
  3. Yes, it says 2011, but I’m okay with that, especially because Debbie, the amazing mom who made this is going to have a baby soon and still made these available! I just printed three copies for my kids.

• Grow a Conference Garden … I loved this idea to help us remember what was spoken about at conference!
1. Print out all of the apostle flowers here (scroll down to “The Conference Spring Garden Activity Download”) One set per child. Mom & dad will pair up with our younger kids.
2. Cut the flowers out ahead of time (or leave them if your kids are good with scissors and can do it themselves!)
3. Make a simple garden display on the wall … flower stems without the tops.
4. To Use:
• When one of the apostles speak, find their flower.
• Color it.
• On the back, let the kids write down (or write for them) words that they hear that are important to them. Listen for words that are repeated a lot or things we are asked to do.
• Attach the colored flower top to the stems in your Conference Garden.
• Each week during Family Home Evening, discuss one talk. Read the backs of the flowers and make a goal to accomplish as a family. When you have accomplished your goal, remove that flower … until you’ve done them all!

• Hugs & Snickers … I have to say, my husband loves this one just as much as the kids do. We do this activity during the afternoon sessions, when we’re all a little sleepier
1. Fill one bowl with mini-sized Snickers.
2. Fill another bowl with Hershey’s Hugs.
3. If one of the speakers makes the audience laugh, you can eat a Snickers (get it?!)
4. If one of the speakers cries, treat yourself to a Hug

• Conference Treat Bowls … I thought this idea from Brown Paper Packages was fun! We’ll do this during the morning sessions after the kids have finished their Conference Bingo, while we work on part of their Conference packet.
• Gather 5-6 small buckets (the little tin buckets in Target’s dollar spot would be perfect) or I will probably just use bowls.
• Fill each bucket with a different treat:
1. M&Ms, Skittles, Runts, Reese’s Pieces, Jelly Bellies
2. Healthier version … pretzels, yogurt raisins, grapes, nuts
• On the front, attach a word to listen for.
1. Brown Paper Packages’ buckets look amazingly cute with vinyl lettering.
2. I may cheat and just print an extra Conference Bingo sheet, cut the squares apart, and tape 1 or 2 of those per bucket.
• Listen to conference and whenever you hear one of your “bucket words” grab a treat!

I would love to hear what you plan to do for Conference this year!