Welcome to the creative side of week 14.

You guys, this is going to be a really good week.

We have big things in store.

Just remember, my goal here is just to give you a creative kickstart.

You certainly don't need to do all of these or any of them.

I just hope it inspires you to teach creatively so that your eyes light up

as you teach and your kids can learn.

Catch fire, you know, like literally this week there, you're going

to see some, some fires begin.

I'm going to walk you through the objectless and supplies

first, and then I'll take you through each one individually,

but good things are in store.

Okay, first, I wanted to talk about those two big issues that

Jacob is addressing in his people.

He sees this sin of pride and this, Sin of the law of chastity being broken and

he's going to address both so in our first two object lessons We'll hit both

of those the first one's going to focus on pride I call this an aura grabbing

game because basically you're going to put a whole bunch of aura out and

then Invite your kids to grab it and in the process of playing this game.

They'll actually Walk through what Jacob teaches about the risks of pride.

I'll explain the details soon, but basically, supplies wise,

you really just need pencils.

A sharpened pencil is better if you have those on hand.

They don't need to be new, just a sharpened pencil.

And then you're going to need some paper cups.

We tried this with plastic cups, and I'm telling you, plastic doesn't work.

Because what you're going to make are these little grabbers.

So kind of like a claw machine from your childhood, where you would grab the prize.

That's what you're making to grab the oar.

So you need two cups for each person that's playing.

And then the printable that goes with them to help you figure out how to

put it together and make it look cute.

So two cups, I got the 12 ounce size of paper cup.

They're made for like hot cocoa, eight ounce would probably work as well.

Anything smaller might be too small, but something around there.

I have links on the notes.

If you want to grab them from Amazon, like I did, but you can probably

find them at any grocery store.

Hey, Object Lesson 2, this is where the fire comes in.

In that stake release study meeting that I just went to, I got to meet

some of the Chandler family and the kids there requested more fire,

so here it comes Chandler family.

So we're going to do fire to teach about the law of chastity.

This is one of my very favorite ways to open up discussions about things

like pornography and other areas regarding the law of chastity that you

might want to talk to your kids about.

You can kind of feel this out on your own, but it's actually

a really simple way to teach it.

And it is.

It packs a punch.

So for it, you simply need some sanitizer.

I just bought it at the dollar store.

This little jar will be plenty.

And then you're also gonna need a candle.

I prefer getting the longer candles just because it gives you a little more

distance between the flame and your hand.

So if you can find birthday candles that are a little long, that's ideal.

And then of course something to light it with.

You're gonna need a lighter.

I thought it was easiest to use something like this.

Again, from the dollar store, a long neck lighter gives you a little more distance

and keeps things a little more safe.

Okay, third object lesson.

This one's the simplest of all three.

This is an object lesson I just did with my YA essays a couple

weeks ago and it worked so well that I decided we needed it here.

Especially because Jacob's going to speak about healing wounds and I think

this is a really simple way to do it.

For your supplies on this one you just need a dry erase board.

It can be any size.

If it's on the wall in your seminary class, great.

If you have something small like this, that works as well.

You can find this at the dollar store too if you need it.

Then you need two kinds of markers.

You're going to need an expo marker, a dry erase marker, and then also a red sharpie.

It doesn't technically have to be red, but I think it teaches the lesson

just a little bit better if it is red.

Um, so if you have a red sharpie and any color of expo, you'll be good to go.

Then something to erase with as well, but okay, that's your full supplies list.

Now let's get into the details.

Some of my favorite object lessons are the ones that the kids don't

even realize you're doing an object lesson, but you're actually acting out

what the scriptures are teaching you.

as they play.

So I'm calling this, uh, Mighty Mini Ore Grabbing Game, because basically you're

going to make grabbers, like I showed you, and you're going to try and gather ore.

So the making of the grabber is your first step.

You're going to want one of these for each of the players.

If that is too tedious for you and you have a large class, you also could, you

know, work a few kids at a time and let them demonstrate and then switch places

or something, but you're, the more you can make, the more fun your kids will have.

You need these, one for each player.

The assembly process for those is really simple, it's all laid out

for you on the printable, so I won't walk you through all of that here,

but basically you're just kind of assembling two cups together and adding

a printable to make it look really cute.

And then you're going to cover your classroom or your kitchen, or your

living room, wherever you're teaching, with just simple balls of paper.

If you wanted to take this to the next level and you have a longer class

to work with, you could even write scriptures about pride on these pieces

of paper and then study those later, but really to do the object lesson,

you just need to ball up some paper.

Aim for about golf ball size, maybe a little bit larger, but not too big.

So ball up a bunch of paper.

This represents your ore.

So if you happen to have paper that's colored silver and gold and jewel tones,

that would be fun, but you just want to create ore and scatter it around the room.

Then you're going to challenge your kids to use their grabber to grab the ore.

So they'll assume naturally, because it's a game, that it's kind of

every man for themselves, right?

So you're going to say, I'm setting a two minute timer, or depending on how

many kids are in your class, you may need to extend it or shorten it, but

set a two minute timer and say, I want you to get as much ore as you can.

Now they're going to have to be kind of careful about where they stockpile their

ore, because if you notice this little grabber, it doesn't much on its own.

It can hold a ping pong ball or A ball of paper, but not much more.

So they're going to need to figure out a place in the room

where they can keep their stash.

You know, almost like a chipmunk.

They need to store their stash of ore somewhere.

And then watch the game play out over two minutes.

I guarantee, as your kids play this game, you're going to see some cheating occur.

Even if they're really good kids, because they want to win, right?

And so they might do things like kind of kick a ball out of somebody else's way, or

they might grab it with their hand instead of with their claw, or they might even go

over to somebody else's pile and take one out of their pile and put it in their own.

You'll see all kinds of clever ways to grab.

And then you want to stop the timer, so at two minutes, stop the timer and tally.

Okay.

I'll see you next time.

So I wouldn't even explain what they were playing.

I would just let them play and tally points.

So write down on a piece of paper or on the chalkboard each person's score

and then their total score as a class.

And then you're going to talk about what you saw.

So for example, this is when you would break it down for your kids and say,

tell me some of the behaviors that happened because we were all seeking to

get as big of a pile of ore as possible.

And let them tell you, oh well, he kind of kicked my hand when I was reaching

for something, or I sort of cheated and reached down and grabbed a thing

and put it in my cup just because I really wanted to win, or you know,

you'll hear them explain what they did.

And this is when you sort of break it down as a teacher and you say, Did the or

cause this problem and they'll naturally know that it's not the or that caused

it It's the desire to have the most or that caused this problem when they were

seeking to have more than somebody else It creates these other sins I think

that's really important and I think Jacob tried to teach it to us this week

as well Because he's not saying the love that Seeking for wealth is bad.

He's saying if you seek for the kingdom of God first, and then

seek wealth in order to build the kingdom of God, God will bless you.

It's when you get those reversed, kind of like those first two commandments.

When you get those out of order, things will fall apart.

So the same thing happens here.

So that's when you're gonna play round two.

So round two is the exact same game.

Take all those balls, scatter them around the classroom, and then you're

going to invite your kids again to play, but this time you're just

tallying their total score as a class.

So you're inviting them to try and beat that first score.

So remember how I had you write everybody's.

numbers down and then tally up how many.

So if they got 30 balls on the first round, challenge them to beat it as a team

the second round and then see how they do.

And watch how the game plays out.

Set the same two minute timer and pay attention to how the game shifts.

When there isn't that element of competition and trying to be better

than somebody else, they get creative.

In fact, I would encourage them before the timer starts to be creative.

What do they need?

Where should they put their pile to be most advantageous to the group?

Whose talent should they pull from as the grabber versus the person who

like corrals the pile versus, you know, like they could diversify and

be smart and strategic on how they can get the best chance for getting the

most balls in their pile by the end.

And then basically ask them at the end of those two minutes, How did it feel?

How did it feel to be on a team working towards a goal?

How did it change how you see each other and how you help each other?

And, you know, it's, I think they'll see it naturally and they'll understand that

in the kingdom of God, We're supposed to be building each other, because we're not

building our own individual stockpiles.

We're building his kingdom.

It's a common goal.

That doesn't mean we'll all do the same jobs, or even have the same amount

of wealth, or any of those things.

It just means we will be on the same team, and we will be finding ways to

bless each other in a variety of ways.

I think the game itself, teaches what Jacob was trying to help me understand.

Wealth is not the issue.

It's the sins that spill out from me when I'm focused on wealth

that causes all kinds of problems.

And hopefully this little mini ore grabber will help you see that as well.

To be totally frank.

Lessons about the law of chastity, whether they're at home or

in a classroom, can be hard.

Uh, it's hard.

And I think this, Jacob is opening a wide window to say, this is

something that needs to be addressed.

In fact, I think our prophet has opened that same window, pleading

with us to be strong in our teachings, to teach truth clearly.

That's why I think we have such great tools at our disposal to

understand the law of chastity.

Our kids are going to be asked this in bishop, interview questions, right?

If they keep these laws, and so they need to understand what they are, they

need to understand how God's law has been the same always, and even understand

how it applies in our specific day.

Because just like in Jacob's day, how they had specific law of chastity

issues by taking on multiple wives and concubines, in our day, we have

specific law of chastity issues that affect our teens and our marriages.

And so I think you see the prophet kind of guiding us the same way Jacob did.

So in this object lesson, basically I would set it up

by creating a sanitizer chain.

The, the best way I found to do this is you want in, in a high lit

room, like in daylight is great.

Like somewhere where there's a lot of light, you want to put, um, a

little skinny rope of sanitizer.

For us, we did it on a cookie sheet so that my kids could see This sanitizer

kind of formed of a big rope, but you also could put just a small amount on a plate.

It just kind of depends on how you want to roll with this object lesson.

But you're going to actually light the sanitizer.

So any good sanitizer has a high alcohol content.

Different sanitizers will light a little differently,

but the same basic idea occurs.

Essentially, you're going to light with your lighter.

One end of that sanitizer rope.

And as you do, you'll see, if you're looking really closely,

you can see a flame begin, because the alcohol starts to burn.

In fact, it almost has a bit of a bluish tint.

In our videos, you're going to see it really well, because we did this

at night, so you can see the blue a little bit better than others.

But when all the lights were on in the room, it was kind of hard to see.

And what's cool about that is, your kids will look at it, especially if

they've never seen something like this before, and they will think there's

nothing wrong with that sanitizer.

It'll look exactly the same.

And it'll look that way until you hand them a candle.

So this is when you take a birthday candle and you invite them to just

touch it close to the sanitizer.

You want to be careful.

This sanitizer actually is on fire.

So, even though you can't see the fire, it's really hot.

And you, you know, if you have younger kids, this might be something

you want to demonstrate for them.

Certainly you want to have an adult present.

Bye.

You're going to have them touch the candle to the sanitizer and they'll

see immediately it catches fire.

Because the fire that looks invisible on the sanitizer jumps to the candle wick and

lights in a way that your kids can see it.

And what's fascinating about this object lesson is you can actually do

this over and over and over again.

You can blow out the candle, relight relight it, without ever

using the actual lighter again.

Because that sanitizer sort of holds the flame.

But what's the problem?

Mesmerizing about the sanitizer is it actually holds it invisibly.

And this is why I think it's such a good tool to teach about things like the law

of chastity, even things like pornography.

In fact, this object lesson I used initially to teach priestcraft, and one

of the people in the course helped me see how they taught it for pornography,

and I've seen it that way ever since.

I loved that guidance.

So basically, you can talk about how often sins, especially sins regarding our body,

we think, Nothing has changed, right?

Like, I could break things with the word of wisdom, go against those promises,

and I don't look all that different.

My voice might not sound different, nobody can see it from outside,

but there is damage occurring.

In fact, one of the coolest things we did this time, that we've never done

before, is we turned off the lights.

So I let my kids see how the flame was burning.

Ignites, and then I turned off the lights and it wasn't until we

made the lights go out that you could see how much flame was there.

Something that was completely invisible in broad daylight and

only barely visible at night.

When I hit all the lights, it turned vivid blue.

And you could see this flame start on one side of the sanitizer and

work its way slowly through it.

And it was fascinating to watch because it, you think you know what

is there until you turn the lights off and then you're like, oh my

word, look how much fire there is.

Now you would, your kids would never put their hand over it now because

they can see exactly how tall it is.

That's what I think essentially prophets like Jacob and President Nelson offer us.

They are seers, meaning they can see that flame for what it really is.

Our eyes are masked by the daylight, and we think things are fine.

I think I can consume pornography, and it won't have any effect on me.

I can consume things that will damage my body, and it won't really hit me.

What the scriptures teach through the prophets, and what our prophets

teach at things like conference, and through things like, for the

strength of the youth manual.

is that there is fire there, and it is damaging, it is dangerous, and

you need to be cautious about it.

There are ways to kill that fire.

You know, you could take a pot lid and smother it or do something like that,

but the whole point of this is to help your kids see that What a prophet can

see is not what you can see you You need to trust in the sight of a seer

and avoid the things he encourages us to avoid So if you on the notes, you

can see beautiful links There's a lot in things like the strength of the youth

manual in the new era and a lot of other places But hopefully this will open a

gateway so that you can have those hard conversations in a really memorable way

If you look in the Come, Follow Me manual this week, they encourage you

to draw attention to the wounded soul and what Jacob teaches about how to

help the wounded soul, that words help, especially the words of Christ.

And I wanted some way to demonstrate that with an object lesson

that my kids could understand.

Thankfully, this is something that I tried in my YSA class and it worked

beautifully with that age group, so I knew it could also work for

Violet and Sam and everyone else.

So, this time I decided to teach about wounds.

So basically what I had my kids do is I started by giving them a dry erase

board and I asked them to draw a limb.

So a hand, a foot, a leg, something like that.

And then I asked them to use a sharpie, a red sharpie to draw wounds.

Because what Jacob is concerned about is that these wounds that these people

are experiencing from the choices of others, that they will feel pain from

them, that they will feel shame from them, and he doesn't want that for them.

He's trying to teach them that the atonement can help all wounds.

And so this is when you have them draw deep wounds on their different limbs.

You're gonna do it in sharpie so that you can show your kids, now

I want you to erase the wounds.

Try not to erase the hand or the leg, but go and erase the wounds.

And what you'll see very fast is that those wounds don't erase.

Sharpie on a dry erase board.

doesn't rub off.

It stays.

In fact, when I did this with my YSAs, I did it on the church whiteboard

and they were so nervous that I was going to ruin the whiteboard.

I think it is surprising to see how well that sharpie stays.

And then you're going to teach them what Jacob taught his

people, that the atonement of Jesus Christ It covers wounds.

It promises help and healing.

Like we've talked about before, I really see what the Savior offers as a bandage.

It is this promise that He will help you clean out wounds.

He will give you the balm that you need to heal them and He will cover them.

I think it's beautiful that the Atonement, means a covering.

You know, that word kafar that president Nelson taught us about it.

It means a covering.

So you can kind of talk about that.

The way you demonstrate that with your object lesson is you give your

kids a Sharpie or sorry, give your kids an Expo mark, Expo marker,

and then ask them to color over the parts that have Sharpie on them.

What the savior can offer that nothing else can no cleaner, no, nothing else

can remove that Sharpie, but this savior offers something different.

His atonement offers healing in a way that restores what was lost, in a

way that makes a person whole again.

So you're gonna have them color over all those red Sharpie

marks with an Expo marker.

And then after a second or two of drying, they can take that same

eraser that they tried to use before and wipe the whole board clean.

Because that's what the Atonement offers.

No matter if your wounds are self inflicted, or if they're

wounds that are caused by someone else, you are not broken.

You are not beyond repair.

This is, if you have a chance, I would direct you to Elder Kieran's

message from a couple conferences ago.

He spoke to those who are victims of abuse, and he spoke to those who

are wounded, and offered the most beautiful words of help and healing.

And since he's our newest apostle, I just think this is a beautiful

way to introduce your kids to him before they hear him at conference.

I just think his words were soothing to the soul, and they teach exactly

what these Expos and Sharpies teach, but in a more eloquent way.

So I hope you go in.

If you go on the Creative Notes, you can find all those there, but

it's a simple way to help your kids appreciate that what the Savior offers

is different and simpler than what Everyone else offers and it works.

Things that were once red can be made white again.

Things that were once broken can be whole.

He can, he can fix the unfixable as Elder Kira taught us.

He's perfect at it.

So I hope this object lesson helps you teach that.

I'm so grateful that you're here.

Thank you for coming, listening, and learning with me.

I love it.

Each week, as hard as it is, I love it.

If you want more, help.

Please feel free to join me on the live.

You can come to gather.

macmom.

com, make a free membership, and then just join us on the live each Monday.

We do it at 10 AM Mound Time.

That's where I'll talk through some of the insights.

I couldn't quite fit here and guide you through the object lessons.

If that's on a good spot for you, or if you're not interested in a

subscription, so you can access the printables and the notes.

Just know that you also can access the printables on my Etsy shop.

So if you need the grabber game and you want to try it in your class, you can find

it for a few dollars over there as well.

You can find the links in the description below.

But whether you use my object lessons or just create your own, I hope

you find creative ways to teach.

Jacob offers so much that we can pull from.

His guidance is sweet about the spirit, about the value

of prophets, about scripture.

I just think you could go in a bunch of different directions

and teach a powerful lesson.

to your kids or to your classrooms.

There's plenty to work with.

So enjoy your week, you guys.

And I'll see you next week as we head into the next week of Jacob's writings.