Category: General Conference

Updated General Conference Fall Tree Activity

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*UPDATE Oct 2019: There’s a fun new Ultimate Conference Packet available HERE! (You can check out ALL the fun Conference Updates using the ‘General Conference’ tag in the sidebar!)*

Ladies and Gents… this is incredibly last minute–I know, but I figured since I have it done, I’ll share it with y’all. This is an updated activity packet for the Happy Fall Tree to use with your munchkins during this weekends LDS General Conference.

I wasn’t planning on adding any new Conference activities this time around. But with the recent passing of three of our dear apostles, I decided to update the Happy Fall Tree activity–since it’s the one I’m planning to use with my kiddos this time around. (I apologize that I have not had a chance to update the other packets, but please feel free to modify them as needed if you are using them.)

{Click Here to Download the Happy Fall Tree Activity}

conference tree with leaves

To update the packet, I have removed the leaves for our dearly departed President Boyd K. Packer, Elder L. Tom Perry, and Elder Richard G. Scott, and have added a page that has some blank leaves to be able to use for the newly appointed apostles. I also added an extra page to use for any of the speakers from the Seventies, and included a leaf for a Sister speaker as well. (And you can print that page out as many times as you’d like for as many extra leaves as you’d like.) 🙂

I also added pictures of the General Authorities to their leaves (kind of combining the original nursery packet leaves with the primary packet leaves) because I enjoy seeing their faces on the leaves when they are taped up on our wall. 🙂

Anyway, I’m truly excited for this weekend. I don’t know about you, but my life could sure use a boost of peace and reassurance from the Lord. 🙂

Warmest Wishes to you all, and as always Happy Prepping! 😉

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The Ultimate LDS General Conference Packet- 2!

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**UPDATE: Check out the super fun, ALL NEW ‘Conference Catastrophe’ Activity Packet available over on my new website: Simply JAD !**conference-catastrophe-packet-pic

*UPDATE: Check out the NEW Ultimate Conference Packet 3 HERE!* (And for ALL Conference updates on various packets and activities, click the ‘General Conference’ tag in the sidebar.)

Hey y’all! Just poppin’ in to share an ALL NEW Ultimate General Conference Activity Packet! I’m pretty sure I swore to myself after the first one that I would NEVER do this again. But it’s kinda like childbirth… after some time passes, you forget how painful the whole process was and decide to give it another go! HAHAHA!

Ultimate LDS General Conference Activity Packet

So here is my new little baby to share with y’all! (Isn’t she so cute?!) 😉 It’s loaded just like the first one with a whole whoppin’ 35 pages of activities to help keep the munchkins occupied, yet still aware of what’s going on during Conference! This packet is geared to the 5-12 year old age bracket, but could be used beyond that as well. Just be sure to get all the needed items (listed on the second page) gathered together prior to the start of Conference and you’re good to go.

I hope your kiddos enjoy it , and that you can snag a few uninterrupted moments of peace and inspiration during the upcoming General Conference. (And in case you forgot, that’s on October 4th and 5th, 2014 at 10AM and 2PM Mountain Standard Time… that’s 11AM and 3PM for us Texans, y’all!) 😉

And for all those who are not of the LDS faith, I would invite y’all to join us as well! The messages shared are for the whole world, not just one specific religion. To watch online, just go to LDS.org and follow the links to watch, or you can just click HERE (when it’s time to watch).

{Click on the image below to download the activity packet}

LDS General Conference Activity Packet Cover

{Click HERE for the updated pages with the new apostles.}

Have a GREAT Conference weekend y’all! And if you want to check out some of my previous Conference packets and activity ideas, you can see them in previous posts HERE. And, as always, best wishes in ALL your preparedness efforts!

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The Ultimate General Conference Activity Packet

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**UPDATE: Check out the super fun, ALL NEW ‘Conference Catastrophe’ Activity Packet available over on my new website: Simply JAD !**

conference-catastrophe-packet-pic

*UPDATE: Check out the NEW Ultimate Conference Packet 3 HERE!* (And for ALL Conference updates on various packets and activities, click the ‘General Conference’ tag in the sidebar.)

Oh goodness do I have a treat for all the LDS parents out there. I’m gonna keep this short and sweet cuz I’m brain fried from staring at my computer screen for so long… but I have created a great little packet for the youngins to keep their attention a little more focused and their bodies a little less wiggly during General Conference. (Can you believe that’s already here again??) I call it the ULTIMATE packet because this bad boy is HUGE. 35 pages huge. Ya. (Did I mention I’ve been staring at my screen for a little while??)

Ultimate LDS General Conference Packet

This packet is FULL of activities that touch on different Gospel topics (and I tried to keep them related to Conference as well) from A all the way to Z! And yes… I know there are only 26 letters in the alphabet, but some of the activities take up two pages, so yes… this got a bit on the long side. But that’s good! Because there are FOUR sessions of Conference and we don’t want the kiddos running out of things to do in the middle of the first session, right??

Download: The ULTIMATE LDS General Conference Activity Packet

Updated Pages (as of Oct. 2016): HERE

Okay, well, you know the drill. Download, print, give it to the munchkins with a bunch of crayons, scissors, glue, and snacks (for goodness sakes, DON’T forget the snacks). Dress it up, dress it down, make it as fun and fancy as you like, or just chuck it at them as you turn on Conference (okay… please don’t actually CHUCK it at them) 🙂 and hopefully you’ll be set to enjoy a few peaceful moments of Conference yourself. 🙂

Side Note: This packet has been created with the Primary Age youth in mind (roughly age 5-12). That’s not to say that a 3 or 4 year old couldn’t enjoy a lot of it (I’m certainly going to be trying to get my 4 year old to stay busy with it), but they will probably need a lot more coaching and assistance. Just FYI. They can definitely do the ‘poking’ part, which I think more than anything they would have fun with, but just be sure they take care with whatever poking device you give them. I will NOT be held responsible if your 4 year old leaves pins in your carpet that your 11 month old crawls over! (Not saying that happened in my house or anything…) 🙂

But truly, I hope this will help aid in allowing the Spirit to be in your homes as you listen to Conference. Try to help your children understand what they are hearing and feeling as they listen and work on the packets as well so they can foster their own testimonies and know for themselves that what they hear is true. What a great time to be living. What a great time to be raising children. Scary, but great. And there is no greater safety net that I’d prefer my children have than to be able to recognize and understand the Spirit in their lives.

Okay, well so much for keeping this short. But just a reminder that General Conference is on April 6th and 7th this year and if you’d like more ideas for things you can do to make this a special time for your family, check out my older conference posts HERE that have links to TONS AND TONS of ideas and other packets as well. (And P.S. one of the beauties of this packet is it’s not specific to any year or season… so you can use it over and over… or at least until your kids have all the answers memorized 🙂 )

If you are not LDS, but would like to know what in the world we are all so excited about, feel free to listen/watch as well! You can watch the LDS General Conference online by clicking HERE on Saturday, April 6th and Sunday, April 7th at 10 AM and 2 PM on each day (Mountain Standard Time). (That’s 11 AM and 3 PM for us Texans… 🙂 )

Best Wishes to you all, and as always Keep Prepping!
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Oct 2012 Conference Packets and Activities

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{Update: Click HERE to view/download the newest, latest and greatest Conference packet. Enjoy!}

In two weeks (October 6th and 7th), we have the blessed opportunity to listen to prophets of the Lord speak to us in General Conference to give counsel and commandments needed for our day. What a wonderful time to be alive! I’m truly looking forward to hearing what they have to say and soaking in the peace they have to offer. Whether of the LDS faith or not, I encourage everyone to listen to their words and find out for yourself if the words they speak are true. It is so wonderful to be able to gain a testimony of truth and to have that stability in this world of uncertainty.

As always, I try to do a lot of prep work prior to Conference for my young kiddos (now 5, 3, and 6 months) so that not only they will be able to learn something, but so that I can actually sit and learn something too (without being constantly peppered with little requests). 🙂

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about our family garden–how we need to get our fall crops planted soon, etc.– and that gave me an idea for another fun Conference activity for the kids (like the Fall Tree and the Spring Garden from previous Conferences).

This activity is the Fall Harvest Garden. (See below to download.) The theme behind it is: ‘Sew Seeds of Faith, Harvest a Testimony’. The idea is to cut out the different vegetables in the packet, and then while listening to the speakers in Conference, write the theme of their talk on the front of the vegetables and then on the back you write something you can do that you learned from the talk. Then you ‘plant’ your garden on your wall (aka tape it up) and then as you either discuss the talks or apply them (do what’s written on the back), you harvest your fall vegetables and pick them off the wall. 🙂  There’s better instructions in the packet, but that’s the gist of it.

This activity will serve not only as a reminder of the things we learn in Conference, but it will also help to remind us to get working on our fall garden! lol. 🙂

Click to get the Fall Harvest Garden Activity: Download PDF

In addition to the activity, I also revamped my packets that I created for the kiddos. Nothing crazy exciting or different, just some new coloring pages in the Nursery/Sunbeam edition, some new activities in the Jr/Sr Primary editions, new questions in the parent interview from the Sr Primary edition, etc… Just brushing off some dust from the older versions. 🙂

My General Conference Packets

And just FYI, each packet has the same ‘BINGO’ card in it, but if you have more than one child and they want to compete by having different layouts, here are two extra BINGO cards you could use:  Download Cards

Okay! Well, that does it for me! There are, of course, tons of wonderful ideas on the internet for other activities to get your family involved in General Conference. Here are some links to some great ideas that I’ve enjoyed searching before:

  • Packets and Ideas from Sugardoodle: Click HERE
  • Primary Age Packet from Jenny Phillips: Click HERE
  • Primary Age Packet from Deseret Book: Click HERE
  • A BIG LONG Collection of Ideas from 2 Kids and Tired Activity Ideas: Click HERE
  • A Collection of Conference Ideas from Prepared, Not Scared: Click HERE
  • Activities for Children from LDS.org: Click HERE
  • And another Collection of Ideas from LDS.About.Com: Click HERE

I hope you all can enjoy the wonderful Conference Weekend! I’ll try and check in a bit later with some more of my Conference Preps, but until then, Happy Prepping Y’all!

April 2012 General Conference Activity and Packets!

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{Update: Click HERE to view/download the newest, latest and greatest Conference Packet. Enjoy!}

I know I’ve been a big slacker in not posting lately, but I feel I have a valid excuse: I’M PREPARING TO GIVE BIRTH HERE, PEOPLE! 😀 Actually, I guess my excuse would be a lot more valid if I had already given birth and was trying to take care of a newborn. But if you really knew me, you’d know that the pre-birth preparations are every bit as crazy as post-birth life. So anyway, posts are obviously going to be rather sparse from my end for the next little while (and by ‘little while’ I mean however long it takes for me to reach the non-comatose state of parenthood again). 🙂

However, I have not forgotten that we’ve got General Conference coming up right around the corner (March 31st and April 1st) and I had another fun idea I wanted to share that takes right after the Fall Conference Tree activity I did for last October’s Conference. This one is basically the same thing, except instead of a fall tree, we’re going to grow a ‘Conference Spring Garden’ with lots of beautiful springtime flowers. 🙂 The basic concept is that you’ll set up a ‘garden area’ on one of your walls, and then you use the Conference flower tops (provided in the download below) to take notes about the topics of the talks in General Conference. Color the flowers, tape them up in your garden, and then apply the talks in your family life as you pick the flowers from the garden. (It’s explained in detail in the download.) I can’t wait to see my wall plastered with a paper flower garden. 🙂

So anyway, here are the downloads for that (one for Nursery/Sunbeam age and one for Primary age children), along with my Spring Conference Packets from last year. They all apply pretty much the same (except that the cover page says ‘2011’… but with the computer issues I’ve been having lately, I’m not feeling motivated to spend 3 hours to make a change for just that. :)) I hope you enjoy the activity, the packets, and most importantly that you enjoy General Conference!!

THE ‘CONFERENCE SPRING GARDEN’ ACTIVITY DOWNLOAD:

My General Conference Packets to Download:

And here are some Conference Helps from Other Sites that I love:

  • Packets and Ideas from Sugardoodle: Click HERE
  • Primary Age Packet from Jenny Phillips: Click HERE
  • Primary Age Packet from Deseret Book: Click HERE
  • A BIG LONG Collection of Ideas from 2 Kids and Tired Activity Ideas: Click HERE
  • A Collection of Conference Ideas from Prepared, Not Scared: Click HERE
  • Activities for Children from LDS.org: Click HERE
  • And another Collection of Ideas from LDS.About.Com: Click HERE

And in case I don’t check in again soon, I hope you enjoy a wonderful Conference, a Happy Easter, and a lovely Spring!! 😀

Conference Activity Tree Follow-Up

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Howdy all! How was your conference weekend?? I was surprisingly able to actually sit and listen through most sessions! My oldest toddlerette generally stayed in the office with Hubby and I (we watch Conference via the internet on the computer) and colored her pictures and leaves, while the youngest kidlette mostly ran through the house creating a disaster for us to clean up in between sessions. 🙂 Lovely. 🙂 But it really was an enjoyable weekend and an insightful one as well.

The kids had fun with their Happy Fall Tree Leaves: writing, coloring, cutting, etc. But when it came time to review the conference leaves with the kiddos (we did this for FHE), I realized one big problem: there were way too many leaves and way too little attention span to accomplish this task. Whoops. 🙂 Time to rethink the plan. So in case you ran into the same problem, here is how we are solving this dilemma. We took the time at Family Night to finish coloring and cutting any leaves that hadn’t been done yet and then we chose one talk to focus on for the week. (We happened to choose Elder Scott’s talk about the scriptures.) We talked about his talk (obviously in very basic terms for a 4 and 2 year old) and then set a goal as a family related to the scriptures. We made it a week-long goal and then at the end of the week, the girls will each get to take their leaf for Elder Scott down. Then, next Monday for Family Night, we will pick another talk or two to discuss and set a goal for those, and on and on till we’re done. This way we’re not trying to talk about all the talks in one sitting. (Was I seriously thinking that was possible??!) A nice side bonus to this is that it kind of has our family night’s taken care of for the next little while. 🙂 If you have older children, you could let them take turns being in charge of choosing a talk to discuss at Family Night and letting them lead the discussion. It may be good to let older children set their own individual goals as well, instead of making everything a family goal. Obviously, you can decide which would be better for your family.

Well, again, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. And I hope the upcoming weeks and months find your home filled with the Spirit as we try to follow the words of the prophets.

General Conference Activities and Packets

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**UPDATE: Check out the super fun, ALL NEW ‘Conference Catastrophe’ Activity Packet available over on my new website: Simply JAD !**

conference-catastrophe-packet-pic

{Update: Click HERE to view/download the newest, latest and greatest Conference Packet. Enjoy!}

Is it really already that time again? General Conference is upon us (October 1-2)! If you are not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this may not mean much to you. But for members of the LDS church, this is a wonderful time of the year when we get to be renewed, uplifted, and reminded of the things our Heavenly Father wants His children to hear and know as we listen to His prophets and apostles. This is not just for members of the LDS faith, but for everyone! So if you have a desire to listen and learn more about our faith, you can click HERE, or better yet, ask one of your Mormon friends if you can watch it with them!

Well, as always, my brain gets turning around Conference time to try and figure out ways I can enjoy the Conference sessions with my two little tots around. They’re getting a little bigger now (4 and 2 years old), but are still a far cry from being able to sit quietly through General Conference without some major advance planning on my part… and even then, I’m still crossing my fingers that I’ll be able to catch at least half of what is being said. 🙂
This year, a few months back, I was laying in bed early one morning, and my brain literally took over my thinking and just started spilling this idea out for a Conference activity (which I can only attribute it as being a gift given directly to me because there is no way my mind just came up with it on its own). I quickly ran to the computer to write it all down, and have since worked out the details and added all the creative fun flairs to it that I like so much to do. 😀
So for this conference, I have not come up with a new packet (although I will give links to my past ones and other sites as well that can easily be used for this Conference as well), but instead have come up with a fun Conference Family Activity. I call it The Happy Fall Tree.

The detailed instructions are included in the download (see below), but the basic idea of The Happy Fall Tree is this: You create a tree trunk on one of your walls or a door in your home and you print out a set of Conference Talk leaves (in the download) for each participant. You listen to Conference and fill in the leaves regarding what each talk was about. Color, cut, and then as you discuss the Conference talks as a family, you tape the leaves to your tree trunk to create your Happy Fall Tree. Then, over the next weeks/months, you apply the topics of the talks in your home/family and as you do, you get to take the leaves down… just like it’s Fall and the leaves are falling. 🙂 You can limit family members to only being able to take down their own leaves, or make it a free for all… however you think would work better for your family. Little children will obviously need a lot more help than older children, but the hope is that, regardless of age, as your family works through the leaves, each family member will be able to gain a greater appreciation for the words of the prophets and a stronger testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Not to mention a greater feeling of peace in the home. 🙂 {Update: To sneak a peek at my family’s version of the Happy Fall Tree, you can click HERE}
I hope you enjoy the activity, and more importantly that you enjoy Conference as well! 🙂

Download The Happy Fall Tree:

And here are some links to some other fun General Conference Packets and Activities:

My {Previous} General Conference Packets:

{The above packets are from April 2011. The only things that would be out of date for this conference would be the packet cover, and then the crossword puzzles are for ‘Easter’. To update, just print out a new packet cover below (click on the picture and then print), and you can also substitute the new crossword puzzles below for the old ones.}


Conference Word Search-Senior Primary
Conference Word Search- Junior Primary

{One late update:} I came across THIS idea for a General Conference Journal page for adults to take notes (hey… adults like things to be fun too!) 🙂 and just LOVED it. The only thing was, I definitely do not take a whole page of notes for each speaker, and I didn’t want to be wasting a bunch of paper by printing out tons and tons of pages. So, of course, I made my own. 🙂 I loved the style of the original one, so I did my best to imitate it, but I just scaled it down a bit. Enjoy!

Download General Conference Journal Page (for Young Adults/Adults)

Stuff From Other Sites…

  • New Conference Packets from Sugardoodle: Click HERE
  • All General Conference Helps from Sugardoodle: Click HERE
  • Primary Age Conference Packet from JennyPhillips: Click HERE
  • Conference Packet from Deseret Book: Click HERE
  • A Collection of Conference Activities and Game Ideas: Click HERE
  • Conference Hints and Helps from Prepared Not Scared: Click HERE
  • Or for a full list of links to Conference activities, packets, and games I’ve previously found, click HERE

I hope your Conference experience is an enjoyable and memorable one! {And ladies, don’t forget that THIS Saturday (Sept. 24th) is the General Relief Society Broadcast as well!}

Feature Friday: General Conference Packets!

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{Update: Click HERE to view/download the newest, latest and greatest Conference Packet. Enjoy!}

It’s that time of year again! Spring is in the air and General Conference is right around the corner! I’ve been busy working on some new packets to help keep these little ones (and even the not-so-little ones) occupied and focused so we can enjoy Conference as well. (A little preparation goes a long way!) 🙂 I made a packet for Nursery/Sunbeam aged kids, another for the Junior Primary ages and another for the Senior Primary ages. (Those last two are just because I love you… seeing as I don’t have any kids that old yet! :D) Hopefully there’s something here for everyone’s needs. I’ll probably add another one for the youth as well, but I don’t have that put together yet. So check back soon for that one if you need it. I’ll also add some links at the end sometime soon to some other great sites with helps for Conference as well.

But even with all these packets and activities, remember that the best preparation we can do is through prayer and opening our hearts to be able to hear and feel the messages we need. There is such a need for spiritual guidance in these crazy times. Hopefully we’ll all be able to come away from next weekend with the answers we seek.

And now, without further ado, here are the conference packets for the little ones…

April 2011 General Conference Packets:

  • Nursery/Sunbeam Conference Packet: Click HERE
  • Junior Primary Conference Packet: Click HERE
  • Senior Primary Conference Packet: Click HERE

Here are some other great helps…

Packets:

Activities:

Conference Games:

Family Ideas:

I hope these help you enjoy your conference weekend!

General Conference Preparedness

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{Update: Click HERE to view/download the newest, latest and greatest Conference Packet. Enjoy!}

If you are LDS, then next weekend is an important weekend. It’s General Conference! The semi-annual event where the leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gather to instruct the members of the church on what we need to know. (Click HERE next weekend if you would like to watch/listen to General Conference via the internet.)

This is one of my favorite weekends of the year! I just love the peaceful feeling I get as I have the opportunity to listen to prophets and apostles. What an absolute blessing to have modern day revelation! However, with a 1 year old and a 3 year old, a little advance preparation is an absolute must if I’m hoping to get anything out of the messages shared! 🙂
Taking the time to prepare now will go a long way in increasing what you get out of Conference. Whether it’s preparations for yourself or for little tots with short attention spans, there are many fun things to do.

Start off by making the day/weekend a special one with its own special traditions. I like to make an extra special breakfast on conference mornings. Last conference we put up a tent in the family room (the girls called it their cave) with toys, snacks, and activities in it for the girls to help them entertain themselves a little better. I also made up some flashcards of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve and taped those up to the bottom of the t.v. stand so that any time one of them was speaking, the girls could go up and find the matching picture and then we’d try and learn the name. They were still a little young to actually be reverent, but each conference is a step in the right direction for us. 🙂

This year I’m thinking I will make some chocolate strawberry cinnamon rolls for breakfast (a recipe that is currently only in my head, but I’ll be sure to post it if it’s a success!) and we’ll definitely be setting up the tent again. I’m also trying to think up any ways to help the kiddos be more reverent (so if you have any ideas for nursery age kids… I’m all ears!) I’m working on making my own General Conference Packet for them, and will share it as soon as it’s done {update: It’s DONE! Hallelujah! See below}, but until then here are some links to some of my other favorite creative ideas for both you and and your little ones.

{Update: Here is my packet for nursery age children! It’s almost all coloring, with some things to help keep them focused on Conference as well. Click the image below.}

Packets for Nursery or Junior Primary Kids:

  • From Me! Food Storage and Beyond: Click HERE
  • From Deseret Book: Click HERE
  • From Sharing Ideas Is Fun To Do: Click HERE
  • From Somewhat Simple: Click HERE
  • From Scriptures for Kids: Click HERE

Packets for Senior Primary Kids:

  • From Beehive Messages: Click HERE and HERE
  • From New LDS.org: Click HERE
  • From SugarDoodle: Click HERE

Packets for Youth:

Packets for Adults:

Conference Games:

Family Ideas:

For an insane amount of additional ideas, click HERE for SugarDoodle links.

And enjoy this little song while you do your searching 🙂

P.S. If you are an LDS Relief Society sister, don’t forget that tomorrow night is our special Conference just for women… to help lift our spirits and calm our hearts! 🙂