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Monday, June 27, 2011

Faith Object Lesson - FHE

This is an easy object lesson to teach children about faith.  Here's one of my favorite scriptures on faith, found in Alma 32:21 -

"And now as I said concerning faith - faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

Faith is an action word, it is something that you have to exercise.  This object lesson illustrates the importance of keeping your faith strong.

You will need:

a small bowl
a box of cornstarch
water

Pour about a cup of cornstarch in the bowl, then slowly add water a little at a time until you have a gloppy mess.  Test the mess by putting a small amount in your hand and then constantly kneading it.  If you have the right consistancy then the cornstarch/water mixture will hold together as a solid.  As soon as you relax your hand the cornstarch will return to the liquid state and run through your fingers back into the bowl.  Add more cornstarch or water, depending on the consistancy of your mess, to get it right.

Now for the lesson.  Explain to your children that faith requires work, in order to maintain it or increase it.  If we are not doing the things that help increase faith, it will stop growing or weaken.  Have a conversation bringing out some of the things we can do to increase our faith, i.e., read the scriptures, pray, sing hymns, fast, attend our religious meetings, serve others around us, keep the commandments, give offerings and thanks.

Allow each child to have a small amount of the mess, after explaining to them that they need to work the mixture with their hands to keep it solid.  (This requires pretty steady work).  Then show them what happens as soon as they stop kneading the cornstarch.  They will think this is pretty neat, and want to repeat the activity a few times.  Help them to see the correlation between your lesson on faith and the object lesson, basically that faith is something that requires constant attention.  Try to make this lesson age appropriate.  For small pre-school age children focus on the simple things they can do to show faith, like pray, go to church, obey their parents, etcetera.  For older children you can add more according to their knowledge base.  For teenagers and young adults, add more scripture references and share some personal stories regarding your own faith. 

Your kitchen may get a little messy with this activity, so be prepared and have fun!

4 comments:

  1. That's a really neat metaphor!

    I always liken spirituality to being a muscle you must continually train. Same thing, really! :)

    Blessings,
    This Good Life

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  2. I have seen faith compared to a muscle as well. You are right, it is pretty much the same thing. Thanks for your comment!

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  3. I love this metaphor! Does it really work? My grandkids will love it!

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  4. It really works, there's a fancy scientific word for it. Try it yourself with a little cornstarch and water, it's amazing how solid the mixture feels while you're kneading it!

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