This lesson shares the story of Christ cleansing the temple; children will learn that temples are God’s houses on the earth, that temples are for loving God, and that you have to be worthy to enter the temple.
Begin your lesson by displaying a picture of the temple. Then sing, I Love to See the Temple from the Primary Children’s Songbook.
Explain that temples are God’s houses on the earth. He comes to them and spends time in the temples. You still won’t see Him there because we still need to have faith, but you can feel His love and power there.
Temples are very special and Heavenly Father has asked us to treat them nicely. He has also made rules for what is allowed to be done in the temple and who is allowed to go in the temple. Temples are a place to worship and love God.
Show these pictures of Christ cleansing the temple; tell the story in your own words. When Jesus lived on the earth, there were a lot of people that did not follow the commandments of God. They chose to use God’s temple, his Holy House, for things that were not allowed in the temple. They were buying and selling things in the temple and using the temple to make money. This made God very sad and also angry. Jesus came to one of these temples where people were buying and selling in the temple and he started knocking over their tables and telling everyone to get out. He forced everyone to leave and reminded them that this was God’s house. We don’t make money in God’s house; we learn of God and work to live with Him in heaven. (This is a great time to do a quick reminder of last week’s lesson where we learned that we must love God more than we love money.)
Jesus showed us by example that it is important to respect the temple. He taught us that there are rules about who can go in the temple and what we can do while we are in there. Today we are going to learn about some of these rules by playing a game.
You will need to visit, Little LDS Ideas website to print out her Temple Game Board, or you can save ink and make a simple version yourself.
You will also need to print out the Word Document attached below and cut into strips. Fold each strip and place in a bowl.
Choose a game piece (you can grab one from another game or choose a small toy) to represent your family. Explain that you want to get to the temple as a family and in order to do so, you have to learn about 9 different questions the Bishop would ask you before you could go inside the temple. I pulled these questions from the actual interview questions and simplified them for kids; I left out the heavier questions that don’t pertain to them yet. Have each person take a turn pulling out a piece of paper; read and discuss, then move 2 places on the board. The visible progress of the moving piece towards the temple and the opportunity to move the game piece will help keep your kids’ attention.
Once you reach the temple, take this opportunity to teach your kids that once they turn 12, they will be able to have an interview with the Bishop. He will ask them these questions and this will determine if they are able to go inside the House of the Lord. Bear your testimony about the peace and power you feel inside the temple and express your desire for them to go inside one day as well.
Ask your kids this question, “Do you think it is mean of our Heavenly Father not to allow certain people to enter His house? Aren’t we supposed to share with everyone? Then talk to them about Disneyland rides and about how you have to be a certain height to ride them. Talk about Kindergarten and First Grade and how you have to be a certain age to be in that class. Talk about boys and girls restrooms and how you have to be a boy to go in the boy’s restroom and vice versa. Explain that there are lots of places where you have to meet certain requirements to be allowed in; this is not unusual. The temple is so special that we will want to work hard to be worthy.
Finish by singing the second verse of I Love to See the Temple and really emphasize the “I’ll go inside someday” part. Plan a time when you can go as a family to walk around the temple grounds.
Birdlings 