From Rachel Woods,
Your Guide to Latter-day Saints.
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Preparation: Print out the family puzzle below. Cut out the words and puzzle pieces.

Directions: Give a lesson about families (such as who gave us families, why they're important, and how we can show love to our families) then have the children put together the family puzzle. Here are some ideas for the lesson:

First show the words (in the pdf), one at a time, to the children. Have them try and guess what the words mean, a hint would be that they mean the same word, just in different languages. After a little bit explain that they all say “Family” then teach how families are all different. Teach the children how families are also all the same because we’re all children of God, sent to earth as families to help each other learn and grow. Use the puzzle pieces during or after the lesson to illustrate the importance of the family unit. Make sure children understand that it's not how many people are in our family that's important, but that we love each other. Have them come up with ideas of how we can show love to each of our family members.

Family Puzzle:

• Family Puzzle (PDF 430k)
• Smaller Picture of Family

Note: The images are in color, but are very light and don't use much ink, they'll also print nicely in just black and white if you don't have a color printer. Each piece of the puzzle is placed on it's own page (five pages total) so it'll be large enough for everyone to see.

Optional Resource: Here is the article from the Friend where I got the picture for the puzzle. It talks about Families and has some great ideas to help you plan this lesson: Sheila E. Wilson, "Sharing Time: My Family," Friend, Feb. 2004, 20

Return to the list of Sharing Time Ideas or submit your own idea!