How To Make A Family Home Evening Kit

how to make a family home evening kit / free printables to make your own

family home evening kits are awesome. you put up a little bit of time and effort in the beginning, but your monday nights will be stress-free, structured, and pre-planned for a long time! and don’t feel like you only have to use each lesson once. save it for next year or even just a few months from now – just like the church manuals rotate through so we can be reminded of certain principles, family home evening lessons should also be used over again to remind us of different lessons that need to be learned and re-visited often.

one of the keys to having a successful family home evening is consistency. while this means holding your family home evenings on a consistent basis, i also think that for the most part, the structure of family home evening is important. (this doesn’t mean you can’t throw in a trip to the park or anything like that, but it is nice to know what to expect most nights.)

so, here is one way of setting up your family home evenings. use whatever family home evening resources you can, prep everything, put it nicely tucked away in a file folder (tape up the sides to keep any little pieces from falling out), and the next time you’re caught scrambling to find something to do on Monday night, whip one of these out for a fun learning activity and a great time spent with family.

the first thing you’ll need to include in your family home evening kit is an outline. this is the order in which you will follow your songs, lessons, activities, etc.

while they may vary slightly depending on how many activities you have and what kind of lesson you’ve included, they will be pretty close to the same every time:

opening song
opening prayer
scripture
lesson
story
activity (for younger children)
activity (for older children)
closing song
closing prayer
a recipe for refreshments

example of a family home evening kit outline

click here to download the outline for the understanding those who are different fhe kit.

the next thing you’ll need is an opening song to go along with the theme of your lesson. photocopy from the church’s songbooks or download it from lds.org (either the hymns or children’s songbook).

after that, you’ll need a scripture. print it up nice and big so that you can post it somewhere (fridge? bathroom mirrors?) during the week. laminate it if you think you need to, and/or add a magnet on the back so it’s ready to display. or even print one up to fit in an “fhe frame” that you display all week long.

luke 6:31 printable and paper people game instructions

click here to download the scripture and paper people instructions for the understanding those who are different fhe kit.

now it’s time to include the lesson and any props that you might need to include with it. for example, in this lesson we’re talking about different colors, so i’ve included in my folder different colored squares of paper.

understanding those who are different fhe lesson

this understanding those who are different family home evening kit happens to have a story separate from the lesson. and this story is one of my very favorites!

click here to download “the new animal” story for the understanding those who are different fhe kit.

for the animal pieces in the story, you’ll need to go to the friend and download their images there. print them out onto white cardstock, color, cut, and laminate for durability (since i’m sure all the little hands will want to play with them and help to build the zelmgid!).

the next step is to come up with an activity (or two, if you’re making one for younger children and one for older children). include instructions and any game pieces, if needed.

in this fhe kit, the younger children’s game involves cutting out paper people and drawing them all differently. the download for this is combined with the scripture download, above.

for the older children, their game involves putting themselves in other people’s shoes – how would they feel if they were in a certain circumstance? how would they like people to treat them?

click here to download the “put yourself in their shoes” game for the understanding those who are different fhe kit.

and last, but not least, refreshments or a special treat. this particular recipe needs to be made earlier in the day so it can cool down, but they are well worth it. everyone will love s’mores brownies - because just like when we make other people feel good about themselves, we feel so good we want to look for ways to do it s’more! ha.

click here to download the s’mores brownie recipe for the understanding those who are different fhe kit.

enjoy! and have a happy monday night!

p.s. this kits are great not only for family home evening, but for anytime you need to sub in primary or nursery (leaders – keep some in your cupboards!), or even just for keeping your kids entertained in sacrament meeting. i’ve often pulled out little games from my family home evening kits to throw into our church bag.

this is an outline that was given to me years ago but i’ve since made all the printables by myself. so if the original source is out there, thanks so much.

Comments

Julie Romans says:

August 19, 2012 at 11:03 pm

Wow! I love your ideas! Thanks so much for sharing. Will definitely be trying this for FHE tomorrow night! I love the first topic too.

Delina Wille says:

September 16, 2012 at 9:25 am

LOVE this!! Thanks soo much!!!

- Katie says:
  
  September 16, 2012 at 2:19 pm
  
  thanks, delina! glad you like it
  
Kari says:

September 28, 2012 at 6:51 am

Thank you for sharing such a great idea! I really find that I have to plan out family nights in advance or they just don’t get done at all! (insert guilt face here!!!) Thanks also for sharing such a great FHE idea! I’ve downloaded all the pieces to create my own folder. Found you on Pinterest! Have a blessed weekend!

- Katie says:
  
  September 29, 2012 at 12:30 pm
  
  Kari, thanks for your comment – that is so sweet of you! Thank you! I’ve found that I’m the same way (and I know we’re not the only ones), so I started planning them out in advance and my kids love them! It’s so nice to have a box with several lessons done and I can just pull one out on Monday night. I hope your kids like The Zelmgid Story as much as my kids do! You have a great weekend, too!
  
Rachel says:

November 9, 2012 at 2:49 pm

I do this too. I have multiple files ready to go and many in the making stages. I house them in a two drawer filing cabinet in the family room. Sure makes it so much easier

- Katie says:
  
  November 10, 2012 at 12:31 am
  
  Rachel, you are absolutely right! it does make it so much easier having them already planned out and ready to go. mondays are hard enough good work on having so many made and ready to go!
  
LaNae says:

November 18, 2012 at 11:51 pm

Katie, I’m just wondering if you’ve got any more FHE kits available – I saw this one and the Thanksgiving one you just recently posted, but that’s all I’m finding…I didn’t know if those were the only ones or not. I think they’re an awesome idea and I’d love to do them for a YW activity

- Katie says:
  
  November 19, 2012 at 8:00 pm
  
  Hi LaNae! Thanks for your comment! To answer your question: no, I don’t have any more FHE kits posted right now – i only have the gratitude and understanding those who are different kits so far. I hope to post more in the future, but for now that’s all I’ve got – sorry! I think that’s a great idea to make these for a YW activity! If you end up doing it, let me know how it goes – I’d love to hear! Thanks again for visiting my blog!
  
Tonya says:

January 21, 2013 at 1:23 pm

I love these! I am also bad preparing family nights so I decided to get more ideas. These are great. I actually put them in a sheet protector and write the lesson name on it. I keep these in a huge binder that I found at the thrift store for 75 cents. Also easy for the children to find one they want when it is their turn.

- Katie says:
  
  January 22, 2013 at 9:08 pm
  
  Tonya! It’s too funny – I started doing the same thing a few weeks ago with binders and page protectors, lol! My FHE box got too full! Literally…I can’t even close it. Binders are one of my favorite ways to keep everything together. And I love that you got a huge binder for .75! What a steal. I’m going to have to go check out my thrift store tomorrow…thanks for the tip!
  
Becky says:

March 15, 2013 at 7:13 am

I’m using this for an FHE exchange next week. I LOVE the zelmgid story, I gave it as a talk in Primary when I was a kid. Thanks for putting this together, I’m excited about this lesson!

Amber says:

May 15, 2013 at 12:35 pm

Thank you for this! I’m going to have my Faith in God girls make this kit to take home and teach their families for FHE. Thanks for sharing! Great lesson!

- Katie says:
  
  May 16, 2013 at 2:04 pm
  
  Thanks, Amber! So glad you can use them for Activity Days!