Christmas Gifts

I like to be able to start doing Christmas activities/songs as soon as Thanksgiving is over, so I have quite a few! There are only a few Sundays during December--you have to get in as much Christmas singing as you can!

This is a very simple activity as well as more of a spiritual one--it helps the children see some of the gifts our Heavenly Father has given to us.

I split this into two separate activities--for Junior Primary I just have them open the gift, look at the picture and tell me what gift the picture represents. So, for example, if they pull out a picture of President Monson, they would say, "Heavenly Father gave us prophets." If you really want to expand on this, have them tell you WHY Heavenly Father gave us prophets.

For Senior Primary I hung all the pictures up on the board and placed a scripture inside each gift box/bag. They had to look up the scripture, then decide which picture it corresponded to. Once again, if you really want to expand, have them tell you WHY Heavenly Father gave us that particular gift.

Supplies needed:

• 10 gift boxes or bags (I got mine at the dollar store)
• 10 pictures of gifts from our Heavenly Father (I cut mine out from old Friend magazines--the ones I picked are listed below, but you can do whatever you'd like)
• 10 scriptures that correspond with each gift (mine are listed below)

List of Ten Gifts and Corresponding Songs:

1.      CHURCH—The Church of Jesus Christ (p. 77)

2.      FAMILY—Families Can Be Together Forever (p. 188)

3.      PRAYER—Love is Spoken Here p. 190

4.      PROPHET—Follow the Prophet p. 110

5.      WORLD—Popcorn Popping (p. 242)

6.      FRIENDS—Here We Are Together (p. 261)

7.      TEMPLE—I Love to See the Temple (p. 95)

8.      SCRIPTURES—Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus (p. 36)

9.      SAVIOR—Picture a Christmas (p. 50)

List of Ten Scriptures and Corresponding Songs:
(Note that the gifts are the same as above, but the songs are different. I sing different songs with Junior than with Senior, but you can do whatever you'd like. Either way, the pictures and scriptures match up)

          1.      CHURCH (D&C 115:4)—O Come, all Ye Faithful (hymn 202)

2.      FAMILY (Colossians 3:20) —Shepherd’s Carol (40)

3.      PRAYER (Luke 18:1)—Silent Night (hymn 204)

4.      PROPHET (Amos 3:7)—Joy to the World (hymn 201)

5.      WORLD  (D&C 49:19)—Hark! The Herald Angels (hymn 209)

6.      FRIENDS (Proverbs 18:24)—Here We Are Together (p. 261)

7.      TEMPLE—(D&C 88:119) O Little Town of Bethlehem (hymn 208)

8.      SCRIPTURES (Articles of Faith #8)— Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus (p. 36)

9.      SAVIOR (Isaiah 9:6)—Picture a Christmas (p. 50)

Set up:

1. Select 10 gifts from Heavenly Father and find pictures to represent those gifts. Like I said, I cut all of mine out of old Friend magazines. You can also use clip art found online (some good LDS specific images are found here).
2. Place each picture inside a gift bag/box.
3. Make a list of 10 scriptures that correspond to your 10 gifts. Print, then cut them out. Put them in a bag to use for Senior Primary.

Game play:

1. Choose a child to come up and open one of the gifts. Have them show the Primary, then tell you what gift Heavenly Father gave to us (and why, if you'd like).
2. Pin the picture up on the board and remove the empty gift box/bag.
3. Sing the corresponding song.
4. FOR SENIOR PRIMARY: Pin all the pictures up on the board and place a scripture inside each gift box/bag.
5. Choose a child to come up and open one of the gifts. Have them read the reference to the Primary and tell them to look it up.
6. As soon as a child finds the scripture, have them read it to the Primary.  Then have them tell you what gift Heavenly Father gave to us (and why, if you'd like). 
7. Pin the paper with the scripture underneath the corresponding picture on the board, and sing the song.

***Just a brief note--I originally picked small pictures to fit inside the small gift bags, but they were so small that the kids in the back had no idea what they were. Bigger is probably better, even if it means some folding to get it inside the gift box/bag.