Here’s how to help those General Conference messages stick with your kids.
The worldwide gathering of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as General Conference, is October 5-6. If you intend to watch with your family, there are things you can do to make the experience more meaningful.
Friend of the show Maria Eckersley shared ways you can capture your kid’s attention during the sessions. She also shared things you can do to help your family engage in higher learning all year round. Whether that’s teaching a religious principle, morals, or manners, Maria’s ideas are relatable and impactful for both the little and big kids.
Creating Deep Learning Moments for Your Family
“These types of engaged conversations and growth opportunities should be happening all the time in the home,” Maria explained, “But not in an intimidating way. Just in a way that brings the family together.”
When it comes to deep learning, Maria believes the critical step is to get outside of the everyday. While routine and repetition have their place, she says it’s the exceptional moments that create deep spiritual learning for her family. Here are a few of her favorite ways to help her family engage in higher learning.
Create New Environments
General Conference Idea!
The Eckersleys have a fort-building tradition during General Conference weekend. Inspired by King Benjamin’s address, they’ll pull out all the spare sheets and blankets to create a tent city near the TV. The kids lounge in there during the conference sessions and sleep in it at night. Sometimes the tents take over a whole floor of the house.
While the tent might not help the kids listen more intently, Maria explained that it makes General Conference feel special. As they’ve grown up, those happy memories have kept them coming back.
“If you want your kids to remember something, you’ve got to do something surprising. A big part of that is getting them out of their comfort zone,” said Maria.
Make It Delicious
Maria believes food can be a part of many deep learning moments. Her family has created sugar-stained glass to help the kids understand how broken things can be beautiful. Last year, they made apple hand pies to learn about how blessings are multiplied. Earlier this year, the Eckersleys made pretzels on sticks to talk about Moses and the brazen serpent.
These moments bring the whole family together. “My teenagers might roll their eyes at a devotional, but if I feed them something delicious, they can’t resist,” Maria shared.
Bring Others In
General Conference Idea!
Maria’s family often does puzzles during Conference weekend to keep the kids close to the action but with busy hands.
Once, they created a neighborhood challenge. The Eckersleys timed how long it took to finish a puzzle, took a picture, and wrote their time inside the box. Then, they re-boxed it and delivered it to a neighbor’s house, challenging them to beat their time. By the end of the weekend, they had four puzzles circulating in the neighborhood and loads of texts from friends racing to beat their times.
“It was a simple and effective way to create belonging while helping my kids learn,” Maria said. “You don’t want to be siloed as a family. You want to be welcoming and warm. Little traditions like this make a big difference.”
Make Learning Irresistible
“You need to find ways that your kids are so curious that they just can’t resist.”
Maria loves creating things that catch her kids’ eye and make them lean into learning. A few weeks ago, she made a hologram projector out of cardboard. Once they were hooked, she connected the spiritual dots by pointing out how the projector only works when we change our vantage point. It opened up great discussions about repentance and self-worth.
“Similar impacts happened when we made lightsabers of truth and pizza-box shields of faith. Every toy teaches them something valuable while helping them have fun,” said Maria.
Keep Them Guessing
“The best deep-learning moments happen when I do something completely unexpected.” This could mean making an apple climb up a knife blade to teach about adversity or holding fire in our hands to talk about the power of testimony.
Once, Maria challenged her kids to make a chips ring out of Pringles to talk about the Restoration. “It took forever, but they worked together, and the lesson stuck. Not only did they learn important doctrinal truths, but we made awesome family memories in the process,” Maria explained.
“What you need are those little bright, shining moments where the family kind of huddles in,” Maria said, “If you can get that centered around a gospel principle or even a general learning principle, then the kids will hold on to that learning and it’ll last.”
To see how to pull of these activities in your home, visit Maria’s YouTube page.
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