Mitten Strings to God ~ Meaningful Easter Ideas

With Easter approaching it is time to think once 
again more deeply about the wonderful 

GIFT the ATONEMENT 
is to our lives.

This incredible gift is sometimes so overshadowed by the 

Easter Bunny and Baskets and Hunts etc....

Here are a couple of ideas to help teach your young children about the atonement and the resurrection.

Easter Breakfast – Resurrection Rolls

You need just 5 ingredients:
crescent rolls, marshmallows, sugar,
cinnamon and butter

Give each child one triangle shaped section of crescent roll.

(you can make your own roll dough if you prefer)

This represents the tomb.

Each child takes one marshmallow.

This represents the body of Christ.

Dip the marshmallow in the butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture.

This represents the oils and spices the body was anointed with upon burial.

Lay the marshmallow on the dough and 

carefully wrap it around the marshmallow.

Make sure all seams are pinched together well. 

(This is a REALLY important step! Otherwise the marshmallow will “ooze” out of the seams)

Bake according to package directions

or 20 minutes @350 degrees 

if you made your own dough.

Break open the tomb and the 

Body of Christ

is no longer there!!

 

Talk about where he is now that he has been resurrected and what the

Atonement means to us.

Another idea:

Easter Story Cookies

This is a great way to share the the story of the atonement in an interesting and meaningful way with your children and grandchildren!

Ingredients:1 cup whole pecans1 tsp. vinegar3 egg whitespinch of salt1 cup sugarzipper baggiewooden spoontape

Bible

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (this is important to do before you start the mixing)

Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces. 

Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by the Romans soldiers.Read John 19:1-3.

 

Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 tsp. vinegar into mixing bowl. 

Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink. Read John 19:28-30.

 

Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11.

 

Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.

Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers. 

Read Luke 23:27.

 

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing. Add 1 cup sugar. 

Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. 

Read Ps. 34:8 and John 3:16.  

 

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. 

Explain that the color white represents the purity in God’s eyes of those whose use the atonement to repent. 

Read Isa. 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

 

Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet. 

Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was laid. 

Read Matt. 27:57-60.

 

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. 

Explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed. 

Read Matt. 27:65-66.

GO TO BED!

Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the Oven overnight. Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20 and 22.

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! 

On the first Easter, Jesus’ followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. 

Read Matt. 28:1-9.

*Ideas taken from womenlivingwell.org

Happy Easter Everyone

Mitten Strings to God / Dare to Stand Alone - Family night

Mormon Message

DARE TO STAND ALONE!

What did the patriarchs Daniel, Noah, Enoch, Job, Joseph, Abraham, and others like them have in common? They had a purpose in life and a strength of character unequaled in their generation. They were men who chose the right because it was right and left consequences with God. They were men who would rather die than perform one act of disobedience toward God.

Noah built and voyaged alone. His neighbors laughed at his strangeness, and perished.

*How hard is it to stand alone in your values? 

*Think ahead at what you would do in life situations that could cause you to   compromise your values?

*Come up with some situations and role play.

It is human to stand with the crowd; it is divine to stand alone.

It is manlike to follow the people, to drift with the tide; it is godlike to follow a principle, to stem the tide.

It is natural to compromise conscience and follow the social and religious fashion for the sake of gain or pleasure; it is divine to sacrifice both on the altar of truth and duty.

(Click below to view Mormon Message)

Dare To Stand Alone

From the book Education, page 57,  we find these words: The greatest want of the world is the want of men,--men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name....

*To have the approval of your conscience when you are alone with your thoughts is like being in the company of true and loving friends. To merit your own self-respect gives strength of character.  Conscience is the link that binds your soul to the spirit of God.  ~ President David O. McKay

Mitten Strings to God / 24th of July family night kids activity

With the 24th of July upcoming, here is 

a fun idea for Family Night

1st - Discuss what Pioneer Day is all about:

The 24^th of July was Pioneer Day, a state holiday in Utah that honors the day in 1847 that the Mormon pioneers first entered the Salt Lake Valley.

Mormon's were pushed out of their homes and had to find a new place where they could live safely and practice their religion.

They packed up just a few of their belongings in hand carts and headed on the long journey west.

2nd - Read or listen to a Pioneer story.

Click below to find some

Pioneer Stories

3rd - Sing or,

Watch this video with Mormon Tab singing

Click below

Come, Come, Ye Saints

4th - Make these cute family night treats

• approx. 1 ½ graham cracker sheets
• 2 pretzel sticks
• melted chocolate (below)
• 4 Keebler Fudge Shoppe Mini Fudge Stripes cookies
• frosting (below)
• 2 Barnums Animal Cookies
• 2 marshmallows
• 1 Teddy Graham
• 1 Twizzlers Pull-n-Peel String

One thing I’ve learned through lots of trial and error (and even more messes) is that, when you have kids — especially young ones — helping you in the kitchen, prep work is your friend. So before you invite your child to come help you:

1. Set aside one of your graham cracker sheets. Break the remaining one into quarters. Save one of those quarters. Take two more and cut them in half lengthwise with a very sharp, not serrated knife (follow the dots!). Set aside two of those, then take one and cut it in half widthwise with the same knife. You should have a quarter, two eighths, and a sixteenth:
   
2. Use your knife to trim your pretzel sticks to less than a half inch longer on each side than the width of your quartered graham cracker.
3. Melt about ½ cup (or less, depending on how many of these you plan to make) of chocolate chips with just a touch of oil in a small bowl in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir until it’s smooth. Then spoon it into a piping bag or small Ziploc bag with a corner cut off.
4. Place some wax paper on a small flat surface (I used the inside of a large, shallow Snap-Lock container). Take the cookies you’ll be using and place them face-down on the wax paper (the solid chocolate side should be facing you). Rotate the tip of your knife in the center circle to scrape out the excess chocolate and widen the hole.
5. Squeeze some chocolate into the holes of half of the cookies, then place the end of a pretzel stick into the chocolate so that it stands up.
   
6. Once you’ve assembled all of them, stick the whole container in the freezer to set up.
7. Now make your frosting. I whipped a ½ stick of softened butter, then beat in 1 cup powdered sugar, ¼ tsp. clear vanilla, a heaping teaspoon of meringue powder, and just enough half-and-half to make it a spreadable consistency. You can use the premade kind too; just make sure that you mix in meringue powder so that it sets and holds everything together. Scoop the frosting into another piping bag or Ziploc bag with a corner snipped off.
8. Pull your container of half-axles out of the freezer. Place the rest of your cookies face-down on the paper, then squeeze the chocolate into the holes & very carefully place the other end of your pretzel sticks into the hole to make a whole axle. Put them back in the freezer until you’re ready for them.
   
9. Okay. Now you can invite the kids to come help.
   
10. Pull out some of your animal crackers. Some face left and some face right. Let your child choose one of each. This way the detail on both cookies can face out when they’re “harnessed” to the wagon. Admittedly, giraffes, camels, and lions aren’t the most historically accurate…
    
11. Grab your full graham cracker sheet and two axles. Pipe some frosting to the bottom of each wheel of your axle, then stick it to one end of the sheet. Do the same thing with the other axle, positioning it a little over an inch in front of the first one. Pipe a line of frosting across the top of the pretzel sticks and lay your quarter graham cracker on top.
    
12. Create “walls” on the back and sides of your wagon with your eighth and sixteenth graham cracker. Pipe a line of frosting on the bottom of each one, as well as the corners where they meet. Bet you never thought you’d get to use your mad Gingerbread House skills in the middle of July!
    
13. Pipe a little frosting on the “feet” of your animal crackers, then stand them up at the front of your graham cracker sheet.
14. Now take your marshmallows and stick them together end to end with a dot of frosting. Pipe the tops of your “walls” and stick the marshmallows on top.
15. Put a big glob of frosting on the front of the wagon in front of the marshmallows. Stand the Teddy Graham on top of the glob so he’s “driving.”
    
16. You’re almost done! Now just put dots of frosting on the tops of the wagon walls near the Teddy’s hands, and very carefully add a dot of frosting to the outside of each animal. Carefully loop your Twizzlers string around to make reins (you’ll need to trim off about 1.5 inches with your thumbnail) with an end in each one of Teddy’s hands. Ta da!

(taken from Alli-N sons web site)

Mitten Strings To God

Welcome to our new Post's! 

'Mitten Strings to God'

These posts will be awesome tips for 

Mother's and Grandmother's!

You can look forward to them at least twice a month.

Easter's coming up in two day's here is an awesome activity to do with your kids (would be a good family night), to help with their understanding of the Resurrection.

Preparation:

• Your will need 12 plastic eggs. 
• With a magic marker, give each egg a number 1 - 12. 
• Fill the eggs with the corresponding trinket and a small piece of paper with the scripture verse (see list below). *You can type the whole scripture or just the reference and have them look it up.
• Hide the eggs throughout the family room or somewhere of your choice.
• Optional - Decorate an empty egg carton to keep your object lesson in for the future.

Activity:

Have the kids search the room for all of the eggs. When they have found them, bring them back to the middle and take turns opening the eggs (in numerical order), showing the trinket and reading the scripture verse. 

Egg 1:

Three dimes

Matthew 26:14-15

"Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, ....And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver."

Egg 2:

One sacrament cup

Matthew 26:39

"And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

Egg 3:

Twine with knots in it

Matthew 27:1-2

"When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death....And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him t Pontius Pilate the governor".

Egg 4:

A piece of soap

Matthew 27:24-26

"When Pilate saw that he could prevail notheing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, ahd washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the peop-le, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified".

Egg 5:

Square of red fabric

Matthew 27:28-30

"And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee begore him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head".

Egg 6:

A small nail

Matthew 27:31

"And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.

Egg 7:

Two dice

Matthew 27:35

"And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots".

Egg 8:

A tiny bag of crushed rock

Matthew 27:50,51 & 54

"Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God".

Egg 9:

Strip of white cloth

Matthew 27:58-60

"He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own hew tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed".

Egg 10:

Stone

Matthew 27:65 &66

"Pilate said unto them Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

Egg 11:

Bayleaf spice

Mark 16:1-4

"And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. and they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great".

Egg 12:

An empty egg

Mark 16:5-6

"And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him".

Desert ideas:

Rainbow striped jello eggs

If your into a little time for this one and you have "Jell-O-Jigglers Egg Molds"......

Spray molds with a generous amount of cooking spray, then using a syringe to add layers of color, chilling for 10-15 minutes between each layer, you can make these fun jello jiggler eggs!

*Jello jiggler recipe;

1-1/2 cups boiling water (do not add cold water)

1 pkg (6oz) Jell-O-Gelatin

If you want something fun but much quicker, try this fun twist on cinnamon rolls:

Or just make colored rice crispy treats!!

Family Home Evening Ideas

Worth Waiting For:

Here's a great twist on the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment!

Food for thought for a family night object lesson.

Also a moment to make you smile....

Kids are So Cute & Funny!

For those of you who didn't see the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment Video in Relief Society last year

you can view it here: 

Stanford Marshmallow experiment.

The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a study on deferred gratification conducted in 1972 by psychologist Walter Mischel of Stanford University. A marshmallow was offered to each child. If the child could resist eating the marshmallow, he was promised two instead of one.  The scientists analyzed how long each child resisted the temptation of eating the marshmallow, and whether or not doing so had an effect on their future success.

President Uchtdorf used this example in his conference talk 'Continue in Patience', April 2010