FHE: Taking Care of our Bodies
Mar 10th, 2008 by Bethany
For Family Home Evening tonight we’re going to talk about Taking Care of our Bodies. Our bodies are sacred gifts that Heavenly Father has given us to learn to take care of and use. In our family we need to be thankful for our bodies (by appreciating all the things we can do with them) and take better care of them. Some ways we take care of our bodies are: eating good food and drink, exercising, cleaning, and sleeping.
Here’s the plan:
Opening Song: Do as I’m Doing (CS 276)
Prayer
Lesson:
Begin by saying that our bodies are special and help us to do many good things. We need to take care of our bodies because they are a gift from Heavenly Father. When we take care of our bodies we are happier and can do more good things.
I think for my family (because my kids are so little) it would be best to make this lesson a “tour” of the house, moving to different stations so no one gets restless and we can stay focused.
Go to the kitchen to alk about eating good food and drinking good drinks. Show pictures of good foods and bad foods (or real foods from the kitchen) and have everyone decided whether they are good for you to eat or not. Put the good foods up on a flannel board (or in the refrigerator). Give everyone a drink of water and talk about how water helps our bodies to feel good and not get sick. Make one goal we can do as a family to improve how we eat and drink and write it on a piece of paper.
Talk about sleeping in one of the bedrooms. Show a picture of a child sleeping and talk about how sleeping helps our bodies and minds to be healthy. When we sleep enough, we can be happier when we are awake. Make one goal we can do as a family to improve how we sleep and write in on a piece of paper.
Talk about cleaning our bodies in the bathroom. Show some soap, shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste, a comb, and a towel and talk about how we use them to keep our bodies neat and clean. Have everyone brush their teeth and/or wash their hands and/or comb their hair (depending on how interesting the activities are to the kids). When we keep our bodies neat and clean we show respect for the gift Heavenly Father gave us and we can be happy because of it. Make one goal we can do as a family to improve how we keep our bodies neat and clean and write it on a piece of paper.
Go back to the living room to talk about exercising. Talk about some of the ways we like to exercise (dancing, running, playing ball, yoga, stretching, marching, jumping). Play a song on the CD player we can all dance or jump to–I think I’ll use a kid’s tape that has songs on it with instructions for moving. Talk about how exercising makes our bodies strong and makes us feel good and happy. Make one goal we can do as a family to improve how we exercise and write it down on a piece of paper.
Decide as a family where to post our goals. Bear testimony that God gave us our bodies to help us to be happy and that we need to take care of them as a special gift.
Activity: Ring Around the Rosies
Song: Hinges (CS 277)
Prayer
Treat: Funny-face “salad”–I’m going to see what ingredients I have handy, but the idea is to make a face out of food on the plate before you eat it. For example, put a peach half (canned or not) or a scoop of cottage cheese or even ice cream on a lettuce leaf, then add raisins for eyes, a radish slice or apple slice or cherry half for a mouth, a carrot stick for a nose, pineapple chunks for ears, grated cheese or shredded coconut for hair, etc. My mom used to make vegetable-insensive versions of funny-face salads for us for lunch when I was little and we loved them!