On a piece of paper, print The teachings of Jesus Christ are a great treasure. Fold the paper and put it in a small box or container. Hide the container in the classroom, making sure it can be found easily. (If the children in your class cannot read, hide a picture of Jesus or a copy of the Bible or Book of Mormon instead.)
Materials needed:
A set of scriptures.
An item of personal value to you.
A beanbag or other soft object.
Picture 2-37, Sermon on the Mount (Gospel Art Picture Kit 212; 62166); picture 2-38, The First Vision (Gospel Art Picture Kit 403; 62470); picture 2-39, The Prophet Joseph Smith (Gospel Art Picture Kit 401; 62002); picture of the living prophet (from a Church magazine or the meetinghouse library).
Make the necessary preparations for any enrichment activities you want to use.
Suggested Lesson Development
Invite a child to give the opening prayer.
Follow up with the children if you encouraged them to do something during the week. If you asked the children last week to make lists or pictures of things Jesus has done for them because he loves them, you may want to discuss these lists or pictures for a few minutes.
We Have Many Treasures
The Words of Jesus Christ Are a Great Treasure
We Can Learn the Teachings of Jesus Christ from the Scriptures
We Can Learn the Teachings of Jesus Christ from the Living Prophet
The Teachings of Jesus Christ Are Important to Us
Summary
Invite a child to give the closing prayer.
Enrichment Activities
Choose from the following activities those that will work best for the children in your class. You can use them in the lesson itself or as a review or summary. For additional guidance, see “Class Time” in “Helps for the Teacher.”
Make a copy of the page of drawings at the end of the lesson for each child. Explain that some people keep their favorite possessions in a treasure box like the one in the center of the page of drawings.
What things would you put in a treasure box?
Remind the children that some of the most precious things we have are things we can’t put in a treasure box, such as the teachings of Jesus Christ. Discuss the teachings of Jesus represented by the four drawings (baptism, prayer, the sacrament, love).
Have the children draw lines from the drawings of the teachings to the treasure box, and then let them color the drawings.
Have the children take turns acting out things that Jesus taught us to do. Let the other children guess what teaching is being acted out. Examples could include praying, being reverent, paying tithing, helping parents, or being kind to brothers and sisters.
Sing or say the words to “I’m Trying to Be like Jesus” (Children’s Songbook, p. 78), “Jesus Loved the Little Children” (Children’s Songbook, p. 59), or “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” (Children’s Songbook, p. 60). The words to these songs are included at the back of the manual.