4 Ways to Help Your Teens and Tweens Engage with General Conference
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General Conference is definitely some of my favorite times of the year, but I know it's not for everybody. Let’s chat about four ways that we can engage our teens in tweens with General Conference so it can be something that they look forward to as well.
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Free Large Printable Fun
My Old Testament coloring page is great for all year, including General Conference weekend. It's a giant page full of different stories from the Old Testament that you can color all weekend long. We still have ours up from the last General Conference. As people come to our house, we invite them to add to it. It's been really fun for us to see those stories as we read throughout the year. One great thing about this one is after you get that first download, I'll send you a second download where it has additional activities that you can do with that coloring page beyond just the obvious coloring including ways that you can use it for Conference weekend. Be sure you print off both of those things.
House of Apostles or house of light because in a scary world we need to fill our homes with light. Out of each window or door, there is an apostle peeking out with their names. Print it large size or you can tape four pieces of paper together and print it at home. I have some more ideas for you when you download it as well.
Brand new this year is my General Conference Game Sheet, lots of fun games that you can play. There's a big maze, a graphing challenge, sudoku, a Boggle-style word search, General Conference Mash, and more. Again, you can put those off at home, but really it’s best giant. The unexpected size makes it more fun for everybody plus it's easier to do the activities larger.
Send the file to your local copy center and pick a blueprint or engineering document printed in black and white for the cheapest price and good paper to color on. In Colorado, the price ranges between $2- $8 depending on the size. These are great activities to add to your weekend. I tape ours up on the wall. it's out of the way there, but it's easy to see. Sometimes you need little breaks while you watch General Conference. It’s a whole lot of watching and sitting still. Being able to get up and walk to a new encouraged activity is very helpful! It’s a great break but still allows you to stay involved with General Conference. The only activity that I would kind of caution you on is the General Conference Mash game. You might want to save that one for in-between sessions because that one can get rowdy, but it's fun!
Conference Squares (Bingo)
I printed out all of our bingo cards, or Conference Squares, from ChurchofJesusChrist.org. They have great ones there, no need to search around for anything else. I recommend laminating them so you can use them for years. We like to use cereal for the markers or goldfish, something that they're going to snack on anyway, then they can eat their markers when they're done. When they get a bingo, I'll give them a small prize, like a piece of gum. They can also go for blackout and I'll give them a bigger reward, like a thing of Pringles or something. Again, something that would work as a snack anyway but this way they have to earn it. Use multiple boards, play lots of times, just have fun!
The goal of bingo is to help them focus (and be excited about it). I tell my kids that they're not allowed to share with each other. If you heard “prayer”, the person next to you can't ask if you heard “prayer”. They need to hear each word for themselves. The point is for them to figure it out on their own and to focus. I tried to go without the bingo boards one year and got in all sorts of trouble. We like to start playing the very first session as its sets a good precedent.
Play with Your Food
Use the food that you're already going to eat that weekend in a way that makes it more of an activity. For example, you could do snack necklaces where they have to string the food on the necklace first, then they show it off and then they eat it (think Fruit Loops, gummy Lifesavers, Red Vines, etc). Our favorite food activity is General Conference Houses, like a gingerbread house for Christmas time. It doesn't have to be the Conference Center, but it does have to relate to General Conference. I love this because then I can see what my kids are actually paying attention to what they're picking up on. It’s a great opportunity to review some of Conference before it ends.
Keep it simple (save the crazy for Christmas). Give yourself your own challenge of using up some items in the house that everyone is ignoring like the bottom of a cereal box. Stick to just a few bags of dollar candy. Build it, then invite them to explain their creation to you (great photo opp), then they can eat it. I like to split it up over Sunday’s sessions. Now, if they're just going to dump a whole bunch of candy with frosting on a plate and say, look, it's the people in the Conference Center- I'm sorry, but that doesn't count. It’s supposed to be a bit of a challenge. Totally recommend it.
Interactive Notebook
Grab my General Conference Notebooks! They are fun because they're more than just a notebook. There are activity pages, coloring pages, ideas of how to use the blank pages, et cetera. There's more than one way to take notes plus there are review activities and preparation activities. We don't want our youth to just listen to General Conference. We want them to get something out of it. They need to prepare for it, listen, pay attention during, then review it.
I love to do some of the review activities together. For example, what themes stood out to you? This is my favorite question because it's different for everybody because Conference weekend is a weekend of inspiration and personal revelation. A theme that stuck out to me is not the same thing that stuck out to my kid. I love to hear what they actually pick out of General Conference for themselves. It's a fun way to make new connections because as they say their theme, I can go back and search for that theme when I study them next so I can connect with that child better.
Help your kids understand why we take notes, the things that we actually want to write down during General Conference, and why you like to take notes yourself. Teach them what it is like to have a General Conference Notebook that's worthwhile. These are excellent spiritual journals. You can bind them and keep them forever.
