family home evening kits are awesome. you put up a little bit of time and effort in the beginning, but your monday nights will be stress-free, structured, and pre-planned for a long time! and don’t feel like you only have to use each lesson once. save it for next year or even just a few months from now – just like the church manuals rotate through so we can be reminded of certain principles, family home evening lessons should also be used over again to remind us of different lessons that need to be learned and re-visited often.
one of the keys to having a successful family home evening is consistency. while this means holding your family home evenings on a consistent basis, i also think that for the most part, the structure of family home evening is important. (this doesn’t mean you can’t throw in a trip to the park or anything like that, but it is nice to know what to expect most nights.)
so, here is one way of setting up your family home evenings. use whatever family home evening resources you can, prep everything, put it nicely tucked away in a file folder (aff link; tape up the sides to keep any little pieces from falling out), and the next time you’re caught scrambling to find something to do on Monday night, whip one of these out for a fun learning activity and a great time spent with family.
the first thing you’ll need to include in your family home evening kit is an outline. this is the order in which you will follow your songs, lessons, activities, etc.
while they may vary slightly depending on how many activities you have and what kind of lesson you’ve included, they will be pretty close to the same every time:
- opening song
- opening prayer
- scripture
- lesson
- story
- activity (for younger children)
- activity (for older children)
- closing song
- closing prayer
- a recipe for refreshments
click here to download the “put yourself in their shoes” game for the understanding those who are different fhe kit.
and last, but not least, refreshments or a special treat. this particular recipe needs to be made earlier in the day so it can cool down, but they are well worth it. everyone will love s’mores brownies – because just like when we make other people feel good about themselves, we feel so good we want to look for ways to do it s’more! ha.
click here to download the s’mores brownie recipe for the understanding those who are different fhe kit.
enjoy! and have a happy monday night!
p.s. this kits are great not only for family home evening, but for anytime you need to sub in primary or nursery (leaders – keep some in your cupboards!), or even just for keeping your kids entertained in sacrament meeting. i’ve often pulled out little games from my family home evening kits to throw into our church bag.
this is an outline that was given to me years ago but i’ve since made all the printables by myself. so if the original source is out there, thanks so much.
Wow! I love your ideas! Thanks so much for sharing. Will definitely be trying this for FHE tomorrow night! I love the first topic too. 🙂
LOVE this!! Thanks soo much!!!
thanks, delina! glad you like it 🙂
Thank you for sharing such a great idea! I really find that I have to plan out family nights in advance or they just don’t get done at all! (insert guilt face here!!!) Thanks also for sharing such a great FHE idea! I’ve downloaded all the pieces to create my own folder. Found you on Pinterest! Have a blessed weekend!
Kari, thanks for your comment – that is so sweet of you! Thank you! I’ve found that I’m the same way (and I know we’re not the only ones), so I started planning them out in advance and my kids love them! It’s so nice to have a box with several lessons done and I can just pull one out on Monday night. I hope your kids like The Zelmgid Story as much as my kids do! You have a great weekend, too!
I do this too. I have multiple files ready to go and many in the making stages. I house them in a two drawer filing cabinet in the family room. Sure makes it so much easier
Rachel, you are absolutely right! it does make it so much easier having them already planned out and ready to go. mondays are hard enough 😉 good work on having so many made and ready to go!
Katie, I’m just wondering if you’ve got any more FHE kits available – I saw this one and the Thanksgiving one you just recently posted, but that’s all I’m finding…I didn’t know if those were the only ones or not. I think they’re an awesome idea and I’d love to do them for a YW activity 🙂
Hi LaNae! Thanks for your comment! To answer your question: no, I don’t have any more FHE kits posted right now – i only have the gratitude and understanding those who are different kits so far. I hope to post more in the future, but for now that’s all I’ve got – sorry! I think that’s a great idea to make these for a YW activity! If you end up doing it, let me know how it goes – I’d love to hear! Thanks again for visiting my blog!
I love these! I am also bad preparing family nights so I decided to get more ideas. These are great. I actually put them in a sheet protector and write the lesson name on it. I keep these in a huge binder that I found at the thrift store for 75 cents. 🙂 Also easy for the children to find one they want when it is their turn.
Tonya! It’s too funny – I started doing the same thing a few weeks ago with binders and page protectors, lol! My FHE box got too full! Literally…I can’t even close it. Binders are one of my favorite ways to keep everything together. And I love that you got a huge binder for .75! What a steal. I’m going to have to go check out my thrift store tomorrow…thanks for the tip! 🙂
I’m using this for an FHE exchange next week. I LOVE the zelmgid story, I gave it as a talk in Primary when I was a kid. 🙂 Thanks for putting this together, I’m excited about this lesson!
Thank you for this! I’m going to have my Faith in God girls make this kit to take home and teach their families for FHE. Thanks for sharing! Great lesson!
Thanks, Amber! So glad you can use them for Activity Days!
I am creating Family Home Evening packets with my small young women’s group in Scofield, Utah, as a project for their Personal Progress medallion. Your site is a life saver! Thanks so much. E-mail me any ideas you can share.
Thanks – Tricia
Great! So glad you can use them, Tricia!
These are WONDERFUL lessons. I’m pinning and sharing on my Facebook page. Thank you!
thank you so much!!
Thanks so much. I love this and am keeping it for when we need a primary teacher to fill in at the last minute.
i had several fhe kits in our primary cupboard when i was in the presidency for that exact purpose – they sure do come in handy!! 🙂
Wow…This packet is fantastic! I’m sure it took you a lot of time to put together. Thank you so much for sharing it. I just printed a copy to use for FHE tonight.
Thank you so much! This is fantastic and just what I am looking for to help my young family hold CONSISTENT FHE! Do you have more kits? (Greedy I know, but these are GREAT!)
Hi Jamie! Thanks so much for your comment! Life’s super busy right now, but I am hoping to get some more FHE kits up at some point 🙂
This is wonderful of you to offer this! Thank you so very much you have made my life a lot easier
That’s so great to hear, Robyn! You’re welcome! You can do a search on my site for free fhe kits – i’ve got a few others you can print off 🙂