Spiritual Crocodiles Family Home Evening {Jacob and Sherem}

 Man its been a LONG time since I posted a Family Home Evening!!  It feels so good to be back on schedule, and last night we returned to our study of the Book of Mormon by learning all about Jacob and Sherem.  

While I was looking for inspiration on ways to teach this lesson to my kids I found the idea on Sugardoodle to incorporate President Packer's talk on Spiritual Crocodiles.  I loved the idea of comparing Sherem and his ability to turn people away from the gospel to Spiritual Crocodiles.

First up, we read from The Book of Mormon Stories Chapter 10, Jacob and Sherem.  We talked alot about the different ways Sherem got the people to stop believing in Christ.  He was flattering, nice, and very smart!  We talked about how people got close to him, and in turn ended up losing their testimony of the Savior and becoming very wicked.  

Then I introduced the kids to this YouTube video HERE.  Just a note...there is some graphic animal violence you may or may not want your little ones watching.  I felt it was okay for my family, but you know your kids so I would suggest watching it before you show your family :)

After we watched the video we talked about Spiritual Crocodiles.  How just like the animals couldn't always see the real crocodiles, we have to be cautious of spiritual crocodiles that will hurt not only our bodies but our souls as well.

I made up this printable to hang up in the house for the week to remind us:

Then we went on a "Crocodile Hunt" to find some specific Spiritual Crocodiles that may be trying to take bites out of OUR testimonies!  I hid these crocodiles all around the house and the kids got their binoculars and were on the search!  Remind your kids...even though some of these crocodiles look cute and happy...just like Sherem they can be damaging to our testimonies and to our souls!

I included a blank crocodile so you could write your own things specific to the needs of your family as well :) 

After we had found all our crocodiles we talked about how each of these things can hurt us and how important obedience is.  I think the message hit home...when my little almost-4-year-old said family prayer last night he closed by asking Heavenly Father to make sure we don't get eaten by crocodiles :)  Haha!  Sometimes thats the best we can hope for, right?! ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I have a lot of fun things planned for this week with my kids learning all about Spring Weather so make sure you come back and visit again!