New book takes fresh approach in teaching gospel to little ones

Nursery manual can be used at home

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August 30, 2008

By R. Scott Lloyd
Church News staff writer

It was originally conceived for Church use, but a new nursery manual was eventually designed also to be a resource for use at home by parents with young children to teach essential doctrines of the gospel.

New nursery manual is replete with vibrant, full-color illustrations as well as line drawings, which can be copied and distributed to children to be colored or used in activities, in both Church and home settings.

Behold Your Little Ones was published this month in 26 languages and is now available at Church distribution centers. The 132-page book is spiral bound and is replete with vibrant full-color illustrations and helpful line drawings.
"We're already having wonderful success stories from parents using it for family home evening and scripture study," said Mike Madsen of the Church Curriculum Department who was involved in production of the manual.
Brother Madsen said the new manual brings a fresh approach to the teaching of nursery-age children. Each lesson, he noted, includes a slate of learning activities that teach children the gospel by giving them opportunity to
• Hear about the doctrine.
• See a visual aid related to the doctrine.
• Sing (or hear a song) about the doctrine.
• Do a physical activity related to the doctrine.
• Verbalize something about the doctrine.
"Those objectives are interwoven in the learning activities," he said. "The lessons are very engaging for children" without a great deal of talking by the teacher.
Another unique feature is a selection of "Teaching Tips" found in the right margin of each page of text in the book. An example of such a tip is this, on page 52: "Young children have short attention spans. If the children get restless before you finish all of the activities, you can stop the lesson to let the children get up and move and then come back to the lesson later."
"So teacher training is embedded within the manual itself," Brother Madsen observed.
In a promotional video production made to introduce the manual, Primary General President Cheryl C. Lant said young children are capable of understanding deep doctrines, even at a very early age. "It isn't like you are teaching them anything new," she said. "It's like you are helping them remember something they already knew before. And so this manual takes them right down to the basic doctrines, starts building that basic foundation of a testimony when they are very, very young."

New nursery manual is replete with vibrant, full-color illustrations as well as line drawings, which can be copied and distributed to children to be colored or used in activities, in both Church and home settings.

Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy, who supervised the Curriculum Department at the time the manual was being developed, said, "If there is anything that stands out to me in this wonderful manual, it is the shared burden or responsibility of learner and teacher together. It will not be a talking-head kind of a manual; it's participation."
The 30 lessons in the manual cover such topics as "I Am a Child of God," "Heavenly Father Has a Plan for Me," "Joseph Smith Saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ," "The Sacrament Helps Me Think about Jesus Christ," and "Heavenly Father Blesses Me through the Priesthood."
There are special lessons for Easter and Christmas and mini-lessons titled "Welcome to Nursery" and "Happy Birthday."
Each lesson includes a brief introduction for the teacher, a section of learning activities and a section of optional activities.

E-mail to: rscott@desnews.com