As part of the 2016 primary theme “I know the scriptures are true” our kids have been working on filling out our scripture reading chart. If they read their scriptures at least 5 times during the week they get to add a sticker on Sunday.  Around May we filled up our first chart!  The kids were so excited and asked, “what did we earn, what did we earn??”  (up to this point we had just told them there would be “something”).  Well we kept them in the dark for a few more weeks, and told them their clue was the shape of our scripture reading chart.   One of the CTRs guessed, “temple shaped cookies!”   When we finally finalized all of our plans we announced our Primary Family Temple Trip!  It seriously touched my heart to see how the kids reacted. I was a little apprehensive to see if they would think it was “lame” or a “let down” compared to what they expected.  Nope, they were as excited as can be.  And they still had 2 more months to wait!  Special souls I tell ya, I am a lucky gal to get to work with them each week.

We finally had our temple trip last week and I am here to share some things we put together to make it a fun experience.  Whether you are just taking your own children for a fun FHE or family day or you are going as a whole primary, I hope these tips are helpful.

Our tour of the temple grounds ended up taking about an hour.  Before we started our walk around the temple we talked to the kids about how we behave at the temple.  We talked about what our mouths should do, our arms, our feet etc.  I also showed the kids the temple I spy sheet.  We thought about giving it to them to bring around with them on the tour but decided that would be too distracting.  So I just showed them at the beginning what to look for and then handed them out at the end of the tour.

We had four different “stations” around the temple where we stopped and had a different speaker.  At our first station the temple matron talked to us about the history of the temple.  She told us some really neat stories about the dedication!

We are lucky to have an “in” with the presidency as they are from our ward and their daughter is in the primary presidency with me 🙂

At our second station a member of the temple presidency talked to us about the inside of the temple and some of the different ordinances that are performed.  He even had pamphlets for each of the children with pictures of the baptismal font, the celestial room etc inside!

I did the third station (so I don’t have a photo) and we went to the spot on the temple grounds with the best view of Angel Moroni.  I talked to the kids about the outside of the temple including Angel Moroni, the cornerstone, the size of the temple and grounds, who takes care of it, the temple spire and what they mean etc.

For the last station the bishop talked to the kids about how to prepare for the temple and what a temple recommend is and how to get one.

Our very talented chorister was there taking photos as well and I LOVE this shot she got of my little guy so eager to answer one of the bishop’s questions.  After the bishop spoke our chorister lead everyone in “I love to see the temple” and then we walked the children way out in front of the temple where we got a group shot and individual ones.

Another great photo by our amazing chorister.  Woman of many talents!!

Me and my boys 🙂  Luckily I was able to leave youngest at home for this one.  Made things A LOT simpler.

After the pictures the kids got to spread out on their picnic blankets and eat their lunches. Our temple has a great shaded wooded area where we can do that.  After a bit we handed out their I Spy sheets along with a temple journal page for them to fill out.  We told them to leave the temple outline blank so we could add their photo of them in front of the temple there.  I told them to draw a picture of the temple on the back but nobody wanted to 😉

I was a little nervous about the idea of a temple trip initially, not sure how it would be received by the families and if we would end up at the temple with 30 primary kids all by ourselves.  And our temple is about an hour and a half away, that is a long trip for our little ones.  A long drive there, a walk around the temple in the hot sun in church clothes with a bunch of adults telling you to be quiet, and a long drive back- doesn’t exactly spell F-U-N.  But what do you know Oldest told me it was “the best day ever” and all the primary children had rave reviews.  What did I tell you about special souls??  And I was really impressed how supportive the families were.  ALL the primary children that came had a mom or a dad or a grandma (or all 3!) or someone there with them.  They all brought their lunches, and they were all just good sports and helpful and amazing!  It turned out just fine, phew!

I made these journal and I spy pages to coordinate with the temple scripture reading chart I mentioned along with our sharing time assignment cards.

You can download the free printables with the buttons below:

Oldest has been talking about how great it is going to be to turn 12 ever since.  Even though they can’t go inside, I think taking these primary children to the temple was a memorable experience that will stick with them.  Have you tried it with your children or primary yet?