General Conference Basketball

It's finally here!  General conference.  A time when members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints can receive messages from the Lord spoken by the leaders of the church.

At my house we all sit around perfectly still, taking copious notes, and listen with no interruptions from the children.

NOT!

Be honest, with kids general conference can be difficult.  Two hours of listening morning and afternoon on Saturday and Sunday is very hard for little kids.  But with a little planning I can make conference a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

I like getting my kids involved and listening.  Usually I plan an activity where they can earn treats if they hear certain words.

This Saturday afternoon's activity - Conference Basketball.

The setup: All you need is an old ice cream bucket/basket, yarn, rolled up socks/ball, masking tape, a Sharpie marker, candy, and a way to keep score.

Mark three different areas on the floor with masking tape.  Write on the tape the words you'd like the kids to listen to.  The further away from the basket the tape is the more points the shot is worth.  I chose commonly spoken words for the closer spots, and less common words further away.

I made a basketball hoop out of an old ice cream bucket.  I hung it from a door using yarn.  For nice, soft balls I used a couple of pairs of rolled up socks.

I used a chalkboard to keep score.

Here's our lovely assortment of treats.

How to play: Before conference starts let the kids know what words they are listening for.  Give each child a point whenever they hear a word.  Then, give them additional points based on where they shoot and if they make it.  For every 5 points the child earns they get a treat.

Princess heard a word and was pretty excited to shoot a basket (if you can't tell).

Away it goes.

Goofy liked shooting, but had more fun when I lifted her up to drop the "ball" into the basket.

Pretty excited girls.  They loved earning treats.

Final score: Princess = 12, Goofy = 3 (and I honestly just started giving her points whenever Princess heard a word so Goofy could have a chance to shoot too).  You can give treats for every point they receive if you feel the kids aren't earning enough, but my kids had plenty of treats earlier from their Conference Corners game that I didn't mind giving them only a few treats.

We had a great time listening to general conference today.  I can't wait to hear the messages tomorrow!

More Fun with Religion:

Premortal Life - FHE Lesson

Agency - FHE Lesson