We average about 20-25 children for sharing time. Junior and Senior Primary is divided into two different groups.  

Last month I tried dividing into four centers for the children to have hands on experiences with the topics.  We heard comments from the children that this is fun.  At each center they made a handout and put them into a small bag to take home.  Many of the parents said that the children brought home their sacks and reviewed each handout with them.  At the end of the last sharing time which ended at 4:00 pm with the Senior Primary - none of them would leave because they wanted to continue working on their handouts.  The only problem we encountered was changing centers.  None of them wanted to rotate.

 

This month I will do 4 centers again and the singing time will be incorporated into sharing time.  We will have 40 minutes + for the centers.  Which means they will get about 7 minutes at each station.  At the beginning we will sing  songs: The 5th article of faith and a priesthood song.  We will sing a song to rotate the children.  We will stop and sing and they have to take baby steps to the next center - not run!!!!

 

The four centers are:

 

1:
Aaronic Priesthood    
Picture: John the Baptist ordaing Joseph Smith.  
Handout:  1/2 page cardstock with the title: Aaronic Priesthood - Baptism.  We will discuss that Baptism was restored and talk about the word "immersion."  I will have a bowl of water and an apple and have each of the children demonstrate immersing an apple in water and talk about how Jesus was baptized by "immersion."  On the handout I will have the children color water below the title and then place a paper apple uner the water.  We will also discuss that the Aaronic Priesthood not only includes baptism but ministering of angels (point to John the Baptist in the picture), sacrament, and the ten commandments.

2:
Melchizedeck Priesthood
Picture:  Peter, James & John ordaing Joseph Smith.  
I made cards out of cardstock with pictures on them depicting the dties of the Melchizedek Priesthood:  blessing babies, confirmation, temple (ordinances), healing the sick (laying on of hands), missionaires, Leadership (Bishop, Stake President, etc.), Patriarchal blessings, father's blessings, and any others you want to add.  We will talk about the picture and then turn over the cards as the children explain what is on the card.  They will make a 4 page book about the Priesthood:  (1) Peter, James & John ordaing Joseph Smith, (2) Picture of child being confirmed, (3) Partaking of the sacrament, (4)family by temple.  I found pictures, and will have the children staple and write their name on them and discuss what each picture means.

3:
Keys of the Priesthood
Junior Primary will make a necklace of the keys.  I will put up a key on the flannel board and have them find the key in their multi-color stack of keys with names on them.

The senior primary will do a crossword puzzle with the keys in it.

4:
5th Article of Faith
I printed out the ariticle of faith with one concept per line and left out the last word.  We already sang the song about the 5th article of faith.  Junior will glue a picture on the blank and the senior will write the word in.  I found a church that is built with each of the offices of the Priesthood (Aaronic and Melchizedek).  I was going to have the children glue each piece in to build the church but it would take too long.  So, I built the church and then saved the cornerstone "Jesus Christ" for the children to glue on to complete the church.  Then they children will put an "M" for Melchizedek Priesthood and an "A" for Aaronic Priesthood office.

 

I think the children love to do things with a hands-on experience. All the children "always" want to be the one to come up front - although there are a few that never want to.  By doing centers each child gets to have a "hands-on" experience.  I know this is long, I just need to tweak the sharing time a little more and I'm ready to go!