I have often been touched by a sweet testimony shared during a lesson or sacrament meeting. Sharing our testimonies can not only help grow our own testimonies, but can bless others as well.
For a fun object lesson to illustrate this idea, use this Testimony Hymn Nature Tracings activity. This nature & senses idea is a great way to show how the testimonies we share can leave an “impression” on others.
** See all Testimony Singing Time Ideas! **
Testimony Hymn Nature Tracings
There is so much beauty around us! If we look intentionally, we can find analogies to gospel principles everywhere! For this specific activity, we’ll be doing a fun nature craft to help your primary children better understand the message of the hymn Testimony (all activities archives).
Prepare for this activity by taking a short walk through your own neighborhood and noticing what you see. Do you have a pond by your house with ducks and fish? Do you see lizards and bugs? Flowers?
You may even consider gathering a few objects from nature to bring in for this activity. I recommend smaller objects that can easily be traced, like leaves, flowers, or twigs. I’ve also included printable images of objects and animals in nature to trace during singing time that can be found later in this post.
I’ll explain what this looks like using a leaf tracing. Before primary, be sure to have a large leaf, some crayons or colored pencils, and plain white paper. Begin singing time by reviewing the first verse of Testimony (flip chart).
Then, tape a leaf to the board. Carefully place a sheet of paper over the leaf. It is important to be gentle so that the leaf doesn’t crack or break! With crayons or colored pencils, carefully press down and rub the shape of the leaf onto the paper with your crayon.
Look how this leaf made an impression on my paper. Our testimonies can be like this impression. When we share our testimonies with others, it not only helps us feel the Spirit, but it can also help someone else. Someone may be touched by our testimony so much that it strengthens their own.
Sing through the song again, this time thinking about how we can lift others when we share our testimonies.
If you have additional time, you may consider having the kids try some leaf tracings of their own! Bring in several leaves and half-sheets of paper for the kids to trace or have them trace pictures of other objects in nature while listening to the hymn.
Just like objects in nature are unique in shape, size, and color, our testimonies are unique too. We each develop our testimonies through experiences that are unique and special to us.
*Tips for Leaf Rubbings:
If you’ve never seen or done a leaf rubbing before, it’s pretty cool! The basic idea is to place a white piece of paper over a leaf and color on the paper so that the shape of the leaf leaves an impression on the paper.
When I tried this leaf rubbing craft, I was actually a little surprised that it was more challenging than I thought! I want to share a few tips here so that you can be successful when you demonstrate this object lesson.
#1: Tape the Leaf in Place
- I found it much easier to trace over the leaf after I taped the leaf in place. I actually did mine on a small whiteboard and taped the leaf in place using two small pieces of tape.
#2: Experiment With Different Types of Leaves:
- Practice your leaf rubbings with a few different types of leaves! I used a few different types of leaves, and found that some leaves made stronger imprints than others. Take a look around your neighborhood and see if you can find a few different types of leaves to try out before doing it in singing time!
#3: Try it With Crayons & Colored Pencils
- When I did my first leaf rubbing, I used crayons because I thought it would catch the imprint better. I noticed that the grain of the crayon actually made some of the intricate leaf lines disappear.
- When it tried it a second time with colored pencils, I was much happier with the result! Here’s an example side by side to that you can decide which look you like better!
*The leaf rubbing on the left side has been done with crayons, while the rubbing on the right side has been done with colored pencils.
Extension Activities:
- Tape pictures of objects or animals in nature around the room. Invite the children to see what similarities or differences they notice between the objects. Then, write an action on the back of each picture. Choose a picture and sing through the song using that action!
- Challenge the children to think of their own analogies using things in nature! For example, you might say that a flower is like a testimony because it starts as a small seed and grows over time. A testimony can be like a feather, soft and light from the Holy Ghost.
- Learn how a small seed takes root and develops into a tree to better understand how our testimonies grow. This darling “My Growing Faith” booklet on the Church website can be a great activity for this!
For another fun similar activity, head over to see this Baptism Picture the River singing time activity!
Testimony Hymn Nature Tracings Printable Song Helps
This free in-post printable includes 6 simple images of objects and animals you might find in nature. Simply cut out these images to trace during primary!
*Tip: I found it easiest to trace images when printed on cardstock or textured paper. The textured paper makes it a little easier to follow the tracing lines!
Join INSTANT Primary Singing for extended printables including 6 additional images in color and outline plus testimony cards! You’ll find these bonus files included when Testimony is the featured song of the month.
To access the free in-post printables for this post, you’ll just need to create a free account or login with the Grow.me tool. Then, confirm by email and refresh the page and ALL my free printables will automatically unlock in every post!
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Head over to this Testimony Hymn Silly Sounds idea for another fun way to review!
What other fun ways will you use this leaf tracings singing time activity in your Primary room?
