This time, I have a really unique and different way to help you teach The Lord Gave Me a Temple in your Primary! This activity uses a traditional Venn diagram to compare what things are the same and which are different as you think about your body being like the temple. You’ll find all the detailed lesson plan for this The Lord Gave Me a Temple Same & Different activity below!
The Lord Gave Me a Temple Same & Different
Sing through The Lord Gave Me a Temple (flipchart here) once, before introducing this song. This is a great way to remind the kids of the words and transition from a different activity or kickstart your lesson plan.
Show the children your choice of the venn diagrams below – whichever one you like best. You can have the temple and boy and/or girl separate and then bring them together or use the circles style chart and fill it in.
Tell them you will sing the song again and be thinking while they sing about some of the different ways we might add to the chart. After each time through the song, take a couple answers and let the kids write or fill in yourself (to help control responses).
To make it easier for younger kids, you can have some ideas already prepared, and then ask them where they think each should go – temple, self, or both! Some ideas that you could use might are included below. But don’t be afraid to ask the kids. I’m always absolutely blown away by the amazing and surprisingly deep answers they come up with! And, sometimes hilarious answers, too!
| Temple | Both | Our Bodies |
| Home for Heavenly Father | Place for our Spirit to dwell | Home for my Spirit |
| Only open specific hours/days of the week | Make covenants | Always available and in my care. |
| Follow God’s Plan | Higher Purpose | Agency + Choice |
| Only worthy members | Focus on relationships | Everyone who followed Christ’s plan. |
| White, clean, and pure. | ||
| All look a little different, but part of God’s creations. |
Close by reminding the children that just like we want to take good care of the temple and keep it clean and pure, we have that same responsibility for our bodies!
Extension Activities:
- Break the room into 3 groups and let each come up with answers for their specific group. Then, let them share what things they came up with to the whole group.
- Pick out keywords that represent our body being like the temple and sing those parts whisper quiet to emphasis how they are like the temple!
For another fun similar activity, head over to see this The Holy Ghost Word Map singing time activity! You’ll see how all of the lyrics teach one central message of learning how the Spirit helps you!
The Lord Gave Me a Temple Same & Different Venn Diagram Printables
This free in-post printable includes a 1-page venn diagram chart to show what is the same and what is different – just fill in each section with the answers the kids come up with! I’ve also included some of my answers on a 1-page that you can reference or read from and let the kids pick where they should go.
Join INSTANT Primary Singing for extended printables including alternate graphics, larger graphics and black and white printables. You’ll find these bonus files included when The Lord Gave Me a Temple song is the featured song of the month.
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The Lord Gave Me a Temple Maori Sticks
What other fun ways will you use this singing time activity in your Primary room?
This is a wonderful activity for teaching the real message of the song and helping the kids understand the words! However, for anyone looking to do this activity in the future might I suggest leaving the word “white” off of the list of things that describe both temples and our bodies? I know it’s something we’re used to using in a symbolic sense, but our primary children come in a variety of different colors and appearances and I wouldn’t want any of them to accidentally get the wrong idea.