General Conference Note Taking Packet and Question for YOU….

 

Here is a note taking packet for you and your family for General Conference!

There is a page for each Apostle with a few fun facts about them.

It would also be a great thing to give to your youth if you are an advisor!

Here is the note taking  PDF:  general conference packet

Also…. If you are looking for a fun Family Home Evening Activity next week.

Check out this post for some trivia questions.
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So HERE MY QUESTION FOR YOU AMAZING WOMEN:

WHAT DO YOU DO TO MAKE GENERAL CONFERENCE EXTRA MEANINGFUL FOR YOUR FAMILY?

I would LOVE to hear your ideas and for you to share them with each other!

36 comments

  1. I don’t know if this makes it extra meaningful but it helps us maintain some peace and quiet during conference with three young kids. We have a jar that they get to put a scoop of dried popcorn in after each talk. They can only put a scoop in if they were quiet. If they are loud or disruptive they have to take a scoop out. If they fill it up then we go out for ice cream. (They don’t usually get to go out for ice cream.) What they don’t know is that, unless they yell and scream through every talk, they are guaranteed success. I make sure the scoop size is large enough to fill it up after about 2/3 of the talks. Last conference we tried this and it was a huge success. The kids even asked for it again this time!

  2. Hi Shannon…Is the same packet from last year or a new one? I linked to your post from last year in my gen conf link-up…because it was my fave way to take notes!

  3. We only have one teenager left at home, and so it’s been quite a while since we had to keep young children occupied and reverent. Our teenagers are quite content to sit and take notes (the seminary class has a traditional “Conference Jeopardy” game on Monday and they want to be prepared) and, especially, eat snacks!

    My cousin has her kids make “conference boats” which are basically blankets they spread out on the floor. If they get off of them during the session they “drown.” To help them focus while staying on their blankets, they have conference packets and conference bingo and treats. Here’s the link to the blog post where she explains it – http://beckstrand7.blogspot.com/2008/04/conference-boats.html

    I’m looking forward to hearing everyone else’s ideas, though, because it won’t be long before the grandchildren need help enjoying general conference!

  4. Last conference I wrote down a key word or phrase for each talk I heard. I was able to write something down for all but three talks! That’s saying something since I watched it with three children: 4, 2, 3 months and no husband (med student with school commitments that weekend). I printed off conference packs for little ones, had lots of popcorn and other snacks and basically abandoned the idea of sitting still and hearing every word. I was able to get more out of conference and enjoy my children more than the previous 4 years of trying to hear every word and teach them to be still.

    My growing up experience with conference was that after Sat morning my mom and I went to the grocery store and stocked up on goodies to munch on during the next three sessions. She also bought me a baby blanket cross stitch project that took 13 years to complete and helped me stay awake during conference all those years!

    I’m excited to use your note taking packet this year to help me as I go back and study each talk to fill in what I miss while I’m helping the little ones learn to love listening to a prophet’s voice.

  5. My children are almost 5, almost 3, and nine months. We set up a tent or a sheet to be like the Nephites, but this is also our “reverence” area, as long as they are quiet and reverent they can stay in this area. In the area I have coloring pages, bingo cards, and Church books they can use to entertain themselves. To help get the wiggles out, we take out the chart with the General Authorities from the previous Ensign and post it under the TV. At the beginning of the talk they can quietly run up and find the person speaking.

    When daddy is here we always make pizza for dinner before the Priesthood session.

    Thank you for the great packet, I’m excited to have something I can add right in to my scripture journal afterwords!

  6. I love these. We try to have our children take notes with us and discuss what we all learn and then talk about our favorites. Our children are ages 13,12,11,&10. This packet will be a great help. Thanks so much! I shared about it on my blog I don’t have a lot of readers but hopefully those who do read will hop over to your website and share their comments and appreciation for your time. Thanks again for all you share here I love reading and using the tools you have created.

    Christina

  7. When our children were younger, we always used conference packets. They have always enjoyed them. We now have 5 teenagers and an 8 yr old and we were looking for something different to help keep them engauged. I used your note taking conference packets, but I wanted to add to them somehow.

    What we came up with was fun, different from the usual, and provided a visual of all our learning.
    1)We placed pictures of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve up on the wall where we were watching Conference.

    2) Each person, including my husband (and he is usually not game for these sorts of things) and I, got a different colored stack of Post-It notes.

    3) After each talk, we wrote down our favorite quote or what we learned from that talk and placed in on the apostle that said it.

    We loved learning what everyone else learned and it provided a great way to review for FHE. It also made everyone get out of their comfy chair and that helped keep everyone from dozing off 🙂

  8. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this.

    I just have one problem, I can’t get the file to load. I can get the FHE suggestion to work but the PDF for the conference notes isn’t working. Is it just me?

  9. I want to say thank you for the note-taking package. I loved it last year and am looking forward to using it again this year!

    I can’t say we do anything “extra special” for conference weekend. I just so very much look forward to it and enjoy it. I truly hope my kids catch that excitement from me. 🙂

  10. I saw this idea in the Ensign once. We do “conference candy,” each session my husband and I each pick a word (faith, love, family, savior, etc) and my kids (8,6,3) listen for the word and when they hear it then they can get a piece of candy. My kids still remember a talk a couple years ago about faith because of this (every 4th word was faith!!) My kids are EXCITED about conference coming up and I love that!

  11. Thank you for your packet! We used it for April Conference – my 9 year old daughter just asked me yesterday if I would print her another set for this conference. (Being the oldest she likes the more ‘adult’ way of enjoying conference). 😉

    I have five young children. (9, 7, 5, 3, and 1) Starting 15 days before General Conference we highlight one current Apostle/Prophet until we discuss each of them. We have noticed that when the children know about the men speaking, they want to listen to them. The Monday before GC we always review the story of King Benjamin and his people.

    The kids look forward to setting up their tent. 🙂 They can stay inside if they are willing to be quiet and listen. This is where we keep their packets, apostle cards, coloring pages, and note pages.

    We do “Don’t Eat the Prophet” and Pin the Tie on the Prophet in between sessions, and we also have a “Temple Construction Site” (a pile of Legos…you could do blocks). My husband bought us 2 beautiful Jesus puzzles that we also work on during Conference.

    October Conference the kids look forward to the first Pumpkin Pie of the year. We have pie and hot cocoa for breakfast Saturday morning. 🙂

  12. We also do the candy game with our kids (6,4 and 2) and I really think it helps because even though they aren’t quite ready to sit and reverently listen and understand each talk, they can still quietly be engaged in the same room and listen for key words. Now if I ask my kids what conference was about, and what our prophet wanted us to know they can say temples, faith and family (or whatever the key words happened to be 🙂
    We also make a big deal out of food traditions. Big breakfasts and fun seasonal foods to make the weekend a holiday.
    For our kids we also have started different apostle treats. One is to take a brown bag for each apostle and put their name and picture on it — when that apostle speaks the kids get to open the bag and enjoy either a treat or a quiet activity that they find inside (simple things like play dough or stickers). This helps keep them engaged during the talk and helps them recognize the apostles and their names because they are hunting down the bag to match 🙂

  13. We make conference something to look forward to by preparing in advance with numerous conference packets online (thank you for yours) and we always have conference cinnamon rolls (post and recipe on my blog) and fruit salad. My kids look forward to it because I ONLY make cinnamon rolls for conference twice a year. We also usually play conference bingo with candy they get to eat at the end of each session and I do small prizes from the dollar spot or dollar store. Sometime I make grab bags and if a topic is the main part of talk and the kids pick up on the theme, they get a treat out of the grab bag with that topic name on it. Thanks again for sharing!

  14. Thanks for the conference packet! We are empty-nesters, and have enjoyed using your packet to take notes. We especially like the “fun facts” about each of the speakers. Thanks again.
    Lynne

  15. I really appreciate all the suggestions that have been posted so far! We’ll definitely have to incorporate some of them for our almost-5-year-old. And the packet last conference was a definite hit with me and my husband and we’re excited to use it again. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into the packets—and every resource you make available on your blog.

    Something we really enjoy doing during General Conference is singing as a family. Our daughter is very much into music, so whenever the choir and congregation sings we make sure to all be involved. And even though we watch it from our home, we stand up when the congregation is asked to stand. It’s a nice break for all of us.

    During the Priesthood Session of Conference, my daughter and I try to have a fun mommy-daughter at-home date. We eat fun snacks, bake a nice treat for daddy (as a reward for him going to Priesthood session), and talk about the sessions we’ve heard.

    Can’t wait for Conference!

  16. This year, we are going to do a FHE on King Benjamin (My kids are 10, 7 & 7. 2 boys & a tomboy girl!). So I am going to let them build a tent to watch conference in. The rule is, they cannot make any changes to the tent during the session. After the session is over, they can change it however they want for the next session. I think this will really help tie the BOM into real life for them.

  17. General Conference is an amazing time at our house! Our oldest is now 20 and on a mission, but we love this time of year. We plan and get ready for General Conference. First off, my husband and I try to read each of the conference addresses from the previous conference. It’s a little friendly competition and we love it.

    We make the house in order. We buy fun food. We have great breakfast food. We have sub sandwiches for dinner. We play conference bingo and have treat buckets. We have conference packets and we are together.

    We have made this time a fun together time and our children look forward to hearing from our leaders.

    We change things up sometimes by having daddy son dates for priesthood and mom and daughter dates for the evening….we just want the children to want to listen and be a part of conference.

    As the kids were little they were expected to be in the room for Sunday morning. If they were in the room they need to be quiet….they could play any where else….

    Hope that helps….was it and is perfect..NO! But we make it fun!

  18. We have spent a lot of time this year preparing for General Conference. We’ve learned about the apostles and their hobbies, and stories about the prophet when he was young. I think that this will make these leaders real for the kids and increase their interest in listening to their message. We have also memorized Amos 3:7. I hope this will help them realized the importance of listening to the Living Prophet’s words. Primary Sharing Time has been great too with the theme Living Prophets help us choose the right. I’ve made some lapbooks (for preschoolers and ele. age kids) about this theme and others at gospellearningonyourlapDOTwordpressDOTcom. Maybe they will be helpful for some of you. I’m going going to use your “big girl” version for myself. PS. I’m looking forward to getting your topics journal in the mail this week!

  19. Have you considered publishing a general conference journal? I think this format would be awesome bound and containing a couple of years worth of conferences.

  20. I loved using your packet last conference! Going to do so again! Thanks for providing them and for all your efforts!! Enjoy your little one!!!!! (and I like LeeAnn’s idea! That would be great!)

  21. We have always lived away from the stake center and we don’t get it on TV so it has always meant all day, both days at the church. We have always gone to ALL the sessions of conference even when we had very small children. We decided that church and activities were “non-negotiable” and we are all just expected to be there for all of them. So on the Saturday between session we would go out to a resturant for lunch (a rare and special treat) and so the kids looked forward to that time. Then on the Sunday we would pick a “picnic” lunch and have it in the gym of the stake center or out on the grass (if it wasn’t snowing) and just spend time together…over the years other families have joined our little picnic at the chruch and it has been turned into a “hmmm…what did you bring? I will trade you…”

    Years later and all grown up…they still talk about those fun weekends and continue to attend all of conference….it feel great that a habit started so many decades ago still burns strong in them today.

  22. I have tried many things through the years to help my little kids have General Conference be meaningful. Now that they’re older, 16, 19, 25 (living at home and post mission) I’m trying to get them to stay awake. The desire is there but watching it in your jammies just seems to win out half-way through and they fall asleep at some point. So a few years ago, I decided to try Conference popcorn from the World Wide Ward Cookbook as a treat to snack on during conference.

    I now plan on having treats, sub sandwiches and fun finger foods so that they can eat whenever it strikes them. It has worked so far and they are mostly awake and participating.

    I also have a game to see how many Seminary scripture mastery verses are quoted through out the talks. Whoever gets the closest to my count wins (prizes vary). It keeps me on my toes as well.

  23. For some reason I can NOT get the file to download. Every time I click on the link my internet freezes up. Is there any way I can get a copy emailed to me? I just found out that my brothers girlfriend (non-member) is planning to watch at least part of conference and I thought this might help her. Thanks!!

  24. Hmm, where do I begin? We have homemade cinnamon rolls to kick off conference. Conference here is 12-2 and 4-6, right through lunch and dinner, so we do easy to eat meals on the floor with the kids. I’ve got 7 kiddos age 10 years down to 2 months- we do activity pages, notetaking pages, and lots of running around playing between sessions to burn off those wiggles.

    Also, a sucker at the halfway point of each session gets then back to sitting again for a bit.

  25. To start off my while me husband is at priesthood session, my children (4,6 and 8) decorate cookies to look like the first presidency and 12 apostles, which they are then able to eat as each apostle speaks. We use conference packs and conference bingo as well as setting up jigsaws and old friends for them to use, quietly. If they do their best to be quiet in a talk they get a sticker which they can use to buy treats after conference.

    Since being little General Conference has always been known as picnic conference so, needless to say, their is alot of food left out as we have a picnic in our living room.

  26. So very excited to find this activity. Elder Crockett and I are serving in the Florida Tallahassee Mission. One of our assignments is to teach Insitute at Pensacola State College. Our course of study is “Teachings of the Living Prophets”. What a wonderful activity this is for them to learn more about the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. Thank you so much for all you do.

  27. I thought I was being original when doing this, but have recently found out that there are a lot of families that do the same thing.
    We have some kind of treat ready to eat for everyone (homemade cinnamon rolls, donuts, muffins, etc…) that gets them out of bed. When dealing with children, especially teens, there has to be more incentive to get out of bed, other than spiritual edification.
    We also like to take notes during the talks. The younger kids write down one thing that they remembered from each talk (a funny story, a spiritual experience, etc…) and the rest of us take more extensive notes. It really makes a difference as to what you remember and what you get out of conference if you are paying attention.
    One of our rules as parents is that conference at home is a luxury and a priveledge, EVERYONE must be present during conference, no opting out, or else everyone is going to get dressed in their Sunday clothes and go to the Stake Center to listen to General Conference.

  28. I loved the note packet. I never got so much out of conferance. just an idea that i did was blank out the name, photo, and facts and printed blanks for other speakers. and maybe include RS on the top where sessions are

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