Week 1 December: Learning from Haggai and Zechariah About Covenants and the Messiah

 

Week 1 December: Learning from Haggai and Zechariah About Covenants and the Messiah

Haggai 1:2–8

“Consider your ways.”
As you read Haggai 1:2–5 with your children, help them understand why the Lord was not pleased with the people. Children could pick a phrase from verse 6 and draw a picture of it. They could show it to each other and guess what phrase each drawing represents. Discuss: When we spend time on things other than what the Lord wants, how is that like eating but not being filled?

Read verse 8 and invite children to pretend to “go up to the mountain,” “bring wood,” and “build the house [of the Lord].” Children could make a list of daily activities and circle what the Lord might say are the most important.

Home-centered teaching:

  • Discuss how to put God first in family life, following President Russell M. Nelson’s counsel that the home should be the “center of gospel learning” (“Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2018, 113).

Activities:

  • Draw or act out phrases from Haggai 1:6.

  • Make a daily list and identify ways to “consider your ways.”

Math Connection:

  • Count the number of actions on their daily lists.

  • Ask: If each child adds 3 more important actions, how many total actions are on the lists?

Zechariah 3:1–7

Making and keeping covenants can help me be more like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
In a vision, Zechariah saw a high priest “clothed with filthy garments” (Zechariah 3:3). An angel gave him clean clothing. Discuss with your children what the dirty and clean clothing might represent. How do we become clean from our sins, even after baptism? How does baptism help us “walk in [the Lord’s] ways”?

Look at a picture of a baptism. Discuss why white clothing is worn at baptism. Sing “When I Am Baptized” (Children’s Songbook, 103) and talk about what the song teaches about baptism.

Visual:

  • A father baptizing his daughter in a river

Activities:

  • Draw pictures showing dirty and clean clothing to illustrate sins and forgiveness.

  • Act out or discuss ways baptism helps us follow Jesus.

Math Connection:

  • Count ways to follow covenants from the discussion.

  • Ask: If each child names 2 more ways, how many total ways are there?

Zechariah 9:9–11; 11:12; 13:6–7

Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah.
Visualize the event in Zechariah 9:9 when Jesus entered Jerusalem. Show a picture or read “The Savior Goes to Jerusalem” (New Testament Stories, 110–12). Children can point to people who are “rejoicing greatly.” Discuss: Who is the King in Zechariah 9:9? Why are we thankful for Him?

Video/Reading:

  • 1:35 – Chapter 44: The Savior Goes to Jerusalem

Compare prophecies from Zechariah with their New Testament fulfillment:

  • Zechariah 9:9 → Matthew 21:5–9

  • Zechariah 9:11 → 1 Peter 3:18–19

  • Zechariah 11:12 → Matthew 26:14–16

  • Zechariah 13:7 → Matthew 26:31

Discuss: What do we learn about the Savior from these verses?

Activities:

  • Match each prophecy to its fulfillment in the New Testament.

  • Draw or act out the Savior entering Jerusalem.

Math Connection:

  • Count the number of prophecies compared.

  • Ask: If each prophecy has 2 important details, how many details are there in total?

Family Thought & Reflection:

  • How can we “consider our ways” each day?

  • How do covenants help us follow Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?

  • Why is Jesus Christ the promised Messiah, and what does that mean for us?

Preschool Add-On:

  • Letter of the Week: B for Baptism / Blessings / Bethlehem

  • Number: 3 (ways to follow God, blessings, prophecies)

  • Shape: Cross or star

  • Color: White (purity, baptism)

  • Sight Words: I, can, Lord, help

Tracing Sentences:

  • I can consider my ways and follow the Lord.

  • Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah.

Craft Idea:

  • Make a “Prophecy and Promise Star”: children write or draw ways Jesus fulfills God’s promises.

Early Elementary Add-On:

  • Reading & Writing Extension: Write a paragraph: “How I Can Keep My Covenants This Week.”

  • Math Extension: Make a chart of daily ways the family follows the Lord’s guidance or blessings experienced.

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