Family Night with Toddlers

 Each Monday night our church encourages families to spend time together learning the gospel. We call this time, Family Home Evening, or sometimes for short FHE or Family Night.
 My husband and I have been brainstorming ways that we can better cater to the developemental abilities of our toddler and 10 month old and still have a meaningful FHE. Here are some of the ideas we've been trying.

1. Keep lessons brief. We like them to be about 5 minutes long and use Behold, Your Little Ones, and the Primary 1: I am a Child of God manual as the subject matter. The children can even help prepare and give these lessons.
2. Lots of singing! We used to just sing one or two songs, but now we play song games with familiar songs to the children or songs they are just learning. We try to choose new songs that cover the gospel topic we want to focus on.
 - One of the song games we love to play is "Singing Cop". We simple use the ASL signs for stop and go and have one person direct while the others sing, following along. There is absolutely no preparation required and you can play it anywhere!
 - It is difficult for our children it seems to memorize scriptures and stories at this age without a lot of effort. It seems much easier to commit a gospel lesson to memory by teaching them the Children's Songbook songs. Another good reason for LOTS of singing time.
 - We can easily reinforce the new songs they're learning as lullabies through the week or even work-songs as we're doing household chores.
3. Have a routine. We start with dinner when dad gets home. Then, we sing the Family Night song and have an opening prayer. Followed by the short lesson, activity, then treat. We don't always get to every section, but starting with the Family Night song and closing with family prayer for the night keeps a structure that makes it easy for the children to know what comes next.
4. Involve the Children. I've already mentioned this some, but our 3-year-old looks forward to family night when he gets to help pick the songs, make the treat, or prepare a lesson.
5. Set reasonable expectations. It's not always going to go picture perfect. In fact, I practiced the first lesson with our oldest son and every practice and frustrating but when it was time to give the lesson, he really took the stage! It's those bright moments that come which tell you it's worth it. Don't get frustrated if it doesn't go perfectly.

What are some ideas that you have used to help with small children during Family Night?