Teacher Katie Wade-Neser believes simplicity is key to helping kids understand the gospel.
In 2019, the mother of four started an Instagram account dedicated to sharing quick Come, Follow Me activities catered to children between the ages of two and five. Today, her page has over 33,000 followers, and parents around the world are applying her weekly activity ideas.
Katie recently joined Morgan Jones Pearson on the All In podcast to share her tips and tricks for transforming scripture study from a chore into a cherished family tradition. Here are three parenting shifts she believes can help young children learn to love the gospel.
1. Incorporate Movement
Katie believes that God wants us to embrace children’s unique learning styles, especially their natural needs for movement and play.
“I don’t think it was an accident that [almost] every child on earth is wiggly and doesn’t listen all the time and has lots of questions and learns through movement,” she says. “We’re commanded to become like little children—they’re not commanded to become like us. And so, I think that when we take the time to teach them in a way that works for them, … we’re doing Christ’s work on the earth.”
Katie has found that teaching gospel principles using movement helps kids maintain interest and retain information better.
For example, when she notices her children losing focus, she likes to add an action to the discussion to help spark her kids’ attention. She explains: “So, if I’m like, ‘Did you guys know that Jesus loves all of us?’ and everyone’s feeling wiggly and wild, I’ll say, ‘OK, can we all hug ourselves? Because that’s how it feels to be loved like Jesus loves us.’”
Another strategy she will use is to invite her kids to perform an action when they hear a specific word, like raising both arms in the air whenever they hear the word “joy.”
“Just that one action of ‘OK, now I’ve got to listen, and I get to do something when I hear it,’ … that’s exciting [for kids],” she says. “That movement shifts all the momentum in the lesson.”
2. Tailor Your Teaching to Their Interests
Next, Katie says it’s essential to apply the principles to ideas or activities that kids find interesting:
“If a child thinks something is interesting, they will pay attention to it. And if they don’t think it’s interesting, they won’t pay attention to it. … And so, our job then, as the teachers, is to ask, ‘What does my child, or the students in my class, … find interesting? And then how can I teach to that?’”
For example, if a child loves art, Katie suggests adding coloring activities. Or, if your child has lots of energy, you might incorporate activities like hopping, jumping, or climbing to demonstrate gospel principles—such as having them leap into your arms from a countertop or elevated surface to teach about faith.
3. Focus on Direct Principles
Finally, Katie recommends sticking to direct principles instead of using figurative language with young children.
She shared that since some of her kids are too young to understand the full symbolism of the sacrament, she focuses on teaching more basic principles about Christ’s love. She explains:
“What we do is … give them a piece of bread, and that gets their hands moving, right? And they’re going to rip up this piece of bread because that’s really fun [and] interesting. …
“My kids will rip up pieces of bread, and we’ll put it around a picture of Jesus. And so now they have a visual connection between the bread and Christ [that] maybe they don’t get in sacrament meeting. Like, they know they’re eating bread and water, but because we’re quiet, they might not understand it’s even connected to Christ.
“And then I’m going to say something like, ‘Hey, did Jesus make bread? Did Jesus give us bread? Yes, that is so nice of Jesus. Jesus loves us, right? Jesus gives us things to help us because He loves us.’”
Another way Katie helps her kids understand gospel topics is by using short statements. She likes to select a catchphrase each week based on the Come, Follow Me lessons, such as “Jesus loves me” or “I can listen to Jesus,” and invite her children to learn and recite the sentence.
As we apply simple shifts to our teaching, Katie feels that we can receive divine guidance and inspiration from Christ: “I really believe that the Lord cares about the learning of little children, and He wants us to teach them in a way that works for them.”
She referenced Sister Michaelene P. Grassli, former General Primary President, who taught about the Lord’s focus on teaching little children when He visited the Americas soon after His Resurrection:
“[The Savior’s invitation in 3 Nephi 17:11] was neither casual nor inconsequential. ‘He commanded that their little children should be brought.’ (Emphasis added.) And notice what verse 11 doesn’t say. It doesn’t say never mind the little ones because they aren’t accountable yet. It doesn’t say the children were to be taken elsewhere so they wouldn’t disrupt the proceedings. And it doesn’t imply that the children won’t understand. But it does teach that children need to learn the significant things of the kingdom.
“God’s children share with all of us the divine right to spiritual enlightenment.”
Listen to the full episode here or on your favorite streaming platform. For more ideas about teaching young children, check out the articles below:
▶ 4 simple ways to help ‘Come, Follow Me’ feel special (and fun)
▶ 3 ways to help children feel sacrament meeting is for them—not just Mom and Dad
▶ 1 thing we forget when teaching our children about feeling the Spirit
