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My kids absolutely love General Conference! When I tell them that it’s coming up they literally count down the days until it gets here! And the reason why is because they get to do all sorts of fun General Conference Activities while they listen!
For those of you don’t know what I’m talking about our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a semi-annual general conference meeting. It’s a chance for us to get to hear all the leaders of our church, and our prophet speak to us. It’s a great weekend that is always super uplifting!
There are 5 different sessions, that are 2 hours each. And if you know little kids that is a WAY long time to just sit! So I devised a plan to keep them quiet so we could all listen! And it totally worked! So here’s all my general conference tips, advice and activities!
Conference Bags
For General Conference I make conference bags for my kids with different quiet activities in them. It keeps them busy, but still able to listen. And makes it so that we can enjoy listening as well!
So initially this is a little bit of work to set up! But after the first time, things are pretty quick because you have the bags all setup. I have a bag with the picture of each speaker on the front with a different activity inside. And when that speaker stands up to talk, the kids get to do the activity in that bag.
I always plan to have at least 15 different activities. One for each member of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. And then I have a bag for each of the general sessions for speakers that aren’t in those 15 so the kids don’t get bored.
Then I have a song bag for every session with an intermission treat in it!
I buy gift bags from DollarTree they are 2 for $1 and are a pretty decent size! These are similar, but run about $1 a bag if you don’t have a DollarTree near you. All together you need at minimum 15 bags and if you do extra speakers and songs, you need 23 bags!
Some activities don’t require a big bag and I have used just cheap paper sacks for those!
Then I print off a picture of each of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from here.
Use double sided tape to get them to stick on the bags real well, and you’re set to go!
I have slowly added to our general conference activities collection. If you’re just starting it would get way expensive to do every activity I will list. But start with a couple this year and buy a couple more next year and slowly build up! Find things around your house your kids will quietly play with, or venture the dollar section at Target or the Dollar Store for cheap ideas!
Setup for General Conference
The night before general conference we set out all the bags with the speakers pictures on them. When the kids come down the stairs they are seriously almost as excited as Christmas morning.
They know that in those bags are things that they enjoy doing. I usually have a couple of new things they haven’t done before. And a lot of the conference activities are things I only let them do at conference to keep them engaging!
We have a console table that we set all the bags on and try to make it so the pictures are as visible as possible. We group all the song bags together, and session bags. And they try to have some order to the other bags! If I have used smaller bags I put those up front so they’re visible.
And then we set up a folding table right up next to the couch and the kids get to sit on the couch while using the table.
We cover it with butcher paper, and let the kids color on it while they’re waiting for the next bag. Or if they don’t have an activity for that speaker they can always color on the table.
Surprisingly they love that the whole table is theirs to color on. There has been times when they have filled up the entire table and we have had to change the paper after every session!
I’m telling you, we get real serious about general conference activities!
General Conference Activities Kids Love!
- Beados- Once you have purchased an initial set and have a couple of trays, I just buy this knock off brand of them that work great and come with SO many! The kids make their own creations and love them. We also have the Beado Pen that is a little easier for those who hasn’t mastered fine motor skills yet!
- Legos of any kind, MegaBlocks, Duplos or Lego Sets
- Shrinky Dinks for girls and for boys–If you don’t remember these from elementary school, you color on them and then bake them and they shrink and get plasticy. They are way fun!
- Snap Beads – A favorite for my son as well as my daughter! And they just snap together so there’s no annoying string or tying you have to do!
- Suncatchers – you can sometimes find these at DollarTree as well!
- Make Fruit Loop Necklaces
- Watercolor Washable Kids Paint
- Watercolor Books
- Finger Paints-I don’t let them do this at their “conference table” but make them go to the kitchen table where they can still watch. And I always make them wear paint smocks, because it’s a mess!! And some years I just don’t have it in me to let them do it.
- Kinetic Sand-If you haven’t ever seen this or played with it, this would be the first thing I buy. It’s seriously mesmerizing and my kids never want to put it up after the speaker is finished!
- Dot Paint Pens– I usually print off some worksheets that they can do. Just google dot painting printables and you will find a bunch you can print off for free. Or here are a couple free spring ones.
- Make a Sock Puppet
- Building Blocks – I was super surprised that these basic building blocks kept them entertained, but they loved them!
- General Conference Bingo
- Activities for Children from the Church’s website
- Create a Sticker Book-I usually buy stickers from DollarTree or the Dollar section at Target and those little notebooks and they can make a stick book.
- Photo Albums-I pulled out all the old photos I had printed over the years and let the kids cut and glue them into their own photo albums! They opted to do their photo album over a new activity when a new speaker came up they loved it that much! They still have them and look through them regularly.
- Lite Brite– This got harder as our son got older and there were two people who wanted to do it. But if you just have one child this is a great option! Or maybe you already have multiples!
- Kids Puzzles
- Origami Folding– This was a little tricky for my small children, but if you have older kids it might work well!
- Play Doh-Just be careful if you’re on carpet!
- Craft Scissors and Construction Paper- I just let them go at it and cut all the want! They usually ask for glue to make pictures with so you may want to include that in the bag!
- Friendship Bracelets– We just made these awesome ones at a family campout. I would recommend them for ages 7+ but they were really fun to make.
- Glitter Glue – Another Messy one I don’t always do, but it’s a favorite. Just tubes of glitter glue and paper and they do the rest!
- Construction Paper and Markers- I think I will try out this Mr. Sketch assortment this year. I’m sure my kids will love adding a fun element to coloring with scented markers!
- Sticker Face Books
- Felt Pumpkin Decorating– For October General Conference, and there is like zero pumpkin carving mess!
- Random Leftover Craft Supplies to make whatever they think up!
I really try hard to make general conference something special and different! We do a fun breakfast Saturday and Sunday morning that is breakfast foods we only make at conference time! Our favorites are scones, cinnamon rolls or, caramel rolls…mmm!
We eat breakfast together as a family and the kids are seriously so excited that it’s finally conference day!!
And my song bags usually have treats that I don’t normal buy. Here are some ideas of things they go crazy for!
- Fun Dips
- Ring Pops
- Fruit by the Foot
- Push Pops
- Lego Candy
- Pop Rocks
A lot of these options you can find for pretty cheap at Dollar Tree or other stores! Or if you’re like me sometimes it’s just easier for it to show up on your porch!! Thank you Amazon!
But I love doing fun treats that are out of the ordinary in an effort have something special to look forward to at conference!
Listen and feel uplifted
Obviously, I don’t do all of these activities every time. I really try to mix it up so that there is something interesting and new each time! I typically plan to have 2-3 new activities and re-use supplies/activities I have used before!
My kids are 7, 4, and 1 so they’re still pretty little! You may have to adjust or come up with different activities is you have older kids. Or just make them listen!
For our young family general conference bags have made conference such a positive experience for the whole family. And my kids really end up listening a lot more than I thought they would.
And when we start dozing off or have a hard time listening, we sit down with the kids and participate in their general conference activities!
The time I put in before conference makes conference so much less stressful and more enjoyable! Seriously try it out and let me know what your kids think!
Then we can all count down days to General Conference like we do at Christmas!
Looking for other fun ideas for Conference? Check out these Fun illustrated Journal Pages for kids! Or this awesome General Conference Guessing Game for families! You’ll love both as you listen and feel inspired to Conference this year!
4 Comments
What a brilliant idea! For my toddler, I’m trying this, but shaking it up a bit with several of the bags throughout the sessions filled with little snacks… coloring, games, toys we already own, the works. I am SO excited for tomorrow; last General Conference with a two-year-old was a mild disaster. XD This is the greatest idea ever! Thank you so much!
Hope you had an awesome conference weekend! This system may be upfront work, but my kids countdown to conference like it’s Christmas, they love it!!
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