Family Night with the Three Little Swine

I wanted a new approach to teaching my kiddos the gospel, a fresh look at things that would be both fun and spiritual. Kids love stories of all kinds, and I especially love the old Fairy Tales because they teach good morals already. Combining the gospel with these timeless tales has helped me to see that they are just as relevant today as they were when the brothers Grimm first wrote them down.

I hope you have as much fun as my family did likening the Fairy Tales to the scriptures and to our lives.
 

Family Night

Start by having the younger children go outside and each gather a handful of grass, a few sticks or twigs or even flower stems, a rock or small pebbles. Bring them in and each child will set their collected items on the table in front of them.

After the opening prayer, read the story of The Three Little Swine out loud to the family. Show the younger children the illustrations as you read through the story. When you get to the point where the wolf blows down each house have the children pretend to be the big bad wolf and blow on the grass, the sticks, and the rocks respectively. After they blow on each one ask them which one was the easiest to blow "down".

What do the scriptures say?

Tell the children that there is another story similar to the Three Little Pigs that was told in the scriptures. Ask them if they remember the story of the wise man who built his house upon a rock and the foolish man who built his house upon the sand.

Read the verses in Matthew 7:24-27 about the wise man who built his house upon a rock and the foolish man.

Ask them how the story of the wise man and the foolish man similar to the story of the Little Pigs.

Tell them that the foolish man was a lot like the two pigs who didn't want to do too much work and so they built their homes out of things that were quick and easy but not sturdy and strong. Have a small amount of sand or dirt in a jar with a lid. Allow the children to move the jar and watch the sand slide about in the jar. Ask them to imagine building a house on sand. Would it be a good thing? The foolish man's house was like the first two pigs' houses only it wasn't a big bad wolf that blew it down, it was a storm and strong winds.

The wise man was a lot like the last pig who built his house out of something that would last even though it took a lot of work. Nothing could bring his house down. Consider taking your children where they can touch the foundation of your home, either outside or in your crawlspace or basement. Give them each a chance to touch it and to make observations about it. Compare the solid foundation of your home to the rock upon which the wise man built his home instead of the sand like in the jar you used as an example.

What is wise?

The house the wise man built was built upon testimony and faith in Jesus Christ and sacred covenants. Explain to them that every good thing we do we are building our house of faith to the Lord. For example, when we read in our scriptures every day we are building a strong house of faith.

Ask the children to think of some other examples of how to build a strong house of faith. (When we pray often, when we are kind and share and don't fight, when we tell the truth or help someone who is sad or hurt or go to the temple, pay our tithing, attend Church, build up food storage....)


Ask the kids if it is always easy to live by faith and to keep our covenants? No, it can be very hard. It takes a lot of courage sometimes to do what is right.

Share with the children a time that you did what was right even though it was hard to do.  Tell them how it helped build your testimony.

Just like the last pig who worked hard to build his house so that it would be strong, we sometimes have to work hard and sacrifice in order to build our house of faith, but if we do then when the storms come or the big bad wolves come we will be ready for them and we will be strong in our faith in the restored gospel and in our testimony of Jesus Christ.

Sing The Wise Man and the Foolish Man together. Do the actions if you know them.

Heavenly Father wants us to be faithful and to keep our promises so that we can go home to him someday. He knows that choosing the right is the best way to live a happy life and to be worthy of the blessings he wants to give us.

For older children: Ask them if they see any other way to liken the story of the three pigs or the story of the wise and foolish men to everyday things in our lives? Give them some examples to help them see how they can apply these stories to their daily choice and relationships. One example is that as a family we must be built upon a sure foundation or we could be blown down or fall or in other words we could become dysfunctional. Families are only forever if we live worthy of that blessing but many people have already lost that blessing and their families are torn apart because their family wasn't built upon a sure foundation. What are some things a family needs to be built on if it is outlast the storms of life? Another example of how to liken the story of the pigs to our daily lives is if a child is learning a new skill or talent, do they want to be lazy in practicing and build a very little talent or are they willing to put in some hard work and learn to excel at their new hobby or talent or skill? When the time comes, if they have put the time and effort into playing the piano well, it will be a talent that will serve them well throughout life, but if they did not apply themselves they will eventually abandon it the way the first two piggies ran from their easily defeated homes.

Big Bad Wolves Today

We may not actually encounter a real big bad wolf or even a heavy storm, but there are things that we will experience that will try to shake our faith in Christ and our determination to live the restored gospel. Talk for a minute with your children about what types of "storms" or "wolves" they might encounter in their lives now and in their lives later that hey must prepare for now by strengthening their house of testimony and faith.

Bear your testimony that as we apply ourselves to living the gospel, we are building upon a sure foundation that will be stronger than the storms of life and sin and temptation. Tell your children that you know the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only sure foundation.

Right click on image to print

Hand out this coloring page to the younger children.

Right Click on image to print

For older children: Ask them to write on a blank paper three things that they can do throughout the week to build a stronger foundation of faith in their own lives or to describe a personal storm they are struggling with and in what ways they can change their "foundation" or priorities to overcome it? Or ask them to think of something that is distracting them (sandy foundation) from focusing on living the gospel or from focusing on living a Christ-centered life. Ask them to keep the paper in their scriptures throughout the week so they will see it often.

Additional resources:

https://www.lds.org/friend/1991/02/sharing-time-build-upon-my-rock?lang=eng

http://www.ldsemergencyresources.com/the-wise-man-built-his-house-upon-a-rock/
















http://fairytalesofkingjames.blogspot.com/2015/04/what-manner-of-house-am-i-building.html