How We Keep Our Teens and Tweens Engaged During LDS General Conference

General Conference is one of my favorite weekends of the year, but I know it can be tricky for older kids to stay focused and engaged. Over the years, we’ve tried different ideas to make it meaningful for our teens and tweens. We started this last General Conference, and it worked so well and my kids were begging to do it again!

This weekend is General Conference for our church. It’s a worldwide weekend conference held twice a year (April and October) where we hear from the leaders of our church. It starts on Saturday morning and ends on Sunday afternoon, with five total sessions filled with talks and musical numbers. It’s a fantastic weekend of filling my spiritual cup and being uplifted and instructed!

As my kids have gotten older, I’ve realized that keeping them spiritually uplifted during General Conference looks a little different than it did when they were younger. Instead of activity packets or coloring pages, we focus on creating opportunities for them to connect with the talks and feel involved in the weekend. From intentional note-taking to small traditions that make the weekend special, I’m sharing the ways we help our teens and tweens engage with Conference in a way that’s age-appropriate and spiritually meaningful.

You can watch it live on YouTube all weekend!

General Conference Tickets and Store

We’ve found that having a General Conference store set up on the table makes a huge difference for keeping our boys engaged. We keep it out for all five sessions, and here’s how it works:

When the boys listen and take notes about what they heard and felt, they earn two tickets per talk.

At the end of each session, they have the option to give a little presentation or mini talk based on their notes, and if they do, they get five extra tickets. Between sessions, they can “shop” the Conference store with their tickets (each item has its own ticket price) and they can choose whether to save up or spend right away.

I bought THIS ROLL OF TICKETS. Each boy has a mason jar with their name on it so they can collect their tickets throughout sessions!

General Conference Note Sheets

My 9-year-old used conference NOTE SHEETS LIKE THIS, which I purchased on Etsy. He had one for each session, and I printed them on a half sheet, so it didn’t use so much paper.

My 12 year old uses a regular notebook to take notes and draw, and my 15 year old uses his Chromebook and creates a canva presentation with a slide for each speaker. He likes to be able to type instead of write, and he can easily add scriptures by copying and pasting from online, and he always includes a photo of each person to help him remember.

For the vouchers, I made a simple template and then copied it to create a bunch of different versions. I picked rewards I knew our boys would enjoy, and then let them help me decide on the ticket prices for each one. You can download and print that template HERE.

I also picked up a few gift cards from Cane’s and Chick-fil-A. For Cane’s, I bought physical cards, but for Chick-fil-A I went with digital ones, I just took screenshots and printed them out so the boys could still “shop” for them in the store.

For the V-Bucks gift cards, I just made my own versions for the store, and when the boys were ready to redeem them, I purchased the real ones with my credit card. You can download and print that template HERE.

Also, this was TOTALLY optional for my kids. They all decided to participate, but it was not required.

Mini Building Blocks for General Conference

I also grabbed a micro LEGO set for those moments when they weren’t feeling motivated to take notes. It was the perfect little backup, still kept them busy, but in a creative, hands-on way. THIS is the set I bought! 

Hope you have a great conference weekend, if you’re watching!

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