All the Details of Our Primary Temple Trip

All the details from our Primary temple trip a few weeks ago, including the schedule outline, free printables, and more.

Over the summer I was called as Primary President in our ward (church congregation). I’m in charge of all the children in our congregation, ages 2-11.

A few weeks ago we had a primary activity with the older group of kids, ages 8-11, and took them to visit the Dallas Temple. It’s about a 40 minute drive from us.

I shared about it on Instagram stories, and lots of you asked for details, so here’s an outline of what we did, along with some free printables you could use for your own primary!

Announcing the activity

The most important thing for any activity is to make sure people know about it! Here are a few ways we advertised:

• We created a poster and had it printed and hung it up in the Primary room for a few weeks before
• We announced it in primary opening exercises every week leading up to the activity
• We posted the flier on the ward facebook page
• We emailed all the parents of primary children twice, asking them to save the date (about 6 weeks before the activity) and then again one week before the activity
• We printed out small fliers and gave them to each child in primary (we also sometimes do paper wristbands, like you get an an amusement park, that have a reminder — this is a great way to make sure a paper doesn’t get lost before the kids get home).

If your temple is far away, you may need to get permission slips from parents. We checked the handbook and our bishop said we didn’t need to have them. We gave parents the option if they felt more comfortable, but no one sent them in.

Sign ups to get a head count

I created a Google Form to get a head count of kids and parent drivers/chaperones.

I sent this to all the parents of primary children and had them fill out the form if their child was attending, and if they were able to drive and how many extra seats they had in their car. This was an easy way to keep track of everything.

The schedule outline

9:30 – meet at the church
9:45 – leave the church
10:30 – arrive at Dallas temple
10:30 – meet with Sister White and discuss temple etiquette/behavior, look at I Spy sheet
10:35 – walk around the temple in small groups 
10:45 – Take polaroid pictures of each child in front of the temple
10:55 – STATION 1: facts about the Dallas temple (outside of the temple including Angel Moroni, the cornerstone, the size of the temple and grounds, who takes care of it, the temple spire and what they mean, etc.)
11:05 – STATION 2: what happens in the temple with Sister White (pictures of the inside, talk about the baptismal font, the endowment rooms, the sealing rooms [marriage and adoption], and the celestial room).
11:15 – STATION 3: How to get a temple recommend and how to prepare to go to the temple with the Bishop
11:25 – Sing Teach me about the Temple (bring bluetooth speaker)
11:30 – Fill out their temple journal sheet with their photo while eating their snack
11:45 – Pack up and leave
12:30 – Arrive back at the church

More about the stations

The stations were each about 8 minutes long. We had nineteen kids with us, so we split them into three groups and they rotated through the stations.

I didn’t hear either of the other presentations by the Primary first counselor or the bishop, but here’s a few details about my station:

• I printed out pictures from churchofjesuschrist.org of the inside of the temple and put them in sheet protectors in a binder so it was easy to flip through and show them different images.
• I talked about how we get baptized one time for ourselves, and then in the temple we get baptized for other people. I showed them pictures of the fonts in various temples and we briefly discussed how the ordinance works.
• Then I showed them a picture of the endowment room and told them they receive their own endowment once and then do it for others after that (just like baptism). I showed them different images of instruction rooms, some with murals, some more plain, and talked to them about the slideshow that we watch to learn about Adam and Eve and the creation.
• I showed them pictures of the sealing rooms and talked about the altar, the people who would sit in the chairs around the altar (family and friends), and how it’s the same room for adoption sealings and marriage sealings.
• Then I showed them a pictures of the celestial rooms and talked about how it’s the brightest room in the temple and represents the celestial kingdom.

There are a few things that we’re commanded not to talk about outside the temple, but we are absolutely able to talk about most of what goes on in the temple.

I think it does kids a great disservice when the temple feels secretive and unknown. So if you do this activity, I encourage you to have them ask questions, and share as much as you can to help prepare them to go to the temple.

What we brought

• Bluetooth speaker to play Teach me About the Temple (we’re learning it for our primary program — I just played it on YouTube while they sang)
• Blankets to sit on for the stations
• Polaroid camera and film to take their pictures outside the temple
• I Spy sheets
• Journal Sheets (printed on cardstock)
• Washi tape to attach the photographs to the journal sheets
• Cooler with water bottles, and brown paper sacks with snacks for the kids
• Pencils for the kids to write on their journal sheets.

A few other notes: 

• Everyone was asked to wear their Sunday best. This really helped the children act respectfully and take this seriously. Also the pictures in front of the temple in their church clothes are so nice.
• During the stations, we had the other leaders and parents and bishopric help put together the journal sheets, taping the polaroid photographs to their sheets and getting them ready to hand to the kids.

Printable I Spy Sheets and Journal Pages

• CLICK HERE for the Journal Sheet. You can download and edit as you’d like.
• CLICK HERE for the I Spy Sheet. I created both of these in photoshop, but you could make your own in whatever program you’d like.

If you have any other questions about this temple trip, leave a comment below!

IF YOU LIKED THIS POST, YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE THESE POSTS: 

• “Picture a Christmas” ward Christmas program (details, script, and more)

• The scripture study guides I use for daily scripture reading