The children objected when Sister Combs tried to put socks on her hands. For some reason, they didn't like the scarf on her arm or the hat on her knees, either. Several of the children helped Sister Combs to correct her mistakes! We talked about how it is foolish to wear clothes on the wrong parts of the body, and that it was a little silly to wear winter accessories inside a climate-controlled building, anyway. This led to a discussion of other things that were wise or foolish.
We had sung "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man" during Singing Time, so the children were all warmed up and performed it very enthusiastically in class. We discussed that this story contains sound building advice, but Jesus told it to explain how we should live. If we have a solid foundation of correct principles and wise choices, we will be safe and happy, but poor choices lead to sadness.
We put a happy wise face and a sad foolish face on the board, then took turns choosing scenarios and deciding which face went with the behavior indicated. It was a lot of fun to use magnets, and we had a good discussion about the consequences of bad choices.
We learned about B.H. Roberts, who made a foolish choice that led to him walking across the plains barefoot. We learned that sometimes just one bad choice has long-lasting, serious consequences. We also learned that his good choice to study hard in school and read the Bible every day led to him becoming a great Church scholar and a very respected author.
We colored a very dramatic picture of the homes built by the Wise Man and the Foolish Man. Some of the children drew rainbows, to indicate that the storm was ending, while others colored the clouds and the sky very dark gray. We want to be like the wise man, able to weather any physical or spiritual storm that comes our way!