Use these free pioneer printable tags to help your kids celebrate Pioneer Day or to add some fun to treats on trek. These printable tags are also great lesson handouts for Pioneer Day. And keep reading to see the 7 simple ways to make pioneer stories powerful.
Can you relate:
Pioneer day is coming up and you’ve decided to teach a lesson on pioneers. You pull out your best family stories on pioneers. And you print some of the most heartfelt pioneer stories from general conference…just in case you have time left over in your lesson.
But as soon as you start telling your inspiring pioneer stories, the kids in your class start putting their heads down. They start doodling, pulling out their phones, and you start to see that dazed look in their eyes.
You know you’re losing them, but what’s a girl to do?
More importantly, what’s a teacher to do?
When I was a teenager, I felt like adults used pioneer stories to manipulate me into feeling sad, or in an attempt to make me feel grateful for how blessed I am.
I spent some of my teenage years living in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. That’s prime pioneer territory. In fact, we had real wagon wheel tracks from the early Mormon pioneers within our ward boundaries.
So you can imagine how many pioneer stories I heard as a teenager. As soon as someone said they had an “inspiring” pioneer story, I inwardly groaned and started watching the clock.
I was so tired of hearing the same-old, totally depressing pioneer stories about how everyone died. Tragic stories told over and over again.
What was the point except to make me feel sad and guilty because my life is so good?
Or so it seemed to my immature teenage self.
As an adult, I feel bad for my teenage angst and pessimism.
And now I recognize that these stories really are inspiring! The pioneers were wonderful, hard-working, strong, generous, faithful people. I want to be like them.
So how do we help the youth relate to the pioneers in a way that’s meaningful to them today?
As I’ve taught lessons on pioneers and helped plan trek, I’ve seen 7 effective and simple ways that help the youth stay engaged in pioneer stories.
How to help the youth relate to the early pioneers:
1. Make sure the point of your pioneer story is clear. What point are you trying to get across?
Have a point to your story. What’s the lesson you hope the kids take away?
Don’t be vague. It’s okay to clearly state, “This story teaches us that God is with us during hard times. We are never alone.”
Some of the timeless lessons we learn from the pioneers:
- We can do hard things.
- Happiness is a choice.
- It’s possible to believe even when people around us don’t believe.
- When we rely on Heavenly Father, He gives us strength.
- No one does it alone in this life.
Help the youth connect the dots from your pioneer story to their needs and desires today.
2. Shorten the story.
Nothing brings out a snooze-fest like a story that goes on and on about corn preparation or the terribleness of a winter storm.
See if you can take out any over-descriptive sentences or paragraphs. In this case, less is definitely more.
3. Help the youth understand how this story is relatable to them.
The pioneers lived a long time ago. Our world is so different today. In fact, it seems so different that you could talk to the youth about an alien invasion with more interest than the pioneers.
So make sure that you make your pioneer story very relatable to their current life situation.
Again, don’t be vague here. Ask them “How can this story help you right now? What are the lessons from this story that can help you with your challenges?”
4. Have the youth tell their OWN stories.
We all enjoy telling stories from our family history. So let the youth share their own pioneer stories! Or let them find stories that they find interesting and inspirational and let them share those.
Not only with their peers pay more attention, but it helps them stay engaged with the lesson.
5. Show pictures.
Do you have pictures of the pioneers you are talking about? How about a picture of what their cabin may have looked like back then?
Visuals are super helpful to help kids relate to and understand the context of the story. And it keeps them paying attention because they have something to look at.
6. Can you make the story memorable?
There is an awesome pioneer story about a mother in the Martin handcart company who felt she couldn’t go on. Her daughter prayed with faith and asked the Lord for help. After her prayer, she found a pie on the road. She took the pie back to her mother and they continued on their journey.
This is a very compelling story, but you could make it even more memorable by giving all the youth a pie after the story. (<–Our stake told this story and hid pies along the trail for the youth during trek this year. Very memorable and super fun!)
Is there a way that you can make your pioneer story or lesson memorable?
(Pssst… you can download free pioneer printable treat tags below. That’s a fun and easy way to make your story memorable!)
7. End on a positive note.
If you told a story about how the parents and most of the kids died during their journey to the Great Salt Lake, help the youth see that this is not the end of the story.
Show them the joy that came after the suffering. This gives them hope that there is joy waiting for them too.
Free Pioneer Printable Treat Tags
And of course, treats are always a good thing with kids or youth. 🙂
It’s no secret that sometimes food is the only way to get kids to go to an activity.
And that’s okay. Whatever works, am I right?
These fun, free, and cheery treat topper printables are another way to make your Pioneer Day or trek memorable and fun.
Use these free pioneer treat toppers to help you reinforce the positive messages the pioneers have taught us.
And these treat toppers are perfect for Pioneer Day lessons, trek, or for neighbors.
You can download four free Pioneer Day/trek treat toppers that come in 2 different sizes!
Such a fun, easy, & simple way to end a lesson or a long day on the trail. 🙂
And if you are looking for more Pioneer Day printables, check out this Pioneer Day Printable Kit, available in the Teepee Girl shop!
I hope you can use all the Pioneer Day printables as you celebrate and teach the amazing legacy of the pioneers.
Thank you for teaching, ministering, and sharing goodness with the youth, and everyone around you.
You make the world a better place. It’s an honor to create printables for you.
The post Free Pioneer Printables + 7 Simple Ways to Make Pioneer Stories Powerful appeared first on Teepee Girl.