Church Book from Magazines

I have been trying to figure out what to take to church for my kids so that they have something to look at and will be quiet so that we can hear the speakers.  If you are LDS then you will recognize the magazines I will be talking about.  If not, sorry.  I'm sure you could do this with other magazines that have children's activities and stories.

Before I talk about the Friend I am going to do a blip on the Ensign.  You know how there is a Gospel Art Kit that you can buy?  Well, It was too much for me (until they put it all in a book) so I started to rip out all the pictures and putting them in a binder.  I would put them in sections.  Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon,  Doctrine and Covenants and extras.  The extras included pictures of the Temples, churches, or other beautiful art.

Here are some of the pictures I put in the binder.  The binder has gotten so big that I will need to start a new one.  It has been very helpful especially when I was the Primary Chorister.  I also teach the stories of the scriptures with these pictures. 

Ok, here is what I did with the Friend.  I have a huge book now (2 years worth) so I will be starting another of this as well.  So, I took the Friend and went through it and found stories, coloring pages, pictures, songs, etc... and took them out.  Then I put them by section.

On the front of the binder I put all the coloring pages together.  Easy enough to pull out and color.

Then there was the Matt and Mandy stories all together.

Little stories that teach the children values.

Stories of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Pictures with a scripture.  One section that had art with a scripture and another section for pictures that show the kids how to implement the scripture in every day life.

Then there is the music.

On the back cover I put all the Hidden Picture pages together.  So if my kids wanted to do those instead of color, they were easy to get to.

My kids love to read so it wasn't a surprise to see my cute daughter sitting there for an hour looking at the book. 

I just disliked the idea of throwing the magazines away and not using them again so I found a way.  Now I have one place for all these things and not a bunch of magazines all over the place.  Try it!  Also, if you want to see past months then check out the church website where you can download any of these things and print them off.