Two Soda Cans Family Home Evening Plan

Preparation
For the General Conference Connection, we used the excerpt that appeared in the May 2015 New Era: "Two Soda Cans," by Cheryl A. Esplin.
Shortly before FHE, pour the contents of one soda can in a glass. Save it in the fridge for root beer floats. You may want to rinse the empty can, since some child is bound to shake it.

Song
The Family

Prayer

Object Lesson

Display an empty soda can. Invite a family member to attempt to crush the soda can with their bare hands. After they have accomplished this, hand them a full, sealed can of soda and ask them to crush that as well. Allow them to make a show of trying and failing to crush the full soda can.
Why could you crush the first can?
(Because it was empty)
Why couldn't you crush the second soda can?
(Because it was full)

General Conference Connection

Invite the family to move to the table.
Encourage them to read the quote, and underline what we should be filled with.
(Light and truth or The Spirit)
How can we fill ourselves with Light and Truth?
(Be honest, pray read the scriptures, go to church, etc.)
Label the cans in the illustration.
Glue the quote in their General Conference Notebook.

7 year old S. wrote Baptism on his full can. I asked him if that was because he would get the gift of the Holy Ghost when he gets baptized. It was.

Activity

For activity, play the Animal Game. We did a mythical creatures variation. Think of unicorns, hippogriffs, basilisks, etc.
How to play: everyone chooses an animal name. It can be any animal, except one someone else is using. The person who is it stands or kneels in the middle of the room, holding a pillow with which to tag. Everyone else sits on couches or chairs. One sitting person starts, by naming a different person's animal. That person names another animal. The person with the pillow keeps trying to tag an animal before they name a different animal. If they are tagged, then they are it.

Song

Children's Choice

Treat

Root beer floats
You will need half as many root beer cans as there are people. Unless you have growing teenagers. Teenagers might need their own cans.