The Names of First Presidency and Quorom of the 12

Author: Alicia Larsen

I wanted to help my then-4-year-old daughter learn the faces and names of each of the members of the First Presidency and Quorom of the 12 before Conference so that she could pay better attention and hopefully learn more from their words.

After doing this for FHE (it worked GREAT), I then asked my Primary President if I could do this with the Primary kids since I'm the chorister.

With her go-ahead (since this is not published in the Children's Songbook or Friend Magazine) I went ahead and taught this to the kids. It worked great again!
I put down the Brethren's names in order, starting with the First Presidency, then contiuing with the senior apostle down to the most recently called apostle, and put the "lyrics" to the tune of "Ten Little Indians".

From the Distribution Center I ordered the 8 1/2 x 11 pictures of the 15 ($.30 each. You could also just print them off lds.org then enlarge), and hung them in order from a clothesline with clothespins.

Here is how the lyrics turned out (with 3 verses):
"Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, James E. Faust and Boyd K. Packer, L. Tom Perry and David B. Haight, These are Prophets and Apostles.

Neal A. Maxwell, Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks and M. Russell Ballard, Joseph B. Wirthlin and Richard G. Scott, These are Prophets and Apostles.

Robert D. Hales and Jeffrey R. Holland, Henry B. Eyering,
WE'VE SUNG THEM ALL NOW!!(speak that part)
These are our fifteen living Prophets and Apostles."

I also added a few actions on the words:
"These are our 15 living Prophets and Apostles", we held our hands up and out to the sides;
"NEAL A. Maxwell" I had the children KNEEL;
"Henry B. EYERING" I explained that it was easy to remember his name with his face because with his glasses around his eyes, he looked like he had "eye rings", which we motioned in a circular manner around our eyes.

As we sang through the song and the children became more familiar with the names and faces (it works best verse by verse), I invited one child to come up at the end of each run-through and remove a picture after naming who it was. We continued to sing the names until all pictures were gone, and the children learned the song quite well.

If you had extra time or an additional week, it would be fun to mix up the pictures on the floor and have the children put them UP in order while singing the song. This is a very catchy tune, and we had a great time with it.

One note: If you are teaching this for FHE, it might work best to teach one verse each week if you have very young children.