October 2026 General Conference › Lessons › Elder Quentin L. Cook › Children

30-minute lesson · Children · Ages 3–11: Primary or home

Choosing the Right Makes Me Happy

From “Integrity and Virtue Lead to Happiness,” by Elder Quentin L. Cook · Sunday morning session, October 2026 General Conference

Watch the talkRead the full talk

The big idea

When I do what is right, I am happy and the Holy Ghost can be with me.

Objective

Children will be able to say that choosing the right brings happiness, and will name one right thing they will do this week.

Before you teach

  • Read Elder Cook’s talk, especially T24.04–T24.05, T24.14 and T24.22.
  • Draw a large stone shape on gray or plain paper and write on it: Do your very best.
  • Bring a soft ball, a flashlight, a small blanket or cloth, paper and crayons.
  • Place a picture of the Savior at the front of the room.
  • Practice the truth with actions: When I do what is right (thumbs up), I am happy (point to your smile).

Lesson plan

Thirty minutes in 7 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.

3 min0–3

Welcome and our one truth

  1. Invite a child to pray. Sing “Choose the Right Way” together.
  2. Teach the truth with actions: When I do what is right (thumbs up), I am happy (point to your smile). Say it three times: whisper, normal voice, then standing tall.
  3. Tell the children that Elder Cook, one of the Lord’s Apostles, taught this at general conference.
5 min3–8

The message on the stone

  1. Hold up the paper stone. Tell the story simply: a long time ago, a new missionary named Elder McKay was in a country called Scotland. He walked past a building and saw words carved in the stone over the door. The words told him to act his part well. He decided that whatever job he had, he would do his very best. Later he became the prophet.
  2. Have the children pretend to walk down a street, stop, look up high, and say with you what he decided: Do your very best.
  3. Pass the stone around the circle. Each child who holds it names something they can do their very best at (being a friend, a helper, a class member, a follower of Jesus).
Ask
  • How do you feel inside when you have done your very best?
6 min8–14

Happy steps

  1. Line the children up at the back of the room, facing the picture of the Savior.
  2. Read a choice. If it is a right choice, they take one big step forward and say, I am happy. If it is not, they stay still and one child tells what we could do instead; then everyone steps.
  3. Choices: telling the truth when it is hard; saying unkind words to someone; helping clean up without being asked; taking something that is not mine; saying my prayers; using kind words when I feel grumpy; saying sorry when I make a mistake.
  4. When they reach the front, say the truth with actions once more. Then say the first line of the thirteenth article of faith together (Articles of Faith 1:13).
Ask
  • Who helps us choose the right?
5 min14–19

The flashlight and the blanket

  1. Dim the lights if you can. Shine the flashlight on the wall. Say: when we do what is right, the Holy Ghost can be with us and guide us, like a light.
  2. Cover the flashlight with the blanket. Say: when we choose wrong, it is harder to feel that light.
  3. Ask what we can do. Lift the blanket as you explain: we can tell Heavenly Father we are sorry and try again. That is called repenting, and Jesus makes it possible.
  4. Tell them briefly: Elder Cook taught a man who said repenting felt like the day he came home after being far away on a ship, when he was so glad that he knelt down to say thank you.
  5. Let two or three children take a turn lifting the blanket and saying, I can try again.
Ask
  • How do you feel after you say sorry and try again?
3 min19–22

Kind words ball

  1. Sit in a circle. Explain that one way to do what is right is to use kind words.
  2. Roll the ball to a child and say something kind to them. That child rolls it to another child and says something kind, until everyone has had a turn.
  3. Ask how the room feels now. Point out that kind words make the giver and the receiver happy.
6 min22–28

Draw it

  1. Give each child paper and crayons. Ask them to draw themselves doing one right thing this week: telling the truth, helping, using kind words, praying.
  2. As they draw, go to each child and ask them to tell you about the picture. Write their words at the bottom if they wish.
  3. Invite a few to show their drawing and say: I will ___, and I will be happy.
2 min28–30

Testimony and sending home

  1. Say the truth with actions one last time. This is your check: can every child say it without you?
  2. Bear a short testimony that Heavenly Father loves them and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, and that the Lord wants us to feel the joy of doing right.
  3. Ask them to put the drawing where they will see it at home. Tell them that next week you will ask what right thing they did and how they felt. Next week, begin by asking exactly that.

Key passages from the talk

“He determined that whatever responsibility he had, he would do his very best.”

Elder Cook’s talk, paragraph 5

“The Lord wants us to experience the joy of a virtuous life.”

Elder Cook’s talk, paragraph 14

“But when we do what is right, He can dwell with us and guide us in all that we do.”

Elder Cook’s talk, paragraph 22

Scriptures

  • John 3:16 Tell the children in your own words that Heavenly Father loves us so much that He sent Jesus; older children can read the verse aloud during the testimony.
  • Philippians 4:8 An older child reads it before the drawing; ask the class to listen for words that describe good things to think about.
  • Articles of Faith 1:13 Say the first line together at the end of Happy steps as a reminder of what we believe.

Other voices that agree

“Virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping the commandments of God lead to a happy life.”

President David O. McKay, quoted in this talk (paragraph 13)

“let us use words that encourage understanding and peace”

Elder Kyungu · Using the Language of Peacemakers, paragraph 13

Three things to remember

  • When I do what is right, I am happy.
  • The Holy Ghost can be with me when I choose the right.
  • If I make a mistake, I can say sorry and try again because of Jesus.

Ways to act this week

  • Do the right thing you drew, and tell someone at home how it felt.
  • Use kind words every day this week.
  • Do your very best at one job at home or at school.
  • When you make a mistake, tell Heavenly Father you are sorry in your prayer and try again.

Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.

Music

  • Choose the Right Way
  • I'm Trying to Be like Jesus

Adapting the lesson

  • Ages 3–7. Shorten the story to three sentences and act it out twice. Use only four choices in Happy steps and let a helper model each one. Repeat the truth with actions after every activity. In the ball game, help each child with a simple phrase such as, You are my friend. Accept scribbles in the drawing and ask the child to tell you about it.
  • Ages 8–11. Have one child read Philippians 4:8 aloud and another read the key quote from T24.05. Let an older child lead Happy steps by making up the choices. Ask a harder question: Why is it sometimes hard to tell the truth, and what helps you do it anyway? Share President McKay’s words (aligned quote) and ask which word in his list they want to work on.

This lesson is an independent study aid written for this site. It is not an official lesson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quotations are word for word from the official talk; paragraph numbers count the paragraphs of the talk as published at churchofjesuschrist.org, not counting headings or picture captions. The activities, questions and ideas for acting are suggestions; follow the Spirit and adapt them to those you teach.