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Sabbath Day Activity Ideas
- Construct an "I'm Grateful For..." mobile to hang in
children's rooms.
- Take turns role. playing and acting out stories.
- Make a set of paper dolls representing the members of your
family. Use them in flannel board stories or at Family Home Evening to
demonstrate proper reverence, behavior at Church, manners and attitudes.
- Make gifts such as sachets from cloves, oranges and ribbon
to give away to "adopted friends."
- Have each family member make a personal scrap book. Include
pictures, important letters, certificates, school and Primary papers.
- Make some kind of book. Write a story inside with a good
moral. Illustrate it and then make a tape recording, complete with sound
effects and music. Younger children may then look and listen to the book
themselves.
- Make a tape or letter. Have children set goals for the year
and share feelings or testimonies. Save the tapes and letters for a year and
then listen and/or read them.
- Compose some poetry or write a story.
- Write letters, thank-you cards, get-well and
thinking-of-you notes.
- Make family progress charts, achievement cards and award
certificates.
- Use salt dough or clay or construct a nativity scene,
Liahona, etc. Use your imagination.
- Learn the missionary discussions (you never know when you
may need them).
- Make puzzles from pictures in old Church publications.
- Clip and file favorite articles from Church publications
for future reference.
- Expand your collection of visual aids for lessons and talks
by removing pictures from old Church magazines and mounting them.
- Make personalized, handmade cards for birthdays, I love
you, thinking-of-you or get-well cards.
- Remember birthdays for the upcoming week of ward members,
Church leaders, relatives, etc. Mark them on a calendar as a reminder to
call or mail a personalized card.
- Make a scroll story with butcher paper and two sticks.
- Plan a family service project. Ask your bishop for ideas.
- Invent a Church-related game or play one you may already
have.
- Study religious history.
- Make dot-to-dot pictures of objects like the golden plates
or the start of Bethlehem to keep little ones quietly entertained.
- Memorize scriptures, hymns, stories, or poems.
- Read a good play as a family. Have each member assume one
or more parts.
- Have each member of the family take turns reporting on a
General Authority, prophet, bishop or other Church leader. Tell stories and
display or draw pictures.
- Have a story swap. Each member of the family must have a
story of courage or valor to swap about a relative, Church leader or famous
person.
- Listen to tapes of conference or talks of the General
Authorities.
- Practice playing or singing hymns. - Look at books containing great works of art with children. Discuss each painting with them.
- Set missionary goals whether they are full-time, stake or personal.
- Write a family song or cheer. - Write a family newsletter to send to friends and relatives.
- Tape Church meetings for members who usually are unable to
attend.
- Practice reverence with children by sitting quietly for a
short period of time. Listen to quiet music or conference tapes.
- Play this game or make up a variation. Cut the
Articles
of Faith and several scriptures which have been memorized by players into
words. Mount the cut words on cards. Deal six cards to each player and put
the rest into a draw pile. Take turns starting a scripture or Article of
Faith. As each player takes his turn, add an appropriate card from your hand
to your own and the other players' sentences. If you do not have a card that
can be played, discard one card to the bottom of the draw pile and take a
new one. If drawn card is still inappropriate, pass. Winner is the fist one
to use all the cards in his or her hand.
- Play the Scripture Hunt game. Each player takes a different
page of scriptures. After reading that page, each player then writes a one
sentence question, the answer to which is found somewhere on the page. At
the signal, swap pages and questions. The first player to locate the correct
answer to his question is the winner.
- Play Hang Man, or Word Scramble on chalk boards. Use
Church-related words.
- Learn some new finger plays with the children.
- Have a memory jolt (quiz) contest. See what is remembered
from last Sunday.
-Make your own filmstrip stories. Dip an old filmstrip in
bleach for a few minutes. When the emulsion is loose, rinse the film under
running water (do not touch the bleach). Wipe dry and then add your own
pictures with permanent colors.
- Select a talent you would like to develop. Set some
goals to help you achieve the talent and then work toward developing it.
- Each Sunday, feature a different family member in a "Why
I Love You" spotlight. Display a picture and a hobby or craft of that person
in a prominent place for a week. Write a brief history of the member and
list all of their qualities and strengths.
- To encourage family to know who the current prophets and
apostles are, photocopy their picture from the center of the conference
issue of the Ensign. Make enough copies for half the members of your family.
Play a simple game by putting a small treat (M&M, small marshmallow or nut,
etc.) on each individual's picture. Divide into partners. One partner
decides which one of the individuals pictured is going to be "it", and
either writes it down, or tells mom or dad. The other partner tries to not
name who was picked. He will call each apostle or member of the First
Presidency by name. ("Was it President Thomas S. Monson?") For every person
he names who was not the name picked, he gets to eat the treat. Once the
person picked is named, the other partner gets to eat all the remaining
treats. (BTW, our children call this game "Don't Eat the Prophet.")
- Keep a notebook with a section for each child to use for
interviews. At our house, an interview consists of us meeting one-on-one
with the children, and asking them, "Okay. What would you like to talk
about? What would you like help with? What would you like to see done
differently around here? What would you like to have happen in the next week
or so? Is there anything you want or need that isn't being taken care of?"
Take careful notes of what is discussed, and follow through during the week.
At the end of the interview, mom or dad might then have a request for the
child such as, "It would mean a lot to me if you would work on (whatever)
during the week." Because they have had their concerns listened to, they are
usually very willing to work on our concerns. Review the children's list
with them during the next interview, so they can see that you did what they
asked where you could.
- Study the General Conference addresses as a family, so
that everyone knows what counsel our living prophets are currently giving
us. Determine what you are going to do in your home as a family to implement
their counsel.
- Appoint yourselves to the unofficial Ward Welcoming
Committee. When a new family comes to church, show up at their house later
that day with a plate of cookies and a note saying who you are, prepared in
advance. Make it a point to check with the quorum and Relief Society
secretaries to find out the names and addresses of new people in the ward.
Sometimes just one person or family can make all the difference between
people feeling unwelcome, and having them feel, "Gosh! This ward is so
friendly!" Be that one person or family.
- Have an object lesson contest in your family. Pick one or
two items around the house (any simple tool or item) and have everyone come
up with story about how that item can illustrate a gospel principle.
(Shared by Leslie North)
- One of the things we have tried is that my mother gave
us a scripture to memorize and a topic. With that topic we had to write a
short 5 min talk. We could use the scripture that we had memorized, (it was
usually related). The older kids would help the younger kids. Then after a
set amount of time, we would all give our talks to each other. Mom has kept
these talks in a binder for our use if we ever had to give talks in church.
It was neat to see how much we could learn about a certain topic, and it is
neat to watch the younger kids grasp on to the gospel, and be able to
memorize scriptures and testify of their truthfulness. (Shared by Heidi Scott)
- We hold our lesson for Family Home Evening on Sundays.
Then on Monday, we plan a fun activity or a "field trip", like going to the
library, the park, etc. These are things and/or places we wouldn't go to or
do on Sunday. This has worked wonders in our home for having regular Family
Home Evening. (Idea shared by Brent Gadberry)
- Bake cookies for an elderly couple or a less active family
in your ward. Leave them on a pretty plate on their doorstep; ring the
doorbell and run. (Shared by Christian Larson)
- Build a blanket tent and pretend to be Lehi and his
family. Use the tent the rest of the day to read in, etc.
- Visit a ward member in the nursing home.
- Write about something your child did when he/she was
younger, then let that child draw a picture about it on the back.
- Visit LDS websites designed for children.
- Have younger children dictate journal entries to you.
- Prepare meals only from food storage. Let children choose
the menu then cook without electricity. (Maybe use your grill?) Even wash
dishes with water heated on the grill.
- Play games or make crafts found in the Friend.
- Play Mormon Quest or other LDS games (i.e. scripture
computer games) - Bake a treat together as a family then give them away.
- We always have pancake breakfast (Something for them to look forward to
on Sundays) The boys help cook. And nearly always have that special
Sunday roast it just helps make Sunday a special day. A great idea
my husband came up with was to photocopy loads of Funstuf from the friend
magazines the boys spend hours of quiet time coloring and doing puzzles.
(Shared by Rebecca Cowley)
- Three of our favorite Sabbath day activities are: Writing
cards or making pictures for grandma and grandpa, Driving our 2 miles to
the temple and walking around the temple grounds. Taking pictures while we
are there is a fun memory too. We watch "Jesus movies" (as my kids
call them)...any of the Living Scriptures animated videos or DVD's.
(Shared by Taunya Ferguson)
- On Sunday's me and my boys go to church. We read
stories (Book of Mormon Reader, Friend, other books). When daddy
comes home, he puts movies on, but they have to be educational. (Shared
by Rebekah Mickelson)
- Read the Church magazines cover to cover. - On Sunday morning, before the kids wake up, I play CDs of church music (usually instrumentals of church hymns). It helps to set a peaceful tone in our home. We are on the late block for church this year, so our big family meal is breakfast. The kids really look forward to eating a home-cooked breakfast. We also use the Sabbath to encourage the kids to work on "Faith In God" or Young Women's "Personal Progress" or "Duty to God". Instead of watching TV, we play board games on Sunday. It is a great way to have positive interactions with each other. Occasionally, we will have "Sundaes on Sunday", where we invite new members of the ward over for ice cream sundaes while we visit with them and get to know them better. (Shared by Natalie Hill)
- Prepare any future talks or lessons.
- Use crock pot recipes to cut down on extra cooking. - Our family Sunday tradition is we all go to my Grandmothers for lunch. My Dad's whole family participate ( those who live in the same town anyways) All my cousins and their kids. There is usually about 30-40 of us each Sunday. Each family just brings what they would if they were just making lunch/ dinner for their immediate family, so it's a giant buffet. Sometime we have things that don't go at all together or sometimes they do. It's always fun to see what everyone's bringing. Last Sunday for example we had Spaghetti, Roast, Stir-fry, and a Mexican Casserole for the main dishes. It just fun to get together and visit and for the young children to get to know their cousins. Some may say it's not the most reverent thing to do on the Sabbath, but we love it. Family time is the best time. (Idea shared by Mindee Hugentobler)
- Prepare Family Home Evening lessons for the next day.
- Visit those you know who are in the hospital. - Here are some of our favorites! 1- Watch Family Videos or slide shows, 2- Make a treat together and share with some friends, 3- Web cam with Grandma, Grandpa, Cousins, Aunts, and Uncles. (Shared by Stephanie Farnsworth)
- Have a picnic on the temple grounds. - Some of our favorites are... 1- Going for a family drive into the countryside. I always remember this as a young child and love to appreciate nature and spend time talking with the rest of the family. 2- Playing card games. 3- Walt Disney movie night with popcorn, when we were little often the only TV allowed was Walt Disney, remember the good 'ol days when it was on every Sunday night. (Idea shared by Tiffany Sloan)
- Invite someone who may be unable to cook for themselves
such as an elderly person or shut-in, to share dinner with your family, or
take dinner to them.
- Make a list of members who may need a ride to sacrament
meetings. Invite them to ride with you. - Many years ago, we started 3 traditions that we still carry on to this day. I buy white bread and chips for lunches on Sunday, and they last as long as they last. We also had our children write in their journals on Sunday and the would get M&M's. We did candy bars for while, but was a little harder to control. We have 7 children, 6 are still at home. One is getting ready for a mission. This is such a tradition that we HAVE to do it on vacations. And in the beginning when I would forget any of the items, boy, I was in trouble. We've done it for 15 yrs. It is fun to listen to the younger ones try to figure out the most important thing of the week. The older ones wrote more detailed entries as they grew. We also have a journal that we keep track of FHE lessons. One person gets to be the scribe each week. (Shared by Debbie Pond)
- Surprise someone in need with a visit.
- We have our young kids write
(or draw a picture) in their journals on Sunday.
To motivate the kids, we offer a family
treat to each family member who does write in their journal. (Idea
shared by Amy Seiter)
- Find a unique way to fellowship less active families.
- On Sundays we like to play what we call Scriptionary.
We think of scripture stories, Primary songs or whatever is church related
and draw pictures while everyone tries to guess. My children, 4 year
old twins and 2 year old LOVE this. They also like to act out scripture
stories. One thing we would like to do is sit around the table and discuss
the lesson for the day, the Sunday School lesson for my husband and I. (Idea
shared by Heidi Shakespeare)
- Have family scripture study. Younger children may want to
draw representational pictures beside their favorite scriptures. This will
enable them to find the same scripture and remember what it was about in the
future.
- Visit the temple grounds as a family or bring a non-member
friend.
- View the movies inside the Visitors Center or take a tour.
- Give time to a nursing home or to others who may need help
reading letters from loved ones or writing them.
- Re-visit families on your Home and Visiting teaching routes
who may need to be visited.
- Utilize time together in the car or at dinner to discuss
what each family member learned at Church that day.
- Check out filmstrips from the library and view them.
- Rest and reflect on what was taught in Church classes.
- Listen to scripture tapes or view scripture videos.
- Read material that is Church-oriented or uplifting.
- Tape morning broadcasts of BYU devotionals and play them
back during the day and throughout the week.
- Read children's scripture story books to them. Visit the
ward library and find out what is available to check out.
- Pair children up in separate rooms together with games or
books, etc. This allows each child time to build a one-on-one relationship
with each of his/her brothers and sisters. Partners are rotated each Sunday.
- While children are spending special time together, Mom and
Dad can spend time alone together and perhaps fix an unusual or creative
breakfast for the children.
- Label and catalogue the family picture journal (photos,
slides or videotapes of family.)
- Have a simple and short music lesson. Familiarize children
with music symbols and words. Teach them how to lead music.
- Prepare stories about your children to tell them.
- Tell children stories of when you were their age.
- Have grandma or grandpa tell stories about themselves or
the lives of other relatives.
- Record these personal profiles for Book of Remembrance or
journals.
- Decorate special jars for tithing and mission funds.
- Take a walk as a family. Discuss the blessing Heavenly
Father has given us through nature.
- Invite married family members home for a visit or go visit
them.
- A fun activity we did (but it ended up too
much work on the Mom side, so we didn't keep it up) was work on the
children's scrapbooks on Sunday afternoon. The idea was that we wouldn't
get years behind if we just worked on them regularly. Now we just
love to play board and card games. Our new favorite is one called
Toss Up! It involves a handful of dice and taking risks.
(Shared by Patty Buchmiller)
- Decorate a Sunday "Things to Do" box and fill it with
ideas. Draw one out each Sunday to do.
-
We
watch church movies - my kids always (4 and 2) beg to watch "Joseph" (the
Restoration DVD that came out in the Ensign). We frequently make and
deliver treats for someone as a family. Does a nap count? We do
like to discuss what everyone did and learned that day. My 4-year old
really loves to know what we did in our "adult" classes! (Shared by
Erika Bair)
- Plan and rehearse a family musical recital.
- Perform the recital at a nursing home or children's
hospital.
- Make shadow portraits or silhouettes of family members or
of the prophets. Include them in scrap books or use to decorate cards.
- Tape a special program for a missionary or loved one far
away. Include talks, stories and songs.
- Make phone calls or write letters to those special friends
and loved ones to let them know you're thinking of them.
- Prepare Home or Visiting Teaching message for the month.
- Set goals or begin a "Pursuit of Excellence" program. Chart
your success each Sunday.
- Compose an original song expressing a lovely thought or
deed. Encourage children to express themselves also.
- Develop greater love and appreciation for music by
listening to great works.
- As a family, invent a design, crest, emblem or logo to
display on a family banner. When it is complete, unfurl it during family
home evenings or other special family occasions.
- Practice a skill such as knitting, etc. Make a gift for a
friend.
- "Adopt" a friend. Select someone special.
- Have a "Hands Across the Water" day. Let return
missionaries in the ward help you select a country. Help family members to
become familiar with the customs of LDS around the world.
- Customize copies of the Book of Mormon for the missionaries
to give out by marking important scriptures and adding your personal
testimony.
- Produce a puppet show depicting a historical Church event.
- Dramatize events from the Bible and Book of Mormon with
family members. Be sure to dress for your parts.
- Form a rhythm band to help younger children learn the music
to hymns and Primary songs.
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