Editor’s note: This article on possible Sunday activities was written with families with children in mind. However, most of the activities listed are perfectly suitable for single people, older couples, or couples without children. Feel free to pick and choose the ones that seem most inspiring and enriching to you.
In biblical times, the commandment to observe the Sabbath day was so strict that any disobedience was punishable by death! But how can we spend 24 hours each week observing the Sabbath?
How can we keep Sundays holy, especially when you have active children who cannot be expected to focus on the Savior for hours? Adults often think that these quiet activities are the way to keep the Lord’s Day holy, but there is much more to this commandment than that.
There is no definitive list of dos and don’ts for observing the Sabbath, but Sunday should have a different feel than other days of the week. The Lord has given a number of guidelines in Doctrine and Covenants 59:9 .
Robert J. Matthews explained that » a day of rest does not mean being idle; it means a change of priorities. In plain terms, ‘keeping the Sabbath day’ means using that day to worship God and do good to our fellow man. »
When we worship God, we reveal our feelings for him and show our devotion and commitment. We can worship through music, prayer, service, words, and contemplation.
What activities should I do on Sunday?
When my children were younger, I used to hear them say, « There’s nothing worthwhile to do on Sundays »… about every 7 days to be exact! I wanted to prove them wrong, so I started making a list! This list turned into a book that talks about what can be done, not what can’t.
The list became my book “ Sabbath Solutions: More than 250 ways you can worship on the Lord’s day”.
- Set up several stations in the house where different Sunday activities take place, such as watching church videos, reading church magazines, writing letters to missionaries, baking cakes for others, making visual aids for tomorrow’s Family Night, etc. Use a timer and rotate the family around the stations every 15 minutes or so.
- Create “silent books” using photos of your family in which family members are gathered in different ways. Young children can look at the books during sacrament meeting as a reminder to be good.
- Create a collage or drawings illustrating your blessings.
- Create a chart for your family members to show their progress in reading scriptures and memorizing certain passages.
- Make puzzles with photos from old church magazines.
- Make modeling clay and create people and shapes from your favorite stories from scriptures like the Liahona, the gold plates, or Noah’s Ark.
- Create a family mailbox to keep at home and fill with kind letters to each other.
- Give a gift or a meal to your bishop, your home visitors, your seminary instructor, or other Church leaders who bless your life.
- Make a family banner or flag to put up in your home.
- Decorate a pillowcase with kind writing or words that will fill your mind as you fall asleep.
- Learn about the traditions and food eaten during Passover. See if there are any Passover-related events nearby that you could attend as a guest.
- Learn about other cultures. Learn how the Church is progressing in different parts of the world. Prepare a meal from another country.
- Listen to classical music and take an interest in art. Learn about famous composers and artists.
- Have each family member choose a different book to read for the next few Sundays. When everyone has finished reading, have them give an oral presentation about what they learned from their book. Create a book club.
- Take stock of your food supplies. Check your 3-day emergency kits for your home and cars.
- Check all the batteries in your smoke detectors and review your emergency exit plans with your family. Prepare “everything you might need”.
- Help your son work on his Scout homework. Help your daughter work on her Young Women’s Award.
- Put on a puppet show based on stories from scripture that you can present at a Family Night or even at Elementary School.
- Hold a family council.
- Ayez des entretiens individuels avec vos enfants. Parlez de leurs objectifs, leurs espoirs et leurs rêves.
- Prenez des photos de familles dehors dans un beau cadre.
- Faites une liste de toutes les qualités de chaque membre de la famille. Partagez la liste avec eux, ou référez-vous y quand vous avez du mal à vous souvenir pourquoi vous les aimez vraiment !
- Montrez des vidéos familiales ou des diapositives de quand vous étiez plus jeunes. Racontez des histoires de quand les parents étaient jeunes et commet ils se sont rencontrés et comment étaient les choses à ce moment-là, etc.
- Planifiez vos prochaines vacances familiales. Parlez de comment vous respecterez le jour du Sabbat si votre voyage inclue un dimanche.
- Planifiez une réunion familiale. Rechercher des endroits où vous pourriez vous rassembler pour ce grand événement. Ecrivez ou appelez des proches qui pourraient vous aider à l’organiser. Distribuez des tâches, trouvez un thème.
- Rencontrez des voisins. S’ils sont nouveaux, apportez-leur un exemplaire du journal local ou la liste de numéros de téléphones utiles, ainsi qu’une assiette de biscuits et votre numéro de téléphone. Si c’est vous qui êtes nouveaux, présentez votre famille avec une assiette de bonnes choses.
- Invitez deux ou trois familles de l’église chez vous pour manger des glaces et parlez de vos traditions dominicales préférées.
- Laissez des friandises sous le porche de deux familles de votre paroisse avec un message leur demandant de faire de même. En quelques semaines, toute la paroisse aura reçu une belle surprise !
- Créez une version évangélique de votre jeu de société préféré en remplaçant les questions originales par des questions sur l’évangile. Soyez créatifs et faites des marque-pages avec le temple, ou choisissez des prix qui représentent des bénédictions.
- Jouez aux charades en utilisant les histoires des écritures, les noms des prophètes et d’autres événements de l’Eglise.
- Faites une chasse aux écritures ! Prenez des écritures que votre famille connait déjà ou étudie ou prenez des écritures du programme du Séminaire.
- Faites une chasse au trésor en utilisant des écritures comme indices. Choisissez un objet à trouver tel qu’un nouveau livre d’écritures, des autocollants de l’Eglise ou un dessert préféré.
- Comme Néphi l’a fait avec les petites plaques, conserver un journal intime spécial dans lequel vous n’écrivez que vos expériences spirituelles.
- Faites un tableau générationnel de votre famille. Recherchez le blason historique de votre famille. Recherchez-en les symboles.
- Portez-vous volontaire pour prendre des photos de pierres tombales dans votre cimetière local pour un projet communautaire.
- Mettez votre testament ainsi que d’autres documents juridiques à jour. Assurez-vous que votre « maison soit en ordre ».
- Regardez des retransmissions des coins de feu de BYU. (ces discours sont uniquement en anglais sur le site de BYU)
- Each ward and stake should have a list of missionary and service opportunities. Look at what you could do to help in your area.
- Call the nearest mission office and ask if there are any missionaries who have not received mail or support from home, and whom you might be able to help.
- Go out and sing hymns. Visit other members of your ward or branch and sing some hymns to edify them.
- Conduct scientific experiments to understand God’s fascinating world. Study how the Lord used scientific principles in the scriptures.
- Find the addresses and phone numbers of your elected officials. Write to them about things that are important to you. Thank them for the good things they do.
- Bring treats to your local firefighters. Thank them for their service to the community.
- Find out what you need to do to organize a neighborhood watch program. Call the police and talk to your neighbors.
- Go to the nearest animal shelter and offer to play with the animals.
- Find a charity to support. You can find them online.
- If you have an affectionate or interesting pet that brings smiles to people’s faces, call a local hospital or nursing home to see if you could bring your pet there to entertain the patients.
- Learn about national service programs and get involved.
- Prepare a support package for a missionary, someone in the military, or someone studying away from home.
- Call the Relief Society Compassionate Services leader in your ward or branch and ask how you can help.
- Volunteer to take home the toys from the early learning class to clean or repair them.
- Find the nearest Church visitor centers and monuments to you. Plan a trip to visit them.
- Keep a notebook for your prayers and write down how they were answered.
- Illustrate your favorite writing style using your own artistic talents through calligraphy, cross stitch, or other creative means.
- Find out about the competitions that will be organized in your community. See if you can share and improve your talents by participating.
- Participate in a Church literary or artistic competition. Begin working on your own work that will edify and inspire other members. For more information, go to history.lds.org
Article written by Trina Boyce for MormonHub under the title 56 Sunday Activities for children and translated by Samuel Babin.