This post has been sponsored by the “Z” is for Zion app, LDS Temple Cards, and My Li’l Pumpkin Patch Etsy Shop. I was compensated for this post, but all opinions are my own. These are all amazing products and I know you’ll love them too!
I love Sundays. It’s a day to rest and rejuvenate. It’s a day to worship, do family history work, and plan for the week. But Sundays can be hard for kids. So hard. After three hours of church we come home and expect them to do quiet activities and not run around. My kids really struggle with this. And I know it was hard for me as a kid too. But, I want my kids to learn to enjoy Sundays, so I have some great Sunday activities for you that I know your kids will love. And hopefully they’ll start to look forward to Sundays too.
Sunday Activities for LDS Families
“Z” is for Zion App
“Z” is for Zion is an LDS ABC book app that is fun for your kids to look through on their favorite device. It has fun bright colors and it’s simple to use which is perfect for little kids. I must admit, sometimes I give my kids the iPad at church when they are starting to go a little stir crazy, but I want them to be looking at something that’s church related and not playing Daniel Tiger – which is good, but not what I want them to be doing at church. Or the game Goat. Do your kids play that? My kids love it. Definitely not what I want them to be playing at church.
Those last 10 minutes can get a little crazy when they’re done with the coloring books, quiet books, snacks, and lacing cards. “Z” is for Zion is the perfect app because kids can look at pictures related to the gospel. And for those who can read, the terms are also defined. And if your kids can’t read, it’s a great thing to read to them after church and can allow for a discussion about church topics. Before you know it, your kids will be identifying missionaries, temples, and prophets and you can start to talk to them about the Atonement, uplifting music, and the sacrament.
So use this app in church or at home to fill your Sunday with gospel topics. You can download the app on iTunes here or on Google Play here.
Temple Cards
These are so fun! You can get a set of pictures of all the dedicated LDS temples in the United States – which is now 150! These cards have beautiful photographs on the front and tell interesting facts on the back. My girls love looking through the pictures at all the beautiful temples. We look at the temples we’ve been to and they like to pick out the ones they think are the most beautiful. This allows for great discussions about the temple – when they get to go, what they can do there, that families can be together forever, and that they can get married there.
My girls have already picked out the temples they want to get married in. Kami, my 5 year old, would like to get married in the Laie Hawaii Temple. I guess we need to start saving for a destination wedding! And Chloe, my 4 year old, said she would like to get married in the Salt Lake City Temple. That one is a little more probable, haha!
We show them the temple Alan and I were married in (Bountiful) and the temple their grandparents were each married in (Logan and Los Angeles). The temples are so important to me and I love that they are beginning to love them too. Especially now we are so far from our nearest temple and we don’t see them everywhere like we used to when we lived in Utah. You can find these beautiful cards at the LDS Temple Cards website.
Illustrated Scripture Stories
These super cute story illustrations were created by Stephanie, a mom with young kids. She wanted to tell her children the stories in the scriptures. And as I’m sure you’ve noticed, children are such visual learners. She designed pictures to go with 10 scripture stories. You can have your children hold them as you tell the story and even have them use the pictures to tell the story back to you!
You can use these stories for Family Home Evening, talks in church, or Sunday afternoons. And you guys, she is so organized, I love it. She labels every picture so you can keep the right pictures together, a tab for a manilla folder, instructions, and an info sheet so you know what’s included and the story references.
The illustrations are so cute and I love that she created both Book of Mormon and Bible stories to share. This is such a great teaching tool. You can find these scripture stories at the My Li’l Pumpkin Patch Etsy Shop.
And Stephanie is giving my readers a discount of 25% off your entire purchase! Just use the promo code Learn25.
Family Videos
I loved watching family videos as a kid. Who doesn’t love seeing themselves when they were smaller? And we all have those favorite videos right? One of my favorites is on my birthday (I think I was 7), my dad is asking me about my birthday party. Then out of the corner, my sister’s head comes flying across the screen and she totally head butts me out of the shot! Needless to say, she didn’t like when the spotlight was on other people. Haha!
My kids love watching videos of themselves too and it’s even easier to pull up our videos on our laptops and phones to watch. Have your kids watch some family videos as good Sunday activities.
Bible Videos
LDS.org has great Bible videos and they recently came out with Bible stories told by kids. My kids are so much more interested if they watch other kids. Definitely check them out, they’re very well done.
Write Missionaries
If you know someone one a mission, have your kids write them a letter or draw them pictures. Alan has had 3 younger siblings serve missions since we’ve been married and it’s been fun to get the kids involved in sending them letters. If you don’t know anyone on a mission, you can always write thank you cards to the missionaries currently serving in your ward. They would love it!
Nature Walks
We are very blessed to have amazing nature trails near us. It’s so nice to walk there during the warmer months and see all the beautiful trees and flowers. We often see little critters as well. It’s a great way to get the kids out of the house and get some energy out without going too crazy.
Bake
I love baking. And I love baked goods, so it works out well. Well maybe not for my waistline, but it does for my sweet tooth! My kids love helping me in the kitchen. Pull out the cookbooks or those pins from Pinterest you’ve been eyeing and get baking with the kids. You can eat your treats, save them for family night, or give them to neighbors or ward members.
Family History
I am loving family history work. It was not enjoyable for me as a kid, but now I can’t get enough of it. My mom is a convert so we have lots of work to do which is fun for me. My husband’s side of the family is pretty much done. He has pioneers on both sides of the family and have been in the church forever. But with that comes great stories. Tell your kids these stories! Help them know their ancestors. Older kids can also index or help create their own family history keeping by writing journals or putting together picture journals.
Read the Friend
The Friend magazine that the church creates is so great. We get ours mailed to us each month and my kids love doing the activities inside since they can’t read yet and they love when I read them the stories.
Well here are 10 ideas for Sunday activities for LDS families. I hope you find some that interest you.
Activity Stations
When my husband was a kid at home, my mother-in-law had activity stations (centers if you majored in education 😉 ) and she would have the kids rotate from activity to activity so each kid was at one station at a time. So if you want to get crazy organized, that’s another way to do activities to help prevent kids from fighting – keep them separate.
No, Sundays won’t always be perfect and they won’t be quite the same as when you were single and you didn’t have kids needing your attention all day long…but you can still make them great and rejuvenating with these great Sunday activities.