Sunday FUN day - Family Night Idea (she: Adelle)

Family Night is a family activity that can be held once a week. Set aside one night when your family can all be together. Teach your children important values and how to be better family members, people, citizens, friends, and neighbors. The dedicated time together is the most important thing. Once a month, I will share a Family Night lesson on the blog to help get your creativity rolling and to inspire us all to try a little harder to be a little better.

Hi everyone, it’s Adelle again and I am so excited to share my Family Night Lesson about Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy with you all. This topic has been a big focus for my Church recently and I know it is a valuable standard for everyone to uphold. Sunday isn’t just a day full of strict rules and boring meetings, it can be a FUN day too. I hope you enjoy sharing this information with your family and that you can see the blessings that come from making Sunday a special day at your house.

Making Sunday a Fun Day

Lesson

Before you begin, print out the lesson activity printable at the end of this article. Cut the grey circles out and stick them onto the colored circles on the Sunday calendar. You will use the visual aid towards the end of the discussion.

Start the conversation with your family by pulling out a calendar. If you have a family calendar with schedules and events on it, use that as an example. Show your children how there are seven days that make up a week. Six days of the week are similar and one is different. Tell them that tonight we are talking about what makes Sunday, the Sabbath Day, special.

When the Lord created the Earth he worked hard for six days. During each day of the Creation, new and wonderful things were added to the world. On the Seventh Day, however, the Lord rested from his labors and enjoyed the goodness of what He had created.

Read from the Bible, Exodus 20: 8-11

In those verses of scripture we learn that the Lord blessed the Sabbath Day. He made it different from the other days of the week.

Ask these Questions: What kinds of things do we do during the week that we consider work? What are our hobbies? What do we do for fun?

You can refer to your family calendar for ideas, or just talk about your weekly routine.

Possible Answers:

Dad goes to work at his job.
Mom does laundry.
Kids go to school and do homework.
We go to soccer practice and to dance classes.
We mow the lawn and weed the garden.
We go shopping for food and other items.
Dad goes to the gym.
Mom takes the kids to the pool.

Make a big list of all the things your family does during the week. It is important to point out that these activities are all good things when done Monday through Saturday. They make us happy. We need food and we need money from our jobs. It is good to practice our hobbies and to learn and grow from school.

However, Sunday is a special day. It is different. The Lord made it that way. The things that we do during the week need to be put aside for other more spiritual activities on the Sabbath. We need to CUT those things out of our day to make it holy. If we remove our regular activities from our Sunday routine, it makes room for the things the Lord wants us to do on his special day.

Pull out your visual aid.

Read the items listed on each grey circle. Talk about why they are not appropriate things to do on on the Sabbath. After each item is read, pull the circle off of the page. Removing the circle will “make room” for a more appropriate Sunday activity. Continue the discussion until all of the grey circles are removed and the Sabbath Day is full of colorful good things. It is important to point out that the Sunday friendly activities are still enjoyable. They bring us joy and satisfaction. They build character and allow us to become better people. It’s not just boring stuff on the list! Sunday can a be fun day.

Ask the Question: What types of things do you enjoy doing on Sunday?

I don’t like Sunday to feel like a day where we can’t do anything. Sure, there are plenty of things we aren’t supposed to do on the Sabbath. But, it is better to focus on all of the good things we CAN do.

Make a few simple goals as a family to make your own personal Sabbath Day more holy. You could start some new Sunday traditions. Recently, my family made the goal to put together a Top Ten List of things that happened during the past week that we are grateful for. It is a fun way to focus on all of the good things that we experience individually and as a family. We always end up laughing about something that we did that week. We spend time talking about a really cool experience we had as a family or one of the kids gets to shine when we talk about a good thing they accomplished that week. My kids remind me each Sunday that it is time to make our list! I hang the Top Ten List on our fridge when it is complete. During the week, we are reminded of all our blessings and it helps us to remember to watch for the good things that happen. I feel like this practice was a perfect addition to our Sabbath Day observance and my kids love putting our gratitude list together each week.

Activity:

Make a Top Ten List with your family.

Talk about all of the things you did in the past week that were amazing, fun, rewarding, or exciting. Let everyone participate in the discussion. Hang the list where it is visible. Set a goal to do this every Sunday as a family, or make a new tradition that works for your own circumstances.

Treat:

Sunday is a special day! Make Ice Cream Sundaes to help your family remember that the more good things you add to your Sunday, the better it is! Add lots of good toppings to the ice cream. As each tasty topping is placed on the ice cream, give it a name. For example, the chocolate syrup is going to church, the sprinkles are reading in the scriptures, the whipped cream is playing a board game as a family, and the cherry on top is writing a letter to your grandparents. The more effort you put into adding good things to your Sunday, the sweeter it will become. The same is true for your sundae.

Conclusion:

End the lesson with the scripture from Leviticus 26:2-12. These verses outline all of the marvelous blessings that the Lord promises to those who observe the Sabbath Day. We truly are blessed for observing the Lord’s special day and keeping it Holy.

You can print the files below to make your Sunday Fun Day Lesson Visual Aid. To do so, right-click the image and save to your desktop. From there you can print each page for your lesson.

Would you like more Family Night ideas? Then here ya go!