SABBATH Activity: Post-and-Present “Keeping the Sabbath Holy” Sunny Sunday Activities – for Come Follow Me Primary and Home (family home evening)

POST-AND-PRESENT. SUNNY SUNDAY OR GLOOMY GLUM-DAY weather forecasting. Youth identify activities that make the sabbath a happy or sad day (determining the spiritual atmosphere). Asking, “Does the activity help me: Think of Jesus, Show reverence, Learn the gospel, Spend time with family, or Rest?”

USE FOR COME FOLLOW ME, Primary and Home lessons, Family Home Evening, Young Women, Children & Youth Goals, Sunday School, Bible Study

LESSON LIFESAVERS
POST-AND-PRESENT Activity
Keeping the Sabbath Holy
(Sunny Sunday Activities)

OBJECTIVE: Help youth understand which activities will help them keep the gospel standard “I will do the things on the Sabbath that will help me feel close to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ” (“My Gospel Standards”). Ideas: Exodus 20:8; D&C 59:9-14; “Sabbath,” True to the Faith, 145-147.

TO MAKE VISUALS:

Copy, color, and cut out the Sunny Sunday sun (yellow), Gloomy Glum-Day circle (blue), Gospel Standard banner, sun rays, clouds, and word-strips. Laminate them and cut them out. Laminate a mounting poster. Mount sun, circle, and sign on the poster as shown. Note: Do not tape or glue sun sides to the poster to leave an opening where sun rays can be inserted (see Activity 1: Forecasting the Weather [step #4] that follows).

ACTIVITY 1—Forecasting the Weather:

1. Tell youth that Sunday can be a Sunny Sunday filled with activities that help you feel close to Heavenly Father and Jesus, or it can be a Gloomy Glum-Day if you do activities that are not appropriate for the Sabbath. These activities are okay on other days, but Sunday is a special day. On Sunday, Heavenly Father wants us to rest from our labors, avoid making others work, spend time with our family, attend our Church meetings, and do things that will help us keep the gospel standard (have children repeat) “I will do the things on the Sabbath that will help me feel close to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.”

2. Place a sun-ray on the sun and say, “Let’s find activities that will brighten our sun, making the Sabbath a Sunny Sunday.” Place a cloud on the circle and say, “Let’s identify activities that might make us sad for not keeping the Sabbath day, making it a Gloomy Glum-Day.”

3. Tell youth, counting on your fingers, “There are five questions we can ask to know if the activity will help us have a Sunny Sunday. Does it help me: (1) think of Jesus, (2) show reverence/be reverent, (3) learn the gospel, (4) spend time with family, or (5) rest?”

4. Have youth help you determine what their spiritual weather would be like on Sunday by the actions they choose. Have them come up one at a time, choose a word-strip, and read it aloud. Then have youth choose a sun-ray if the activity is a Sunny Sunday activity, and place the ray behind the sun (as shown). Or if it is a Gloomy Glum-Day activity, have children place the cloud on or around the circle (as shown).

ACTIVITY 2—Sunny Side-Up Voting: Read word-strip/activities again and have children vote on activities. Have all children vote or have individual classes come up and vote as follows:

Option 1—With a thumbs–up if it is a Sunny Sunday activity and with a thumbs down if it is a Gloomy Glum-Day activity.

Option 2—Say “warm” for Sunny Sunday or “cold” for Gloomy Glum-Day activities.

Option 3—Smile for Sunny Sunday or frown for Gloomy Glum-Day activities.

THOUGHT TREAT: Going Soup and/or Crackers. Have a bunch of different type crackers to choose from and munch on as you talk about your favorite Sabbath Day activities that help you remember Jesus. 
     FROWN TO SMILE SOUP. Have family choose different soups and vegetables from a can that you can put together in a pot to warm and eat as you talk about favorite Sabbath activities. Only this time talk about activities on the Sabbath that might make it a Gloomy Glum day and what you can do to turn them around to Sunny Sunday activities, e.g. plan ahead and get work done on Saturday to prepare for Sunday, etc.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE this Sunny Sunday Sack children can place activities/handouts in the pocket to show-and-tell what they learned, then store them in the sack