Helping young kids stay reverent during church is
Believe me. I have been through many sacrament meetings where I end up with kids climbing all over me, cheesy cracker crumbs on my skirt, and fruit snacks stuck in my hair. Ewww.
Today I want to share some tips I have learned over the years to help sacrament meeting go a little smoother. I have a 9, 5, and 2
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Tips For Building a Church Bag Your Kids will Love
- Create a church bag with items you think will entertain your kids. You know your kids best.
- ONLY use this bag on Sunday. Keep it out of sight for the rest of the week.
- Only bring a few items in the bag each Sunday. A good rule to follow is the number of kids you have plus 1 item.
- Each Sunday rotate the items you bring.
- Keep all the “church items” in a bin where kids can’t reach them. This makes it
convient to grab a few items on Sunday morning. - I try not to let my kids get anything out of the bag until after the sacrament (bread and water) is over. The longer they can go without digging into the bag the better.
Quiet Toys and Gadgets We Love for During Church
1. Magnets
Age: Good for all ages – Keeping in mind that there are small pieces
I have purchased a few different magnet sets over this last year and this one is our favorite! They are high-quality magnets and it comes 100 pieces so more than one child can play with them at once.
My kids especially love these when we sit in the overflow area on the metal chairs. Although heads up they can be a little loud if you’re sitting on the metal folding chairs! 😉
2. Sewing Animals
Age: All ages (see why below)
These are fun to keep little fingers busy! My younger kids use the string to lace around the animals. They also lace multiple animals together or tie the string in a billion knots.
My 9 year old likes to use the string alone to play cats cradle.
Related: A Quick Way to Make Your Kids Feel Loved
3. Boogie Board
Age: All Ages
A Boogie Board is like an updated Magna Doodle. (Remember those!?) You can draw on it with your finger or the pen. When you are done drawing you click the button to erase the screen. It runs on a small battery. After 1+ year of owning this, we haven’t had to change the battery.
My younger kids scribble and draw on our Boogie Board.
Sophie, my oldest uses it to write notes to me. Things like “What’s for Dinner?” and “Are we going to Grandma’s house today?”
4. Water Timer
Age: All
This is just a fun little gadget to play with and hold. It’s mezmorizing to just watch the bubbles float around.
Coloring and Activity Books My Kids Love for Church
5. Paint By Sticker
Age: You NEED to be able to read and match numbers. My 5-year-old does fine with the “Kids” versions. There are also harder adult versions. Pay attention to the title of the book.
These books are SO fun! My kids love them! Similar to “paint by numbers” but you use stickers.
6. Church Coloring Books
These are super cute and interactive coloring book made by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. AND they are only $1.25. These are currently the different books avaliable:
- Book of Mormon
- Family History
- New Testament
- Pearl of Great Price
- Doctrine and Covenants
- Gathering The Family
Related: The Reward Charts I Use for Every Parenting Challenge
7. Color Wonder
Age: All but particularly for littles age 1-4.
These coloring books are genius! The markers can’t color on anything but the special paper in the coloring book. So you don’t have to worry about kids drawing places they shouldn’t be! Halleluja!
8. Free Church Coloring Pages
Age: All
On the Church website, you can download a TON of free coloring pages. They are categorized by topic. There
9. I Spy Printables – All Holidays
Age: 4-7
I designed these I Spy Printables for Lil Luna and there is one for each holiday! I like to print them off and slide them into a plastic sheet protector. Then I let my kids “spy” them using a dry erase marker!
10. Seek and Find Books
Who remembers “Where’s Waldo?” from when they were a kid?
These are super fun books for kids! And with a ton of different character variations, I’m confident you’ll be able to find one the will keep your kids quiet!
- My First Search and Find – Animal Friends (for younger kids)
- Big Book of Search and Find (Older kids that can read)
- Disney Search and Find Books (Moana, Avengers, Paw Patrol, Princesses, Toy Story, etc…)
11. The Friend Magazine
Age: All 3 of my kids (9, 5, and 3) love this!
The Friend magazine usually has stories, coloring pages, puzzles, etc…
12. Colorly Love Church Printables
Colorly Love is a digital subscription. Each month you get a bunch of cute coloring and activity pages. They seems to always been
Well, there you have it. Our tried and true list of church activities.
Bottom Line: A few minutes of planning and rotating church bag items can get you little more reverence during sacrament meeting.
I don’t usually bring my 3 year old because I can’t get him to keep still or quiet for very long and I sing with the choir. I would really love to start bringing him but haven’t figured out what to bring to keep him quiet long enough so I’m grateful for this post!
I’m a Catholic so I’m not familiar with the term “sacrament meeting.” How far into the service is communion in a sacrament meeting, just so I know what a good benchmark for the waiting period is? For us, it’s near the end of mass, close to 45 minutes in.
Yes, I have a 3-year-old so I know how you feel! It can be so hard!
I am Christian, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. So when we go to church on Sunday we meet all together as a congregation and have a 1-hour meeting called Sacrament Meeting. This is where I use the quiet activities for my kiddos :) Then after that 1 hour we split up and the kids go to a class where they sing and have a short lesson, this meeting is called Primary. And the adults go to a meeting together. Right now we are studying Paul in the New Testament.