Here is a list of wholesome family activities I created for a family conference. Some of the activities are specific to my religion and my community in Utah, but there are many that would work no matter where you live!
- Read a wholesome magazine (like a church magazine) from cover-to-cover
- Prepare future talks or lessons for church meetings
- Prepare Family Home Evening lessons
- Visit those you know who are in the hospital
- Enroll in an institute or self-improvement class
- Find someone who needs a ride to meetings, errands, or appointments
- Visit someone who is unable to leave their residence
- Have family scripture study
- Take a tour of the buildings on Temple Square
- Visit a church heritage site, such as “This is the Place”
- Go window shopping with a family member
- Give time to a nursing home or to others who may need help reading letters from loved ones or writing them
- Re-visit families on your Home and Visiting teaching routes that may need to be visited
- Utilize time together in the car or at dinner to talk about things that are important to a family member
- Teach someone something you learned this week
- Discuss what you learned in school or at church
- Check out multi-media resources from the public or church library
- Listen to scripture audio recordings or view scripture-related videos
- Visit websites that are uplifting and edifying
- Learn some words from a foreign language
- Start a family book club, where everyone in the family reads the same book during a month and then discusses it one night
- Watch an educational or inspirational television program
- Read a scripture story book to a child
- Pair up with a different family member to accomplish some activity
- Fix an unusual or creative meal for the family
- Learn how to read, interpret, or lead music
- Prepare stories about your family members to tell them
- Tell younger people about the funny thing you did when you were their age
- Have grandma or grandpa tell stories about themselves or the lives of other relatives
- Decorate special jars for tithing and mission funds
- Take a nature walk as a family and discuss the wonders of nature
- Make a list of all your blessings
- Invite distant relatives for a visit or go visit them
- Decorate a “Things to Do as a Family” box and fill it with ideas
- Plan and rehearse a family musical recital then perform it at a nursing home or a children’s hospital
- Make shadow portraits or silhouettes of family members or famous people from history
- Make phone calls, write letters, or send emails to special friends and loved ones to let them know you’re thinking of them
- Prepare home or visiting teaching messages for the month
- Set goals for Church programs (Faith in God, Personal Progress, Duty to God, etc.) and chart your success each week
- Compose an original song expressing a lovely thought or deed
- Develop greater love and appreciation for music by listening to great works
- As a family, create a family banner (with a slogan, crest, or logo) and unfurl it during family home evenings or other special family occasions
- Learn a skill such as knitting or crocheting and make a gift for a friend
- Customize copies of the Book of Mormon for the missionaries to give out by marking important scriptures and adding your personal testimony
- Produce a puppet show
- Dramatize events from history (religious or secular), including simple props and costumes
- Form a rhythm band with homemade instruments
- Take turns role playing and acting out stories
- Have each family member make a personal scrap book Include pictures, important letters, certificates, and other meaningful papers
- Write a story with a good moral to it, then illustrate it or turn it into an audio recording with sound effects and music
- Make a video journal
- Write a simple blog with weekly or daily entries
- Write down your testimony or record it for your posterity
- Compose some uplifting poetry
- Hand-write letters, thank-you cards, get-well notes, and other “thinking-of-you” notes
- Sculpt something out of salt dough or clay
- Read some pages out of Preach My Gospel
- Make puzzles from pictures in old magazines
- Clip and file favorite articles or recipes from publications for future reference
- Create visual aids for lessons and talks by removing pictures from old church magazines and mounting them
- Remember the birthdays of your friends, neighbors, colleagues, leaders, class members, and family members
- Make a scroll story with butcher paper and two sticks
- Plan a family service project Ask your church or community leaders for ideas
- Invent a Church-related game or play one you may already have
- Learn about a significant event or person from history and teach your family about it
- Identify a personal hero or role-model from history
- Become more involved in your local politics
- Volunteer at a local charity, food bank, or homeless shelter
- Walk around the neighborhood and pick up trash or sweep sidewalks
- Have a free carwash for your neighbors
- Learn about a different religion and read some of their scriptures
- Identify someone who can mentor you in acquiring a new skill or virtue
- Study local, world, or national history and politics
- Create dot-to-dot pictures of objects or draw mazes for other family members to complete
- Memorize scriptures, hymns, proverbs, stories, factoids, wholesome jokes, or poems
- Read a good play as a family and have each member assume one or more parts
- Have a story swap Each member of the family must have a story of courage or valor to swap about a relative, leader, or famous person
- Listen to or watch recordings of General Conference
- Practice playing or singing hymns
- Look at books containing great works of art Discuss each painting
- Perform a secret act of kindness for a family member
- Do someone else’s household chores
- Set a goal to do something that is missionary-oriented
- Go to the temple this week
- Invite a family or an individual to participate with your family in an activity
- Attend a sporting event or competition
- Try to make a family member laugh
- Have personal family interviews
- Contribute to a family newsletter to send to friends and relatives
- Write a giant letter to a missionary (each person writes his letter on the same large piece of butcher paper)
- Plan a family outing, picnic, camp out, vacation, or holiday
- Make a photo album for each family member Include pictures of themselves at different ages, other family members, and special events
- Take a few minutes to plan next week’s activities and make assignments
- Search the house and garage for items to donate to a local charity
- Take notes from meetings and events for people who are unable to attend
- Practice your pondering skills as a family by sitting quietly together for a short period of time while listening to quiet music
- Have a family Olympics in the backyard or at a local park
- Find a white board or chalk board and play Hang Man or Word Scrambles
- Hold a family Spelling Bee or Knowledge Bowl
- Make a list of your talents and interests
- Write a note to a family member telling them why you love them
- Play games to memorize the names and faces of church leaders, past and present
- Appoint yourself to the unofficial Neighborhood Welcoming Committee
- Have an object lesson contest in your family Pick one or two items around the house—any simple tool or item—and have everyone come up with story about how that item can illustrate a principle or a characteristic
- Memorize a scripture
- Write a short three-to-five minute talk, deliver it to your family, and file it away for future reference
- Visit the zoo
- Find out about your area’s community center and/or park activities
- Wash your dog or a neighbor’s dog
- Have a family slumber party
- Act in a community play
- Join a community or church choir
- Go to an outdoor festival or performance
- Attend a rehearsal or a performance of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
- Build a fort out of large appliance boxes, sheets, and pillows
- Look through the family photo album
- Research your family history
- Do some research at a Family History library
- Play stickball
- Play kickball
- Play volleyball
- Play tennis
- Play racquetball
- Play hopscotch
- Play board games
- Have a leg or arm wrestling competition
- Pull sticks
- Go on a scavenger hunt or go geo-caching
- Rake leaves for a neighbor
- Shovel snow for a neighbor
- Pull weeds for a neighbor
- Clean the house together
- Fly kites
- Go on a family trip/historical excursion
- Go sledding or build a snowman
- Make a collage out of pictures from old magazines
- Set up a lemonade stand on a warm day
- Shoot hoops together Play HORSE
- Draw pictures of members of your family
- Tell stories around a campfire or barbecue grill
- Organize a game of capture the flag
- Go to the theatre and watch a play
- Make miniature boats and float them in some water
- Write letters to grandparents or a missionary
- Have a paper airplane design contest
- Play freeze-tag
- Tell scary stories with the lights out
- Play broom ball
- Go for a hike
- Go for a bike ride together
- Go get an ice cream cone and walk around a park
- Learn to play the ukulele or harmonica together
- Listen to classical music, lights off, lying on the floor, and take turns saying what it sounds like
- Attend community concerts or listen to a local band
- Organize a community clean-up
- Walk around a college campus and talk about what you can learn there
- Visit the library
- Attend a story-telling festival
- Go ice skating or roller skating/blading
- Paint a picture, a mural, or a room
- Learn how to use a compass
- Organize emergency 72-hour kits
- Plant a tree or some flowers
- Learn the metric system
- Fix a broken appliance
- Learn sign language
- Learn Morse code
- Go swimming
- Go bird watching
- Walk your dog or a neighbor’s dog
- Visit the countryside
- Visit the city via bus or train
- Pick berries/fruit together
- Bake cookies, muffins, or bread
- Make homemade jam
- Build a sculpture out of sugar cubes, popsicle sticks, or paper clips and straws
- Take treats to neighbors or friends
- Plant a garden
- Join a choir
- Start a family journal
- Go to a museum
- Go to an expo or exhibition show at a convention center
- Learn how to use an appropriate weapon
- Take a self-defense class
- Play wholesome (non-gambling) card games
- Learn how to hem a pair of pants and sew on a button
- Start an exercise group
- Sing in the car
- Have a family video game tournament night
- Go miniature golfing
- Visit a local bookstore
- Teach someone how to ride a bike or drive a car
- Make crafts together Give them away
- Make Christmas ornaments together
- Write a story together
- Put a sleeping bag out in the back yard and watch the night sky through binoculars
- Go fishing
- Play touch football
- Have a culture night by making a meal and learning about another culture
- Take photographs
- Have a cupcake decorating contest
- Make a video
- Invite friends over and cook foreign food
- Do yard work together
- Play Frisbee or Ultimate Frisbee
- Make your own greeting cards for the holidays or birthdays
- Play chess, bridge, or checkers
- Go camping
- Go for a long walk
- Play charades
- Do a rain dance
- Go around the table after dinner and have everyone say what they love best about each other
- Go dancing, have a family dance, or take a dance class together
- Climb a tree
- Go to the gym as a family
- Watch the sunset or sunrise
- Have a big party and celebrate a TV free week
- Have a picnic (If it’s raining, have a picnic in the family room on a blanket)
- Invite someone you don’t know really well over for a barbecue
- Visit a planetarium
- Memorize the Articles of Faith
- Memorize a favorite hymn
- Learn how to fold the national flag Have a patriotic night Have a flag ceremony
- Visit an elderly person or someone who is shut-in
- Have a first-aid night
- Learn what to do if you are lost
- Draw a comic strip
- Make homemade candy
- Have a budgeting class and save for a family trip
- Have a family member teach you about their hobbies or interests
- Learn how to build a fire and cook hot dogs
- Have an etiquette and manners night then practice your skills over a formal dinner
- Talk about drug and alcohol use
- Have a friend come and discuss good nutrition and health practices (because kids don’t listen to parents)
- Learn basic home repairs
- Prepare a family group sheet/four generation pedigree chart
- Interview an older family member and record their recollections
- Start a family collection of books, leaves, music, coins, rocks, shells, stories, clothes, treasures, etc.
- Have a family testimony meeting
- Eat a meal under the kitchen table
- Take a road trip and visit a state or national park
- Have a bubble gum blowing contest
- Blow soap bubbles outside with different blowing instruments
- Have a baking or cooking contest
- Adopt a grandma or grandpa from the neighborhood
- Watch an old black and white classic movie together
- Make a family goal chart
- Learn to play golf together
- Make a family cook book
- Solve a puzzle together (crossword, word search, or jigsaw)