Building Zion at Home: A 5-Day Hands-On Family Lesson About Sacrifice, Obedience & Trust

Every Sunday evening, I love curling up with my scriptures, a notebook, and a single question that shapes our family’s gospel rhythm:

“How can I help my kids feel the gospel this week — not just hear it?”

Whether we’re studying the early Saints in Missouri, the story of Abraham and Isaac, or the Savior’s teachings on giving, one truth keeps resurfacing:

🌿 Building Zion always begins at home.

This 5-day, hands-on family lesson helps kids see what it means to build Zion — through stories, creativity, and small, doable acts of service.

It’s based on principles from Doctrine & Covenants 115–120, but it works beautifully anytime you want to teach about sacrifice, obedience, and trusting God.

🌿 Overarching Theme:

Sacrifice, Obedience, & Trust in Building Zion

Zion isn’t just a city — it’s a way of living.
It’s built every time we:

Share what we have
Follow God even when it’s hard
Choose peace, love, and trust over fear

These five days are meant to weave those truths into the rhythm of your home — not through lectures, but through laughter, art, and action.

🌤 Day 1: What We Give to Build Zion

Focus: Predicting + Sorting

Start by reading a story about giving, like The Quiltmaker’s Gift or Have You Filled a Bucket Today?
Before you open it, ask:

“What do you think happens when someone gives something away?”

After the story, make a Sacrifice Sort activity.
Cut out cards with simple acts like sharing toys, saying kind words, helping someone, giving time, donating food, etc.
Sort them into two groups:
🧺 Easy to Give and ❤️ Hard to Give.

Talk about how every act of giving — big or small — helps build Zion.

💡 Extension idea: Tape a big “Service Tree” to the wall. Each time someone gives or helps, add a leaf with their name. Watch your Zion tree grow all week!

Day 2: T Is for Tithing

Focus: Letter + Number Sense

Introduce the letter T — for Tithing, Trust, and Thankful.
Give your child 10 small objects (beans, pom poms, or coins).
Have them count out one to “give back” to Heavenly Father and talk about what tithing teaches us about trust.

Then, make a “T is for Tithing” craft:
Cut out a big paper T, decorate it with stickers or tissue paper squares, and add the caption underneath.

💬 Conversation starter: “What are some other ways we can ‘give back’ to Heavenly Father besides money?”

🌧 Day 3: Measuring Our Trust

Focus: Predicting + Measuring

Gather three jars and fill them with different amounts of water. Ask, “What happens when we pour some out to help someone else?”
Let your kids measure and compare which is “more,” “less,” and “enough.”

Then, talk about how God refills what we give — not always with things, but with peace, comfort, and blessings we can’t measure.

Finish by planting bean seeds in clear cups. Predict which one will grow fastest.
Throughout the week, measure and record the growth — a visual reminder that when we trust God, growth happens even when we can’t see it yet.

🌱 Scripture tie-in: “Prove me now herewith… if I will not open you the windows of heaven.” — Malachi 3:10

🚶‍♀️ Day 4: Enduring the Journey

Focus: Letters + Numbers

Read a story about perseverance — like Brave Irene, The Little Engine That Could, or a children’s account of Zion’s Camp.

Then create a Zion Trail Game on your floor:
Write the numbers 1–20 on paper squares and tape them in a winding path.
On a few squares, write “service stops” such as:

Give a compliment
Say a prayer
Help someone clean
Share your toy

Roll a die, count the spaces aloud, and complete the challenge where you land.
Each step becomes a reminder that Zion is built by walking in small acts of love and obedience.

🏠 Day 5: Zion Built on Sacrifice

Focus: Recall + Shapes

Re-read your favorite story from the week and have your child retell it using beginning, middle, end.

Then build a “Zion City” out of blocks or paper shapes.
Assign meanings to each shape:

❤️ Hearts = Love
🔷 Squares = Obedience
🔺 Triangles = Sacrifice
⚪ Circles = Trust

As you build, talk about how those qualities make families and communities strong.

End by creating a Sacrifice Jar.
Each time someone gives, serves, or shows faith, they drop in a paper heart.
At the end of the week, count how full your jar of love has become.

💛 Why This Matters

The Lord doesn’t ask for sacrifice to make us smaller — He asks for it to make us stronger.

When our kids see us give, share, and trust, they begin to understand what Zion really is:
a people who love God and each other more than comfort or convenience.

This isn’t just a 5-day activity. It’s a rhythm we can repeat anytime we want to refocus our home on what matters most.

Because Zion isn’t somewhere we’ll move to someday.
It’s something we’re becoming — one small act of faith at a time.