Late summer often brings a natural return to routine, with families settling back into school schedules, regular Sundays, and more predictable rhythms at home. It can also be a good time to think about the spiritual habits and priorities we want to make more visible in family life.
For some children, the temple is still a place they are learning about and looking forward to entering, while many youth are already attending to participate in baptisms and confirmations for the dead. Whether the temple is a future goal or already part of their worship, simple traditions, meaningful reminders, and opportunities for reflection can help children and youth develop a deeper personal connection to the house of the Lord.
Make the Temple Part of the Home
Temple artwork gives children and youth something tangible to associate with family stories, personal experiences, and spiritual goals. A personalized temple print featuring a temple that holds special meaning to your family can prompt conversations about a sealing, a memorable temple trip, family history, or experiences youth have already had inside the temple.
Smaller temple posters can serve a similar purpose in a bedroom, study area, or another frequently used space. Seeing the temple regularly reinforces that temple worship belongs in everyday discipleship, whether a child is looking forward to a first visit or a teenager is trying to make regular attendance a priority.
Give Younger Children Ways to Participate
For younger children, hands-on activities can make conversations about the temple more familiar and engaging. Temple coloring pages provide an easy opportunity to notice different temples, talk about what makes them sacred, and discuss the experiences family members have had there.
Temple-shaped cookie cutters offer another simple way to connect the temple with family traditions and positive memories. Baking and decorating temple cookies could accompany a family home evening lesson, a visit to temple grounds, a baptism celebration, or even a family temple trip that includes older siblings attending inside.
Create Everyday Reminders
Small temple-themed items can give children and youth a reminder of something that already matters to them or a goal they are working toward. A Latter-day Saint necklace featuring a temple symbol might be especially meaningful around baptism, a transition into Young Women, a first temple visit, or another time when covenants and temple worship are becoming more personal.
Keychains offer another everyday reminder that can go on backpacks, scripture bags, temple bags, or keys. Designs featuring a favorite temple can connect that reminder to a place a child hopes to visit, a temple a teenager regularly attends, or one associated with an important family experience.
Mark Experiences That Matter
Temple experiences often become more meaningful when youth have a way to remember them. A temple-themed pin personalized with a particular temple and date could commemorate a first time performing baptisms for the dead, a special family temple trip, a sealing, or another significant experience connected with the temple.
Not every temple visit needs a keepsake, and the object itself is never the point. But occasionally marking an important experience can help a child or teenager remember what happened, how they felt, and why they want temple worship to remain part of their life.
Encourage Reflection
A temple journal gives older children and youth a place to record spiritual impressions, questions, goals, and experiences connected with worship. A personalized journal featuring a meaningful temple could be used after temple visits, during scripture study, while working on family history, or simply whenever they want to record something they do not want to forget.
For youth already attending the temple, journaling can help them move beyond simply completing a trip and think more deeply about what they are learning and feeling there. For younger children, beginning the habit of recording spiritual experiences can establish a pattern that grows with them as their understanding of covenants and temple worship deepens.
Make Temple Attendance Feel Personal
For youth who already hold a limited-use temple recommend, a recommend holder is more than preparation for something far in the future. It holds something they currently use to enter the temple and participate in sacred ordinances on behalf of those who have died.
Having a dedicated place for a recommend can also reinforce the responsibility and privilege connected with being worthy to enter the temple. As youth grow, that same sense of belonging can continue as they prepare for additional temple covenants and a lifetime of worship in the house of the Lord.
Keep the Focus on Connection
Helping children feel connected to the temple looks different at different ages. One child may be coloring a picture and asking what happens inside, while an older sibling may be returning home from a temple trip with impressions and experiences of their own.
Families do not need elaborate activities or constant formal lessons to make the temple meaningful. Familiar images, family traditions, personal reminders, honest conversations, and actual opportunities to worship can help children and youth see the temple not simply as somewhere they will go someday, but as an important part of their relationship with Jesus Christ throughout their lives.
What has helped your kids feel more connected to the temple? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Holly Wallace is a writer and storyteller drawn to meaningful questions and overlooked details. Her work explores Latter-day Saint life and culture through faithful inquiry, inviting readers to pause, consider, and engage more deeply with what matters most.
