A couple of weeks ago our family sat down together on Friday to watch this program about the different biblically determined categories of work that are prohibited on Shabbos (Sabbath).  I thought it was valuable to visually demonstrate what each category is; understanding what these categories are helps a child grasp how anything related to that category would be considered working and forbidden on Shabbos. 

In general, I think it’s important that children are taught about why their families do what they do religiously, not just what to do.  In this case, seeing what the categories of work are and realizing that everything that is forbidden to do on Shabbos falls into one of these concrete categories makes it much easier to grasp that the prohibitions against working on Shabbos aren’t restrictions without a purpose, but restrictions to create a day of peace and serenity when individuals and families can recharge and renew themselves, physically and spiritually. 

Here’s the link for the video – it’s only about a half hour long, and can be viewed by children of different ages.  Most of the kids would be interested or at least willing  to watch it again, which will help tham pick up some finer points that they missed the first time around (and for the littles, anything they get to watch on a screen is fun to them).  

Interesting to me was how many of the activities shown in the film our family has done first hand.  It helped me appreciate how the hand-on experiences we’ve given our children are helping them have a more complete foundation for later learning. 

Avivah