Tapestry of Faith: Amazing Grace: A Program about Exploring Right and Wrong for Grade 6

Alternate Activity 2: Virtue and Sin Poems

Part of Amazing Grace

Activity time: 15 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Paper and pencils for all participants

Description of Activity

Youth express beliefs about right and wrong artistically.

Ask participants to write four-line poems about right and wrong. Say the poems can rhyme or not. They also can be serious or silly. That is all up to the poet.

If you hear groans or have participants you know will struggle, offer an alternate choice: making cartoon drawings of a bad kid and a good kid.

Distribute pencils and papers and let the youth begin. Play quiet background music as they work if you like. Be sure it has no distracting words.

If participants have trouble starting poems, offer these starter lines:

  • I met a devil in the street
  • Sometimes free will isn't free
  • How can good food be so bad?
  • Pandora's brother had a box
  • Heavenly virtue number eight

Ask participants to share their poems or drawings. Ask the group whether the creations tell them anything new about virtue and sin. If you have drawings, ask what makes a good kid or a bad kid. Can you tell whether people are good or bad by looking at them? Are there any such things as totally good people or totally bad people? (Be alert for stereotyping in the pictures and caution against it if you find it.)