Tapestry of Faith: Creating Home: A Program on Developing a Sense of Home Grounded in Faith for Grades K-1

Activity 4: Our Name Stones

Part of Creating Home

Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Name stones, one for each participant
  • Newspaper
  • Permanent markers
  • Arts and crafts materials, including a strong glue to affix decorations to a stone
  • Optional: Paper and a pen or pencil

Preparation for Activity

  • Spread newspaper to cover floor or tables where participants will decorate their name stones.
  • Prepare a safe, out-of-the-way place to leave decorated name stones to dry.
  • Gather markers, glue, and other arts and crafts materials and place them where participants can share.

Description of Activity

To help children find their name stones for the opening and closing rituals in future sessions, and to reinforce the idea that a name stone symbolizes each person in the group, children will personalize their name stones.

Remind them that each time this group meets they will cross the threshold into this meeting space, find their own name stones in the basket, and place their name stones on the labyrinth. Tell them that now they will each write their name on their stone and decorate the stone any way they wish to help them recognize it each time they come.

Allow children to retrieve the stones they placed on the labyrinth during this session's opening ritual and bring their stones to the work tables where you have set out arts and crafts materials.

Beginning writers may not be sure how write their names. Offer to help. You can print the name on a piece of white paper, and invite the child to copy the letters onto his/her stone. Make sure you have spelled the child's name correctly!

When all the name stones are finished, collect them in the basket. If you are using paint or glue, some name stones may still be wet when your session ends. If you are leaving name stones to dry in the meeting room, lay down newspaper in a safe place and ask the children to place their stones there when they are finished decorating them.