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

Faith In Action Long Term 2: Faith In Action: Refugees’ New Homes - Long-Term

Part of Creating Home

Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Boxes or large bags to organize and transport items
  • Optional: Newsprint, markers, and tape
  • Optional: Paper and pencils or markers for all participants
  • Optional: A large, 11 x 17” sheet of construction paper for making a group card

Preparation for Activity

  • Prepare a station in your meeting space where children can place their donations.
  • Optional: Post a sheet of blank newsprint

Description of Activity

This Faith in Action activity was introduced in Session 2: Symbols of Faith. If children have brought items to donate to a refugee aid association, today you can organize and package the donations.

You may wish to lead children in writing a group note, or individual notes, to accompany their donations. You can distribute paper and pencils or markers, and assist children in drawing or writing a message of welcome and/or peace. You may wish to use a page of blank newsprint to write the word “Welcome” for children to copy onto their own pages.

Or, you can post a blank sheet of newsprint and gather the group’s ideas for a collective note. What are children’s wishes for the recipients of their donations? What words might help someone feel better about making a new family home, after they have lost one? Write the note yourself on a card large enough for children to sign their own names; you may wish to make a group card that all the children can sign, using a large sheet of construction paper folded in half.

If children will accompany you to a refugee aid association to bring their donations, prepare for the visit. Logistically, you will need to collect permission slips and firm up arrangements for parent volunteers to help with transportation and supervision. You also may wish to prepare the children with a discussion. Draw out the children about what they expect they will see at the refugee aid association, and what questions they may want to ask now or when they visit. Tell them the agenda for the visit.

Ask children whether anything about the visit makes them feel concerned. Exposure to refugees and their resettlement needs may raise fears in some children about dire situations that could make them lose their own homes. You may tell them there is very little chance of such a thing happening to them. You can also tell them that when such a thing does happen, caring volunteers are ready to help, just as they, themselves, are doing with their donations.