Tapestry of Faith: Faithful Journeys: A Program about Pilgrimages of Faith in Action for Grades 2-3

Activity 2: Move It! Values Continuum

Activity time: 5 minutes

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

  • Create an open space to accommodate a line of people stretching out from your right and your left.

Description of Activity

This exercise gives all participants the chance to literally take a stand for what they think is true.

Gather the children and say:

Our story today is about a Universalist woman almost two hundred years ago who stood up and spoke out on her religious beliefs. Before we hear the story, let's play a game that gives each of you a chance to place your body where your beliefs are.

I'm going to read some sentences that give you two different choices about what you think is right or true. If you agree with the first choice, come over here to my right side. If you agree with the second choice, come over here to my left. If you think the truth is somewhere in between, that is okay. Place yourself in the spot that best shows what you think is true or right. For example, if you mostly think the first choice is true but also think the second choice is a little bit true, you could come to my right side, close to the middle.

There is no right or wrong answer to any of these questions. You just need to decide for yourself what you think is true.

Begin reading the choices in Leader Resource 1. If you have time, invite children to share after each question why they placed themselves where they did.

After you have offered all the choices, regather the children in a circle. Ask how it felt when they stood with many others. How about times when they stood in a place with fewer children, or by themselves, and realized most people did not agree with them? Ask them if being together in Faithful Journeys made it easier or harder to figure out where to stand. Would they answer every question the same way privately, if they were thinking about it alone?