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

Activity 3: Move It! Horrific Posing Welcome Exercise

Activity time: 5 minutes

Preparation for Activity

  • Make sure that the group has room to form a standing or sitting circle where each person can move around a bit without risk of hitting someone.
  • Familiarize yourself with the activity so you can lead the exercise without reading from the sheet.

Description of Activity

Gather the group in a circle. Tell them:

Horrific Posing is a way to warm up our bodies and spirits, but it is also a way of welcoming, greeting, and honoring each person in the circle. Horrific Posing has three stages. We begin with the first, simplest stage. As you try to make eye contact with each person in the circle, make the weirdest faces that you can, but use only your face; the rest of your body should remain still. Honor and welcome each person whose eyes you meet by making a really strange face at them.

Model the first stage and give the group a half minute or so to try it. Then say:

Next we move to stage two. While continuing to stretch your face in the weirdest ways you can, move your upper body as well. You can use your arms and your torso as well as your head to move and bend in strange ways. But remember, as we do this we are trying to catch the eye of each person in the circle and salute them with our strange poses.

Again, give the group a half minute of practice. Then say:

Finally, for stage three, you are free to move your whole body as you greet and honor each person with your unique poses. Keep your place in the circle, and make sure you do not actually touch anyone, but you may use your whole body, still including your face, to salute each person in the strangest possible way.

After a half minute of stage three, invite the group to come back to stillness, and take them through all three stages again. This time, you may like to give the group a bit more time for each stage. Before you finish, ask whether anyone would like to be welcomed with more Horrific Posing, and invite everyone in the circle to direct a welcome at them. Make sure you bring the group back to stillness to conclude the activity.

Including All Participants

If any children in the group lack mobility, make the Horrific Posing circle a seated one for all and limit this exercise to the first two stages.