Tapestry of Faith: Love Connects Us: A Program on Living in Unitarian Universalist Covenant for Grades 4-5

Faith In Action: Multigenerational Mish-Mash Hearts

Materials for Activity

  • A copy of the story "The Mish-Mash Heart"
  • A sample mish-mash heart made by a leader or participant in Activity 2
  • Card stock in a variety of colors
  • Fabric pieces, ribbons, and other decorative items
  • Glue sticks, scissors (including left-handed scissors), and hole punch(es)
  • Optional: A copy of the discussion questions (below) for each multigenerational work table

Preparation for Activity

  • Plan with your minister, religious educator, and/or lay worship leaders a time when the entire congregation can hear the story, "The Mish-Mash Heart," and immediately afterward meet for a multigenerational craft activity. Worship followed by coffee hour, with extra work tables set for making mish-mash hearts, could be ideal.
  • Cut card stock into equal-sized heart shapes.
  • Set out on work tables the fabric pieces, ribbons, and other decorative items.

Description of Activity

As part of a multigenerational worship service or program, read or tell the story to the group. At appropriate parts of the story, show the mish-mash heart you have pieced together, perhaps, at the right times, pointing to jagged or torn areas. Read or tell the story to the group. After the story, invite the group to be silent for a moment to think about it. Then, form small, multigenerational groups and encourage each group to discuss the story, using questions such as these:

  • Why did Emily give the woman a piece of her heart?
  • Can something be a happy time and a sad time all at once? Why or why not?
  • What might your heart look like if it was visible, and people could see how happy times and sad times affected it?
  • How might you have affected someone else's heart by your actions?

After the discussion, encourage all of the participants to create their own Mish-Mash hearts by cutting up the heart shapes and gluing together a new heart with a variety of colors and adding fabric, ribbons, or other decorative items.

After everyone finishes decorating their hearts or when time is almost up, ask if anyone would like to share what some elements on their heart mean and how they relate to any happy or sad moments in their life.