Faith CoLab: Tapestry of Faith: Love Surrounds Us: A Program on the UU Principles and Beloved Community for Grades K-1

Activity 3: UU Principles Mobile

Activity time: 15 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Handout 1, UU Principles Mobile
  • Scissors, including left-handed scissors
  • Crayons or markers: red, green, yellow, orange, blue, indigo, and violet
  • Single-hole punch
  • Yarn
  • Transparent tape

Preparation for Activity

  • Obtain permission to hang mobiles where the whole community can see them.
  • Copy Handout 1 on light-colored card stock. For very young children and children with fine-motor limitations, you may wish to cut out the shapes.
  • Cut yarn into 10-, 12-, and 15-inch lengths.

Description of Activity

Children express the UU Principles individually and as parts of a whole community belief.

Gather participants at work tables. Distribute handouts and hold one up. Ask: What do you see on the handout? Allow children to tell about the big circle and the small circles.

Invite them to color the small circles in this way:

  • We believe each and every person is important. - Red
  • We believe all people should be treated fairly. - Orange
  • In our congregations, all people are accepted and we learn together. - Yellow
  • We believe each person is free to search for what is true and right in life. - Green
  • Everyone deserves a say about the things that concern them. - Blue
  • We believe in working for a peaceful, fair, and free world. - Indigo
  • We believe in caring for our planet Earth and every living thing that shares it with us. - Violet

As participants color, read the Principles aloud slowly, reminding them which color goes with each Principle. When coloring is finished, have participants cut out the mobile shapes and the small circles. Help them punch holes where indicated and choose a variety of yarn lengths to tie their seven small circles to the larger shape. Yarn-tying will work for those who can tie shoes. Use transparent tape or knots to secure yarn after children thread it through the holes.

Ask everyone to hold up their mobiles. Say in your own words:

How do you feel when you hold up your UU Principles mobile? Let's hang these where our whole community can see them. We are part of the whole community just like one Principle is part of all our beliefs.

Including All Participants

Be ready to help cut shapes and string, tie, and tape the yarn for younger children or any who lack the dexterity for these tasks.