MORAL TALES
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 8: DO UNTO OTHERS
BY ALICE ANACHECKA-NASEMAN AND ELISA PEARMAIN
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/8/2014 5:10:09 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
SESSION OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
This session promotes the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," and the suggestion from scripture to "Love thy neighbor as thyself." The central story, "The Good Samaritan" from Christian scripture, guides exploration of what it means to "love thy neighbor" and helps raise the idea that our "neighbors" include everyone in the world.
The experience of helping and caring for others will be explored in the session through role plays and a cooperative game. The session also promotes two Unitarian Universalist Principles, the inherent worth and dignity of all people; and justice, equity and compassion. The words "Golden Rule" will be added to the Moral Compass poster.
Before planning the session, read descriptions of all of the games, including those which are presented as alternate activities. Choose the one(s) you think will work best with the particular group of children and in your meeting space.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming & Entering | 0 |
Opening | 3 |
Activity 1: Gems of Goodness | 5 |
Activity 2: Story Basket and Centering | 5 |
Activity 3: Story — The Good Samaritan | 5 |
Activity 4: How Would You Want to Be Treated? | 10 |
Activity 5: Frozen Tag | 8 |
Activity 6: Processing the Frozen Tag Game | 2 |
Activity 7: Neighbors Collage | 15 |
Activity 8: Clean-up | 2 |
Faith in Action: Good Neighbor Coupons — Short-term | 10 |
Faith in Action: Outreach to Local Neighbors — Long-term | 15 |
Faith in Action: Outreach to World Neighbors — Long-term | 15 |
Closing | 3 |
Alternate Activity 1: Candles of Joys and Sorrows | 10 |
Alternate Activity 2: Circle of Friends | 10 |
Alternate Activity 3: Blizzard Helping Game | 15 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Review the story of "The Good Samaritan." The story is significant not only in that the man from Samaria helps someone he does not know, but that he helps someone who belongs to a group — the Hebrews — that his people consider an enemy. This is often left out of the children's story, but is considered to have been a factor in the original telling.
Close your eyes and imagine the place where the story happens. Explore the many details, down to the flies buzzing around the wounded man's bloodied head. Try to imagine yourself in the position of the Samaritan. Imagine what it was like for him to tend to the wounded Hebrew.
Think of times when you have had to drop everything and put yourself fully into the service of helping another. Have you ever done this for a stranger? Someone you considered an enemy, or for whom you felt enmity? Has a stranger ever done this for you? How did it feel to show, or be shown, compassion?
Think about the children in Moral Tales. In what situations might they face a choice to show compassion, mercy and caring?
SESSION PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As children enter, greet them and direct them to the table with the gemstones.
Ask the children to choose one, two, or three gemstones to represent acts of goodness that they did or witnessed since the last time they came to Moral Tales. If you wish, help focus the children on generosity. Ask if any participants were generous or experienced generosity.
If any children are participating for the first time in the Gems of Goodness project, invite them to choose a notebook, write their name on it, and decorate it as they wish. Tell them they may also pick three gemstones to bring into the circle.
OPENING (3 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the children in a circle. Light the chalice.
If some or all of the children are unfamiliar with the reading, teach it line by line. Then recite together:
Come into the circle of love and friendship.
Come into the community of justice and goodness.
Come and you shall know peace and joy.
Extinguish the chalice.
Related content:
ACTIVITY 1: GEMS OF GOODNESS (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the children around the table where you have placed the cloth, the jar or vase, and the gemstones. Ask who remembered to keep track of acts in goodness in their notebooks.
Invite volunteers to stand up, and tell the group about an act of goodness they engaged in (or witnessed, if you have offered this option), and place the gem in the glass jar or vase.
Indicate the Moral Compass poster. Mention the virtues that the group has explored in previous sessions. Suggest that the children try to think of some acts of goodness related to these virtues, as they share their gems of goodness.
Encourage newcomers to join the sharing once they've had a chance to see what the other children are doing.
Use these guidelines to organize the sharing:
It is very important to avoid judging participants, either with criticism or praise. Avoid phrases like, "Great job!" or "You're fantastic!" which might encourage the children to compete to share the "best" act of goodness or to perceive that different acts of goodness have greater or lesser value.
Instead, listen carefully to what the children tell you. Help them identify the virtues their acts of goodness represent. When appropriate, indicate a word or phrase on the Moral Compass poster that fits the act of goodness. This will help the children learn to recognize a variety of virtues in a variety of forms.
After each sharing, you may say something like, "Thank you for sharing," followed by a summarizing sentence such as:
Your specific responses to the acts of goodness children share will help them feel pride, a sense of accomplishment, and their own empowerment as agents of justice and goodness.
If children are not volunteering, call out various types of acts of goodness, and invite children to come up if they experienced that particular kind of goodness. You may call out:
When the sharing is finished, remind the children to take home their notebooks and continue to keep track of their acts of goodness.
If you are planning to do so, remind the children that they may mark their achievement with a special celebration when the group has filled the glass jar or otherwise reached an established goal. If the group is approaching the goal, you may wish to brainstorm with them about the celebration. Suggestions might include having a special treat for a snack, or ending early to do physical games outside.
Whatever way you choose to mark the jar being filled, once it has been filled you may empty it and start over again.
Including All Participants
If any participants are not mobile, you or another child can accommodate by passing the jar. If a child is not verbal, you may wish to invite a participant to choose another child, or a co-leader, to read his/her acts of goodness from his/her notebook and place a gemstone in the jar.
ACTIVITY 2: STORY BASKET AND CENTERING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the children in a circle in your storytelling area. Show them the story basket. Say something like, "Let's see what's in our story basket today."
If you are using an altar as a focal point, take the cloth cover from the storytelling basket and drape it over the box or small table. If the cloth cover has a special story, such as who made it, where it comes from, or the meaning of any symbols on it, briefly share the story with the children. Tell the group that the items in the story basket will be placed on this altar or table after the children have passed them around the circle.
Take the story-related items from the basket, one at a time, and pass them around. Briefly name the various objects. Children may ask questions about some of the items, begin to tell stories about similar things they have seen, or wonder aloud why an object is included. Tell them the group can talk more about the items after the story. Make sure you invite them to do so once you have finished the story and follow-up discussion.
While children pass the items, you may ask them to guess what they think the story will be about. Tell them that the story you are telling them today is called "The Good Samaritan" and is a story that Jesus told. If you like, tell them that Jesus did most of his teaching by telling stories.
As items come back to you, place them on the altar. Objects that are fragile, or which should not be passed around for any reason, can be held up for all to see and then placed directly on the altar. Display the items for children to look at as they listen to the story.
Now remove the chime, rain stick or other instrument from the story basket. Tell the children that every time you tell a story in Moral Tales, you will first use the instrument to help them get their ears, their minds, and their bodies ready to listen.
Invite them to sit comfortably and close their eyes (if they are comfortable doing so). You may tell them that closing their eyes can help them focus just on listening.
In a calm voice, say, in your own words:
As you breathe in, feel your body opening up with air. As you breathe out, feel yourself relaxing.
Repeat this once or twice and then say:
Now you are ready to listen. When I hit the chime (turn the rain stick over), listen as carefully as you can. See how long you can hear its sound. When you can no longer hear it, open your eyes and you will know it is time for the story to begin.
Sound the chime or other instrument. When the sound has gone, begin telling the story.
Including All Participants
If anyone in the group is unable to hold or pass items, or cannot see the items, make sure you or a child in the group offers the person a chance to see and touch each object, as needed.
Some people do not feel safe closing their eyes when they are in a group. If any children resist, respect their resistance and suggest that they find a single point of focus to look at instead.
If you have a basket of fidget objects for children who will listen and learn more effectively with something in their hands, make the fidget object basket available during this activity. For a full description of fidget objects and guidance on using them, see Leader Resources.
ACTIVITY 3: STORY — THE GOOD SAMARITAN (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The story, "The Good Samaritan," introduces the idea that everyone deserves our compassion and care, including strangers and those we think of as our enemies. All of these are, in fact, our neighbors. Through the storytelling, the children will vicariously experience compassion.
Before you begin, look around the room and make eye contact with each person. Read or tell the story. Ring the chime (or other sound instrument) to indicate that the story is over.
Including All Participants
If you have children in the group for whom it is very difficult to sit still, even when they are paying attention to what is happening around them, consider adopting the use of "fidget objects" as described in Leader Resources. These fidget objects can provide a non-disruptive outlet for the need to move.
The participatory version of this story will probably engage most children who otherwise benefit from using "fidget objects." If you have a fidget object basket, make it available just in case.
ACTIVITY 4: HOW WOULD YOU WANT TO BE TREATED (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
A review of the story and engagement with questions and scenarios help the children apply the idea of helping or getting help from a "neighbor." The goal of this activity is to cement the story sequence, help the children to more deeply understand the concepts of neighbor and compassion and, to make personal connections from the story to their own lives.
To keep children engaged, you may wish to move back and forth between questions that help them review the story and scenarios that engage their application of the story concepts. Both are provided in Leader Resource, Golden Rule Role Play Scenarios.
If you have told the story, "The Good Samaritan," in a participatory manner with some of the children taking roles, draw out the volunteer actors' experiences.
Gather children in chairs set in a semi-circle. Review the story, "The Good Samaritan," with these questions:
If you have done the participatory version of the story, ask the two children who played the people who didn't stop to help, "How did it feel to be acting out this part and not to help the wounded man?"
If you have told the participatory version of the story, ask the child who played the wounded man how he/she felt.
If you have told the participatory version of the story, address these questions directly to the child who played the Samaritan.
Choose one or two scenarios to suggest to the group. You may lead a whole group discussion of a scenario, or ask for volunteers to role play. Use the sound maker to start and stop role play action so that you can interview each child participating in the role play.
Introduce the role-playing by saying:
Situations like the one in "The Good Samaritan," where someone needs help and we have to decide whether to help or not, happen all of the time. I will describe a situation to you and you tell me how you would like to be treated if this happened to you, and how you could act with caring and compassion if it happened to someone else.
Choose one or more of these scenarios for children to discuss and/or volunteer to act out in a role play.
Ask the children if they can think of other situations in which they have had to help someone they didn't know very well, or have been helped by someone they didn't know very well. Ask how these situations felt.
To close this activity, remind the children that, like empathy, compassion is relating to how another person or living being feels and opening your heart to their need.
Including All Participants
The children will probably prefer role-playing these situations than talking about them, but may not treat them as seriously. Shift the mode of this activity between discussion and role-playing, as needed.
There may be children in the group who have special needs and often require others' help, or children who are frequently bullied. Try to be sensitive to how this discussion may feel to them, particularly and how exposed it may make them feel. Try to choose examples that could happen to any child in the group.
ACTIVITY 5: FROZEN TAG (8 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This is a cooperative game of tag that involves the children in helping one another. You can play it a number of ways, using these basic rules:
The game ends if everyone is frozen, or when you end it by sounding the chime or other instrument.
If space is limited you can play Bean Bag Frozen Tag. Every child must move while holding a bean bag on his/her head. If a child is tagged, he/she must put the bean bag on the ground and stay frozen until a helper picks it up and puts it back on his/her head without dropping their own. If children drop their bean bags while moving, they also freeze with their bean bag on the floor until a helper rescues them.
The goal of this activity is for the children to experience what it is like to help someone else even when it involves risk to oneself. Children will also experience what it feels like to need someone else's help and have a chance to think intentionally about how they wish to be treated.
Including All Participants
Children who have limited mobility can play from their chairs and can be tagged and unfrozen just as the other children; make it clear to the group that everyone is in the game, whether or not they are moving around when unfrozen.
ACTIVITY 6: PROCESSING THE FROZEN TAG GAME (2 MINUTES)
Description of Activity
Help the children reflect on how they felt in the role of helper and in the role of someone needing help. Use these questions:
End the discussion by making the point that we all want to and deserve to be treated well by friends and neighbors and strangers alike. Say:
When we treat all others the same way we want to be treated, we are following the Golden Rule.
Including All Participants
Everyone should be able to participate in this activity. To encourage participation by all, you may want to go around the circle for answers rather than having the children call out.
ACTIVITY 7: WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? COLLAGE (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Making a collage that includes images of people in all walks of life, from all around the world, broadens children's concept of neighbors to include everyone.
Tell the children:
We are going to make a group collage about our neighbors. Everyone here gets to add to the collage. First, let's talk about who are our neighbors.
Ask the children what types of people are our neighbors. Write on the newsprint every type of person they list. As they run out of ideas, ask, "Are strangers my neighbors? Are Iraqis my neighbors? Are people in jail my neighbors? Are people who do not come to Unitarian Universalist congregation our neighbors? Are teenagers our neighbors? Are elderly people our neighbors?" Write down all the suggestions they affirm.
Once you have enough suggestions, tell the children that together you are going to make a poster collage of all the types of people that could be our neighbors. Invite them to look in the magazines and cut out a few pictures of people they want to include in the collage.
When everyone has some faces cut out, begin to put them together on the poster board. If some children finish more quickly than others, allow them to glue their pictures on the poster board. The idea is to cover all of the space.
As the poster board fills with images, ask the children if there are any types of people missing that they wish were included on the poster. Invite them to look for these faces in the magazines. When the poster is finished, invite one or two volunteers to help you post it.
Including All Participants
Allow children who have difficulty cutting to look for pictures and designate a volunteer to cut out pictures for others. If a child is sight-impaired, partner him/her with another child to whom he/she can make suggestions about what sorts of faces to look for in the magazines.
ACTIVITY 8: CLEAN-UP (2 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite the children to return the meeting space to being as neat and clean as they found it. Ask them to put away the materials used in the session. Remind the children that other people may use the space, and should be able to find it clean and ready to use.
Engage the children in thinking about materials that can be recycled. Specifically identify and assign any clean-up task that will help the children understand and accept their own responsibility as users of the meeting space. Use the clean-up activity to help children think about how their actions affect others and gain good feelings from participating in a group effort.
If your congregation has a recycling system, ask a child or pair of children to take the recycled materials to the bins. If your congregation does not have a recycling system, this may be a good Moral Tales project to initiate! In the meantime you might want to suggest that a different child each week take home a bag of recyclables. First, ask parents if they wish to participate in this project.
Including All Participants
All children should assist as able.
CLOSING (3 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity helps the children get used to practicing a closing ritual as a way of affirming their part in the faith community.
Gather the group in a circle. Thank the children for participating and sharing their stories and ideas in this session. Tell them something you liked about the way they worked together as a community.
Point out the Moral Compass poster. Say, in your own words:
Our Moral Compass shows us ways to do good things and make good decisions about how to be fair. Today we heard a story about a person from Samaria who was kind to a stranger who needed help. The Samaritan followed the Golden Rule. He treated the wounded man the way he, himself, would want to be treated. Jesus told the lawyer that story, because he thought that rule was so important. We are going to add "Golden Rule" as a direction on our Moral Compass.
Post or write "Golden Rule" on the Moral Compass poster.
Remind the children that the next time they meet they will have a chance to add more gems to the Gems of Goodness jar. If appropriate, remind them that when the jar is full of gemstones, you will have a special celebration. You may wish to encourage them to pay special attention to times when they are being welcoming, without prejudgment, as well as times when they have a chance to practice any of the other virtues on the Moral Compass poster.
Lead the children in singing Hymn 414 in Singing the Living Tradition, "As We Leave This Friendly Place." If the hymn is unfamiliar to some of the children, teach it line by line and then sing it once through together.
The song's lyrics are:
As we leave this friendly place,
Love give light to every face;
May the kindness which we learn
Light our hearts till we return.
Or, lead the group in once again singing "We're Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table," Hymn 407 in Singing the Living Tradition.
Distribute the Taking It Home handout you have prepared. If new participants need to take home a Gems of Goodness notebook and parent handout, make sure they have these.
Thank the children, tell them you look forward to seeing them next time, and dismiss the group.
Related content:
FAITH IN ACTION: SHORT-TERM — GOOD NEIGHBOR COUPONS (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Short term
Preparation for Activity
Short term
Description of Activity
Making "Good Neighbor Coupons" generates opportunities for children to put their learning into action. As you distribute Good Neighbor Coupons (from Leader Resource) and pencils, pens and markers to participants at to work tables, explain the activity. You may say:
We're going to brainstorm to help each other think of some people in our community (or school, family, neighborhood or congregation) that each of you could help or visit or do something nice for. We'll try to think of people who may need a helping kindness, people who we haven't thought of helping before.
Ask the children to think of ways that they could help someone in their community (or school, family, neighborhood, or congregation) whom they might not have thought about helping before — for example, an elderly neighbor, a school crossing guard or custodian, a younger sibling, or a new child in their school classroom or on their street. Suggest children think of something they could do to help that person that would take a half hour or less. Engage the children in sharing their ideas.
Tell the children to write the name of the person they want to help on the coupon. They can give the coupon to that person and let the person decide what kind of help they want. Or, the child can think of a helping kindness they want to do for that person. Some suggestions might be:
A kindness might be sharing a new toy with a younger child or taking brownies to someone who is new to the neighborhood. If children have a specific idea, ask them to write it on the coupon. Invite children to take the coupons home and share them with their parents who can help them carry out the act of kindness. Be sure to mention the Good Neighbor Coupon project in your Taking It Home handout for this session.
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This long term Faith in Action project guides you to help the children reach out with kindness to local neighbors whom you do not personally know and who may be in need of inspiration and support.
Gather the children in a circle. Tell the group that the Golden Rule and “Love thy neighbor” are ideas they can put into action by reaching out to neighbors in your community.
Share briefly with the children the stories you have chosen about children who performed acts of kindness and compassion. Tell the children that there are people in your own community who may be in need of a show of kindness. If you have researched local institutional options as described above (Preparation for Activity), you can suggest a few actions of kindness that they could realistically make. Invite them to discuss the various options.
Write the ideas of each child on the newsprint. Help the group consider each one. If some of the actions do not seem realistic, thank each child for their ideas.
Suggested projects might be:
Sending greeting cards at holiday times. An example would be sending handmade valentines to a local hospital or prison and asking the institution’s workers to put one on each patient’s breakfast tray.
Collecting flowers, arranging them, decorating plastic vases and delivering the bouquets to long-term patients in psychiatric or veterans’ hospitals or nursing homes who infrequently receive flowers. (Note: Do not use glass vases.)
Collecting a new pair of socks from each family and donating these to a homeless shelter.
Follow-up steps for these three projects are presented in Session 9, Faith in Action: Outreach to Local Neighbors – Long-term.
Once you have several ideas that could work, ask the children to vote on which they prefer Discuss how the group can make their chosen act of kindness happen. Again, brainstorm a list of actions and write down the children’s ideas.
An example of a project would be send valentines to prisoners. A good plan would be for you to call to see how many inmates are in the local prison or one part of the prison, and how the valentine delivery might be arranged. You would then obtain materials and arrange a time for the children to make the appropriate number of valentines. Help the children discuss what they want to say on the valentines or if they just want to send hearts.
See Session 9, Faith in Action: Outreach to Local Neighbors for the next steps in this project.
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
In this non-local long-term Faith in Action project, you reinforce the idea that all people are our neighbors even if they live in another country, even if they are involved in a war, and even if our government is at war with their country.
Tell the children that the Golden Rule and “Love thy neighbor” are ideas they can put into action. Ask them to remember that our neighbors are everyone on the planet Earth, not just people who live on our street or community or belong to our congregation or go to our school.
Invite the children to help you brainstorm about some neighbors in different parts of the world who may be in need of a show of kindness or support. Tell them you have some ideas for kindness to neighbors far away, and want to know what they think. Share briefly the information you have gathered about organizations and programs you have researched, and what they do. If you have identified projects through which children could reach out to people their own age – such as the Heifer Project International – mention that, to help children identify with the recipients of the kindness they will undertake to do.
As children respond to your information and contribute their own ideas, write each idea on the newsprint. Thank each child for his/her idea and discuss every one. If something is not realistic, gently explain why it might be hard to do.
Once you have several ideas that could work, ask the children to vote on which they prefer. Once you have chosen a Golden Rule project, discuss how the children will be involved in making it happen. On a new sheet of newsprint, brainstorm a list of actions that need to be taken. Examples could be gathering new or gently used books, school supplies, or clothing, sponsoring a child, sending holiday greetings and or calling cards to soldiers or doing a bake sale to raise money for an organization.
Session 9 provides next steps in this Faith in Action project.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Take a few minutes to evaluate the session with your co-leader immediately afterward, while it is fresh. Share your thoughts with any other team teachers and your director of religious education.
You might find it helpful to consider these questions:
TAKING IT HOME
This is the sum of all true righteousness —
Treat others, as thou wouldst thyself be treated.
Do nothing to thy neighbor, which hereafter
Thou wouldst not have thy neighbor do to thee.
— The Mahabharata
IN TODAY'S SESSION...
We heard the story, "The Good Samaritan." We talked about the fact that everyone is our neighbor. Children explored the idea that when someone else needs help, we should treat them the way we would want to be treated. We played a game that involved helping each other, we role-played some situations in which we or someone else might need help, and we made a "Who Is My Neighbor?" collage.
EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER.
Let your child retell the story of the good Samaritan for the family at meal time. Share stories about times when you or other family members have been helped by or have helped strangers or people they didn't know, or even people toward whom they felt enmity.
EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. TRY...
thinking together about people in your community to whom you could extend a kindness. Make a list of people who are new or whom you don't know that well who might appreciate a kind word or gesture of welcome, or someone who might appreciate an offer of help with shopping, raking or another necessary task. Decide on one person or family to help. Keep it simple and a one-time plan. Remember that an important part of this activity is to experience the joy of giving and caring. It is its own reward!
After you have done a kindness together with your child, talk about it and how it felt. Do not focus on how it felt to receive praise or thanks for your help. Focus on simply how it felt to do the kindness.
If your child has brought home a "Good Neighbor Coupon" help him/her decide whom they might give it to.
A FAMILY RITUAL
At dinner, begin a practice of sharing one act of kindness that family members did or received, in an interaction with a stranger or someone who is not a close friend or family member. Keep the focus on how it felt to do or receive a kindness, rather than on praise or other rewards involved.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: CANDLES OF JOYS AND SORROWS (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Determine if your room and building policies allow for open flames. If not, consider doing this activity with a felt board and felt candles or with beads in a jar.
Begin by lighting a "starter" candle. Invite the children to come forward one at a time and light a candle of joy and sorrow from the starter candle and push it into the sand. The child should then face the group and tell them what the candle is for. Translate the language so they understand that we are talking about things that have made them very happy or sad.
Candles of joy and sorrow offer the opportunity for children to experience what is a weekly ritual in many Unitarian Universalist congregations. This activity can deepen sense of community in the Moral Tales group. It gives participants a chance to name those things which they carry in their hearts, encourages listening to others, and, in many cases, makes a link with the adult worship experience.
IMPORTANT: Do not leave burning candles unattended. When all who wish to participate have done so, blow the candles out and put the matches away in a safe place.
Including All Participants
If a child is physically unable to light a candle and stand to address the group, ask the child to invite another child to light a candle for him/her or offer to do it yourself. Allow the child to speak joys and sorrows from where he/she is sitting.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: CIRCLE OF FRIENDS (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Arrange the children standing in a tight circle. Tell the children that this is a trust game called "Circle of Friends." Ask them whether they can agree to play by the rules and keep each other safe at all times. If anyone is reluctant to agree, allow him/her to stand out and watch.
If the group has more than 15 children, cycle the children through the activity in groups of ten to 15. If the group is smaller than ten, adults should join the circle so it has enough people.
Tell the children:
One person will go into the center of the circle. That person in the center is going to lean back as if falling. The people who are closest should reach out their hands and hold the middle person so they lean gently, but do not fall near the ground. Then you will gently push the person back to standing.
Ask for a volunteer to stand in the center of the circle. Try the game. Then add:
Now when (name of child in the center) comes back to the middle, they're going to turn a little bit, and fall back again, so different children will have a chance to catch him/her.
To expand the game, have the child in the center stay leaned back. Instruct him/her to pivot on his/her heels as the others pass him/her around the circle. It is best to have an adult in the circle to demonstrate this process, first, so the children see the readiness, gentleness and care they will need to use.
Do this game a few times. Try to let everyone who wants to go in the circle have a turn.
Then, ask the children to sit down at work tables or in a circle. Guide them to process the game:
You may want to end this activity by making the point that we all want to be treated well by friends and neighbors and strangers alike, and that we should treat others in the same way. This is the Golden Rule. You might also add that the feeling of caring and being responsible for someone is called the feeling of compassion.
Including All Participants
A wheelchair-bound child can join the circle. Position an adult next to the child, to ensure that the center child can be gently caught.
Some children will not be comfortable in the center of the circle. If a child is reluctant but wants to try, have everyone in the circle move in very close so that the child is barely leaning at all before being held.
You will need to ask any child to sit and watch who is not being careful or not taking the activity seriously.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: BLIZZARD HELPING GAME (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Show the children the obstacle course you have made. Tell them that they will each go through the obstacle course blindfolded, with a partner explaining to them the best way to go. Tell them:
When you are the one who is blindfolded, pretend to be an airplane pilot who is trying to land at an airport during a blizzard. The partner will pretend to be an air traffic controller who must guide you to safety, using only his/her voice. When you are the air traffic controller, your job is to guide your airplane pilot successfully to you, without having them bump into any obstacles or other airplanes.
Depending on how you have set up the obstacle course, you may be able to have two or three pairs of children enact a "landing" at once. Make sure the child who is the air traffic controller says his/her partner's name each time they give an instruction.
As children do this activity, you may want to help them notice how tone of voice and attitude can communicate caring or lack thereof. You can model this by demonstrating with your co-leader, showing a caring, encouraging tone of voice versus an impatient, commanding, or put-down type of tone.
The goal of this activity is to give the children an experience of caring for someone else's well being, and for thinking about how they would like to be treated. When done successfully, it builds trust in the group.
When all children who wish to have tried the obstacle course, take a few moments to talk about the experience of playing this game. Help the children to think about what they felt when in the role of helper and one needing help by posing these questions:
At the end of this processing time you may wish to make the point that we all want to be treated well by friends and neighbors and strangers alike, and that we should treat others in the same way. This is the "Golden Rule."
Including All Participants
If children are not comfortable putting on a blindfold, they can close their eyes or only take the role of guide.
A child who has limited mobility can be an air traffic controller for more than one of the other children. If you think the child can do the obstacle course with modifications, make these modifications for the whole group. If you have a large enough space, cones can be placed far enough apart for a wheelchair to round them and still make an obstacle course that is challenging for physically mobile, blindfolded children.
It is important that the children are careful not only with the blindfolded person's bodily safety, but also with their feelings. Tone of voice and attitude of care are just as important in this game.
To encourage all the children to contribute their reflections, you may want to go around in a circle for answers rather than having children call out.
MORAL TALES: SESSION 8:
STORY 1: THE GOOD SAMARITAN
Adapted from Hebrew scripture (Leviticus 19:18) and Christian scripture (Luke 10:25-37).
To make this story participatory:
1. Open up the storytelling circle to include a "stage area."
2. Ask for volunteers. You will need a child to play the Good Samaritan, the wounded man, the priest, the Levite, the innkeeper, and a thief. If more children volunteer, you may cast a donkey and additional thieves — as many as you like. Most parts can be modified to accommodate a child's limitations.
3. Decide who will be "on stage" and who will be "off stage" when the story begins. If you have room, designate an area off to one side to be the inn, where the story ends.
4. Let children know how you will direct them where to stand as you tell the story. On your copy of the story, mark the places where you will need to give the actors directions.
5. Give the child who will play the Good Samaritan props from the story basket, in a cloth bag or backpack.
Props may include a cloth bag or backpack, a first aid kit, a bag of coins, a cloth, a shawl or blanket, and some bread.
Following the story, when you do Activity 4, How Would You Want to Be Treated?, pose questions to particular children about the roles they played.
Tell or read the story with the children acting their parts. Stop the action by sounding the chime or other sound instrument whenever you feel that there is a teachable moment or to regroup if you think the children are getting too silly and not experiencing the emotions of this story. Use the chime or other sound instrument when you are finished, to signal the end of the story.
The Good Samaritan
One day a lawyer came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to live forever or, "to get into heaven" or "to become enlightened."
Jesus asked him what the law of the Ten Commandments said. The lawyer answered, "You shall love God with all your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself." "Right!" said Jesus. Then the lawyer asked, "But, Teacher, who is my neighbor?" In other words, "who do I have to treat lovingly?" This is the story that Jesus told to the man:
Once, a man was walking on a lonely stretch of road between Jerusalem and Jericho . Suddenly a gang of thieves jumped out from the side of the road and surrounded him. "Give us your money," they demanded. "I need my money" he cried. "I have to buy food with this money, for myself and my whole family."
One of the thieves picked up a rock from the side of the road and hit the man in the head. He fell to the ground with a groan, bleeding. Seeing no one around the thieves jumped on the man and took everything he had, including his money, and his clothing. One of the thieves picked up a stick and hit the man hard several times before leaving him on the side of the road half dead.
After a time, a priest came walking down the road. He saw the man lying on the side of the road and crossed over to the other side as he hurried by.
Soon another man, a Levite appeared. He too, saw the wounded man lying in the hot sun, naked and bleeding and he scurried on by.
A long time passed. Flies buzzed around the man who was dying from his injuries. Luckily someone else was coming down the road. He was a Samaritan riding on his donkey. Now the people of Samaria were not friendly with the people of this man's country. They were sworn enemies of each other.
But the Samaritan man did not hesitate when he saw the man lying by the side of the road. He didn't stop to think about whether he should help him because of where he was from, or what group the man belonged to. He saw that this man needed help and he felt compassion.
The Samaritan took healing oil and wine from his bag and cleaned the man's wounds and bound them up with bandages made from the cloth of his own shirt. He covered him with a robe. He gave the man a drink of water and helped the man onto his donkey. Slowly, for the man was in great pain and the road was long, they walked to the next town. There the Samaritan found an inn and asked the innkeeper to give him what was necessary to make the man comfortable.
The next day, the Samaritan gave money to the innkeeper to pay for the wounded man to stay at the inn until he got better. The Samaritan promised to come back in a few days and pay whatever else was needed to bring the man back to health.
When Jesus finished telling this story, he asked the lawyer, “Which one of these three men acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?” The lawyer said, “The one who showed kindness.” “Yes,” said Jesus, “go and do the same.”
MORAL TALES: SESSION 8:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: GOLDEN RULE ROLE PLAY SCENARIOS
Questions for reviewing the story, "The Good Samaritan"
Gather children in chairs set in a semi-circle. Review the story, "The Good Samaritan," with these questions:
Golden Rule Role Play Scenarios
MORAL TALES: SESSION 8:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: GOOD NEIGHBOR COUPONS
GOOD NEIGHBOR COUPON
I, ________________________________ (name of child), would like to do a helping kindness for ________________________________ (name of recipient).
I would like to ___________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
____________ for you on ________________ (day), _______________ (date).
(signature) ______________________________________________________
GOOD NEIGHBOR COUPON
I, ________________________________ (name of child), would like to do a helping kindness for ________________________________ (name of recipient).
I would like to ___________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
____________ for you on ________________ (day), _______________ (date).
(signature) ______________________________________________________
FIND OUT MORE
Cooperative Games
Terry Orlick's book, The Cooperative Sports & Games Book (Pantheon Books, 1978) was the source for cooperative games in this session. See pages 20, 24, 27 and 38.
Stories about Compassion
Earth Care: World Folktales to Talk About by Margaret Read MacDonald (The Shoe String Press, 1999) is a collection of world folk tales that emphasize the interconnectedness of all beings, and the concept of caring.
The Book of Virtues by William Bennett, Jr. (Simon and Schuster, 1993) has a chapter on compassion that includes a number of wonderful stories and poems.
Once Upon a Time: Storytelling to Build Character and Prevent Bullying, by Elisa Pearmain (Character Development Group, 2006), is a collection of world folk tales that help teach about kindness in its many forms.
In The Two Brothers: A Legend of Jerusalem retold by Neil Waldman (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1997), two brothers who live on opposite sides of a field worry about each other's well being. In the night they put grain into one another's storehouses, until the night they meet in the middle of the field and rejoice.
One of the most popular folk tale motifs across nearly every culture on Earth is the situation in which a kind-hearted person helps another person or animal and later is helped by them in return. Examples of these that appear in children's picture book form include:
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale retold by John Steptoe (Scholastic Inc., 1989)
The Tongue-Cut Sparrow by Momoko Ishii, translated by Katherine Paterson (Lodestar Books, 1987)
"The Greedy Man" in Moon Tales, retold by R. Singh and D. Lush. (Bloomsburg Publishing, 1999)
True Stories
Caring by Robin Doak Raintree (Steck-Vaughn Publishers, 2002) is a book written for children about different types of caring. For each type of caring, the author provides real-life examples from "small deeds" to profiles in courage. The book includes information about Craig Kielburger a 12-year-old Ontario boy who started the international organization, Free the Children, after learning about a Pakistani boy who was murdered for speaking out against child labor practices.
Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul by Jack Canfield (Health Communications, Inc., 1998) includes 101 stories for children about caring, courage and kindness.
Kids Random Acts of Kindness edited by Dawna Markova (Conari Press, 1994) contains stories by and for children that demonstrate acts of caring and kindness.
A website celebrates the achievements of caring kids (at www.amazing-kids.org/). Young people ages five through18 who undertake all kinds of helpful projects are nominated every month and the website describes their achievements with pictures and stories.
The Giraffe Heroes Project (at www.giraffe.org/)honors people who "Stick their necks out for the common good." Read about heroes of all ages and their projects.
This website by author Jeffrey Moses (at www.onenessonline.com/)has quotes from his book, Oneness: Great Principles Shared by all Religions (Ballantine Books, 2002), that show the similarities among many religious principles in both word and intent. It includes such themes as Love thy Neighbor, the Golden Rule and Blessed to Forgive.