Faith In Action: Helping Others Keep The Balance — Short-term (30 minutes)
Materials for Activity
- Poster board
- Color markers
- Newsprint, markers and tape
Preparation for Activity
- Scout your congregation's building to identify central trash bins and learn about any recycling procedures that are in place. Take notes so you can meaningfully direct participants to make posters that (1) direct members and visitors how and where to dispose of trash and/or (2) provide information about recycling and indicate the proper receptacles for different materials, such as bottles or paper.
- On sheets of newsprint, write out the wording for children to print on posters. Post the newsprint.
- Make sure there are no building fire codes or other rules that would prevent your placing posters to indicate trash and recycling receptacles. If there are such rules, adapt the poster-making as needed.
- Decide whether you will post the posters around your congregation yourself or include children in this part of the activity, which will take additional time.
- Optional: Plan to take the group on a brief tour of the locations where the congregation collects trash for disposal and recycling.
- Optional: Invite a congregational leader involved with recycling for the building to talk with the children and help them make and display their posters.
Description of Activity
Tell the children that even when there are plenty of trash bins and recycling bins around, people often appreciate reminders to help, not harm, the Earth by properly getting rid of their trash. Say:
Today we are going to make some posters to help people keep the balance, here at our congregation.
If a congregational leader is joining you to talk about recycling, introduce that person now and invite him/her to make a short presentation about how the recycling program came about at your Unitarian Universalist congregation and why it is an important endeavor for the Earth and for your congregation (a question the children may be able to answer, if you pose it to them).
If you have planned a small tour, gather the children and take them to the locations in your congregation that you have scouted. Then return to your meeting space to make posters.
Allow children to work in pairs on posters that require a lot of writing. Some participants make like to lavish attention on bold arrows that you can later position around the building so they are pointing toward trash or recycling bins.
FAITH IN ACTION: TOY AND BOOK DRIVE
MATERIALS FOR ACTIVITY
¨ Large cardboard boxes
¨ Roll of plain paper, scissors, and tape
¨ Markers, crayons, paint and paintbrushes, and other items for decorating collection boxes
PREPARATION FOR ACTIVITY
§ Inform participants’ families and other members of the congregation about the toy and book drive through the newsletter, email lists, announcements during worship, and flyers.
§ If a visitor is coming to talk about the agency or organization you have chosen to work with, include the day, date, and time of the visit in your congregational announcements of the toy and book drive.
§ Arrange with congregational leaders to place collection boxes for toys and books at one or more locations in your congregational meeting space.
§ Publicize the toy and book drive in your local community.
§ Invite local businesses to place a toy and book collection box in their stores or offices.
§ Optional: Arrange the date and time for a field trip, if the agency or organization will allow you to bring the children to deliver the toys and books they collect. Prepare the standard permission slip used by your religious education program to distribute to the children’s parents.
DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY
If you introduced Faith in Action: Toy and
Plan to gather for the visitor’s talk in a space that can also be used for decorating the collection boxes.
Make sure the visitor has a place to sit and is offered a drink or snack. Introduce the visitor and allow him/her to present about the agency or organization, the population it serves, and how it helps people. Children will want to know why other children their age are in need. Make sure this is addressed. Try to steer your visitor toward language that emphasizes similarities among children, rather than differences between givers and recipients of toys and books.
After the visitor’s talk, invite the children and others who are present to decorate the collection boxes. Cut lengths of plain paper to wrap around the sides of each box. Provide markers, crayons, and/or paint and paintbrushes.
Children and adult helpers may write “Donate Toys and Books” on the paper, or other words that suit your project. It is easier to write, draw, and paint on paper before it is secured to a cardboard box. When drawing and painting are complete (and paint is dry), secure the decorated paper to the boxes with tape.
Leave time for clean-up and solicit children and their families to help.
After this meeting, arrange with co-leaders and parent volunteers to distribute the collection boxes to the locations you have chosen in and outside of your congregational meeting space. Also make plans for picking up the boxes to end the toy and book drive. All boxes should be retrieved before the date you have scheduled to deliver your donations. Leave yourself some time to sort and pack up the donations before you, or you and the children, bring the items to the agency or organization.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
