The idea for a basket of "fidget objects" to provide children during session activities comes from Sally Patton, author, workshop leader, and advocate for children with special needs....

Objects That Symbolize Benefits to Human, Wildlife, and the Planet Small cereal box (or other food container): Trees provide food for wildlife and humans Fan: Trees cool the air Umbrella: Trees provide shade from the sun Coffee filter: Tree roots filter out pollutants from rain and runoff Aspirin...

Standing like a tree (stand straight and tall) With my roots dug down (stomp each foot into ground with the words "dug" and "down") My branches wide and open (extend arms overhead and stretched out) Come down the rain (wiggle fingers as if they are raindrops) Come down the sun (hold arms overhead...

Category: Now I Can Breathe 100. Trees block these life-giving rays to cool the air beneath their branches. (What is sunlight?) 200. One large tree provides four people with a day's worth of this essential gas, critical for life on planet Earth. (What is oxygen?) 300....

Moving as quietly as you can, sit or lie down in a comfortable position and close your eyes. (pause) Take a deep breath. (pause) Notice how your body feels. Notice how your mind feels. Take a couple of long, slow breaths, in and out, in and out, and begin to let go and relax your body and mind.

Rise Up for Trees is adapted from the activity How Many Are Standing? (p. 35 in Everyone Wins! by Josette and Sambhava Luvmour, New Society Publishers, 2007). Team Up for Trees is adapted from a cooperative camp game. Choose which game to use each time the group gathers. After the first workshop,...

One of the most important factors in a vibrant congregation is a high level of covenantal trust between the minister and the lay leaders.  When I say covenantal, I intentionally mean the promises made between the leaders and members and in service to that which is greater than the congregation...

The 12-page booklet offers questions for family activities to extend the learning of many of the Creating Home sessions, questions for family discussion, and blank spaces for children to draw pictures related to the discussion. Each sheet includes two pages of the booklet. If you have access to...

1 cup of ground cinnamon 1 cup of smooth applesauce white school glue, such as Elmer’s glue Gradually mix ground cinnamon into applesauce to achieve a dough-like consistency. The more watery the applesauce, the more cinnamon you will need. Add glue to thicken the mixture. This recipe will make...

(Once children are settled in a comfortable position, invite them to close their eyes. Read the meditation slowly, giving them time to imagine.) You are standing on a grassy hillside looking out over a large field. You see a bunny rabbit hopping in the field and there are bumblebees visiting the...

Printing This Handout Download a high-resolution copy of this Handout (PDF) for printing.

Coleman Barks, translated and used with permission. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the doorsill worlds touch. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep.

Printing This Handout Download a high-resolution copy of this Handout (PDF) for printing.

We get up in the morning 1 2 3 hold and we go to school 1 2 3 hold We all come home (hold). 1 2 3 hold We all come home (hold) 1 2 3 hold We go to (name of your congregation) 1 2 3 hold and it’s really cool. 1 2 3 hold We all come home (hold)....

Customize this text message. Then, cut and paste it multiple times into another document, so you can print four or five identical messages on one page. Make as many photocopies as you need for the cards you plan to send to college students. Hello, ____________________! I am in kindergarten/first...

Printing This Handout Download a high-resolution copy of this Handout (PDF) for printing.

This reading combines the words of Kenneth L. Patton (Reading 444) and Psalm 133 (Reading 433) as published in Singing the Living Tradition, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook. Permission granted for Reading 444....

Arthur Lismer, from Wikipedia. The Guides Home, Algonquin (1914, National Gallery, Ottawa) was an experiment in impressionism.Printing This Handout Download a high-resolution copy of this Handout (PDF) for printing.

Susan B. AnthonyCharles DickensHajom Kissor Sinjh...

Dolphin Heroes 1: Shark Rescue One time, a man named Todd was surfing in the ocean in California. Just as he hit a really good wave, a very big shark appeared out of nowhere and knocked into him on his surf board. It came back and bit him twice, once on his back and once on his leg. Fortunately,...