Internet access and the availability of a laptop can enrich many of the sessions, which include links to videos, music, and websites. Online resources are supplemental; they are not required for leading any session.
The chart below provides a snapshot for long-range planning; you can find detailed instructions elsewhere in this Introduction and in the corresponding sessions.
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Session/Activity
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Advance Preparation
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Set-up before Session 1: Welcome
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- Purchase Feelings Flashcards by Todd Parr or create a Feelings Chart.
- Create posters for Clean Up, Circle Rhymes, Circle Time, and Circle Songs.
- Arrange the free play environment.
- Choose a preschool chalice
- Create a family e-mail group for ease of sending invitations and letters, as well as for sending pictures and the Taking It Home section
- Create a Faith in Action team of parents who schedule projects in advance and implement them
- Consider making a photo book or album of sights around your congregation to use as a picture book.
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Session 2: A Tour of the Inside of Our Congregation
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- Collect memorabilia, suitable for preschoolers, from places inside the facility
- Take a pre-tour walk
- Consider making a photo album or book of sights around your congregation.
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Session 3: A Tour of the Outside of Our Congregation
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- Collect items, suitable for preschoolers, from around the outside of the facility
- Take a pre-tour walk
- Create a photo album or book of sights around your congregation.
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Session 4: Making Chalices
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Session 5: All Around Us
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- Make a Memory Match Game.
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Session 6: Chalice Necklaces
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- Use A Cup of Light (from Session 4)
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Session 7: The Beauty of Nature
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- Purchase bulbs and find a place to plant them on your grounds.
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Session 8: Fruit Chalices
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- Use A Cup of Light (from Session 4)
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Session 9: Chalice Flannel Board
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- Make or purchase a flannel board.
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Session 11: A Special Jigsaw Puzzle
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Session 12: Family Snack Party
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- Send the Family Snack Party invitation in advance by email or postal mail.
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Session 13: Feeling Sad
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- Invite families to have their children bring in a picture or memento of a loved one who has died.
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Session 14: Weddings and Other Services of Love and Union
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- Invite families to contribute wedding or service-of-union items, such as an album, a dress, or a dried bouquet.
- Contact the families and discuss their feelings and desires about the language used to describe their family situation.
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Session 15: Babies
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- Arrange for a visit from a family with an infant.
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Session 16: Special Worship Services
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- Collect sensory elements for the special service you are celebrating.
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Session 22: Imagination
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- Make homemade modeling clay.
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Session 23: My Shadow
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- Identify and invite a congregant who can make shadow figures.
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Session 24: Block Sunday
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- Variation: If you don't have blocks, you could collect cardboard boxes for building a neighborhood.
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Sessions 25-28: Teddy Bear Month
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- Send invitations prior to each session in Teddy Bear Month asking families to send a favorite teddy or stuffed animal with their children.
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Session 30: Halloween
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- For Alternate Activity 1, borrow a popcorn popper.
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Session 35: Easter
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Session 36: Earth Day
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- Preview the route of the Earth Day walk.
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Session 37: Mother's Day and Father's Day
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- Send a letter requesting information about any sensitive family situations.
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