Faith Curriculum Library: Tapestry of Faith: Chalice Children: A Program about Our Unitarian Universalist Community for Preschoolers

Activity 5: Chalice Necklaces

Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Pictures of many different styles of chalices
  • Chalice clip art
  • Yarn, preferably rainbow yarn, at least 15” per child
  • Adult scissors, a hole punch, tape, and glue sticks
  • Two cardboard circle templates, one larger than the other; the smaller circle should be large enough to hold one clip art chalice
  • Construction paper
  • Paper towels, moistened
  • Optional: Large beads, at least two to four per child
  • Optional: Glitter glue or colored glue
  • Optional: Markers and crayons
  • Optional: Baskets for up to three children to share
  • Optional: Digital camera or smartphone

Preparation for Activity

  • Find pictures of many different styles of chalices. Two good sources are the UniUniques catalog and any Unitarian Universalist calendar.
  • Print (preferably in color) chalice clip art available from the UUA, at least one sheet for every three children.
  • Cut lengths of yarn long enough for pulling over the head and making a knot (about 15 inches). Make one length for each child, plus some extras in case some children wish to make additional necklaces.
  • Tape the ends of each piece of yarn to create a stiff “needle.” This will make it easier to thread the yarn through the chalice necklace hole and the optional beads.
  • Use cereal box cardboard or other recycled cardboard to make cardboard circle templates for cutting circles out of construction paper and from the clip art pages. The construction paper template should be slightly larger than the clip art template.
  • Cut out discs of construction paper in various colors. Optional: Outline discs in bold marker.
  • Optional: Pre-cut the chalice clip art into individual circles. (You might instead let the children point out their favorite image of the chalice from the page, and wait while you cut it out.)
  • Optional: Distribute the beads among several baskets, so that every three children can choose two to four beads from a basket.

Description of Activity

Children create a chalice necklace using construction paper, yarn, and cut-out discs of chalice clip art.

Invite the children to the activity table. Remind them that a chalice has a stem, a bowl, and (when lit) a flame. Show the pictures of chalices you have gathered. Point out that while all the chalices look different, each has a stem, a bowl, and a flame.

Distribute the materials. Have the children pick two chalice clip art pictures that they like. Glue a chalice onto each side of a disc of construction paper. Punch a hole through the top of the disc and put a piece of yarn through it. Optional: Invite the child to pick out some beads and place one or two on each side of their chalice. Tie it off. Hang the necklace around the child’s neck.

If time allows, the children can use glitter and/or colored glue, crayons, or markers to decorate their necklaces. Optional: Take a picture of the group modeling their new necklaces!

Invite the children to clean up. Have them wipe up sticky spots from the table with moistened paper towels and straighten the area.

Including All Participants

If any child uses a wheelchair, make sure there is a table at their height with places for other children as well, so that several children may work together.