Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

• Blank postcards, at least one for each participant
• Markers or crayons

Preparation for Activity

• If you like, arrange to include your guest from Activity 3: Ways to Welcome as a co-leader of this activity. Working with the adult they have already met as a practitioner of your congregation's hospitality will reinforce children's understanding of the importance of hospitality at your faith home and in Unitarian Universalism.

Description of Activity

Children will learn about and help to practice faith home hospitality by making materials that will be used to welcome newcomers. Most congregations acknowledge and thank those who visit for worship services, religious education programs, and other events. You can help by preparing postcards to be sent to people who have visited.

Explain – or have your guest from Activity 3, Ways to Welcome, explain – what the children will make, how the postcards will be used, and why your faith home uses this hospitality practice.

Invite the children to each decorate the blank side of a postcard. Ideas for decorating might include a picture of the Creating Home group doing something together, or a worship scene including happy, smiling faces. Tell the children that they should leave the other side blank, so one of the adults in the congregation can write a personal welcoming message to the person or family who visited your congregation.

This activity gives you an opportunity to explain how a postcard works: a picture on one side, and greetings on the other side alongside the address and a postage stamp.