Tapestry of Faith: Signs of Our Faith: A Program about Being UU Every Day for Grades 2-3

Alternate Activity 2: Ritual Charades

Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

  • Newsprint, markers, and tape
  • Index cards

Preparation for Activity

  • Write on newsprint, and post: A ritual is an action that is repeated. A ritual is always done in the same way.
  • Write descriptions of rituals from home, congregational, or school life that children will easily recognize, using an index card for each ritual. Examples: Reading a story at bedtime, saying a blessing before a meal, walking the dog, choosing teams for kickball, brushing your teeth, lighting a chalice, hearing the Story for All Ages during worship, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, trick-or-treating at Halloween, and hunting for Easter eggs.
  • Decide how you will form teams to play Charades.

Description of Activity

Form teams. Explain that a team will act out a ritual without talking and other participants will try to guess what the ritual is. Offer a hint: The rituals could be actions from home, from school, or from our congregation. Give each team two or more ritual index cards. Have teams take turns acting them out.

Including All Participants

Children this age vary widely in reading ability. Be prepared to help, as needed.