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

Activity 2: Story - Journey of a Snowflake

Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

  • Read the story so you will be comfortable telling it to the group.
  • Optional: If you have a basket of fidget objects for children who will listen and learn more effectively with something in their hands, make the basket available during storytelling. See Session 1, Leader Resource 2, Fidget Objects for a full description of fidget baskets and guidance for using them.

Description of Activity

Child hear and discuss a story about a journey and relate it to taking a faith journey.

Tell or read the story.

Ask participants, "How are snowflakes like people?" Affirm that people are unique like snowflakes and our lives are journeys, too.

Invite the children to act out the story.

Then, say, in these words or your own:

As Unitarian Universalists, we are on a faith journey. Our journey is similar to the snowflakes in the story. UUs are as diverse as snowflake. No two of us are alike. We have different genders and different skin colors. We know how to speak different languages, and we are different ages. But we are all on a journey. On our journey we figure out what we believe and decide what kind of people we want to be in the world. Snowflakes become different because of their environment. People do, too. Growing up UU, we might end up with many different beliefs. For example, some UUs believe there is a God, some believe there is not, and some believe it is not important to know that answer. However, we share many beliefs, like the importance of loving each other.

Ask: "What other beliefs do UUs share?" Affirm answers. You may wish to make note of our UU Principles. Then say:

When snowflakes fall from the clouds, they are taking a journey. They do not know where the journey will take them. This is like our lifelong faith journey. However, there is a big difference: in our religion, we can support each other's faith journeys. Even when my journey of beliefs takes me in a different direction from where your journey takes you [insert one or more children's names here], we can still journey together. I will stay with you and share being leaders together, and learning together, and worship, and companionship-all the things we do as signs of our UU faith. That's what UUs do in our congregation, and that's what we do here in our Signs of Our Faith group.

Including All Participants

You may wish to make fidget objects available to children who find it difficult to sit still while listening or can focus better with sensory stimulation. For a full description and guidance, see Session 1, Leader Resource 2.

Consider using rug squares in the storytelling area. Place them in a semi-circle with the rule "One person per square." This can be very helpful for controlling active bodies.