Closing
Part of Wonderful Welcome
Activity time: 5 minutes
Materials for Activity
- Wonder Box poster
- Copies of Taking It Home for all participants
- Newsprint, markers and tape
- Leader Resource 1, Platypus Picture
Preparation for Activity
- Display the Wonder Box poster in the meeting space.
- Write the closing words on newsprint, and post.
- Print out Leader Resource 1, Platypus Picture
- Customize, print out, and photocopy Taking It Home for all participants.
Description of Activity
Today we talked about the gift of acceptance. We accept ourselves and each other. We also appreciate the gifts that each of us offers.
Invite some comments about what the children learned today.
Tell the children you are happy and thankful you all could be together this morning. You may say:
Giving thanks for being together helps us remember how important it is for us, as Unitarian Universalists, to learn how to accept ourselves so that we really understand how to accept others. Let's say our closing words of gratitude together.
Invite the children to hold hands. Show them where you have posted the closing words. Ask them to say each line with you, and say the lines slowly:
We are thankful.
We are thankful to be here.
We are thankful to be here, together.
We are thankful to be here, together, now.
Then ask one child to very gently squeeze the hand of the person to their left, and have that person continue to pass the squeeze until the squeeze has returned to the person who started it. Tell the person who started the squeeze to signal that it has returned to them by raising their arms, still holding hands with the people on either side. When this happens, instruct everyone to raise their clasped hands, together. If you like, suggest a word for them to say at this moment, like "Good-bye!" or "Shalom!" or the name of this session's intangible gift -Acceptance!"
Extinguish the chalice. Distribute Taking It Home handouts. Thank and dismiss participants.