It is my hope as a religious educator that you have found this essay and the activities useful for your religious exploration classes. May you envision many more ways to help our children nurture their spiritual being and to support their work in becoming whole and holy in transforming the world.

Lengths of light fabric such as netting or chiffon, or old scarves, long lengths of ribbon Odds and ends of other fabrics and ties that can be improvised into costumes Percussive instruments such as hand drum with mallet, large cymbal, jingle bells, wooden tone bar, scratcher with stick, finger...

Pass around an ordinary object such as a pencil or pen; have each child imagine it is something else and show us without words what it has become. Have the class stand in a circle. Move across the circle with emotion such as joy or anger, give emotion to another person....

Children can move to music in any way they wish; first as individuals, then with a partner, then in threes, fours, and finally as group Move using scarves or netting or other material as extension of your body. Move to express a poem or saying Body prayer can be used in the opening or closing...

Use movement and sound to say your name. The group repeats after you, then the next person follows suit. This activity can be done either seated in a circle or standing. Have children move to drumming. Hit the drum once to stop, and call out an emotion: joy, anger, sorrow, peaceful....

Although we use our bodies in all of the visual arts and writing activities, drama, movement, and dance are all about embodying our spirit and creativity. Younger children are eager to move, but most youth lose this sense of bodily expression in our intellectual Western culture. Unless they...

With drama or movement: Have the children act out stories they have created, or use movement to express the feelings in writing. Children can pair off and respond to each others' work. With art: Create small books of poems or stories with paintings or drawings....

Gather many small or large color cards from your local paint or hardware store. Generate a list of words that are appropriate for children and tape one on each color card. See the Gargantuan Word Jar Inventory in the bibliography for possible words or explore word lists according to grade level...

Cut images from magazines (National Geographic is especially useful). Lay the images on a table. Have each child choose an image that calls to them. Then have the children sit with the images for a few minutes before writing about them. Ask the children why they chose their images, what they like...

Writing is a time-honored practice on the spiritual path, helping people to name their experiences and to use specific senses to express their feelings about the world....

Framing the experience: Cloth and other fibers are excellent materials. Cloth can be woven, stamped on, ripped into strips and braided, and used for collage. It can substitute for wallpaper for making beads....

Printing is a stylized form of painting. Although it is less spontaneous process, printing's repeated patterns and design elements can be both creative and decorative. Printing Activities Finger paint or paint directly on glass or acrylic or even cookie sheets; make monoprints by very carefully...

Surfaces: See surfaces for drawing (above). More expensive papers such as watercolor paper, Bristol board, and canvas-covered cardboard can be painted. You can also paint wood or the pages of old books with acrylic paints....

Subtractive process: revealing something Add crayon markings to heavy paper, then cover with them thick black paint. When the pain has dried, use a wooden popsicle stick or toothpick to scratch design through paint to make a drawing. The scratches become lines, revealing the color beneath....

Painting can be a deep process and that bring up a child's inner life, encouraging engagement with the materials and stimulating the imagination. It is essential to emphasize how they feel as they paint rather than the product of what they paint....

Drawing is a good way to slow children down to really look at something. Simpler drawing techniques are best because children will have different levels of comfort with drawing....

The visual arts range from drawing, painting, and sculpture to combinations such as collage and assemblage. They have been used for centuries for spiritual expression. Line, pattern, color, and texture are basic elements of the visual arts....

In this section there are specific suggestions for activities in each of the arts modalities. Each section has an introduction framing the experience followed by specific suggestions for activities and a list of materials.

Always remember it's about the process, not the product. Say what you liked or how it made you feel instead of commenting on the work's quality. Start with simpler activities and build up to larger ones. Start with individual activities then move to group activities.

It is natural for teachers to want to know if children are "getting" the ideas that they are presenting. With arts activities that express children's spirit, we need to let go of this expectation. You may never know how particular children connect this activity to their own meaning-making....