Activity time: 5 minutes

Materials for Activity

• Ribbon sticks (or wrist ribbons) in a container (Session 1, Opening)
• Chalice, candle, and lighter or LED/battery-operated candle
• Session 1, Leader Resource 1, Rote Teaching - Love Surrounds Us Song
• Violet cloth for centering table

Preparation for Activity

• If you have not previously made ribbons sticks or wrist ribbons for each child do it now as per instructions in Session 1, Opening.
• Spread the cloth on a centering table. Place the container filled with ribbon sticks and the chalice, candle, and lighter on the cloth.
• Check ribbon sticks to be sure all ribbons are still safely attached.

Description of Activity

Reinforce the first six UU Principles and add the seventh Principle, by repeating and matching the colors.

Invite children to find their ribbon sticks and then come sit together. Welcome the children.

Optional: Lead the group to sing the song "Love Surrounds Me."

Have each child say their name and wave their ribbon stick above their head. Then, take a ribbon stick in your hand and invite the children to echo the Principles after you read each one:

We believe each and every person is important. (Hold up the red ribbon)

We believe all people should be treated fairly. (Hold up the orange ribbon.)

In our congregations, all people are accepted and we learn together. (Hold up the yellow ribbon.)

We believe each person is free to search for what is true and right in life. (Hold up the green ribbon.)

Everyone deserves a say about the things that concern them. (Hold up the blue ribbon.)

We believe in working for a peaceful, fair, and free world. (Hold up the indigo ribbon.)

Now say:

Today we will learn a new Principle. We will use the color violet to remember it. There are seven Principles, and this one is the seventh: Caring for our planet Earth and every living thing that shares it with us.

Hold up the violet ribbon and ask the children to find the violet ribbons on their ribbon sticks. Lead the group to say the seventh Principle words again, with you.

Lead the opening chant:

Group chants "Love surrounds us every day. The Principles show us the way."

Leader says "______ please, put your ribbons away." (Child named returns their ribbon stick.)

Guide children, as they are named, to return their ribbon stick to the container and then return to the circle. This is a way to acknowledge the presence of each participant. If the group is large, say only several names, then direct the others to put away their ribbon sticks all together and come back to the circle.

When all the children have returned to the circle, say "Now we will light the chalice, the symbol of our Unitarian Universalist faith." Light the chalice. Lead the group to say together:

Love surrounds the chalice and we are included by the light of the chalice.

Including All Participants

Help attach wrist ribbons (Session 1, Opening) to children's wrists, legs, or fingers, and later, help remove them, if any children are physically unable to use a ribbon stick.