© 1994 Claudia Ayers and Crystal Harris
© 1994 The Fellowship for readers of The Urantia Book
By Claudia Ayers and Crystal Harris
Editor’s Note: This article appeared in the winter issue of The Circles and is reprinted here because of the wide interest in educational activities for children. We realize that educational approaches to children are subject to a wide range of stples and preferences by parents, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. We plan to develop a column in The Study Group Herald on the educational approaches that people are developing for children. Please send your comments, concerns, ideas and experiences on this subject to the Education Department, Study Group Herald, The Fellowship, 529 Wrightwood Ave., Chicago, IL 60614.
In our program for children ages 7 to 9 at IC 93 , the daily themes paralleled those of the adults, including “Who Is God” and “Who Is My Neighbor.” Crystal Harris drew from literature on spiritual development and some beautiful booklets created by Kaye Cooper and Patrick Yesh to prepare a diversified program with music, workshops and free play.
Our 16 participants entered into their activities with a sense of purpose and satisfaction because they, like their parents, were coming to a special international conference to share experiences related to The Urantia Book.
Each day we sang, played and participated in two workshops. The format for the workshops followed a pattern. First, all participants shared their thoughts and knowledge on the topic. Then Crystal presented the concept by either reading from The Urantia Book or another book, telling a story, or in the case of the story of Job, by involving the children in a puppetry pageant. Finally, we had an activity based on the topic (like making tissue paper flowers for our garden after discussing the Parable of the Sower).
We began our first workshop with Kaye Cooper’s booklet, Getting to Know God, and later focused another workshop on Patrick Yesh’s coloring book, Angels All Around Us.
The children were eager to participate in all aspects of our program. We marveled at how willingly and enthusiastically the kids talked about their images of God, their concepts of death and heaven, and many other topics, like suffering, angels, Jesus, dreams, traveling, brothers and sisters, having fun, and helping. One child, Kai, enjoyed this one because, “We don’t usually do things like this at conferences.” Even our teen helpers said they had learned spiritual concepts in our workshops.
Crystal did extensive research and planning for the program. Julie Dubuc masterminded the program, with the idea of involving the teens in the programs of the younger children. Julie also presented a workshop that our kids will long remember: Making Harmony Sticks and playing with them. It was incredibly satisfying for us to enjoy the company and experiences of these children.
We are certain that children are interested in and capable of discussing and learning more about spiritual ideas. We’d like more opportunities for their interests and talents to be developed at future conferences.
Our kids were thrilled to be part of the entertainment and worship events, and we feel they have more to offer here as well. A few multi-age workshops could be planned in the future to open the program to a greater extent for children this age and older.
¶ Spiritual Day Care: Getting Started
Here are some resources we found helpful:
- Kaye Cooper, Getting to Know God, A Spiritual Living Book for Children. Available from Good Cheer Press.
- Patrick Yesh, Angels All Around Us Coloring Book. Available from Good Cheer Press.
- Mary Ebben, Young Reader’s Guide to The Urantia Book. Available from Mary Ebben, 771 Victoria Court, Lafayette, CO 80026.
- Annette Hollander, How to Help Your Child Have a Spiritual Life, 1980.
- James Fowler, Stages of Faith, 1981.
- Dorothy Fumish, Living The Bible With Children.
- Gay Hendricks and Russel Wills, The Centering Book.
- David Heller, Talking To Your Child About God.
- Joanne Taylor, Innocent Wisdom.
