Dr. Peggy Joy Jenkins, Ph.D., recently republished Nurturing Spirituality in Children, which contains simple hands-on activities for beginning, advanced and experienced learners. The activities can be adapted according to the children’s ages and interests, as well as parental philosophy.
Jenkins, who goes by Pegi-Joy in her private life, says she loves the idea of tangible things to express spirituality. Her activities include objects found in the home or nature to clarify spiritual concepts through fun, sensory-rich activities.
“Many hard-to-understand truths can be symbolized by easy-to-understand objects,” she says. “Spirituality can be a visual experience, and when an individual is a participant in discovery, they are more apt to have a better grasp of the concept.”
The following activities are excerpted with permission from “Nurturing Spirituality in Children: Simple Hands-on Activities,” (Atria Books/Beyond Words, 2008).
ACTIVITY: FINDING OUR WAY
Materials
Rocks from hiking trail
Lesson
There are many things that help keep us on the right path when we are hiking through the woods, desert or anywhere out in nature. Where I live, hikers and forest rangers make piles of, usually, flat rocks to mark the route of a trail. In the high desert you could easily get lost without these “sign posts" along the trail. Another way to keep on the right trail is to watch for the rock formations (such as arrow shapes) left behind by friends who preceded you.
“We are on a trail called Life, and we can get off the path easily without guidance. What kind of guidance, prayers or listening within do you use?” Discuss when you might need help to get back on the path. What can you do if you feel lost? (Here is a good place for the adults to share their methods of getting guidance.)
Suggested Affirmation
I can connect with the Spirit within and always know what I am to do.
ACTIVITY: CHANGE IS NEEDED FOR GROWTH
This lesson is especially useful when a child is facing a change or a risk, perhaps like joining scouts or a soccer team, going away to camp, staying overnight with a friend for the first time, or entering a new school.
Materials
A real houseplant that has become bound by its roots in its current pot and needs transplanting. If a rootbound plant is not available, use a tiny clay flowerpot or a small cardboard transplanting pot, a tangled mass of string stuffed into the pot and an artificial flower inserted into the string mass.
Lesson
If you don’t use a houseplant, explain that the mass of string represents the roots of the flower. “Roots need a lot of soil to grow in, but these roots have grown so that there is hardly room for any soil. We need to remove the plant from the old pot and put it into a larger one, or the plant will always be limited in size.”
Explain that people are just like the plant, and at times we, too, need more room to grow. Compare the pot to the children’s old ways of thinking about themselves. The old pot, or the old ways, can be so comfortable that sometimes we need to push ourselves out of our “comfort zone.” If not, our growth will become stunted, just as the plant’s growth is stunted when it’s in a container that’s too small for it. The old pot met the needs of the plant at one time and was good for the plant. Now that the plant has grown, a change is necessary so it can continue its growth.
Discuss how, in order to grow and become all that they can be, children must change their old ideas about themselves. Help them see change as a means of “becoming,” and use examples like an acorn breaking apart to sprout a new tree or a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
Suggested Affirmation
I welcome change in my life because it helps me grow.
Resources to Help Nurture Spiritual Growth & Exploration
Books for Parents
The Book of New Family Traditions (Running Press, 2003) by Meg Cox
Living Simply with Children (Three Rivers Press, 2003) by Marie Sherlock
Nurturing Spirituality in Children: Simple Hands-on Activities by Peggy Joy Jenkins, Ph.D.
Something More: Nurturing Your Child’s Spiritual Growth (Viking, 1991) by Jean Grasso Fitzpatrick
Unplug the Christmas Machine—A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season (HarperCollins Publishers, 1991) by Jo Robinson and Jean Coppock Staeheli
Books for Children
Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem (Random House Children’s Books/Schwartz & Wade, 2008) by Maya Angelou
A Faith Like Mine: A Celebration of the World’s Religions through the Eyes of Children (DK Publishing Inc., 2005) by Laura Buller
Hope Is an Open Heart (Scholastic Press, 2008) by Lauren Thompson
Wish: Wishing Traditions Around the World (Chronicle Books, 2008) by Roseanne Thong
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