Spirit Play (Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten)

A Unitarian Universalist curriculum using Montessori methods and adapted from  Godly Play by Jerome Berryman, it was developed by Nita Penfold D.Min., Rev. Ralph Roberts, and Beverly Leute Bruce. 
A number of UU churches are now using Spirit Play.

For more information, check out..
www.spiritplay.net

Sunday Morning

The key elements are the classroom environment and the teachers.  These elements free the children to work at their own pace on their own

issues after an initial lesson.

The Door Keeper helps the children get ready to enter the classroom as
parents drop them off.

The Storyteller leads the circle in the story of the day, followed by the
wondering. The wondering is an appropriate way of discussing the questions that arise about life and the great mysteries it holds. We don’t know all the answers, so we ask even more questions.

Children choose an art response or to work with a story previously
heard, helped by the Door Keeper.

Children clean up, followed by a feast (snack) with the Storyteller.

Leave-taking is a formal process of saying good-bye to the Storyteller
when parents arrive and children are ready.

Spirit Play Strengths:

• Encourages independent thinking through wondering questions
• Values learning differences and multiple styles of learning
• Gives children real choices within the structure of the morning
• Creates community of children in classroom of mixed ages
• Develops an identity as a Unitarian Universalist
• Develops an underlying sense of the spiritual and the mystery of life
• Volunteers value the program as a part of their own spiritual process