LOVE SURROUNDS US
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 14: LOVE SURROUNDS US IN NATURE
BY LYNN KERR AND CHRISTY OLSON
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/8/2014 5:47:56 AM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
SESSION OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever. — Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States
The Unitarian Universalist Principle that we are all responsible for the planet and we are connected to all beings is perhaps the most concrete of our Principles. Children are especially attracted to the strong association with animals and nature. This session encourages our children to care for the earth and helps them understand that our actions affect every living thing on our planet, including ourselves. The session theme is "We are connected to the earth in love."
When we show love for our planet by advocating protection of animal habitats or trees, we are living our seventh Unitarian Universalist Principle. In the story, set in the Amazon Rainforest, a man is about to cut down a tree when he learns how many different animals depend upon it for their lives. The session highlights the unique animals and plants that live on this earth and helps participants understand the interdependence of all life.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Story — The Great Kapok Tree, A Tale of the Amazon Rainforest | 10 |
Activity 2: Shake-and-Make Animals | 20 |
Activity 3: Rainforest Life | 20 |
Faith in Action: Adopt a Rainforest | |
Closing | 5 |
Alternate Activity 1: The Great Kapok Tree Play | 20 |
Alternate Activity 2: Fish Kite | 20 |
Alternate Activity 3: Heart Ribbon Magnet | 5 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
It is often overlooked how precious each living thing is to all of us. We forget the tree that shelters animals or the plant that provides sustenance. Think about the animals and plants that are essential to your own life. When you sit down for a meal or take a walk, do you recognize how interdependent we are? How can you be more mindful of this interdependence? How can you help the children better understand those connections? Relax and make yourself ready to help participants discover their connection to all living things.
SESSION PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Use this activity when children arrive individually—that is, straggle in—before the session begins. Welcome each child as they enter. Invite them to take their ribbon stick from the container by the door and move to the large group area. Invite them to find the violet ribbon on their ribbon stick. Explain that violet is a kind of purple.
Invite the children to draw and color a picture of what they think is in a rainforest.
Including All Participants
Give a ribbon stick to any new child or visitor and write their name on it.
Provide wrist ribbons for children who are physically unable to wave a ribbon stick. Help attach wrist ribbons to wrists, legs, or fingers according to the mobility of the child.
Provide an accessible space at a work table for any child who is unable to sit at a chair.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
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 everyday. 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.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY, THE GREAT KAPOK TREE, A TALE OF THE AMAZON RAIN FOREST (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This story is about how a young man learned how much a whole forest depended on just one tree.
Gather the children to hear a story. Tell them you will read a story about a rainforest in the Amazon. Explain that the Amazon is in South America. Point it out on the map. Show where South America is in relation to where you live.
Read or tell the story. Then, process with these questions:
ACTIVITY 2: SHAKE-AND-MAKE ANIMALS (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants each create and name an imaginary animal. They imagine its habitat and consider what it needs to live.
Gather participants at work tables. Tell them each bowl contains a part of a real animal. One has heads, one has bodies, and the other has legs or wings. Invite the children to choose one picture from each bowl and arrange their three pictures to make an imaginary animal that does not really exist on earth.
Then, invite them to build the animal using clay and choose a name for the kind of animal they have made. Ask them to think about what their animal eats and what kind of habitat it lives in. Explain, as needed, that a habitat is the environment where a living creature is at home and has everything it needs to survive.
When everyone has finished, gather participants to share. Ask each child their animal's name. Have them describe its size, color(s), habitat (where it lives), diet, and any other needs or habits.
After everyone who wants to has shared, ask:
Including All Participants
Some participants may need help shaping their animal with clay. Others may welcome help thinking of names for the animal. During the sharing time, help participants describe their animal if needed.
ACTIVITY 3: RAINFOREST LIFE (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants make a rainforest tree and populate it with animals that depend on the tree.
Tell participants they will make a rainforest tree and populate it with the animals that live there. Pass out the brown rectangles to participants. Depending on the size of the group, each participant may receive more than one rectangle. Ask participants to glue the rectangles on the cardboard box, inside the outline of the tree trunk. The different shades of brown will give the trunk a bark-like appearance; have participants glue them randomly within the outline.
Then, distribute green leaves and ask participants to glue them on the cardboard along the top, to make the treetop. Tell them this is the rainforest canopy.
Once the tree is completed, pass out animals so that each participant has one animal. Duplicates are fine. Invite the children participants to glue their animals to the part of the tree where those animals live. Ask:
Including All Participants
For younger participants or participants with physical limitations, ask other participants or leaders to help place items where they belong.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Description of Activity
Invite everyone to gather in a circle and hold hands. Start by squeezing the hand to your right and saying: "Today I found love, today I gave love." Lead the group to move the hand squeeze around the circle until everyone has had a chance to say the words.
Then, invite the group to unclasp hands lead them to say the closing words in unison:
Be good to yourself.
Be excellent to others.
Do everything with love.
Including All Participants
If participants do not want to hold hands, invite them to just say the words to the person to their right. If needed, repeat the words aloud with each child.
FAITH IN ACTION: ADOPT A RAINFOREST
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This activity will help participants understand the real need of saving our rainforests and give them an opportunity to educate others. Gather participants together to decide what project they would like to fund. Once you have decided, help participants make posters to advertise your fundraising and decorate a can or box for people can fill with financial donations. Consider using your cardboard tree for advertising. Decorate posters with rainforest animals and an explanation of the actual project you have chosen. Hang posters throughout the church and establish a deadline for collecting funds. Advertise in congregational communications including announcements in worship; consider taking a special collection for your project during a service. At the end of your fundraiser, publicize how much money was raised. Publicize a "Thank you" to donors. Send the donation to the appropriate location, as indicated on the website.
Including All Participants
Pair children with limited abilities with others to make posters and a collection container. Be sure all participants have an opportunity to help decide the particular rainforest project they would like to fund.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Think about the participants who participated in the session today. Did they learn what it means to be interconnected? Were participants able to identify why caring for the earth is important not only to animals but to themselves? Does anyone need more assistance in crafts? Are there participants who could help others? Reflect on your effectiveness in presenting this week.
TAKING IT HOME
It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever. — Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States
IN TODAY'S SESSION... the participants learned about the Unitarian Universalist principle about caring for our planet Earth and every living thing that shares it with us. We read a story about how the animals in a rainforest convinced someone how important even one tree can be their existence. This session demonstrated how we are all interconnected and as human beings, we have the responsibility to care for the earth and everything on it.
EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Participants learned about some specific rainforest animals. Ask your child about the unusual and exotic animals that live in the rainforest and what they can remember about them. Have them share with the entire family.
EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Ask family members what places or animals on earth they are concerned about. How can your family find out more? Explore the Internet or the local library together.
Family Adventure. What kinds of animal rescue agencies are located near you? Are there animal shelters or perhaps a raptor center nearby? Are there any wildlife rehabilitation centers nearby? Visit one to see how your family can help these animals, such as donating food or towels. After your visit, discuss the experience. How did everyone feel about the visit? Was it difficult to see the animals? Is there something that you could do to minimize the need for such organizations? What did you learn?
Family Discovery. Go to the World Wildlife Fund (at www.wwf.org/) website and find out what animals are endangered. Choose an animal that the entire family is interested in. Find out more about that animal and identify things to do every day to help save that animal. Consider "adopting" this animal or check out a local zoo to see if they have adopt-an-animal opportunities to help the wild cousins of their endangered residents.
A Family Game. Charades: Ask every family member to write the name of an unusual animal on a piece of paper and fold it up and put in a bowl. Each person picks a paper and acts out the animal and until other family members guess what it is. The person who wrote the animal may not guess, but if they get their own animal they can act it out. You cannot talk or give letter clues (e.g., using your fingers to shape an "L" for "lion"). Pair adults or older children with younger children, if appropriate.
A Family Ritual. For a specified period of time, choose books about animals to read before bed. Have different family members take turns reading aloud.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: THE GREAT KAPOK TREE PLAY (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Preparing a play for one another, another religious education group, parents, or a wider audience helps the participants take a more active role in the story and helps them identify with the animals. This play could be used as the children's story during an earth day service or other special occasion such as a Blessing of the Animals.
Ask participants to each take a picture and cut it out and glue it to a piece of card stock. Help them glue each card stock picture to a wooden stick.
Assign parts of the play to participants and leaders.
Perform the play with each participant holding up their character stick as they speak.
Including All Participants
If you have non-readers, they can hold the character stick while another participant does the reading. If you have more participants than parts to play, you can have more than one character stick per character.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: FISH KITE (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants make fish kites to symbolize our care for the all living creatures.
Ask participants to place one sheet of paper on top of the other and draw one long fish shape on the top sheet. Then have each child cut out their fish from both sheets of paper at the same time to make two, identical fish. Then invite them to color the fish in bright colors in any way they like. Remind them to give the fish an eye and scales.
Help them each glue their two fish together along one long edge of the fish. Fold in about one inch of the paper along the mouth part of the fish so that the fold faces into the fish. Glue or tape the piper cleaner inside the fold, leaving the ends sticking out each side. Fold the pipe cleaner and glue the bottom long side of the fish closed until you hit the tail. The tail should be left open.
After the glue has dried, shape the pipe cleaner into a circle to make the mouth of the fish. Attach the strings to the mouth with tape and attach the other end of the strings to the yardstick. (Knot the string to the yardstick yourself to make sure it is secure.)
If feasible, bring children outdoors and have them hold up their fish and walk quickly to see them "fly."
Remind participants that every living thing deserves a space on earth and this fish can remind them of the color and beauty of all animals.
Including All Participants
Help children who need assistance drawing, gluing, and inserting the pipe cleaner. If a participant is unable to walk quickly to watch their fish fly, ask another participant to do it for them so they can see their fish in the air.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 3: HEART RIBBON MAGNET (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Ribbons added in colors associated with the Principles help kindergarten and first graders learn the Principles.
This activity connects the color violet and the seventh Principle as children complete their Heart Ribbon Magnets to take home at the close of the program.
Invite children to find the Heart Ribbon Magnet they have been working on and sit at work tables. Tell them the violet ribbon represents the seventh UU Principle, "We believe in caring for our planet Earth and every living thing that shares it with us." Demonstrate how to fold a length of violet ribbon in half, push the folded end into the hole on the side of the heart next to the indigo ribbon, and insert the two loose ends of violet ribbon through the loop formed by the folded end. Pull the violet ribbon through tightly.
Help any new children or visitors begin a Heart Ribbon Magnet, following instructions in Session 2, Alternate Activity 1, and add all seven colors of ribbon. Have all participants check that they have all seven colors. If they are missing any of the ribbons, give them the colors they need to add to their magnet. Invite them to take the magnets home at the close of this session.
Including All Participants
Partner a very young child with an older child who can help them.
LOVE SURROUNDS US: SESSION 14:
STORY: THE GREAT KAPOK TREE, A TALE OF THE AMAZON RAIN FOREST
Book by Lynne Cherry (A Gulliver Green Book), (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990); permission pending.
Two men walked into the rain forest. Moments before, the forest had been alive with the sounds of squawking birds and howling monkeys. Now all was quiet as the creatures watched the two men and wondered why they had come. The larger man stopped and pointed to a great Kapok tree. Then he left.
The smaller man took an ax he carried and struck the trunk of the tree. Whack! Whack! Whack! The sounds of the blows rang through the forest. The wood of the tree was very hard. Chop! Chop! Chop! The man wiped off the sweat that ran down his face and neck. Whack! Chop! Whack! Chop! Soon the man grew tired. He sat down to rest at the foot of the great Kapok tree. Before he knew it, the heat and hum of the forest had lulled him to sleep.
A boa constrictor lived in the Kapok tree. He slithered down its trunk to where the man was sleeping. He looked at the gash the ax had made in the tree. Then the huge snake slid very close to the man and hissed in his ear: "Senhor, this tree is a tree of miracles. It is my home, where generations of my ancestors have lived. Do not chop it down."
A bee buzzed in the sleeping man's ear: "Senhor, my hive is in this Kapok tree, and I fly from tree to tree and flower to flower collecting pollen. In this way I pollinate the trees and flowers throughout the rain forest. You see, all living things depend on one another."
A troupe of monkeys scampered down from the canopy of the Kapok tree. They chattered to the sleeping man: "Senhor, we have seen the ways of man. You chop down one tree, then come back for another and another. The roots of these great trees will wither and die, and there will be nothing left to hold the earth in place. When the heavy rains come, the soil will be washed away and the forest will become a desert."
A toucan, a macaw, and a cock-of-the-rock flew down from the canopy. "Senhor!" squawked the toucan, "you must not cut down this tree. We have flown over the rain forest and seen what happens once you begin to chop down the trees. Many people settle on the land. They set fires to clear the underbrush, and soon the forest disappears. Where once there was life and beauty only black and smoldering ruins remain."
A bright and small tree frog crawled along the edge of a leaf. In a squeaky voice he piped in the man's ear: "Senhor, a ruined rain forest means ruined lives... many ruined lives. You will leave many of us homeless if you chop down this great Kapok tree.
A jaguar had been sleeping along a branch in the middle of the tree. Because his spotted coat blended into the dappled light and shadows of the understory, no one had noticed him. Now he leapt down and padded silently over to the sleeping man. He growled in his ear: "Senhor, the Kapok tree is home to many birds and animals. If you cut it down, where will I find my dinner?"
Four tree porcupines swung down from branch to branch and whispered to the man: "Senhor, do you know what we animals need in order to live? Oxygen. And, Senhor, do you know what trees produce? Oxygen! If you cut down the forests you will destroy that which gives us all life."
Several anteaters climbed down the Kapok tree with their young clinging to their backs. The unstriped anteater said to the sleeping man: "Senhor, you are chopping down this tree with no thought for the future. And surely you know that what happens tomorrow depends upon what you do today. The big man tells you to chop down a beautiful tree. He does not think of his own children, who tomorrow must live in a world without trees."
A three-toed sloth had begun climbing down from the canopy when the men first appeared. Only now did she reach the ground. Plodding ever so slowly over to the sleeping man, she spoke in her deep and lazy voice: "Senhor, how much is beauty worth? Can you live without it? If you destroy the beauty of the rain forest, on what would you feast your eyes?"
A child from the Yanomamo tribe who lived in the rain forest knelt over the sleeping man. He murmured in his ear: "Senhor, when you awake, please look upon us all with new eyes."
The man awoke with a start. Before him stood the rain forest child, and all around him, staring, were the creatures who depended upon the great Kapok tree. What wondrous and rare animals they were!
The man looked about and saw the sun streaming through the canopy. Spots of bright light glowed like jewels amidst the dark green forest. Strange and beautiful plants seemed to dangle in the air, suspended from the great Kapok tree. The man smelled the fragrant perfume of their flowers. He felt the steamy mist rising from the forest floor. But he heard no sound, for the creatures were strangely silent.
The man stood and picked up his ax. He swung back his arm as though to strike the tree. Suddenly he stopped. He turned and looked at the animals and the child. He hesitated. Then he dropped the ax and walked out of the rain forest.
LOVE SURROUNDS US: SESSION 14:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: ANIMALS FOR SHAKE-AND-MAKE
LOVE SURROUNDS US: SESSION 14:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: AMAZON ANIMALS
FIND OUT MORE
Rainforest Animals and Habitats
Download a booklet to print out (at www.enchantedlearning.com/books/animals/rainforest/) on the Enchanted Learning website.
Find information on the Rainforest Animals website (at www.rainforestanimals.net/).
The organization Rainforest SOS (at www.rainforestsos.org/) has information on rainforests and preservation.
The Rainforest Alliance (at www.rainforest-alliance.org/) website offers projects and stories for children.
Picture Books on Rainforests
Two are A Walk in the Rainforest by Kristin Joy Pratt (Nevada City, CA, Dawn Publications 1992) and Jaguar by Helen Cowcher (New York, Scholastic, 1997).