First Opening prayer - The Spiritist Volunteer will bring the book LEARNING HOW TO PRAY - A BOOK OF PRAYERS FOR CHILDREN by Elsa Rossi. The following story will be told:
Prayer for My Ill Dog
Dear Jesus, my dog is ill and Mum doesn’t let me be close to him until he gets better.
I love him so much and ask my friend Jesus to help my little dog get better soon.
Mum said he is seriously ill, but I trust that you will help him in the best way.
Thank you Jesus for helping my dog.
The Spiritist worker will introduce a box of prayer after the story and will ask for one child to volunteer himself/herself to read the prayer for the class. Please ask the child to say his/her words as well, as to complement the opening prayer.
Second: Welcome the children into the session. Say how happy we are to see them there and how important they are for the class. Play hot potato game with the children. When the music stops the child who is holding the hot potato will need to say what is his/her favourite animal. Ask them to copy the sound this animal makes. Example: ‘My name is John and I love cats. Meow. Meow. Meow.’.
Third: Sing songs together; get the children to remain standing but in a circle.
I am a child of God
I am a child of God (2xs)
I am a Spirit living on Earth.
I am a child of God (2xs)
I reincarnated to learn to do good.
Reincarnation, the path of progress,
Reincarnation, the way to become good.
+++ sing other songs from the songs’ list as per attached here.
Fourth: Get the children to sit down into a circle. Tell them the story called: A Special Present. Please see here below suggested drawings, taken from the internet, to be used to tell the story.
Fifth: Ask the children questions about the story:
* Who created the animals?
* How do the animals react to the way they are treated? Do animals ever become sad or happy? Are they sensitive to the treatment they receive from human beings?
* Everyone who owns a pet is the responsible for them. The owners have to care for their pets by feeding them and being kind to them.
* The animals have an important role in our lives because they are also creatures of God. We are deemed responsible for the way we treat them.
* We should treat all animals respectfully. We cannot abandon them on the streets when they grow old or get sick.
* Ask the children: Who has pets? How do you treat your animals?
* What’s your favourite animal?
Sixth: Show the following video, which can be found on YouTube from Educational Videos for Toddlers: Bumble Baby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJTNT6VgpJY.
Ask the children to repeat after the video, to learn new names of different animals. What sounds do these animals make?
Seventh: Ask the children to draw their favourite animal. Ask them what sound does this animal do. Get them to listen to the video called The Animal Sounds from KidsTV123. Get them to mimic the sounds of the animals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t99ULJjCsaM.
Eighth: Prepare the class for the story:
Jesus was a very kind man who lived in Earth 2000 years ago. He was a very good hearted person who helped and healed a lot of people. He taught a lot as well, and much of his teachings were done via stories. These are called parables. One of his parables was about a very important animal back in those days: a sheep. He told people a parable called The Parable of the Lost Sheep, because he valued animals very much:
Once upon a time there was a shepherd who looked after a hundred sheep. He loved them very much. He looked after them so well, as if they were their children. He used to care for their food, their accommodation and also welfare. He took them for long walks every day, letting them play in the grass and enjoy the wind blowing on their faces. He used to take them out to the field early in the day and bring them back late in the afternoon to the sheep pen. One day, when he was counting them, he realised there was a sheep missing! How come? What happened to that sheep? A sheep got lost from the rest of the group, during the day!! He felt quite sad. He decided to go and search for the lost sheep. He decided to leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it. He searched, and searched and searched…. And then he found it! And when he found it, he joyfully put the sheep on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me;
I have found my lost sheep.’
Ninth: Show the following videos to the children:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKnU6m1bFmc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY7bKyhHGVM.
Tenth: Give each child a sheep animal colouring page and ask them to glue cotton wool on it. This picture was taken from the internet.
Eleventh: Puppets’ healing therapy theatre: The puppet Marisa will bring her friend John to join the Kindergarten. He’s a little boy who used to love eating candies but had to be taken to the doctor to be treated. John’s mom also decided to bring him to the Spiritist centre for healing, which also helped him to recover. Marisa will ask the kids some questions about the healing; like the benefits of taking it, as well as examples of how we should behave during this moment.
Twelfth: Get the children to help cleaning the room; one of the children will do a closing prayer; encourage the children to volunteer for this task. If they don’t want to collaborate we could say we will follow the letters of the alphabet. The child’s name that starts with the letter A will do the opening prayer this time. Everybody will have the chance to collaborate.
Thirteenth: Please see here below suggested activities to be handed over to the children as homework, taken from http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/animals.
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/colour_by_numbers_cow.pdf.
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/cow_colouring_page.pdf.
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/cow_colouring_page.pdf.
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/dot_to_dot_dog_numbers_0.pdf.
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/dot_to_dot_rabbit_numbers.pdf.
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/sites/default/files/pdf/sheep_dot_to_dot.pdf.
Closing prayer
Class suggested being suitable for: Nursery (3 to 4 years old) and Kindergarten (5 to 6 years old).
Spiritist teacher: Carolina von Scharten, London, linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.
