Opening prayer
First: Each Spiritist teacher should initially say their names, how long they have taught Spiritism and why. Get the children to then introduce themselves, saying their name, how long they have been coming to Spiritist education classes and why they participate at these sessions.
Second: Ask the children if they noticed something different about the teachers’ clothing after they presented themselves.
Note: The Spiritist teachers must be dressed in aprons and hats for cooking. Please take a cardboard box with the design of a stove and place it in the room, before the children’s arrival. Please place a real cake, inside the box, before starting this lesson, to be served at the end of class. Make sure the children don’t realise there’s a real cake inside the ‘stove’.
Say that today we will be cooks and we'll make a cake, that’s called CAKE OF HAPPINESS. In order to get it right, everyone will have to work together and each child will need to bring an ingredient for this to work. Ask them to pick up the ingredients from under their chairs.
Note: The ingredients should be small pieces of coloured paper with the feeling/attitudes listed below or others that the Spiritist teacher finds important, written on them. Please make sure they are attached/glued to the bottom of the chairs before this lesson begins, without the children noticing.
Third: The Spiritist teacher should take a bowl and spoon to mix the ingredients and place it on top of the table. Read the recipe and get the children to ‘reach out the ingredients’ (respect, humility, union, etc.). The Spiritist teachers can make comments about the ingredients if deemed necessary. Tell the children they must memorize their ingredient because they will need to remember it later.
Click here to get to know the recipe for the “CAKE OF HAPPINESS”. Highlight that if everyone follows the recipe, we will be happy and have great Spiritist meetings.
Fourth: Once all the ingredients are mixed, a Spiritist teacher asks another if the cake mould has been greased (oil has been applied to it). This Spiritist teacher will then answer yes and that the oven has already been heated. Please place the "dough" in the “stove”, telling students that the cake will bake for a few minutes.
Note: Please make sure there’s plenty space inside the oven to place the dish with the "cake" in a way that the children don’t realize that there’s in fact a real cake inside the "cooker".
Fifth: Each child will receive a doll to paint. Ask them to write in the doll’s heart the name of the "ingredient" that they introduced to the "Happiness Cake". Please get all these drawings collected which will then be used to prepare a poster that should be placed on the room door to recognise this children’s class. The suggested title for the poster is: RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE – CAKE OF HAPPINESS.
Click here to find suggested drawings taken from the internet.
Obs.: distribute the recipe for the “CAKE OF HAPPINESS” to the children, so they can glue it to their notebooks.
Sixth: ask if they can smell something; a delicious smell... "I think it's our cake, shall we have a look?” Get the real cake from the imaginary stove and say that this came from the recipe that we had just made.
Seventh: Celebrate with the children, wishing everyone a great year. Tell them that Jesus counts on each one of them to assist the transformation of our planet into a better world to live, where there is peace and respect for all beings.
Closing prayer
Class suggested being suitable for: 1st (7 to 8 years old), 2nd (9 to 10 years old) and 3rd Cycles (11 to 12 years old).
Spiritist teachers: Camila, Emanuelle and Juliana – Spiritist Centre Caminho da Prece.
Translation: Carolina von Scharten, London, Sir William Crookes Spiritist Society linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.
