First: Opening prayer; get the children to repeat after the Spiritist volunteer. As weeks go by the Spiritist volunteers should 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 as the weeks unfold. The child’s name that starts with the letter B will do the closing prayer at the end of the session.
Second: Welcome the children into the session. Say how happy we are to see them there and how important they are for the class. Sing songs together; get the children to remain standing but in a circle.
Hello my friend,
Let’s learn and play,
We will learn about Jesus all night long!
Good morning
Good morning, good morning, good morning (say the name of one of the children)
I am so happy today. Hooray!
Good morning, good morning, good morning (say the name of one of the children)
My heart wants to say
Good morning, good morning, good morning (say the name of one of the children)
Let's all sing and play
For Nature is so beautiful and wise
Teaches us to love every day
+++ repeat this song if necessary, as every child should hear their name being sang; this will help the children to feel integrated into the group)
+++ sing other songs from the songs’ list as per attached here.
+++ please find an additional list of songs attached here.
Third: Get the children to sit down into a circle. Tell the children the story called Raffie, the Giraffe by Célia Xavier Camargo. Get stuffed animals to play the different characters of the story. This will keep the children engaged as the story unfolds.
Fourth: Ask the children.
* What’s the lesson we can learn from the story?
* What’s our physical body?
* Do our bodies look the same? Although we all have a physical body, each one has a unique body as we are all unique in God’s eyes.
* What was Raffie, the Giraffe able to do with her neck? She managed to help her friends who were in danger due to the size of her neck.
* What about our neck? What other parts do we have in our physical body? Listen to their answers.
* Can you point a part of your physical body? Do you know how it’s called? Get them to point to different parts of their bodies.
* What have our arms been created for? What can we do with our arms? We can use our arms to carry things, to hug our friends and family.
* What about our fingers? Can you show me what we can do with our fingers? We can use our fingers to be creative, such as colour papers and crafts, use fork and knife to feed ourselves, hold an object, etc.
* What about our eyes, mouth, nose? Let them to think that all parts of the physical body are important.
* Who gave us our physical body? God did. Our bodies are a gift from our Divine Father for our learning and growth.
Fifth: Distribute the picture found here, as well as colourful pens, to the children. Please note this picture was taken from the internet. The Spiritist volunteer will give instructions to the children on how to colour their drawing.
Ask them: We will now do an exercise together. I will give you the instructions on how to complete this exercise. Are you ready?
* 1st instruction: colour his hair in brown.
* 2nd instruction: colour his hands in yellow.
* 3nd instruction: colour his heart in red.
* 4nd instruction: colour his shoes in green.
* 5th instruction: colour his legs in black.
* 6th instruction: colour his tummy in blue.
* 7th instruction: colour his ears in orange.
* 8th instruction: colour his face in yellow.
* 9th instruction: colour his mouth in red.
* Name this little boy and share his name with the others.
Sixth: Get the children to stand up. Ask them to form a circle. The Spiritist volunteer will tell them what they need to do and the children will need to repeat after him. Please make sure the Spiritist volunteer does the activity as well to engage the children into the task.
* Walk (please make sure you walk very slowly)
* Walk fast
* Run in the same spot
* Jump
* Waive
* Shake legs
* Shake arms
* Shake legs and arms at the same time
* Smile
* Open and close eyes
* Stretch
* Shake head from side to side
* Sit down
* Stand up
* Sit down
* Stand up
* Hug the person on the right
* Hug the person on the left
* Jump with both feet together
* Laugh out loud
Seventh: Get the children to do small actions that involve their arms, legs, feet.
Ask them: What can we do with our arms? We can waive bye-bye (get all children to wave bye-bye).
Ask them: What else can we do with our arms? We can touch our feet (get all children to touch their feet).
Ask them: What can we do with our fingers? We can shake hands (get all children to shake hands).
Ask them: What else can we do with our fingers? We can brush our teeth (get all children to pretend they are brushing their teeth).
The Spiritist volunteer could also get the children to give some ideas and talk about the following parts of the physical body: mouth, knee, forehead, cheek, nose, ear, etc
Eighth: Get the children to sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Place both hands on parts of body as they are mentioned. On second time speed up, and get faster with each verse.
Head, shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes.
Head, shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes.
And eyes, and ears, and mouth,
And nose.
Head, shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes.
Ninth: Get the children to help cleaning the room.
Closing prayer - 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.
Please find two activities that can be given to the children as homework, taken from the internet.
Option 1 for younger children.
Option 2 for older children (6 years old).
Class suggested being suitable for: Nursery (3 to 4 years old) and Kindergarten (5 to 6 years old).
Spiritist volunteer: Carolina von Scharten, London, linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.
