Telling Time Together

There was a helpful question in the comments on my post Teaching My Children to Tell Time.  In short, the question was: what does it mean to live the church year if it isn't part of your tradition?  Is it something you need the church to support or can it be something you do alone?

The answer to this question is quite complex and something I would love to delve into at some point.   But the short answer is that while having a church community celebrating the church year together is ideal, I do believe it is something a family can do on their own.  I know families who are in churches that only celebrate Christmas and Easter; and yet these families live out the church year more fully at home.  Faith development happens primarily in the home and not at church.  The church is an important, even crucial part of faith development, yet home is the space where most of life happens and the foundations for faith are laid.

Our church is Episcopalian, but is also evangelical; so it is made of a unique mix of people from various backgrounds.  The banners change colors in front of our church, but many congregants would look at a circle of the church year and have no idea what they were looking at or why it would matter.   Others are outright skeptical of adding this extra-biblical element to the life of our church.  And while I love the church year, I don't think you need the church year.  It is fine to go through your spiritual life without it.  It simply has been the best tool I have found for orienting our lives around the biblical story and I cannot imagine life without it at this point.  It works so very well for us and we love the connection with the historical church. 

I am truly blessed to have friends at church who are also excited about living the church year intentionally.  And I am also blessed to have friends who are intrigued, happy to learn more and who will come along for a craft night, even if they aren't sure what it is they are making.

A friend organized a little get together to make wall hangings of the church year for in our homes and one for the godly play room.  Seven women came and with some good coupons and sharing the expense they cost around $5 a banner.  It is certainly a project where many hands make light work.  Some women cut while others glued and ten of these came together in a couple hours.  It was a lovely night of being together and working at something that will hopefully be meaningful in our individual homes and our life together as a community. 

Crafting Notes::

The burlap (we used a blue tone) is cut into 24 x 21 inch rectangles.  After the top is turned over to make a casing for a stick to hang the circle the completed banner is a 21 inch square.  I used a running stitch with embroidery thread to make the casing, others used the machine.

The tan wool-blend felt is cut in an 18 inch circle.  It is important to use felt so the arrow will stick in place while hanging on the wall.

The wedge shaped pieces that represent the weeks of the year are cut of wool blend felt.

The arrow is black wool-blend felt with a button hole cut at the end.  The button hole goes over a button you sew to the center of the circle.

We used clear tacky glue to put everything together.  Do be careful though if you use burlap as it goes right through.  Don't let your banner dry to the table.

The stick was found in my yard and the hanging string is off a large spool of jute twine that is an essential item on my crafting shelves.

*If I were to do it again I would make the wedge shaped pieces that represent the weeks slightly smaller and put them about a cm farther in from the outer edge of the circle.  I would then use a running stitch or blanket stitch to attach the circle to the burlap.

Happy Crafting!

The Church Year Puzzle

A couple years ago I wanted to use my birthday money to purchase a circle of the church year for our home.  I debated and debated whether to buy the godly play one or this more puzzle like version.  I'm really grateful that I chose the puzzle version.  My fear was that the godly play one, which is perfect in a classroom where children are supervised and are old enough to put it back together, would either have pieces lost or would have to primarily be kept up where toddlers couldn't reach it.  The puzzle version has so many less pieces so it can be tucked under the couch and is available for work whenever the boys want.  And my fears of lost pieces were well founded, I have on occasion found the pieces of the puzzle being used as swords or tucked with other toys somewhere in the house, but they are large and easy to find and I'm not hunting down 52 tiny rectangles!   After two years, one piece has a small chip, but nothing is missing.  The puzzle also self checks a bit more than the godly play version as many of the pieces only fit in one way so a young child can work with it alone and be truly seeing how the days fit together.  This is really a lovely resource for the home and a great way for children to play with the church year.  I purchased this puzzle from Faith Alive Resources, but don't see it on their website currently.

I love the shapes as they are an extra reminder of the three great sundays and helps the boys remember what the colors mean when I'm not working with them.

The star piece has a small chip and that piece in particular is hard to get in and out.  I'm afraid one day it might snap when small fingers are trying to get it out, but so far so good.  

My photo helper.  This boy loves the camera!

Clipping the Church Year

I remember taking pictures of this when I first made it.  In those photos it is on moving boxes that are about to be shipped to the US from Scotland.  In searching the blog I've realized those photos, which are on some hard drive somewhere, never made it to the blog.  It doesn't surprise me.  That was a very busy time for us and there are so many things I have photographed and that haven't made it to this space in the past few years.

Honestly, this has never been a popular work option, in Scotland or at St. Matthews (where our home copy is residing on the practical life shelves for the time being).  There really isn't much to it, but I loved the idea when I came across it here.  I used it a couple weeks ago with the children as we began our feast to review the colors of the church year and they really enjoyed taking turns finding and clipping the seasons.  

My version is laminated heavy watercolor paper with water colored clothespins.  

Repost:: Godly Play Circle of the Church Year

This is from the very first weeks of my teaching Godly Play.  I had read most of the theory before this and had been implementing what I could at home.  It is fun to look back and see where we have come.  I'm told Godly Play is still happening at our church in St. Andrews and now we have brought it to St. Matthews.  

And look at that precious three-year-old Jonah at the end of the post.  Isaac is wearing those same trousers today (though they look a lot more worn three boys in!)  This was written three days before Rowan was born; he turned six earlier this month.

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Three weeks ago we began the preschool godly play worship center at church. So far it has gone well. I'm excited about this montessori based curriculum and have been really impressed with the theology of Jerome Berryman, who wrote the curriculum and the book "Godly Play" (in which he has chapters on a theology of childhood and imagination!)

 I've been eyeing up the beautiful wooden puzzles of the church year, but I can't afford them. So for our first week of Godly Play at the church I used two pieces of cardboard and made our own circle of the church year. I loved teaching the lesson on the 'great green growing sundays' (aka: ordinary time), the four purple weeks of advent - waiting for the mystery of Christmas, the six purple weeks of Lent - waiting for the greater mystery of Easter, Easter - which is so great it spills into six more white Sundays and then red hot Pentecost! The kids loved it and Jonah keeps talking about 'hot Pentecost' and has been noticing all the green at the front of the sanctuary for the first time.

Daubing the Church Year

Isaac was given some daubers recently and the boys (and their friends) have been having a fabulous time with them.  It really is a fun way to work with paint when you don't want to smock up and have lots of mess afterward.  All this daubing gave me an idea.  

Generally in Godly Play we don't have crafts that you put together in a particular way.  But, the church year lesson does suggest you have materials for the children to make their own circle of the year.  I've done this in the past by having them glue bits and pieces, but this time we made a work option of daubing the church year.  Bingo Daubers can be used, we used the colors from this set and then used old postage stamp glue bottles dipped in paint for the white.  Alternatively, you can buy a set that you fill with Tempera paint like this.  (One of these sets is now on our Godly Play wish list.)

The prep is a bit intensive.  It took a friend and I two hours to make 15, but we were also figuring it out as we went,.  It would go quicker if we were to do it again (or if we had instructions which I'm providing for you below.)  It doesn't take the students long to finish the circle, and the children who chose this work option seemed to really enjoy it.

My boys didn't chose this work option, so I brought a couple home as I knew they would love making one.  They did!

For this work option you need::

Daubers (and paint if you are filling your own)

Floor Paper from the hardware store (a large roll can be purchased for around $10 - we made 15 and still have most of the roll left)

An 18 inch circle (We traced around a presentation bowl)

Markers in the colors of the church year 

 A white-out pen if you have one (I used a q-tip and white paint)

Red and White card stock for arrows 

Brads (I used a button and thick wire on the ones we did at home)

hole punch

To prepare::

1. Use a pencil to trace your 18 inch circle.  Cut your paper in a generous square around the circle 

2. Dip a dauber lid into black paint and stamp 52 circles on the outside of the circle. (Tracing a quarter would be the same size)

3. Using markers and white-out pen place a small dot of the colors of the church year in the 52 circles (4 purple, 1 White, 9 Green, 6 purple, 7 white, 1 red, 24 green).  With older children you can skip this step and let them follow an example.  

4. Cut two white and one red arrow for each circle.  I made mine 2 cm wide. 

5. Punch holes at the ends of the arrows

During the work time::

1. The student adds his or her arrows by putting them on the brad.  Then they push the brad through the center of the circle (you may need to help with this bit.)

2.  The student daubs the colors on the proper circles (a bit like paint by number)

Teaching my Children to Tell Time

Godly Play Circle of the Church Year

We are temporal creatures so very aware of the passing of time.  It intrigues me to watch each of my boys as they discover time.  Long before they can speak they seem to acquire a sense of past, present and future.  When they do begin to speak, tomorrow means anytime in the future and then at some point they understand that Christmas is not tomorrow and that Easter is even farther away.  Helping them to navigate this temporal development is so very important.  I love the emphasis alternative forms of education place on navigating time together by being in nature and celebrating the seasons, which grounds our children in time by the changing cycle of the natural world.  And along with the four seasons we have been so excited to teach our boys to tell time by the church year.

When Rowan entered K4 last year I realized that he had a hazy understanding of the months of the year.  However, he could easily explain the circle of the church year, telling about how the year begins at Advent and goes through Christmas and Great Green Growing Sundays.  He could explain that Lent was longer than Advent because Easter is an even greater mystery than Christmas.  Easter is so great that it spills into six more weeks and he delights in sharing about "Red Hot" Pentecost (which includes a lot of silliness and ouches as he pretends to be burnt by the heat of this day). 

I've been thinking a lot about the church year and why we have chosen to make it so central in our home.  I think the crux of it is a belief that if I can teach my boys to tell time by the weeks and seasons of the church year, whatever path they chose in life this great story that they are part of will stay close to who they are.  The very passing of time will be tied to God, his great story and his kingdom.  I'm not saying that means that they will chose to walk a path of faith or that the church year is going to make them Christians.  Indeed not.  In fact, it is when I hear stories of prodigals that it gives me comfort to know that whatever rebellious, dangerous or lonely path my boys may find themselves on, they will never enter December without remembering that this is Advent, a time to get ready for the mystery of Christmas; the birth of the Savior.  It gives me such hope to know that when they see plastic Easter eggs in the grocery store aisle they may remember that Easter is such a great mystery that it spills into six weeks of Alleluias.  "He is Risen; he is Risen Indeed" will surface in their memory.  I pray these seasonal changes will jog memories of the warm and celebratory moments our family shares as we walk through the biblical story together each year.  I pray that these memories will stir up the faith and trust I see in their young hearts now, and remind them of the goodness of being part of the kingdom of God, which is already here, though it is not yet fully realized.

So what does it mean to create a liturgy of our days that is tied to this other way of telling time?  How is it that my four year old knew more about the circle of the church year than he did the calendar?  There are lots of little things we do to celebrate the church year. We are intentional explaining why things in our home are changing colors and why new seasonal activities are added.  Over the next couple weeks, I'll be sharing some of the things we have tried. But even more important then the seasonal decorations and activities is my own journey towards a reoriented understanding of time. The church year has truly become the way I think of our days and months falling together.  And because of this,the very passing of time continues to draw me deeper into the great story we are all part of and into the coming kingdom.  

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Creating a Space for Godly Play

When we decided to begin Godly Play at St. Matthews this spring, one of the first hurdles was finding a space. Our church has a wonderful education wing, but as it is used by preschool classes during the week, the large classrooms are full, fun, quite busy and not conducive to godly play.  So we were given a little room upstairs that is unused.  It fits a storyteller, door person and up to eight preschoolers really well.  With any more it is pretty cramped when we spread out at work time, but for now it is working and very cozy.  

Godly Play is exceptional because everything that happens in Godly Play is intentionaly creates space for right-relationship with God, Others, Self, and Creation.  There is space for the children to learn about and talk to God.  There is space for them to think on their own and to create their own response to God's story and work.  There is space to wonder and feast with others.  And, there is space to care for the physical space that they have been given. (I particularly love that learning to be stewards of the place  is an integral part of Godly Play, perhaps because this is absent in most other approaches to christian education.)  

Creating a beautiful, simple, and intentional physical place is a crucial step to creating a hospitable space where relationships with God, others, self and creation can flourish.  I am very grateful for our little room and am excited to see it grow and develop.  We are committed to keeping it calm (not lots hanging on walls or competing for the children's attention), natural (as they are working on stewarding this space it it also important that we are being gentle with the whole of creation with the materials, supplies and decorations we choose) and comfortable (Montessori had such a lovely vision for keeping furniture child sized and materials accessible so the students are free and independent in the space.)

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Here we are moving our few things into the room in Januray.  I love the windows and the wall color. 

A family donated an children's table and chairs and we found a small table in storage at the church that works as a kneeling table. 

There were small shelves in the room that we are using for art supplies.   We attempted to buy quality supplies and keep them as natural as possible.  Prisma Colored Pencils and Watercolor Pencils, Pens, Stockmar Beeswax Stick Crayons, homemade playdough, scissors, Ticonderoga #2 pencils, prang watercolors, clipboards, watercolor paper, white cardstock, and sleeved smocks all made the cut this first round.  On top of the shelves are the children's folders if they want to leave their work to complete another Sunday.

Our first material purchases were the circle of the church year and the core parables.  The nativity set beside these shelves was found at church, I'm happy it has found a home and is being used.

We also bought the Haba Middle Eastern blocks; they have been a very popular choice for work each week.  The boys often make Jerusalem and tell fantastic stories!


We still haven't found what we want for the good shepherd, but we did buy this nativity (our parables are from Finland as well).  It took a very long time to get the supplies from Finland, but the workmanship is beautiful and I think having lovely materials goes a long way in saying that what we are doing in this space is important, and they are a constant reminder that we have been given a marvelous world to steward and that the physical stuff of this world is god-given and often precious.

We had cupcakes and red banners up for Pentecost.  It was quite the celebration and our last session before fall.  We have so much we want to do in the room and are hoping to take the summer to get things ready to offer Godly Play every week in the fall (Godly Play has been two Sundays a month this spring).


Looking at these photos reminds me of a myriad of projects we want to complete.  We need to find more shelves, we want to cover the cork board with a solid color (white?), there are more banners to be made, more materials to be purchased and created, a desert box that will need a home come fall, as well as, dreams of practical life shelves and a nature table.   I am so very grateful for a minister and a team of energetic volunteers who are willing to learn about Godly Play, how to lead it and to help to create this space where relationships can flourish!

Godly Play Banners

 I just finished the Easter banner for our godly play room at church. Technically it was finished in Eastertide, though it won't get hung this year. The good news is I finished the Pentecost banner too.   So we have the correct banner for a week.   

I worked with a friend on these and we were going for simple. The Easter banner was done by freezer paper painting with gold fabric paint on cotton (the only white I had on hand). The Pentecost banner is just paintbrush streets of paint on red fabric (sateen I think, someone gave me a big piece of it at some point). 

A Circle of the Church Year

My friend Corey emailed me a picture of the circle of the church year she made to use with her children a while ago.  It was so lovely I asked if I could share it here.  I'm inspired and do believe many of you might be as well.

While I love the church years with all the wooden pieces (like this one I painted for our church in St Andrews), it simply isn't practical in a home with small toddlers.  This is a lovely alternative.  I'd love to have something like this on our godly play shelves.  (That is if I can ever find some shelves that will work; on this one item the thrift stores have left me empty handed. I may just have to make them myself.)

Photo by Corey

Late Lenten Trays

I'm going with "better late than never" on this one.  I took these photos in lent, but they never made it to this space.  I had so many plans for our lent together this year, but they met with resistance, so it was a fine, though unremarkable lent.  The one project that was finished (though not used as much as I thought it would be) was to make some seasonal trays for Rowan to use while Jonah did his skill work during lent.  I found these little trays at hobby lobby and am thinking some chalk paint will make them something special one of these days, but for now, they are unfinished wood trays lined with seasonal scrapbook paper.  If you changed the colors, these trays could work for the season of Easter too.   

Word Building: I made this set last year and we used it in our godly play room at church for a work option.  Laminated watercolor paper with purple-painted wooden letters, they are simple and perfect for mister three, who is lately showing interest in letters and sounds.  I bought unpainted wooden letters for a couple dollars at a craft store in St. Andrews and traced them on the paper before drawing and water coloring the objects.

 Beading: Beads on pipe cleaners is a real favorite around here right now.  They are fun to string and then connect into long, long necklaces.

A Sensory Bag: I made the sack from the same fabric as our palm sunday underlay.  It is basically a drawstring bag, but instead of a string I used elastic at the top so an arm can slip in, but you can't see what is inside.  The idea is to don a blindfold mask and then reach in the bag and find an object.  I filled it with a lego, an egg, wooden bunny, small cross, piece of train track, and a wooden peg doll.  I would love to make a card with pictures of the different objects (maybe next year), but it works to have Mum say an object too.

I made these little blindfold masks a couple months ago and have been doing a few different sensory exercises with the boys.  They are fun exercises and are stemming from some research in helping the early cognitive child.  They help with motor and sensory skills that sometime are skipped when a child focuses on reading and other cognitive development earlier than most.  And mostly, I love that sensory games are always eagerly met because they are fun and different.

And, now I'm off to pack these little trays  before I go to bed; slow and steady we prepare for the move!

Marching into Holy Week (a few days ago)

 Don't mind the late post, I've just accepted the fact that I'm not going to have certain things organized until we are settled.  With the thought of a new home looming, I'm getting more creative motivation in the past couple weeks.  (You can expect news on where we are headed by next week, we're down to two offers we are deciding between and are 90% sure of where we are headed.  And if you think you can't wait to know... I can't either! :o)

Anyway, my mom gave me a yard of fabric in the fall and I immediately knew that it was meant for palm sunday.  A boutique with a base of purple (for lent) and a fern/leaf pattern that reminded me of palms, it was perfect.  I originally wanted the boys to use fabric markers and inlay a table runner with their art work of the triumphal entry, but decided on a simple underlay (mostly because I can't find my fabric markers... maybe they are in storage?)  It is simple, two layers of fabric with a bit of machine quilting to give a bit of interest.  I also cut out new robes and palms from fabric and felt.  We've lost quite a few over the years (I made our first ones here).

We had a bigger Jerusalem Sunday and the little red truck is a later addition, but I always love to see the interacting with the Biblical story and their here-and-now play; melding the sacred and their daily life.  Yes, when the story has been played with and even added too, I am glad; scripture is not fragile and they are discovering that these stories are for them.  And I am discovering that these stories are indeed forming their imaginations and that makes a mama's heart very grateful indeed!

A New (for Me) Space

We were really pleased to find a church that we love very quickly after landing with Jim's family in Texas.  And, one of the first things that drew me in was that they have established Godly Play.  Rowan and Jonah have had godly play every other week since October and I love hearing about their work and the stories. 

The past two weeks I've been the story teller for the first time in this space.  I shared the story of baptism each week (6-7 year olds one week and 3-5s the next) and it was wonderful to be in a godly play circle once again, sharing one of my favorite stories.  

This space is still growing and developing, but there is so much to work with and explore.  This new space and the new Godly Play Volume have inspired me to update and find new materials for our home collection.   I have lots of plans and no real delusion that they will all get done, but hopefully something might! 

I wish you could see the children in the photos. They add such life and energy to the space.  (I took these photos after they left as it wouldn't be helpful to be snapping photos during worship.) There were sixteen in the circle today and it was wonderful to see some of them spread out focused on their work (the youngest went to another room during work time).      

Church Year Play

This little montessori inspired church year activity surfaced from our boxes.  It is simple to make and Rowan has been having a lot of fun clipping the right colored clips on the pie slices.  I saw something like this on Thoughts from the Sheep Fold last springand made two - one for church and one for us.  I used watercolors on watercolor paper and then laminated it so it would withstand all the clipping.

A Late Ascension Day

Ascension day was Thursday, but we didn't get around to celebrating until today (to be perfectly honest I forgot about it until I realized the stores were closed Thursday as Ascension day is a recognized holiday here.)  We've been doing Godly Plays with the boys on Sunday mornings out of Following Jesus by Sonja Stewart (I love her scripts for little ones!) and this morning's script was Jesus telling Peter to 'feed my sheep'.  I didn't want to pass up that script, so we did that in the morning (thus the boat in the picture) and then shared ascension day cake this afternoon while we read a few verses (Luke 24) and talked about Jesus now being at the right hand of the father.  The celebration was late, simple and wonderful.  Flexibility is a lovely thing!

Note: The Cake was chocolate with a whipped cream and cream cheese icing.  In the past - see here - I've made the cake to look like a hill and then acted out the story, but I didn't have food coloring, so we went with a 'cloud cake'.

Lent and The Good Shepherd

I've been enjoying Joan Halmo's Celebrating the Church Year with Young Children this past year and love her idea of weaving the Good shepherd story through lent.  After reading The Good Shepherd and the Child: A Joyful Journey by Patricia Coulter et al. in December, I've been eager to work with the story more with my boys.  A sense of security is so central to a small child's world and certainly to their spiritual development.  We've been talking a lot about needs lately as we work on NVC (non-violent communication) with the boys and the good shepherd story is such a beautiful invitation to believe that all our needs can and will be met.  A lesson that I'm working on learning myself as well.

So my lenten project with the boys is to work with this story playfully and thoroughly.  Last year it was fun to share thoughts on prayer with children each week in this space, and so, this year I'll try to be here each of the six weeks to share something on the the good shepherd.
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The godly play story of the good shepherd is one of my favorites!  I love moving the figures through the green field, to the quiet waters and through the dark and shadowy places.   I love building the sheep fold and wondering what it might be.  I love searching for the lost lamb and sharing the shepherds joy when he finds it and brings it home.  If anyone out there is thinking of delving into godly play and wondering where to start, this story is a wonderful place to begin.  The script starts simply focusing on how the good shepherd meets the needs of the sheep.   And, once that script is familiar, there are add ons of the lost lamb and the wolf.  The figures can be easily made of paper or finding some toy lambs and a person of some sort isn't very difficult.

St. Valentine

We've done a fair amount of godly play stories at home and I've taught lots to groups at church.  But, I've been wanting to teach a group in our home - a godly play party.  When I received the Godly Play book 7 on the saints it seemed like great material to try this out on.  So we had a Saint Valentine Godly Play party with a few friends on Valentines Day.  

We kept the traditional godly play pattern of story, work and then feast.  The whole party was after school and not much longer than an hour so that we could be done before dinner time.  

I told the story of Saint Valentine (notes on materials below).

For work I had a few options, but also was fine with them just going to play together at whatever they chose.  The options for work were telling the story, playing doctor with Rowan's doctor set (Valentine was a doctor), looking at books about various saints, and making valentines (thanks to Jim's Grammie who sent us an amazing box of supplies!)

The feast was simple - I made popcorn and apples.  A friend brought some heart cookies.

Overall I was happy with our time together.  I'm still not as crazy about the format for these stories and would prefer more action with the figures (and perhaps more figures from the story).  The kids did very well, even though a few of them aren't in godly play on a regular basis.  Our time together didn't have the sacred feel that Sunday mornings of godly play often have. Part of this was because of the setting and partly because I didn't use the liturgy I normally do with godly play (we didn't light a candle together/ change the light, pass the peace, etc.)  I'm not sure that I would do this differently if I was doing it again.  I was fine with it having more of a party feel.

Has anyone else tried having godly play with more than your own children in your home?  If so, how did it go?  What did you like and what would you change?

Notes on Materials:

St. Valentine is made on a bendy rope and wood doll like these.  He is dressed in white wool with a wool felt stole, robe and hat.  His hair is wool yarn.  The Godly Play curriculum dresses him as a roman.  He would not have worn priestly garb much as he had to be secretive (Christianity was outlawed during his time). However, I chose to dress him as many statues and artwork of St. Valentine are depicted - in red priestly garments.

The Crocus is stitched from wool felt.  This falls from the note that Saint Valentine sends to a little blind girl and is the first thing she sees upon being miraculously healed.

The Note says 'From your Valentine' and I tied it with a red ribbon.

The Mortar and Pestle are to represent how Valentine was a doctor.  I need to look for a small one of these - I borrowed a friends large one for the story.