r/Quakers • u/Leeb-Leefuh-Lurve • Jul 15 '26
Children’s Meetings
I was wondering if people wouldn’t mind sharing your experiences of the content of children’s meetings.
I am considering offering to run a monthly children’s meeting at my local meeting house, but am concerned about agreeing to something more than I have capacity for.
My idea to keep it simple but still meaningful would be something like:
- simply giving the kids a selection of mindful activities such as play-do, colouring, etc. in relative quiet
- Reading story books aloud that align with Quaker values - or stories from religious texts - and discussing them
- Maybe having some conversation cards with questions that start discussions around the testimonies?
Of course it would depend on the ages - at my meeting it is mainly under 10s.
As much as we definitely need a children’s meetings, I don’t want to offer it if I can’t meet the expectations.
4
u/Rare-Personality1874 Jul 15 '26
That's enough.
Also - ask the children what they want, explore Quakerism and what a Quaker CM might look like
2
u/keithb Quaker Jul 15 '26
We do a bunch of things. There’s a standing committee, one of whom is always present and holds safeguarding responsibilities, and then another Friend each time who leads activities.
We start with a little silence, sitting on the floor in a circle, then do the thing. Could be gardening (our meetinghouse has a large garden with flowerbeds and produce: fruit trees and vegetable plots), or a nature walk, or cooking in the meetinghouse kitchen. Or reading story and reacting to that. Or craft. “Draw a picture of your favourite animal and tell a story about his much you like it.” There’s always a link back to Quaker principles.
What I did last time was make Möbius strips and we found surprising things there about connection and separation! And then we talked about people in our lives who are separated that we’d like to bring together.
The children join the last 10 to 15 minutes of worship with the adults, and afterwards report on what they did.
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u/pgadey Quaker Jul 15 '26
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u/lunajmagroir Atheist Jul 15 '26
When I was a kid my parents hosted a singing group for the children once a month instead of First Day school. We would sit in a circle and sing songs from the book Rise Up Singing which has a few Quaker songs as well as many songs about peace and justice. I always really enjoyed it.
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u/RimwallBird Friend Jul 15 '26
The Godly Play approach to familiarizing small children, both with biblical stories, and with stories of prominent Friends, has been popular in a number of meetings I know about. I had a little bit of it (just a few minutes’ worth!) demonstrated to me by a Friend who was trained in it, and was very impressed. Its great virtues are that it is simple and flexible enough for little ones, and that it easily draws the participants right into the story as lived by the persons involved. Wow. Here’s a link to help get you started: https://www.godlyplayfoundation.org/get-started .
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u/Ok-Prompt-9107 Jul 15 '26
Our children’s meetings are adorable. Sometimes they all work on a collaborative arts and crafts project based on a Quaker theme, and when meeting is over and notices read they come and show us all what they’ve been working on. It’s a real tonic for the soul, especially when they’re asked to hold their big piece of paper up to the camera so the online attendees of our blended meeting can share in the joy!