INTRO Spirit Play is a Unitarian Universalist Religious Education Method and ministry based on story and ritual, play, and creativity. It gives children the tools to make meaning of their lives and ask questions such as, “Who am I? “Where did I come from? What is my purpose? How do I choose to live my life? What are my gifts? How do I use them? “What happens when we die? Why do we die? Why are we lonely and sad sometimes?

PHILOSOPHY We use the Montessori approach, which includes the key elements of a prepared classroom environment, child-directed activities, and trained teachers. These elements allow the children to choose their own focus after an initial lesson or story within a safe and sacred structure shepherded by two adults.

GOALS

• Encourages independent thinking through wondering questions
• Gives children real choices within the structure of the morning
• Creates community of children in a classroom of mixed ages
• Develops an underlying sense of the spiritual and the mystery of life
• Supports congregational polity through choice of lessons
• Fulfills parts of the volunteers’ spiritual processes

FORMAT

• The Doorkeeper helps the children get ready to enter the classroom.
• The Storyteller leads the circle in the story of the day, followed by wondering.
• Children are given the freedom to choose a “work” activity, be it a play or a creative task. 
• Children clean-up
• Leave-taking is a formal process of saying goodbye to the teachers.