About Unity Youth & Family Ministry
When:
Unity Youth class or "Sunday School" is held on Sundays from 10 a.m. until the end of service, which is usually around 11:00 a.m. If you would like to bring your kids to Unity of Madison, feel free to come on Sunday!
After class, kids are welcome to join parents in the basement for after-church snacks.
If Unity Youth Family Ministry will not be in session, we will share a post on Facebook (Unity of Madison) and in the Unity E-Newsletter.
Where: Unity of Madison is located at 601 Tompkins Drive, Madison, WI 53716. (Google Map link)
What to Expect at Unity Youth & Family Ministry
Hi! My name is Kate and I’m the Unity Youth Family Ministry Coordinator. It is an honor to share Sunday mornings with these kids! Click to read my full bio.
At Unity of Madison, we have one big classroom where kids ranging from ages 3-8 attend per week, but would love to welcome older kiddos as well.
We start each session with free play, then I guide the children in meditation based on the day’s spiritual lesson, then we do a craft or activity with educational elements that allows them to “see” that spiritual lesson in their life. In the Unity of Madison classroom, we focus on divergent more than convergent learning. (Divergent is where thoughts can move freely and there is no concrete answer, while convergent brings thoughts toward one correct answer.) The kids learn through movement, play, experience, conversation, and exploration as opposed to the more traditional, convergent, model of teaching kids in a classroom setting.
I follow Unity’s “Living Curricula” model, but I like to incorporate science or storytelling in every class. We share stories, ask questions, and have conversations about our spiritual lesson.
- I often incorporate the 12 Unity Powers: Faith, Strength, Wisdom, Love, Power, Imagination, Understanding, Will, Order, Zeal, Release, and Life.
- I try to incorporate all their senses through activities. I believe that invoking all the senses helps deepen their understanding of the spiritual lesson and strengthen their relationship to God.
- We focus a lot on topics of love, including how we show love for others, the environment, animals, and ourselves. Under the umbrella of love, we share practices for cultivating high self-esteem and ways to be in our power.
- We embody our power animals, pulling from our imagination, faith, and strength.
- If there is a holiday, we’ll discuss the spiritual symbol we can learn from that.
- I also like to discuss things happening in kids’ worlds: a new school year, climate change, bullying, the changing seasons, or any issues they (or parents) are concerned about.
Before and after our spiritual lesson, kids can run around, play in giant boxes or with toys, or use their imaginations to make pictures or sculptures from our craft area. Framed in Unity themes of love and imagination, we continue to see single-use items in new ways.
For the group activity, I try to turn the spiritual lesson from that day into a hands-on activity using their own creativity. Some examples of our class:
- In a recent lesson, we delved into the concept that happiness is a constant within us even though it can be entangled with other emotions. To bring this idea to life, I invited the children to play with prisms in the sun. As I explained how the light bends to form rainbows, we drew parallels between the colors emanating from the prism and our emotional spectrum, recognizing that amidst the many of feelings we experience, happiness is always there. The kids then shared examples of having more than one feeling at a time. The kids shared moments in their life where they had more than one feeling at a time, one even saying that even though they were sad their grandmother passed away, he was glad she was no longer in pain. We also discussed how, like the light from prisms, feelings come and go.
- When learning about “inner peace,” the kids got to make their own Inner Peace Gardens out of dirt, grass seed, sand, rocks, and single-use items. They learned that their inner peace is made by their own imagination, and being able to smell the dirt, touch the grass, hear the animals they chose to include, and see their entire Inner Peace Garden come to life, they have something to visualize when they close their eyes and want to reach into their actual Inner Peace.
- When learning about trust, we built bridges together to visualize walking across a bridge above water or land and trusting the bridge will hold. The kids chose how to build them with items from our craft area like popsicle sticks and single-use items, then placed rocks on them. We discussed how strong bridges, like a strong bond with God, can hold heavy things.
- When learning about asking God to guide our path, we made a giant “glue boards,” where the kids got to glue items from our craft area anywhere they wanted onto a long board, in any location or direction. And if we go down the wrong path or change our minds, we pull the item off and glue it in its new spot! We discussed that when we listen to God, he helps guide us on our path. When finished, we hung the board up in the classroom so kids can see their “path” after listening with their hearts and using their imaginations.
The lessons we teach dance around Unity’s 5 Basic Principles for Children:
- God is all good and active in everything, everywhere.
- I am naturally good because God’s Divinity is in me and in everyone.
- I create my experiences by what I choose to think and what I feel and believe.
- Through affirmative prayer and meditation, I connect with God and bring out the good in my life.
- I do and give my best by living the Truth I know. I make a difference.
I teach each class along with at least one volunteer. Each member of our diverse, caring staff and volunteers brings their own special gifts and talents, which they freely share with the children. All staff and volunteers at the Unity Youth & Family Ministry must have current background checks.
For More Information
If you would like to bring your kids to Unity of Madison, feel free to come on Sunday. If you have questions or are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact Kate by email at youthed@unityofmadison.org. I look forward to speaking with you!
View the Unity of Madison Youth & Family Ministry FAQs.
Thank you to all the families and kids for enriching our community with your presence!