October 21, 2018 - Theme: Sanctuary

  

This fabulous toddler loves to help the staff clean-up the puzzle foam flooring!

This was a very peaceful Sunday to spend the morning with kids.

Theme: We continued our October worship theme: Sanctuary...as an inner peace, or inner sanctuary.  Children shared a place they feel calm...  their tree house, their bed, by their garden, by their fireplace, etc.  But if we can't be in our calm place when something frustrating or stressful is happening, we always have our breath as a tool to help us create an inner sanctuary.  (We even talked briefly about how oxygen helps calm the 'alarm center' of our brain--the amygdala! It's that so cool?).   

Activity: As a whole group in the Children's Chapel we practiced breathing with a "Breath Ball" (referred to as "Sphere Breath" in this link:  5 Easy Breathing Techniques to Calm Your Kid (And Relax the Whole Family.  Many admitted how much calmer and nice they felt after just 1-2 mins. of Breath Ball breathing.   

Pre-K and K: Noticed how cotton balls over their ears create more silence.  They listened to the singing bowl go from singing to silence.  They read a book called I Am Yoga  and had fun as they practiced yoga positions.  

Choice activity for One Room groups (preK-6th at 9am, 1st-6th at 11am):

• walking the labyrinth in the side yard 
• mindful stations in the Children's Chapel (Buddha boards, stained glass coloring sheets, books in the Cozy Corner, playing Jenga (with deep breaths when things got stressful).    

Continue the conversation / breathing at home

• Will you teach me how to do deep breathing with a Breath Ball like Liza showed you?   
• What is a time in the last week that was a moment of frustration or fear?  Do you think using the Breath Ball for 5-10 breaths could have helped?    
• As a family, pick a time this week to try to do Breath Ball breathing together. (Maybe at bedtime, or maybe try passing the Breath Ball around at dinner with each person leading one or two deep breaths for the others).    
• For just PreK-K: Can you show me one of the yoga positions you did? (Warrior and Peaceful Warrior are two.)