March

The theme for March is 'commitment'. We've broken commitment into 4 parts of our UU identity: curiosity, change, conscience, and compassion. This month, let's explore these commitments through our faith as a family!

Questions:
1. Why is it good to be curious?

2. Why do you think curiousity is important when we're thinking about what we believe?

Activity: Mystery Bag

Supplies Needed: Paper bag

First, invite each child to find a paper bag and draw a big question mark on it. This will be their “Mystery Bag.” (paper lunch bags could be part of a care packet.) Next, find a mystery item in their house. Place it in a paper bag before returning to the group. Then, one at a time each person leads the contest - showing their mystery bag and answering the “curious questions” from the group. The group may ask for clues as to what it might be if the group gets stumped(color, food, etc.). The first person who guesses correctly gets to lead the next mystery bag guess contest!

UU of The Week: Joseph Priestly

Questions:

1. How have you changed this past year?

2. How does change feel?

Activity: Mason Jar Butter

Supplies Needed: Mason Jar, Cream

1. Pour heavy cream into the mason jar, filling it half-way full. Do not overfill past the half-way mark. Screw the lid on tightly so there are no leaks.

2. Shake mason jar for approximately 5-7 minutes. After a few minutes, whipped cream will form. Keep shaking until you hear that a lump has formed inside, and shake an additional 30-60 seconds after that. You should clearly see that the fat solids have separated from the liquids. The amount of time it takes will depend on how vigorously you are able to shake the jar.

3. Strain the fat solids from the buttermilk using a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth. You can reserve the buttermilk and save it for later use in recipes.

4. Pour cold water over the butter. Discard water and repeat rinsing 2 times more. Shape into a ball or any other shape.

5. At this point you have butter. You can add in things like salt, honey, and herbs to create flavored butters, or serve in its pure form as is.

UU of The Week: John Dietrich

Questions:

1. Have you ever really wanted to do something, but deep down you felt it wasn’t right? How did you decide what to do?

2. How often do you think about whether something is right or wrong before you decide to do it?

Activity: Conscience Comics

Supplies Needed: Cartoon example(Example), comic strip template printable, coloring utensils

Conscience is often depicted as an angel and a devil on someone's shoulder in comics and cartoons. While we know this isn't real, it's a fun way to show how we make hard decisions. Using the comic template, draw a picture of what the inner voice inside of you, your conscience, looks like. Show your inner self, trying to make some kind of decisions. Which path did you choose to take? As a family, talk about how you make big, and little decisions, modeling your thought process AND how you came to that decision. What beliefs do you hold that help you make that decision? Which of our 8 principles did you use in your decision making?

UU of The Week: Homer Jack

Questions:

1. Has someone ever shown you compassion?

2. Who is one of the most compassionate people you know and why do you think so?

Activity: Compassion Rocks

Supplies Needed: Collect smooth rocks, and permanent markers.

Create “secret messages” on the rocks, to be placed where a stranger could find one and take it home. Be sure not to disturb natural places. Possible phrases:

● You are worth it

● You got this

● Justice

● You are loved

● Happy

● Fairness

● You rock

● You matter

● Dream Big

● Black Lives Matter

● Mistakes are proof you are trying

● Keep going you’re doing great

● Wholeness

UU of The Week: Theodore Parker