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Becky Ramsey | Author & Children’s Minister
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What is Godly Play?
According to the Godly Play Foundation, Godly Play is a creative and imaginative approach to Christian nurture.
Godly Play is about understanding how each of the stories of God’s people connects with the child’s own experience and relationship with God.
Godly Play respects the innate spirituality of children and encourages curiosity and imagination in experiencing the mystery and joy of God.
Read more about Godly Play here.
How do we do Godly Play at First Baptist Greenville?
Christians of many different denominations use Godly Play and probably do it differently, even within the same denomination. In this blog, I describe Godly Play by sharing the way our church does it. That doesn’t mean that it’s the best way or the prescribed way, or the only way, of course, but it’s the way that suits us best.
What are we here for?
We meet here to talk about Godly Play, to share what it’s all about and to discuss how to do it better.
The weekly blog posts are designed to help Sunday school teachers prepare for their Godly Play lessons, and the individual pages (see the tabs at the top of this page) share information about how we do Godly Play at First Baptist Church, Greenville, SC.
We’d love to hear from teachers everywhere, not just the ones at our church! We hope you’ll join our circle and share your ideas!
What Godly Play is Not
Godly Play is quite different from the traditional model in which the teacher tells the children what they need to know. Godly Play is not about things that are that simple. It is not just about learning lessons or keeping children entertained. It is about locating each lesson in the whole system of Christian language and involving the creative process to discover the depths of meaning in them.
The Circle of the Church Year
Hi Godly Play Teachers! Welcome to the Circle of the Church Year!
This is one of my favorite lessons of the year. The calendar makes so much sense that I think we should teach it to adults as well!
The lesson comes with wondering questions. I’ll include them in your class folder as well.
For younger children:
1. Younger children are already learning about calendars and enjoy displaying what they know. Why not go ahead and print on a paper for each child, “Thank You God, for Our Church Year!” Then they could write out the month names and draw things beside each month that they are thankful for…Like a birthday cake on their birthday month. Snow by January. A Valentines heart by February. Kites by March (or basketball, for March Madness!) This is a perfect time to reinforce the special times that the church celebrates on their own calendars- and what time of the year in which they occur.
2. If a younger child wants to make his own calendar, why not? It doesn’t have to be a calendar like we could make. Younger children often like writing their numbers. It would be fun to have different calendars on hand to talk about different ways we keep record of time. I can see lots of inroads for discussion on the church’s calendar with this.
3. Here’s another idea that would be great for younger children- and let’s them practice their knowledge of what color goes with what season, etc. Take a look at it!
4. Why not play with the colors of the church calendar (purple, green, red, white). Here’s a pinterest site with lots of ideas especially great for younger children, but enjoyable for older as well! (It will make you happy just to look, I promise!) The bead necklace version of the calendar is great!
For older children:
The children could make their own rendition of the Godly Play Calendar with a paper plate, a color copy (that I’ll have on hand), a brad, and a fun foam arrow. Susan D. came up with this, and it works great!
Enjoy!