Wonderfully informative article. We had a Buddhist Faith Day at our school last month. On Faith Days, the year groups throughout the school are mixed up and siblings are grouped together. The children then move around the different classrooms throughout the day doing a range of activities linked to a particular faith. In our class we made miniature zen gardens from raked sand, river pebbles and succulent plants. The children were very good at interpreting what the different elements of the garden represented. The plan is to have a miniature zen garden in each classroom for the children to use during contemplation time. We introduced Buddhism and the concept of meditation to the children by sharing a clip from the film 'Kung Fu Panda' and quote from Master Oogway, Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the "present", We laid cushions and blankets on the floor lit candles and listened a meditative story. It was a lovely calm day and I was surprised how receptive the children were to meditating.
Thanks for such interesting accounts - I really like the idea of Faith Days. In my experience, children do respond to meditation activities, even rowdier classes. One of the nicest ones I've seen was getting children to really look, smell and feel a satsuma before slowly eating it. Very multi-sensory.
2 comments:
Wonderfully informative article. We had a Buddhist Faith Day at our school last month. On Faith Days, the year groups throughout the school are mixed up and siblings are grouped together. The children then move around the different classrooms throughout the day doing a range of activities linked to a particular faith. In our class we made miniature zen gardens from raked sand, river pebbles and succulent plants. The children were very good at interpreting what the different elements of the garden represented. The plan is to have a miniature zen garden in each classroom for the children to use during contemplation time. We introduced Buddhism and the concept of meditation to the children by sharing a clip from the film 'Kung Fu Panda' and quote from Master Oogway, Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the "present", We laid cushions and blankets on the floor lit candles and listened a meditative story. It was a lovely calm day and I was surprised how receptive the children were to meditating.
Thanks for such interesting accounts - I really like the idea of Faith Days. In my experience, children do respond to meditation activities, even rowdier classes. One of the nicest ones I've seen was getting children to really look, smell and feel a satsuma before slowly eating it. Very multi-sensory.
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