Being ready for children in your Quaker meeting
A guide about being ready for children in Quaker meetings where, as yet, there is no children's meeting for worship, where children are not regular or even occasional visitors with their families.
This guide takes you through the process of being ready for children at your meeting. It offers a simple step-by-step approach to creating a children's meeting for worship and advice on how to encourage families to find you and join in.
Download
Being ready for children in your Quaker meeting (PDF)
Order hard copies through the
order form.
Building our Children's Meeting for Worship
A greater depth guide to building a children's meeting for worship.
This guide is essential for anyone who is part of building a children's meeting for worship. It presents a tried and tested approach, giving lots of advice and guidance around how and why we do it.
Download
Building our Children's Meeting for Worship (PDF)
Order hard copies through the
order form.
Chatterbox
This classic children's game has been created to help children talk, think and learn about the Quaker faith. It includes words from Quaker children who express what is important to them.
With a little bit of careful folding, children can make this interactive game using the pre-printed sheets available from Quakers in Britain. This is a really good way of getting children talking to each other about what matters to Quakers. It is an excellent addition to any kind of welcome box.
Order hard copies through the order form.
Engaging with Schools
This resource has been created to support Friends and Quaker meetings working with schools and other groups of children and young people visiting the meeting house. It also contains ideas for talks, discussions and sessions for anyone visiting a school or other group.
A core aspect of most Religious Education (RE) curriculums involves finding out about faith communities and religious buildings. As a result, local schools often want to visit Quaker meeting houses to find out about our worship, our history and our way of life, as well as explore our place of worship. This can be an ideal opportunity for outreach and to make connections with the local community.
Download
Engaging with Schools (PDF)
Order hard copies through the
order form.
Journeys in the Spirit - Games Supplement
Gathering, active and reflective games suitable for children and young people aged 5-18.
The games are not separated into categories, but they roughly come in the order of: name games and icebreakers, followed by energisers, followed by reflective games.
Each game has a number, title and a box with: description of the game type (ice-breaker, energiser, reflective etc.); timing; equipment needed; size of group to play it with and whether it involves the whole group together or splitting into small groups; appropriate ages for the game.
Following is the process for playing the game, and some games have a 'theme alternative' suggesting how to change the game to reflect on or explore issues within a theme.
Download
Games Supplement (PDF)
Order hard copies through the
order form.
Journeys in the Spirit with children aged 0 to 4
This is a simple guide to being with children aged 0 to 4 years in a Quaker setting. This might be in a children's meeting for worship, a Quaker all-age residential event or a one day Quaker gathering.
This book offers ideas, resources and frameworks to encourage and equip volunteers to be with 0 to 4 aged children in Quaker meeting. It is full of practical advice and is essential for anyone getting involved with this age group for the first time or to help refresh your approach if you have got some new young attenders.
Download
Journeys in the Spirit with children aged 0 to 4 (PDF)
Order hard copies through the
order form.
Let's Explore the Quaker Way
An exploration of the values: truth, peace, simplicity and equality.
Truth, Peace, Simplicity and Equality are values we can all try to live up to in our daily lives. They encourage and challenge us in the choices and decisions we make. For Quakers, these values are especially important. This book explores these values; it is a starting point for conversations with children, the first steps in learning to live well in a challenging world.
Download
Let's Explore the Quaker Way (PDF)
Order hard copies through the
order form.
Quaker Meeting and Me
A guide for children to Quaker meeting for worship.
This booklet is intended to help children find a way into Quaker meeting for worship. As we can't see what goes on in other people's minds during meeting, we have used images from a garden to illustrate its different aspects. This book can be used as a starting point for conversation between children and adults, and also as a focus to help children settle and centre during meeting for worship.
Download
Quaker Meeting and Me (PDF)
Order hard copies through the
order form.
Sing me on a journey
Sing me on a journey is a resource for adult Quakers working with children in Quaker meetings, and at all age events, residential gatherings and camps
Singing is a wonderful way of bringing your Quaker community together. It could also be a useful resource for building Quaker community events and activities. Singing is just an extension to your speaking voice – we can all do it! This resource is a collection of songs, organsied into themes, with an introduction that gives guidance on how to use songs with children. There is also a YouTube play list linked to the book with most of the songs available for listening and learning.
Download
Sing me on a Journey (PDF)
Order hard copies through the
order form.
The Welcome Box
Ideas for creating your own welcome box to encourage children to join worship and to build an all-age community.
This leafet is for Quaker meetings without a separate children's meeting or where children don't attend regularly. It provides suggestions for a box or bag to keep in the meeting room with items to encourage participation in worship and build an all-age community. You can also watch a short video to help understand this approach here.
Download
The Welcome Box (PDF)
Order hard copies through the
order form.