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Session One - Quiet

Session One: Different kinds of quiet

Planning ahead 

The key idea for this Children’s Meeting is there are different kinds of quiet and different ways to be quiet.

Materials to gather: drawing materials, The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood (link to story being read aloud below)

Preparing yourself: think about different kinds of quiet in your life and how they make you feel. Read The Quiet Book in advance and spend some time sitting with the wondering questions yourself.

Session

Worship opening: Silence with candle showing on screen. 

Opening activity: Name round - and tell us something noisy you do - or show us with your body, without making the noise.

Brief discussion: How does it feel to be noisy?

Now, we’re going to get quiet

Guided quieting - get yourself still and comfortable

  • Listen to the sounds in your head, the thoughts the ideas, then let them go

  • Listen to the sounds your body is making, then let them go

  • Listen to the sounds in the room, then let them go

  • Listen to the sounds in the rest of the house, then let them go

  • Listen to the sounds outside the house

What did you hear? Go round the circle, invite everyone to share something they heard.

Sharing: 

Watch The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood.

After watching the book, introduce the following  Wondering Questions, one at a time. Give children a chance to respond to each one. You may not need to ask every question, and may spend longer on some questions than others.

  • I wonder what part you liked best?
  • I wonder where you saw yourself in the story?
  • I wonder if you know of another kind of quiet the author didn't write about?
  • I wonder what happens in the Meeting for Worship quiet? 

Activities: 

  • Draw a picture that shows Meeting for Worship quiet.
  • Go for a walk around your house and look for a quiet spot - draw this, or make it into a quiet spot for you to be in
  • Go for a quiet walk around your house - carry the quiet in you
  • Write your own ‘quiet book’ including different kinds of quiet you know

Closing: 

Sit together in silence for a couple minutes, then closing question - what did that quiet feel like to you?