Youth Curriculum, 10-4-26

Youth Announcements:

Beginning October 4, parent classroom assistant sign-ups will open for the fall and winter seasons! Families are invited to commit to serving at least one Sunday each month. Your participation helps us welcome and include more families—especially those with younger children—and ensures our Youth & Family spaces reflect and represent our community more fully. Look for an email invitation with the online sign-up link, and thank you for helping us create a thriving community for all ages!

October Monthly Theme: Dancing with the Shadow
Week 1 Value: Self-Acceptance
Affirmation: I welcome every part of myself with love and curiosity.

Curriculum Overview:
Youth explore the many feelings and experiences that make us human, including emotions that may feel uncomfortable, confusing, or difficult. Through movement, reflection, creativity, and connection, youth practice noticing their feelings without judging them and becoming curious about what those feelings might be communicating. Activities like the Shadow Dance help youth recognize that every part of themselves deserves compassion, understanding, and acceptance.

Spiritual Lesson:
Youth explore the idea that feelings are messengers rather than something to fear or hide. Through the Shadow Dance, body-awareness practices, reflection, and discussion, they discover how emotions can offer clues about their needs, values, boundaries, and experiences. They consider how responding with curiosity rather than judgment can create greater self-awareness, compassion, and the freedom to choose how they respond.

Meditation Practice: Meeting My Shadow with Love
Youth settle into stillness and bring their awareness to the feelings they may be carrying. They imagine each feeling as a part of themselves approaching with something to share. Rather than pushing it away, they breathe, listen, and offer themselves compassion. They reflect on what the feeling might need or be trying to communicate, then return their attention to the present moment with the affirmation: I welcome every part of myself with love and curiosity.

Active Listening: Book/Music/Video

Book: Younger Youth (ages 7–9): The Color Monster by Anna Llenas — This visually engaging story introduces children to different emotions and helps them recognize, name, and understand feelings without labeling them as good or bad.

Video: Younger Youth (ages 7–9): Inside Out: “Meet the Emotions” — A short clip introducing the different emotions from Inside Out can help youth recognize that emotions have different roles and that even uncomfortable feelings can provide useful information.

Book: Older Youth (ages 10–12): The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld — This thoughtful story explores how people respond to difficult experiences and highlights the power of being present, listening, and offering compassion rather than trying to fix what someone is feeling immediately.

Video: Older Youth (ages 10–12): “The Power of Yet” — Sesame Street — This short video introduces the idea that struggling with something doesn’t mean we can’t learn or grow. It provides an accessible starting point for discussing how we respond to frustration, mistakes, and parts of ourselves we wish were different.

Music: “Brave” by Sara Bareilles — An empowering song about finding the courage to express yourself and allowing your authentic voice to be heard.

Teen Media:
Video: The Power of Vulnerability — Brené Brown, TED — Brown explores vulnerability, authenticity, connection, and the ways people can struggle with feeling worthy or “enough.” The video gives teens a deeper entry point into the idea that hiding the parts of ourselves we consider imperfect can affect our ability to experience genuine connection.

Teen Discussion: After viewing, teens consider: What parts of ourselves are we most likely to hide from other people? What makes vulnerability feel risky? Is accepting ourselves the same as refusing to grow? They can explore the difference between self-acceptance and self-improvement, recognizing that we can love ourselves as we are while still choosing to grow.

Creative Expression: Shadow Dance: Moving What I Feel
Youth create a short movement sequence using different movements to represent feelings such as frustration, nervousness, excitement, disappointment, or joy. After each movement, they pause and consider what the feeling might be communicating. They then transform one “shadow” movement into a movement representing acceptance, compassion, or a choice they can make in response. Youth can combine their movements into a personal Shadow Dance that expresses the idea that every part of themselves belongs.

Connecting: Listening to What Our Feelings Tell Us
Youth explore how feelings can provide us with information without requiring us to control our choices. Through conversation, they identify emotions they sometimes find difficult, consider what those feelings might be communicating, and discuss ways to respond with curiosity and self-compassion. They also explore how offering the same acceptance to others can strengthen relationships and create more understanding. As a take-home practice, youth can pause once a day to ask, “What am I feeling?” What might this feeling be telling me? How can I respond to myself with love?