Youth Curriculum, 4-1-25

Curriculum Overview:

Youth explore how past experiences, both joyful and challenging, serve as nutrients for our personal and spiritual growth. Through reflection, movement, and creative activities, youth will learn how to nurture their dreams, transform difficulties into opportunities, and cultivate an inner environment that fosters long-term well-being.

April Monthly Theme: Fertilizing Our Future
Week 1 Value:  Enriching Our Soil of Possibilities
Affirmation: “I enrich my soil of possibilities, nurturing a fertile ground for my dreams to grow.”

Spiritual Lesson:

Through stories, meditation, and active engagement, children explore how their experiences shape their personal growth. By recognizing the value in every challenge and actively nurturing their dreams, they learn to cultivate a mindset of resilience, patience, and long-term well-being.

Mindfulness: “Planting Possibilities” Guided Visualization

Youth participate in a guided meditation where children reflect on a past challenge, recognize the strength they gained, and visualize using that strength to nurture their future dreams.

Children write or discuss three past experiences that helped them grow stronger and identify a lesson from each. Then, they write one dream they want to nurture and brainstorm steps to support its growth.

Active Listening: Book/Music/Video

• Book: The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi – A book about resilience and believing in the power of “not yet.”
• Music: Rise Up by Andra Day – A song about perseverance and overcoming challenges.
• Book:  The Curious Garden by Peter Brown – A story about how small actions can nurture growth in unexpected ways. (younger class)
• Music: “Let It Go” – Disney’s Frozen (younger class)

Creative Expression: The Growing Garden Game

Youth go outside for relay-style game where children gather “nutrients” (cards with words like patience, perseverance, kindness) to add to their garden, symbolizing the qualities that help them grow.

Connecting: “Growing Together: A Four-Bed Garden for Service”

This four-week project will engage youth and adults in creating a four-bed garden while also developing an art piece that symbolizes growth. Each Sunday will focus on a different phase of the project, leading to a presentation on the fourth Sunday after youth class.