Youth Curriculum, 6-21-16

Announcements:

Help Us Create an Unforgettable Harvest Festival!

Planning is underway for our Second Annual Harvest Festival, and we want your help to make this year’s event even more amazing than the last!

We’re dreaming big and would love to tap into the creativity, talents, and community connections of our CSL Olympia family. Do you know a local musician, face painter, food vendor, artisan, community organization, or entertainer who would be a great addition? Do you have ideas for activities, games, decorations, or experiences that would delight children, teens, and adults alike?

Our goal is to create a joyful community celebration that our friends and neighbors throughout Thurston County will be talking about long after the festival is over.

A Harvest Festival sign-up sheet is available in the lobby for anyone who would like to share ideas, volunteer, join the planning team, sponsor an activity, or connect us with local resources and community partners.

Whether you can offer an hour of your time, a great idea, or an important connection, your contribution can help make this year’s Harvest Festival a truly memorable experience for everyone.

Thank you for helping us build something special together!

June Theme: Higher Deeper Love: Expanding the Heart of Humanity
Week 3 Value: What’s Love Got to Do With It?
Affirmation: Love is the faces and the life around me.

Curriculum Overview:

In Week 3, youth and teens expand their understanding of Love beyond individual relationships and explore how Love can become a force for collective healing. They will discover that every act of compassion, understanding, and inclusion contributes to a healthier and more connected world.

Building on the previous weeks of recognizing Love within themselves and sharing it with others, youth will examine how Love can help bridge differences, heal separation, and strengthen communities. They will explore the idea that our shared humanity is more powerful than our differences and that each person has the ability to contribute to a more compassionate world.

Spiritual Lesson:

Youth explore the idea that although people may have different experiences, beliefs, backgrounds, and perspectives, we are all connected through a shared humanity. Love invites us to look beyond differences and recognize the inherent worth and dignity within every person.

Using Ernest Holmes’ teaching, “Love alone reveals love. Hate but hides the gleam,” youth discuss how compassion, understanding, and acceptance become tools for healing ourselves, our communities, and the world around us.

They’ll discover that small acts of kindness and intentional choices can create a ripple effect that extends far beyond themselves.

Spiritual Practice: Candlelight Compassion Circle

Youth will gather in a circle around an LED candle and spend a few moments in quiet reflection, focusing on the question, “What is one way I can bring more compassion into the world?” As each participant shares, they will pass the candle around the circle, symbolizing that Love grows brighter when it is shared. This mindfulness practice encourages presence, empathy, and the understanding that even small actions can contribute to collective healing.

Active Listening: Book / Music / Video

Younger Children (Ages 4–7)

• Book: The World Needs More Purple People by Kristen Bell & Benjamin Hart
  Encourages curiosity, kindness, and celebrating differences.
• Music: Love Is Love Is Love by Trout Fishing in America
  Celebrates inclusion and caring for others.
• Video: The Proudest Blue Read Aloud by Ibtihaj Muhammad
  Explores identity, belonging, and celebrating diversity.

Children & Preteens (Ages 7–12)

• Book: The Circles All Around Us by Brad Montague
  Helps children understand connection, belonging, and their impact on the world.
• Music: A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman
  Encourages imagining a better world together.
• Video: The Power of One Kind Act (Random Acts of Kindness Foundation)
  Demonstrates how small actions can create meaningful change.

Teens (Ages 13–16)

• Reading: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
  Explores vulnerability, courage, belonging, kindness, and our shared humanity through simple yet profound conversations.
• Music: Bigger Love by John Legend
  Celebrates collective hope, resilience, and choosing connection during challenging times.
• Video: The Danger of a Single-Story TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  Challenges assumptions and encourages teens to see beyond stereotypes.

Creative Expression: Compassion Quest Escape Challenge – “We Are Stronger Together”

Youth and teens will participate in an interactive Compassion Quest Escape Challenge where they work together to “unlock” a series of clues that ultimately lead them outside to complete their final mission. The challenge begins with the idea that Love helps us break down walls of separation and build bridges of connection. Throughout the experience, participants will discover that no one can complete the challenge alone—each person’s gifts, ideas, and perspective are needed.

Connecting: Debrief Circle

After discussing how the challenge experience was, we’ll close with everyone saying together:

Leader: “What helps heal separation?”
Group: “Love.”

Leader: “Who creates a compassionate world?”
Group: “We do.”

Everyone Together: “We are stronger together.”