Religious Exploration for Children and Youth

In keeping with our UU principles, we endeavor to help children explore the world around them, rather than ‘educate’ them on a particular belief. Our goal is to support parents and help our children and youth grow both spiritually and ethically in their own way.
The Unitarian Universalist Association offers many resources for all age groups. We draw on these resources for assistance and inspiration. Parents and caregivers come to the UUFT seeking a safe community to help guide children to be kind, respectful, fair-minded, caring, and strong people who can make a difference in this world. Our religious exploration classes, social-justice work, Stories For All Ages, and multigenerational services and gatherings reinforce what parents teach at home. We nurture truth-seeking, spirituality, and moral values that will continue to shape and support our children as they grow.
Sunday RE is available every Sunday, is open to members and non-members, and is free of charge for visitors. If you plan on becoming a regular attendee, please take the time to register your child(ren). Registration allows us to better plan for classes and anticipate the needs of students. All staff and volunteers have passed a background check. For added safety, they work in groups of two or more.

Each Sunday morning we begin in the sanctuary for opening music, the Chalice Lighting, a few brief announcements, and the Story For All Ages, which will go along with the general topic of the main service. After the story, the children are sung out of the sanctuary as the child leader of the day takes the RE lantern and leads the rest of the children to their classrooms.

Our religious exploration program combines stories, music, art, movement, discussion, play, gardening, and group projects to engage children with many learning styles, abilities, and activity levels. Our religious exploration program is currently divided into 4 classes, with flexible age ranges as all children learn and grow at different developmental rates.
The Nursery is designed for newborn babies through age 3.
The Spirit Play classroom is for children aged 4 through 1st grade.
The Upper Elementary classroom is designed for children in 2nd through 6th grades.
The Youth Group is for middle and high school youth in 7th through 12th grades. (As the Youth age up, and younger Youth enter, we will divide the Youth Group into Middle School Youth and High School Youth.)

The Nursery

Our Nursery is designed for babies and toddlers up through age 3, and is staffed by Farai Harrold and one volunteer. There are many different age appropriate developmental toys and materials for the children to explore in this loving environment.

The Spirit Play Classroom

The Spirit Play classroom is designed for children age 4 through 1st grade. Spirit Play is a Montessori-based curriculum where each lesson is tied to a dynamic story that illustrates one of our UU principals or sources. Children are allowed to work at their own pace in a way that best suits their personality and needs, in one of the many different learning centers found throughout the classroom. The lessons follow the flow of the year, with holidays from around the world and seasonal lessons mixed in with lessons on our 8 UU Principles and 6 Sources. An art activity and free form art exploration is always offered. Nature is a big topic for this class, and the fenced in outside area is utilized often for different science, art, and gardening group activities.

The Upper Elementary Classroom

The Upper Elementary classroom is designed for children in 2nd through 6th grades. These children are interested in lessons with a bit more content, and want to dive deeper into discussions and activities.
The Curriculum for the Fall of 2023 will be Magic and UU, which is filled with science experiments, social justice activities, and more! This is a favorite curriculum of both children and adults!

The Youth Group

The Youth Group is for middle and high school youth in 7th through 12th grades. As more children transition into middle school, we will divide the Youth Group into a Middle School Youth Group and a High School Youth Group. Our youth group work is focused on helping our young people learn to put UU principles into action and on promoting healthy supportive relationships with one another. 
The Youth Group will be working on the UUA curriculum Building Bridges this fall, which explores religions from around the world. This curriculum offers the youth new ideas of spirituality and faith, allowing them the opportunity to add to their personal spiritual packs.

Middle School OWL
Beginning fall of 2023!!

Middle School OWL, or Our Whole Lives, is a sexuality education that fosters informed, responsible, and values-based decisions about sexual health and behavior. This class is held after regular RE classes and the service has ended, as not all youth might take part. This class is specifically for grades 7-9, and will be offered every few years. Youth from outside of the UUFT are also welcome to attend. Because the class covers so much over the year, it is important to attend class each week.