Unitarians in Edinburgh

Children's Programme

Families with children are most welcome at St Mark's. In the past we have had a dedicated programme for children which ran each Sunday and although this is not running currently we hope to restart it in the future.

Our previous sessions encouraged the children to look at the world around them, to learn more about Unitarians and their contributions to the world and society, as well as discovering more about other World Faiths.

As with services upstairs, no two weeks were identical but we did have our own rituals to keep things familiar.

We started each session with a welcome song and short poem. Then we had time to share joys and sorrows with the group. All were encouraged to share but we ensured that no one felt they had to if it made them uncomfortable.

Then we had a story. Sometimes this was a true story, sometimes it was fiction but they always had a lesson or question and regularly lead to a deep discussion.

There was an activity next, inspired by the story or it's message. This was the most varied part of the session. Often it was a craft or art based activity but could be a drama game, song or guided meditation. Some of the artwork we made can be seen in the images.

To close, we had a short mindfulness exercise, followed by our long standing goodbye song, Go Now in Peace.

Each season we had at least one intergenerational service, where adults and children worshipped and explored together in the main chapel.

Parents were always welcome in the children’s programme and children are welcome in the main service if they would rather stay there.