RE Program

The KUUC RE program provides engaging opportunities for children ages four years old through sixth grade to learn Unitarian Universalist values and principles in an environment that emphasizes active learning, a sense of community, and joy.

On most Sundays the children start off in the service with the adults, join in with the opening hymn, and may be invited to the front of the sanctuary to hear a story during the Time for All Ages. Then the congregation sends them off with a song and they spend the next 45 minutes or so doing youth activities like the ones mentioned below. Everyone reunites after the service (usually around 11:10 am) for snacks and coffee hour. The first Sunday of each month is different: it is a multigenerational service during which the children remain in the sanctuary with their parents. In some of these services the children are offered a choice to participate in acting out a play or sharing a song or project.

In all of our RE classes children engage in thoughtful discussions about important topics, like what it means to practice flexible thinking, or to be generous, or to question ideas that might be taken for granted. These discussions are always coupled with a story and an enjoyable activity (either indoors or outdoors) such as singing, making crafts, going on nature walks, baking holiday cookies, planting flower bulbs, building bird houses, and collecting food for those in need.

One class a month is centered around working with unit blocks, the familiar wooden blocks usually seen in early childhood classrooms. The children use this modular system to collaborate on building a wide range of structures, from temples and churches to food banks and astronomical observatories. Unit block-building provides many levels of learning, including the basic math and physics concepts inherent in the material itself. Each Block class is also a laboratory for practicing creativity, communication, cooperation, negotiation, compromise, and problem-solving, all while having fun. The Block Program is integrated with our other RE offerings and is very popular with all age groups.

Our RE committee is working towards adding more youth programming in 2024. We are in a bit of a rebuilding phase with more children joining us now than there have been in several years, and we’re excited to keep adding to our numbers!