Godly Play Nourishing Children’s Spirituality: a case study. by Brendan Hyde Susan Crowe B EDRE629 Assignment 2, Lecturer Dr. AnnMaree Whenman

Overview:  What is Spirituality?  What is Children’s Spirituality?  What is Godly Play?  The potential for Godly Play in the classroom?  What are the implications for my role in Catholic Education? B EDRE629 Susan Crowe 2

What is Spirituality? Spirituality is the wellspring of our sense of meaning and of our will to live. It is the source of our deepest loves, values, yearnings and hopes. It ultimately affects every part of our lives. (Liddy, 2002) B EDRE629 Susan Crowe 3

Children’s Spirituality: In every child there is a spiritual potential no matter what the child’s cultural or religious context may be (Hay & Nye, 1998)  The Felt Sense  Integrating Awareness  Weaving the Threads of Meaning  Spiritual Questing B EDRE629 Susan Crowe 4

What is Godly Play?  Godly Play is a creative and imaginative approach to Christian nurture.  Godly Play is based on long established, tried and tested approaches.  Godly Play encourages participants to make meaning for themselves by inviting them into stories and providing the opportunity for them to connect the stories with their personal experience.  Godly Play is a non-coercive way to encourage people to move into larger dimensions of belief and faith through wondering questions and open- ended response time.  Godly Play values process, openness and discovery.  Godly Play is a way of preparing children to join in the worship and life of their congregations as they develop a deeper understanding of stories, symbols and rites B EDRE629 Susan Crowe 5

Implications for Schools and Catholic Education  An engaging way for children to learn the stories of the Catholic Tradition  Involves teachers using a strategy which will encourage students to wonder about their God  Means that Teachers need to become more skilled at being Storytellers  Teachers need to integrate Arts into the teaching of Religious Education through Godly Play  Teachers need to further develop their skills in teaching performing and visual arts  CEOB personnel will need to work with more energy and be more strategic with teachers in these areas of Arts, manipulative play and Story telling B EDRE629 Susan Crowe 6

 “Holistic environments include all children, cherish all children, and welcome all children – regardless of their dominant spiritual style”  Bellous & Csinos (2009) p.223  “Educators are skilled in creating appropriate spaces for learning and teaching. Are they equally as adept in creating spaces in which to nurture spirituality?” Hyde, (2008) p B EDRE629 Susan Crowe 7

References:  Bellous, J. (2007). Five classroom activities for sustaining a spiritual environment. In C. Ota. & M. Chater. (Eds). Spiritual education in a divided world (pp ). Oxon:Routledge.  Bellous, J & Csinos, D 92009). Spiritual styles: creating an environment to nurture spiritual wholeness. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 14(3),  Godly Play Canada. (2010) What is Godly Play? Retrieved October,  Hyde, B. (2008). The identification of four characteristics of children’s spirituality in Australian Catholic Primary schools. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality. Vol.13(2),  Hyde, B. (2010). Godly Play Nourishing Children’s Spirituality: A Case Study. Religious Education: The official journal of the Religious Education Association.105:5, , DOI:  Liddy, S. (2002). Children’s Spirituality. Journal of Religious Education. 50(1), B EDRE629 Susan Crowe 8