Godly Play Nourishing Children’s Spirituality : A case study. Assignment 2, Step 2 John Cowan EDRE629 – Spirituality and the Religious Educator

Godly Play Nourishing Children’s Spirituality: A Case Study Brendan Hyde 2010 A practice used in Early Childhood classrooms, devised by Jerome Berryman. A Hermeneutic Phenomenology – a theory of text interpretation including written, verbal and non-verbal communication. Fundamental principles based in the Montessori Teaching method –engaging a child’s hands, heart, senses and intuition.

Brendan Hyde 2008 – Four Characteristics of Children’s Spirituality Connect spiritually with self, others, the world and with God – The Felt Sense – Integrating Awareness – Weaving Threads of Meaning – Spiritual Questing Maria Harris 1987 – The Religious Imagination Opportunity for students to explore deep thought in the Religious Education Classroom – Contemplation – Engagement – Form-giving – Emergence – Release

Characteristic 1 – The Felt Sense – Attending – Focussing activity – Bodily awareness – An Invitation to the here and now – to participate in something sacred Characteristic 2 – Integrating Awareness – Text Interpretation – Relationship forming – Less distinction between self and others

Characteristic 3 – Weaving the threads of Meaning – Ability to dissect their own thoughts – Explore their own wonderings through various activities – To question – To interpret – To ultimately encounter Christ Joyce Bellous 2009 Spiritual Styles – Creating an environment to nurture spiritual wholeness – Word Approach – Emotion Centred Approach – Symbol Approach – Action Approach Ensuring a balance and a sense of inclusion during religious formation.

Characteristic 4 – Spiritual Questing – To seek and explore surroundings – To be able to connect with self, others, God and the world – Encounter Christ – Ultimately explore values and beliefs in the things that matter to them.

Implications in an Indigenous Context – Challenges would ultimately disrupt the process making it difficult to remain true to the philosophy – Sensory overload for children. Pens, paper, toys and art mediums are rare in households and quite unfamiliar to children. They only have experience with these items in a school setting – Slow approach to the implementation with less choice – Use student strengths through visual Art as a response initially before allowing choice of other materials.

References Bellous, J. (2009) Spiritual Styles: creating an environment to nurture spiritual wholeness, International journal of children’s spirituality, Vol 14, No 3 Harris, M. (1987) Teaching and the Relgious Imagination, Harper and Row, Publishers, San Francisco. Hyde, B. (2010) Godly Play Nourishing Children’s Spirituality: A Case Study, religious Education: The official journal of the Religious Education Association, 105:5, 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, No 2