This is Side 1 of Our New Flyer - Click to see full sized version!

        Rev. Jonas Hayes is the minister to children, youth, and families at 1st. Presbyterian Church Palo Alto. The following are the goals of our Children's Ministry program at First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto.

        To build nurturing relationships among children, youth and adults in our congregation. To create an awareness of the uniqueness of each child in our church community. To contribute to the children's faith and overall development by providing opportunities for them to:

        • know themselves as unique and loved children of God

        • learn and apply faith stories

        • feel a part of our community of faith

        • participate in worship

        • contribute to our church and its work in meaningful and creative ways

        • increase their awareness of God's presence and love in the world

        • help them grow as inclusive, fair, happy, and peaceful children of God.

         

        Children's Programs at First Presbyterian Church


        This is Side 2 of our new flyer! Click to see a Full Size Version.
        All the Details Are Also Below

        Nursery Care

        Time: Sundays, 9:30 A.M. - 12:15 P.M.
        Place: Nursery
        *located on the southwest corner of Fellowship Hall

        Our long-time nursery care workers Robin Yerash and Joan Rosenbaum offer nursery care during adult and children's education programs as well as the 11:00 A.M. worship service.

        Optional Childcare - OCC (Ages 4 and up)

        Time: Sundays, 11:15 A.M. - 12:15 P.M.
        Place: The Learning Center (TLC) Playground
        *Located at the southwest corner of the Courtyard

        Supervised play-time for children ages 4 and up is available - following the Time for the Child in Us All or The Sharing of God's Peace and Compassion in at the 11:00 A.M. worship service.

        Godly Play (Ages 3-5)

        Time: Sundays, 9:30 A.M. - 10:30 A.M.
        Place: Classroom 1
        *located at the northwest corner of the Courtyard

        Godly Play teaches children the art of using sacred story, parable, silence and liturgical action - helping them become more fully aware of the mystery of God's presence in their lives.

        Educational Theory

        The educational theory of Godly Play is rooted in the pre-history of our species with respect to the use of ritual, story, and the creative process. Unfortunately, postmodern children are losing their ability to be active participants in narrative and ritual, which impairs their use of their innate natural creativity. The use of Montessori's approach to education has been adapted to Godly Play in order to stimulate children's active participation in story and ritual and to awaken their creativity for the learning of the language, sacred stories, parables, liturgical action and silence of the Christian tradition. The language of Godly Play helps children cope with the existential limits to their being and knowing.

        The above combination of factors enables children (and adults) to become rooted in their own tradition and at the same time open to others, to new ideas and to a more creative future.

        Opening Act (K - 12)

        Time: 9:30 A.M. - 9:45 A.M.
        Place: Classroom 3
        *Located on the northeast corner of the Courtyard

        Opening Act is the first 15 minutes of church school for the K-12 grade classes. This is a great place to gather to see old and new friends at church! Opening Act consists of: an introduction, ice-breakers as well as a time for singing and praying. Sometimes - the middle school and high school classes act out the scripture lesson or sacred text. Following Opening Act, the teachers and teaching assistants (shepherds) will lead the children and youth to their classes, which are listed below.

        Come Join the Circle (K - 5)

        Time: Sundays, 9:45 A.M. - 10:30 A.M.
        Place: Classroom 3 (K-2); Classroom 2 (3-5)
        *Located at the north corner of the Courtyard

        Come Join the Circle welcomes learners into the great stories and truths found in scripture and other sacred texts. We encourage honest and open questioning with the goal of encouraging faith that is well-rooted, authentic and seeks to act for peace and justice in the world. In the Come Join the Circle, we learn stories and concepts through child-friendly multimedia workshops: art, drama, music, games, puppets, storytelling & computer lab.

        Photos of Our Children and Youth and Adults Together!

        Learning the Bible by acting it out. The kids take part in a play
           
        Jack Schaup's 3rd/4th/5th grade Sunday school class has had a very busy and exciting year so far.

        Traveling through the desert
        We started out the year imagining ourselves as followers of Abraham, trekking out into the desert and searching for locations to rest during our journey. This involved traveling from our classroom, out through the courtyard, and circling the church (sanctuary) with our tent in search of a location providing fresh water. At our first stop we found a "well" with water that looked great, but when we tasted it, we found that it was salty. The next well had dirty water with plants floating in it, but our third well had plenty of fresh water, so we set up our tent and many of us had a good drink. We then watched a video about the life of Abram and Sarai.

           

        "Goodbye Sarah and Abraham!"
           
        The Patriarchs
        Over the next weeks we learned about Isaac, Jacob and Joseph and the unusual ways they met their wives, followed God's word, passed on birthrights, and treated their brothers.

        Tombs and mummified dogs
        The class took a trip to the Rosicrucian Museum in San Jose and learned about ways that the ancient Egyptians worshipped and their beliefs about the dead. This taught us about how Jacob and Joseph's neighbors may have lived and worshipped. We even had the opportunity to take a guided tour through an exact replica of a tomb.

           

        Abraham in a discussion about idols with his father.
           
        Moses
        We spent one morning with parents, youth group members and the kindergarten to 2nd grade class, in three groups, imagining how Moses followers felt when he told them that they should leave Egypt and roam through the desert. One group tried to encourage the undecided "wishy-washies" to stay in Egypt. They reasoned that after all these plagues had to stop eventually and even if the Israelites were poorly treated and overtaxed, at least they knew where their next meal was coming from. Another group, the Israelites who were determined to follow Moses, tried to convince the wishy-washies to leave with them because God knows best, there was no future in Egypt and they could trust Moses. In the end the wishy-washies were convinced to leave Egypt.

        Trip of trust
        Jack took the group on a tour of trust, through the basement of one of the buildings. The children followed, trusting Jack as the Israelites trusted Moses. Jack left us for a time, but came back and led us safely back to donut holes and juice, just as Moses took care of his flock.

           

        The long trek through the desert!
           
        Drama
        The bible is filled with many great dramas. The class has explored many of the Old Testament stories by reenacting major events. They put on colorful costumes and documented the stories with pictures, then replayed the stories for the entire class.

        We also followed many of the biblical stories by watching Veggie Tales, a class favorite. Other videos that illustrated the passages we studied also supplemented the class.

        Games
        A matching game where the class worked against a timer to match events to the characters was a great hit. Members of the class made new cards as we progressed through the Old Testament. In the spring, the class created their own games, matching events in Jesus' life to pictures. They decorated the games, added game pieces and dice, played them with each other in class and will take them home to play with their families.

           

        Each Sunday we call the children forward to sit in a semi-circle by the Communion Table to participate and offer their unique thoughts and insights. 

        No, this isn't some strange cult brew in the making! Everyone knows the way to a kid's heart is Macaroni and Cheese!

        The princess is awating her Macaroni and Cheese (or should we say Cheese and Macaroni) please!

        It's not all about Macaroni and Cheese, though! We teach about protecting the earth, and then join together in taking action! Here we are at a recent creek cleanup.  

        Everyone into the creek! There's no better way to get to know the children in our congregation than to work side-by-side with them doing something good!

        This sign is but one small part of all the junk this group got out of the creek during our cleanup day. They also had a lot of fun and made new friends.

        Every year (around April) we have an All Church Retreat. Special activities are set up for all ages. Gee - lots of babies here!