Religion Arts and Crafts Workshop Plan
Topic:Arts and Crafts session based on religion
Aim:
Have an arts and crafts session about world religions and increase awareness about religions
Age Group:
Perfect for: An arts class in aSocial Care setting
Suitable for: Giving it a more educational slant to higher ability secondary school students
With a bit of imagination: a simplified version for primary school students
Objective:
- To practise their arts and crafts skills by drawing religious symbols
- To learn what countries/ parts of the world worship which religion
- To have fun creating their own religion
Success Criteria:
All participants will be able to have fun drawing religious symbols, making crafts or creating their own religion
Most participants will be able to match certain religions to the countries/ regions where they are practised
Some will be able to learn about other religions and present back information on their own/ other religions
Resources/ Preparation needed:
Paper and colours.
Chalk if using outdoors.
Craft materials
Starter Activity:
Make 5 posters with the names of the 5 major world Religions (Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam). Now stick these posters to different corners of the room. Have all the participants stand in the middle of the room and when you call out the name of a religion all of the participants must run to that poster.
If suitable you could pick out participants to call out the religion.
You could also make it into a competition by eliminating anyone who runs to the wrong poster or reacts too slowly until there is only one person left. / Timing:
5 minutes
Main Teaching:
Lower ability:
Drawing pictures / creating crafts of symbols relevant to different religions (examples below)
Placing these symbols on a world map to show what countries practise which religion
Higher ability:
Explain some facts about each religion (Facts about the 5 major world religions is provided below). These explanations could be interactive and involve clothing / music / dance / traditional customs.
You could make a poster about your religion or one of the religions in your local community in the UK. If appropriate this could include facts/ information/ stories from the religion
Participants could make a corresponding poster about their own religionHeadings could include clothing / music / dance / customs / symbols / Timing:
20-25 minutes
Development: (Group or Individuals):
Using either some board space or outdoors, draw a world map, and write the names of the 5 major world religions on pieces of paper. Spend some time pointing out on the map where each religion is practised (refer to the map provided below for assistance).
Now split the participants into teams and have races. When you call out the name of a religion they must race to pick the right piece of paper and stick it to a place on the world map where that religion is practised (e.g. Buddhism on Thailand).
*If you have drawn pictures of the different religious symbols you could increase the difficulty by calling out the name of a religion and participants must pick correct symbol and then pin it to correct country/ region.
If the materials are available have participants create crafts of their favourite religious symbols.
Suitable participants could create their own religion- Have fun/ be creative. There is an example one provided below
Make a poster which could include:
A name
A symbol
A greeting
A God with a name (and a story- higher level)
A prayer with both words and actions.
Present back to the group / Timing:
25 minutes
Plenary:
Presenting your religion to the group and everyone must practice the greeting and prayer of the religion.
Participants pick their favourite religion (not their own) and vote (higher level could explain why)
Participants vote for which picture/ craft (higher ability: religion) they like the most and the winner gets a prize / Timing:
5-10 minutes
Homework:
Explore the possibility of making a trip to a local place of worship / Timing:
n/a
Creating a Religion - Example
Name- Chocolanity
Greeting- Rub your tummy then rub the tummy of the person you are greeting (if appropriate)
God – The Choccy Monster (A Spirit that lived on Mars and came to create earth in order to produce more chocolate, who then created humans to partake in the joy of eating chocolate)
Prayer-
Chocolate makes us care (hold chocolate)
Chocolate makes us one (put chocolate in mouth)
Chocolate makes us full (eat chocolate)
Religious Facts:
Buddhism:
- Was founded in India 2,500 years ago
- There are 376 million followers worldwide
- There is no belief in a personal God, meditation is the way to enlightenment
Christianity:
- World's biggest religion, with about 2.1 billion followers worldwide
- Their spiritual leaders are called priests or ministers.
- The Christian holy book is the Bible, and consists of the Old and New Testaments.
Islam:
- Those who follow Islam are called Muslims
- Muslims believe there is only one God, which in Arabic is Allah
- Muslims base their laws on their holy book the Qur'an, and the Sunnah.
Hinduism:
- Hinduism is the religion of the majority of people in India and Nepal and has over 900 million adherents worldwide.
- Hindus believe that existence is a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, governed by Karma.
- Hindus celebrate many holy days, but the Festival of Lights, Diwali is the best known.
Judaism
- Judaism was founded over 3500 years ago in the Middle East.
- Jews worship in Synagogues and their Spiritual leaders are called Rabbis.
- Every week Jews observe the Sabbath, which is the Jewish holy day and a period of rest from nightfall on Friday until nightfall on Saturday.