Birds and kindness - Children's program

 

For February's Children's Program, we celebrated birds, awareness, and the transition towards spring. We first shared our names and something that had caught our attention in nature, or simply something we wanted to show the group. We were introduced to baby dolls and stuffies, hatching insects and flower sprouts, and also recalled the songs of the chickadees, dripping icicles, snow noisily sliding off of roofs, and the gradual return of the light and warmth. 

We then read and acted out the book How to Find a Bird, written by Jennifer Ward and illustrated by Diana Sudyka. In the book we learned how to experience birds by expanding our awareness, sitting quietly, blending in, and listening intently. 

Next, we demonstrated how to make pine cone (or toilet paper roll) bird feeders with peanut butter and birdseed, as an act of lovingkindness to the winged ones (and probably also the climbing ones). 

We practiced our eagle eyes (pointed vision) and owl eyes (wide-angled vision), and then did a bird-call meditation, exploring how different bird calls might resonate differently in our bodies. We ended by listening to the Temple bell and then sounding a group OM.