Spiritual Foundation
A whole child is a combination of body, mind, emotions and spirit. The child’s spirit is the focus of this website.
This site is devoted to ideas and resources that can assist you in nurturing your child’s spirit through a combination of experiences. It is designed to help you and your child explore the world with wonder and reverence.
While each of us approaches spiritual development in ways that reflect our own values and beliefs, there is much we share. To communicate these commonalities, the Spiritual Foundation and Strength Action Team developed a list of Qualities that represent how spirit is expressed in our everyday lives. Throughout the website, these qualities serve as themes that are explored in various activities. For example, we begin with the Sense of Wonder and carry that theme through all of the activities that follow.
Because reading plays such a vital role in a child’s spiritual development, we have included suggestions concerning Reading Aloud and then provided an extensive Book List. The books in this list reflect the spiritual qualities in the word list. We have made the list “user friendly” by compiling lists of books by suggested age level, special topics, books for adults and activity books.
Next, we provide suggestions for visiting Special Places. Houses of worship have been viewed traditionally as special places and we honor that perspective. However, the world of a whole child encompasses variety. Therefore the Special Places we describe offer you and your child an assortment of settings in which to experience the presence of Spirit.
The Arts offer children avenues of exploration and expression that enable them to discover and relate to the real and the imaginary. We offer you suggestions for exploring the visual arts, music and movement and drama in ways that nurture and expand a child’s awareness of Spirit.
Although the content of this website is divided into separate topics, it is intended to flow together to enhance the development of the whole child. This is illustrated in the way we have integrated reading and music throughout the explanations and activities.
We view our efforts as a beginning. You can help us by providing feedback. What do you find useful? What are your needs? How can we help? We welcome your Comments.
Additional Resources
