Each class is rooted in the belief that even very young children are capable of being meaningful, valued partners in congregational life. Rather than treating infants and toddlers as passive recipients of lessons, this class honors them as active participants whose ideas, questions, creativity, and ways of engaging help shape the community around them.

During each class, Ellery Churchmouse invites kids to explore the values of Unitarian Universalism through imaginative play. Each week, the group will receive an illustrated letter from Ellery along with a gift to explore together (usually an ordinary object like a ball of yarn.) By sending familiar, everyday objects to be transformed through play, Ellery honors the ways that young children make meaning and offers a chance for spiritual exploration and UU values to emerge naturally and joyfully from their own discoveries.

Teachers support these discoveries by affirming children’s ideas and helping them expand on them. Children are encouraged to participate in whatever ways feel natural to them—through movement, storytelling, building, observing, repeating, or wiggling nearby while they listen and explore. Wiggles, wandering, and active bodies are welcomed as part of how young children learn.

Children are also encouraged to engage in self-directed play with the gifted materials and other loose parts and classroom toys. This open-ended play gives children time to revisit ideas at their own pace, follow their curiosity, and practice social-emotional skills through peer interaction.

Because preschoolers learn best through active exploration rather than long verbal instruction, self-directed play is not separate from the lesson—it is the lesson. Through experimenting, pretending, collaborating, and creating, children build understanding in ways that are developmentally appropriate, joyful, and deeply memorable.

When preschoolers negotiate turns, solve problems, include others, care for materials, or imagine a better world, they practice abstract values in concrete and memorable ways. They also practice being part of a community where their voices matter. 

Ellery’s Playful Idea Club trusts that children are already imaginative, compassionate, and full of wisdom—and that through play, they can help build beloved communities together.

Note on Child Safety: Per our Child Safety Policy, parents/guardians are required to change their own child's diapers if needed. Volunteers are not permitted to change diapers.