Children’s Religious Exploration

At KUUF you’ll see these themes woven through our worship services, chalice circles, Creativity Matters, Soulful Home, and children’s religious exploration.

Summer Children’s Program: Can Do Summer

Children’s Religious Exploration

Can Do Summer is an exploration of curiosity and imagination. Its aim is to instill in children the “can do spirit” and the ability to face challenges that occur in life with an open mind and flexibility. Each session is anchored in the UU practice of curiosity and imagination, two skills that are key to feeling empowered and excited to try and make new things. New ideas and creations are brought into being through curiosity and imagination. The can-do spirit enables people to feel like life is an adventure of trying and creating new things. 

July 6, 2025 - Fairy Houses: Use your imagination & creativity to create a fairy house out of natural materials outdoors.

July 13, 2025 - Paper Airplanes: Use your curiosity to explore the gliding properties of different paper airplanes, indoors or outdoors.

July 20, 2025 - (garden)

July 27, 2025 - Blanket Forts: Use your imagination and creativity to create a blanket fort. How can you create a community?

August 3, 2025 - Body Percussion: Use creativity to explore how to create music with slapping, clapping, stomping and other ways to use their body.

August 10, 2025 - Junk Sculpture: Use your imagination and creativity to create unique sculptures with recycled items and duct tape. 

August 17, 2025 - Obstacle Course: Use your curiosity and imagination to complete an obstacle course with extra points for helping and encouraging each other.

August 24, 2025 - Toothpick Architecture:Use your imagination & creativity to create a shape. Embrace your inner architect and build a house, a tower, or something else, then combine them all. 

August 31, 2025 - gardening

Children’s Service Project: Taking Care of Animals

Help the children with their service project, taking care of animals. On Easter, the children who participated in the Easter egg hunt, voted with the eggs they found. There was a bucket for taking care of people, taking care of the earth, and taking care of animals. While all buckets garnered votes, taking care of animals had the most. This summer, the children will be doing a drive for the Humane Society and then will be getting a tour of the Humane Society facilities. 

Please see lists below for what is needed.

 Toys and Supplies:

• Towels, blankets and linens (without holes)

• New or slightly used tennis balls

• Kong brand dog toys (especially medium and large)

• Benebone brand dog toys

• Martingale-style dog collars

• Easy Walk Harnesses

• Freedom Harnesses

• Washable cat toys

• Wood/natural chew toys for small pets such as guinea pigs and rabbits

• Plush cat beds

• Kuranda beds for dogs

• New fleece throws

• Cat litter – non clumping clay litter

• Cat litter- Yesterday’s News brand 

• Stainless steel water and food bowls

• Electric heating pads

• Humidifiers

• Kitchen food scales

• Grooming clippers

• Humane Cat Traps

• New and gently used dog crates (all sizes)

• New and gently used cat carriers and kennels (all sizes)

 Cleaning/Office Supplies:

• Bleach

• Paper towels

• Batteries (AAA,AA,9v)

• Lint rollers (sticky paper kind)

• 3″x 3″ Post-It Notes

• Laminating sheets (letter and legal size)

• Fine and medium-point dry erase markers

• Sandwich and gallon-size Ziploc bags

• Yellow highlighters

Medical/Behavioral Supplies:

• Feliway spray for cats

• DAP or Adaptil spray or collars for dogs

• Liquid Benadryl (unflavored)

• Triple Antibiotic Ointments

• Nutrical paste

• Tongue depressors

• New or gently used smock scrub tops

• Gallon jugs of distilled water

• Hydrogen Peroxide

Gift Cards:

• Gas cards (assists with transfer partnerships and facilities needs)

• PetSmart and Petco gift cards

• Costco gift cards

 Food:

• Canned (wet) cat food

• Canned (wet) kitten food (pate style)

• Canned (wet) dog food (pate style)

• Dog and cat food (dry kibble – opened bags are accepted and distributed to food bank partners in Kitsap County)

• Milk Bone brand dog biscuits (regular flavor without any added colors)

• Breeder’s Edge Foster Care Kitten Milk Replacer powder formula

• Kitten bottles

• Mouse, Rat, and Hamster Food

Items NOT Needed:

• Anything Expired

• Cotton-Filled Bedding (Pillows, Comforters, Thick Blankets, etc.)

• Pet Clothes

• Extra-Large Dog Beds

• Ceramic & Glass Food/Water Bowls

• Broken/Damaged Items

• Soft/Fabric Carriers

• Pill Bottles

• Aquarium tanks or glass pet enclosures

• Small pet cages/enclosures

Soulful Home: Juluy 20th and August 17th

Soulful Home: Sunday, June 22 at 11:45 am
Soulful Home is an ongoing parent group meeting that usually meets the third Sunday of each month.

Parents are invited to bring a sack lunch for themselves and for their child(ren). Children will remain up in the Matan Building for childcare while parents meet to build community and explore the Soulful Home resources. Soulful Home is a program through Soul Matters that supports families as they explore the sacred in everyday spaces by providing materials to help parents integrate Unitarian Universalism into everyday home life. 

Creativity Matters

Are you interested in spiritual exploration through creativity? Looking for a group to participate in at the Fellowship? Creativity Matters may be for you. Like a Chalice Circle, participants will gather monthly. Participants receive project-based packets built around the monthly theme. Each packet contains creative exercises for group members to work on prior to the meeting. Packets also contain inspirational material and reflection questions to get your creative juices flowing.  Unlike an artists group that explores technique and provides critiques, this group will gather together, similar to a Chalice Circle, for spiritual discernment. While artists are welcome, no experience or artistic skill is required.  Project options include such things as: collage, storytelling, scrapbooking, sketching, photography, creative writing, watercolor painting, fabric arts, sculpture, movement, music, and more. All projects are designed for everyone. At the monthly gathering group members will share their projects and insights that emerged from the exercise/project they picked.  If you are interested in participating please contact Melinda.

Family Friendly Fellowship Film Night: To Be Announced

This is an all ages movie night. Pack a picnic dinner, blanket and pillows and join members of the Soulful Home parenting group for an indoor picnic, pajama wearing, film viewing event. This is an all ages event and because of this we will be starting early. You are invited to socialize and eat from 5:30 to 6:00. At 6:00 movie will begin 

Note: We are trying to limit clean up following the event, that is where the picnic idea came from. Because of this we will not be setting up tables and the kitchen will be closed.

Ongoing Volunteer Opportunities

Sunday Morning Program

Our children’s program is growing and we need you. If you have been involved in the Fellowship for at least a year and are interested and willing to work with our children, we need you. 

Childcare: We need helpers in childcare for those mornings when one of our childcare providers is out. Childcare is for crawlers-pre K. 

Elementary Aged Children: We have so many children attending regularly that we need a second adult in the room with our teacher. The teacher will prepare all materials and lead the activity. We just need someone to help them. If you are interested please see Melinda. We also have a need for helpers in childcare. All who work with our children are required to have a background check. 

Middle School: We have a very small group of middle schoolers but are hoping that we can soon have enough to have a middle school group that meets regularly. For this to happen, we need not only middle schoolers, but a team of adults that would be willing to work with this amazing group. 

If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please talk to Melinda Hughes, Director of Religious Exploration.

Family Friendly Service

KUUF services are family friendly! Children are welcome to stay for the entire service. Most 5-12 year olds choose to go to Children's Religious Exploration (CRE) after Time for All Ages.

Time for All Ages

KUUF is a member of the Soul Matters Sharing Circle, a group of over 145 UU congregations who follow the same monthly worship themes. This year's overarching frame is The Gifts of Our Faith, focusing on ten beloved UU values and exploring their potential to shape us and in turn shape the world. This allows us to share in a Time for All Ages, often a story, that connects the theme to the sermon and to the activities the children will be doing. Following Time for All Ages most children go to Children's Religious Exploration.