Age: 11–18 years
Length: 45–60 minutes
Approach: Godly Play-inspired, dialogue-based, reflective, experiential and age-appropriate. Young people are invited to explore meaning, mystery, responsibility and hope rather than being given simple answers.
Invitation: paying attention
You will need:
- torch or lamp
- globe or large ball
- small ball (moon)
- sticky notes
- large sheets of paper
- string or masking tape
- pens
Gather the group around the globe.
Shine the torch on one side.
Say: “Today we're thinking about wonder, eclipses, creation, and our place within the world. We are not here to solve every question. We are here to notice, wonder, and pay attention.” (Pause.)
Invite young people to quietly observe the globe for thirty seconds before speaking.
Ask:
- What do you notice?
- What catches your attention?
- What surprises you?
- What questions does it raise?
Avoid correcting answers. Allow curiosity to emerge.
Interactive activity 1: Walking the light
Create a large circle using string or tape. Place the torch in the centre.
Invite volunteers to slowly walk around the circle while others observe.
As participants move, ask:
- How does your position change your experience of the light?
- When do you feel most exposed?
- When do you see the light most clearly?
- What changes as you move?
Afterwards discuss: “The light stays where it is. We are the ones moving.”
Wondering together
- I wonder what changes when we pay attention.
- I wonder what we miss when we move too quickly.
- I wonder where we encounter light in our own lives.
- I wonder whether darkness is always something negative.
- I wonder why creation needs rhythms of day and night.
Interactive activity 2: Eclipse experience
Using the globe, torch and smaller ball, demonstrate an eclipse.
Invite different young people to take turns positioning the Moon between the light and the Earth. Ask everyone to watch carefully.
Say: “For a moment, something changes. The familiar looks different. People throughout history have stopped and looked up in wonder during eclipses.”
Discuss:
- How might you feel if you didn't know what an eclipse was?
- Why do unusual events capture our attention?
- Why do humans seem drawn to moments of awe and mystery?
Small group challenge
Give each group a sheet of paper.
Ask them to discuss: What experiences make people stop and pay attention?
Examples might include:
- solar eclipses
- birth
- death
- natural disasters
- beautiful landscapes
- major life changes
- acts of kindness
Invite groups to draw connections between these experiences.
Bring everyone back together.
Ask: “I wonder what these moments reveal about what matters to us? I wonder where we see, feel or experience God in these moments?”
Wondering about creation
Read aloud: “The eclipse didn't break the world. The world kept going.” (Pause.) “Creation is resilient. Yet it is also vulnerable.”
Invite discussion.
Wondering together
- I wonder what creation can teach us about resilience.
- I wonder why humans often forget they are part of creation.
- I wonder what happens when we see the world only as something to use.
- I wonder what changes when we see creation as a gift.
- I wonder what responsibilities come with receiving a gift.
Allow silence between questions.
Interactive activity 3: Gift or resource?
Place signs at opposite ends of the room:
CREATION IS A RESOURCE
CREATION IS A GIFT
Read statements aloud.
Young people stand wherever they feel represents their current thinking.
Statements:
- a forest
- a river
- animals
- food
- the Sun
- land
- technology
- energy
After each choice ask:
- Why did you stand there?
- What influenced your decision?
- Can something be both a gift and a resource?
This allows nuanced conversation and critical thinking.
Conclude: “The Christian story often begins with the belief that creation is first a gift.”
Interactive activity 4: Voices of creation
Divide into small groups.
Assign each group one element:
- ocean
- forest
- pollinating insects
- soil
- rivers
- wildlife
Ask groups to imagine: “If this part of creation could speak, what might it want humanity to know?”
Groups create:
- a short spoken piece
- a poem
- a social media post
- a one-minute dramatic presentation
After presentations ask:
- What did you hear?
- What surprised you?
- What challenged you?
Climate change conversation
If young people raise climate change, create space for honest discussion.
Leader response: “People across the world have noticed changes in climate and weather patterns. Different communities are responding in different ways. Many people are asking what it means to care well for creation and for one another.”
Follow with wondering questions:
- I wonder what helps people move from fear to action.
- I wonder what changes are within your reach.
- I wonder what God is asking of you.
- I wonder what communities can do together that individuals cannot do alone.
- I wonder what hope might look like.
Focus on agency, community and care.
Interactive activity 5: From wonder to action
Provide sticky notes and invite everyone to complete three prompts:
- One thing I wonder about creation is...
- One thing I could do this month is...
- One way I can seek and feel Gods presence…
Collect responses on a wall or display board.
Read a selection aloud.
Emphasise: “Care grows out of relationship with God and each other. We take care of what we have learned to notice, value and love.”
Reflection prayer
Place the globe in the centre.
Darken the room if possible.
Leave one light shining.
Invite a period of silence.
Then ask:
- What are you thankful for?
- What concerns do you carry for the world?
- What gives you hope?
After each contribution the group responds: “Thank you for this gift.”
Godly Play – shaped ending
Leader: This is the world God made.
Group: This is the light and the shadow.
Leader: There is wonder we can explain.
Group: And wonder we cannot explain.
Leader: We are part of creation.
Group: Not above it.
Leader: We are invited to care for it.
Group: With gratitude and hope.
All: And it is very good.
Pause. Allow a full minute of silence before ending the session.