Unitarian Universalist Church of Studio City
« Religious Exploration

Children & Teens

All ages are present for the first part of each Sunday service. Following the children's message, the youth go to Religious Exploration classes to explore faith themes, world religions, and Unitarian Universalist beliefs.

Nursery

While all voices are welcome in the Sanctuary, a self-service nursery with an audio speaker of the Sunday service is provided for the family's comfort. To make the room more comfortable, we have provided a stocked diaper-changing station, two reclining armchairs, toys and books. There is a lovely four wall mural that is a true delight!

Toddler Room

Lindsey Housenick, Bonnie Burroughs, Maggie MacMillan, and Rob Meurer

The most important goal in the Toddler Room is for your children to experience our church as a safe place for them to be, in the care of adults they can trust. Separating from their parents is a major developmental undertaking for children at this age, when security and trust are paramount.

Our Toddler Room provides a welcoming environment for your children to explore with or without parental company under the care of an experienced adult to oversee and facilitate this pivotal transition time. The Nursery in the next room provides a space for parents to listen to the service while maintaining their availability to their youngsters.

Rainbow Room Ages 3-5

Karen and Lori Renee

Drawing from two preschool curricula, "We Are Many, We Are One," and "Chalice Children," we celebrate themes of cooperation, individuality, holidays, nature, and friendship. Our program offers children the grounding of a religious community and its traditions through a wide range of activities.

With creative movement, cooperative games, songs, art projects, and discussions, we aim to:

  • Help children identify with their peers and religious community
  • Promote their acceptance of one another and their individuality
  • Encourage the freedom to discover
  • Nurture spiritual and ethical growth

World Room Kindergarten-2nd grades

Sylvia Nichols

We will explore the multicultural ideas of Unitarian Universalism within myths, legends, historical and nature based stories.

We will stress "caring for our earth: its waters, land and air," which we share with all living things: fish, insects, plants and animals on our planet.

We will nurture the concepts of:
Fairness, Kindness, and the Golden Rule throughout our classroom and playground activities.

UU Curriculum Sources:
The Haunting House; Kaleidoscope; In Our Hands; Beginnings Earth, Sky, Life, Death; From Long Ago and Many Lands

Big Room 3rd-5th grades

Antoinette Scully

This year we build on the idea that the essential human qualities, such as integrity, flexibility, courage, humor, and kindness, are tools kids will need as they build lives of faith.

These concepts from the “Toolbox of Faith” curriculum will be familiar to Big Room kids who explored them last year, and we will use these “tools for life” in order to survey the traditions and holidays of other faiths. We will compare them with our own personal theologies, and find ways for traditions to strengthen our understanding of what it is to be a Unitarian Universalist. By taking a look at the traditions from all around us, we learn to have a greater appreciation for the diversity of people who share our world.

The Turning Tides 6th-8th grades

Wendy Hawker, Jeanne McConnell, Maggie MacMillan

The purpose of Riddle and Mystery is to assist sixth Graders in their own search for understanding.

Each of the 16 sessions introduces and processes a Big Question. The first three echo Paul Gauguin’s famous triptych: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

The next ten, including Does God exist? and What happens when you die?, could be found on almost anyone’s list of basic life inquiries.

The final three are increasingly Unitarian Universalist: Can we ever solve life’s mystery? How can I know what to believe? What does Unitarian Universalism mean to me?

Join room leaders, Jeanne, Maggie, and Wendy upstairs in room 8 to explore our UU lives together. We'll also be delving deeper into our 7 Principles and Sources as well as learning ukulele basics and other hands on activities.

UUniteens 9th-12th grades

Nancy Stringer, John Mekrut, Alexis Rodriguez, Amy Kennedy

This year we will closely align Reverend Darrel's sermons to the topic of conversation in the UUniteens room. Teens will always gather in Room 9 at the start of class time, but will be attending selected worship services together.

We will frame many of our meetings using “The Simpsons” TV series, (one of the few current shows to address the topic of religion in America). Our source curriculum is the UU developed “Religion According to the Simpsons”. Throughout the course of the year, we will discuss world religions, personal and world ethics, social justice, personal faith, and spiritual growth.

COMMUNITY LOGIN