Godly Play
The goal of Godly Play is to teach children the art of using religious language-parable, sacred story, silence and liturgical action – to help them become more fully aware of the mystery of God’s presence in their lives.
Developed by Episcopalian priest, author and teacher, Jerome W. Berryman, Godly Play is designed for children aged two to twelve and has been classroom tested since 1972. Deeply spiritual and highly creative, Godly Play is also used in schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, and retirement centers. Internationally, Godly Play classrooms are found in the United Kingdom, Finland, Germany, Canada, Tanzania, Australia, and in Spanish speaking countries.
Educational Theory
The educational theory of Godly Play is rooted in the pre-history of our species with respect to the use of ritual, story, and the creative process. Unfortunately, postmodern children are losing their ability to be active participants in narrative and ritual, which impairs their use of their own natural creativity (imago dei). The use of Montessori’s approach to education has been adapted to Godly Play in order to stimulate children’s active participation in story and ritual and to awaken their creativity for the learning of the language, sacred stories, parables, liturgical action and silence of the Christian tradition. This is the most appropriate kind of language to cope with the existential limits to our being and knowing.
The above combination of factors enables children (and adults) to become playfully orthodox. They become rooted in their own tradition and at the same time open to others, to new ideas and the future in creative ways.
Millennium Development Goals
The MDGs represent a global partnership that has grown from the
commitments and targets established at the world summits of the 1990s. Responding to the world's
main development challenges and to the calls of civil society, the MDGs promote poverty reduction,
education, maternal health, gender equality, and aim at combating child mortality,
AIDS and other diseases.
