The First Unitarian Church of Worcester offers a full range of religious education programs on Sundays for children.  Each Sunday children attend the beginning of the regular 10:30 a.m. worship with their families.  Approximately three Sundays per month, they go with their teachers to their classrooms at 10:45 a.m.  Children’s classes run from 10:45-11:45 a.m. (about 15 minutes longer than the adult service).  This allows adults to enjoy coffee and fellowship while the children finish their classes.  Students from 6^th-7^th grades will ring a bell at 11:45 a.m. to signal the end of our children’s classes.  We ask that parents pick up their children in person from their classrooms at this time.

Our Children’s Faith Development Ministries include three types of classes:

Nursery
Faith Development begins at birth!  Designed for ages 6 weeks through 3 years, our nursery caregivers are ready to care for your young children with compassion, energy and competence.  Nursery begins at 9:00 a.m. Sundays to accommodate early morning adult activities and runs through 11:45 a.m.  Parents must sign their children in and out for safety.

Spirit Play
Our elementary classes are based on the Montessori-model curriculum Spirit Play . Using age-appropriate methods and stories based on Unitarian Universalist liturgy, principles (called promises), and sources, Spirit Play classes encourage children to find their own answers to existential questions.  Each class includes formal entering and leave-taking, worship, a story, a free work response time, and a feast (snack).  Stories and available response activities are chosen according to the class ages.

Bible Classes
For our 5^th-6^th grade students, as they prepare to transition into our Youth Ministries, we offer a more traditional religious education curriculum based on our Jewish and Christian heritage.  This two-year cycle provides a firm foundation in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.  This class meets in the classroom on the left of Unity Hall, and 4^th-5^th grade children are released to find their parents at 11:45 a.m.