Toledo Worship Group has a multi-age program for children during meeting for worship. Parents are asked to bring their children to the library room (where the children's program takes place) before the start of 10 am worship.  Our mornings together begin with sharing time and continue with a lesson for the week. Discussions and activities might relate to Quaker history, practices, and testimonies, Bible stories, or learning about other faith traditions.  This summer, young Friends developed a Jeopardy-style Quaker trivia game, "Stump the Quaker," which they shared with adult Friends in a hilarious 11th hour program.  Older children often join adult Friends for the last fifteen minutes of worship.  When worship concludes, all young Friends join the meeting and share their experiences in First Day School.  Another highlight of our program in Toledo is Sundae Sundays.  Whenever a fifth Sunday occurs in a given month, Friends young and old have ice cream and play games together during 11th hour.

Check the "files" section of this page for a sampler of topics and activities that young Toledo Friends have explored together.  You can also visit our Facebook page for images of young Friends' adventures in Toledo and with their f/Friends in Lake Erie Yearly Meeting.  

https://www.facebook.com/ToledoQuakers/

Bluffton does not have an organized children's program, but children are always welcome.  Friends meet irregularly in Findlay, but when they do, there is typically children's programming available.

Young Friends hope you enjoy their video interviews with two of our centenarian Broadmead f/Friends, Rilma Buckman and Claire Davis.
 

In the spring of 2007, the children in the First Day School in Toledo wrote an Epistle (a letter) to describe their experiences.
(Note: Toledo Friends no longer meet at the 577, but we still enjoy the outdoors at Wildwood Metropark, adjacent to our new home at The Victory Center.)

Spring, 2007

Dear Friends Everywhere,

We are the young Friends of Toledo Friends Meeting. We love cats, drawing, computer games, komodo dragons, Webkinz, and yo-yo's. Our youngest Friend is 3 years old and he likes his paint box.

We meet at the 577. The parents join us too. The 577 is a community garden where people can garden for free. You can take many classes and most classes are about art. Two of us are taking a pottery class.

In First Day School we share about our week. We go outside and play in the gardens. We play lots of tag and soccer. We visit the koi in the biodome. We like the outdoor music garden. We learn about Quakers from a long time ago. We learn about George Fox. We learned about Moses. We went to the river and acted out the story. We are making our own songbook. Two of us have written songs for our book.

After we're done with First Day School we go talk to the parents and other adults about what we did. Sometimes the adults come and share stories with us.

Young Friends of Toledo Friends Meeting