Make a place of worship collage

You’ll need

A4 paper
Pens or pencils
Scissors
Glue sticks
Images of your place of worship

Scouts is open to everyone. We don’t identify exclusively with one faith, and we welcome people of all faiths and of none.

We know it’s important for people to learn about each other, including understanding different faiths and beliefs. Scouts always respects people’s beliefs, faiths and cultures, and everyone should be open to learn.

As an inclusive and values based movement, we support our members to engage and learn about different faiths and beliefs in an exciting and meaningful way, even if they don’t have a faith themselves.

Celebrating and understanding differences, including differences in faiths and beliefs, is an important part of our Scout values, which are:

Integrity: We act with integrity; we are honest, trustworthy and loyal.
Respect: We have self-respect and respect for others.
Care: We support others and take care of the world in which we live.
Belief: We explore our faiths, beliefs and attitudes.
Co-operation: We make a positive difference; we co-operate with others and make friends.

Our value of Belief and its exploration helps Scouts to learn from other faiths and beliefs. This encourages them to develop or build their personal beliefs and understand their shared values, whether faith-based on not.

We know that learning about faiths, beliefs and different attitudes can help to break down barriers, helps us all to recognise what we have in common, and teaches us to value and respect other people. It also helps us to build up respect, acceptance and knowledge for each other, leading to a more co-operative and inclusive society.

In our diverse society, people can sometimes feel cautious talking about this sensitive subject. However, it's important that Scouts offers young people safe, exciting and open spaces to explore faiths and beliefs. They should be able to engage in personal reflection, as they question and develop their opinions and understanding of the world around them.

Making time for personal reflection and developing our beliefs means exploring the places, people, communities, celebrations or stories which hold meaning for us, and it may not necessarily mean exploring a faith.

For example, someone’s shared values may be their Scout Values and that person may choose to reflect on them at important times, such as when they make their Promise. Others may choose to reflect at certain times of the year, such as a faith-based festival, birthdays, meaningful events or at New Year. Some people may still celebrate events, such as Christmas, but use it as a time to celebrate family, friends and loved ones, as well as for charity and giving.

Discover more about Faiths and Beliefs in Scouts.

Before you begin

Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Take a look at our guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.

Planning and setting up this activity

Anyone who doesn’t have a specific faith or belief could use this activity to explore the places, people, celebrations or stories which hold meaning for them.
People may still celebrate events, such as Christmas, but use it as a time to celebrate family, friends and loved ones, as well as for charity and giving.
People may use New Year or birthdays as a time to mark for reflection, or other occasions, such as Mother's Day or Father's Day.
People can also use their Scout values and Scout Promise to reflect on and to join them to part of a community with shared beliefs. You could use photos from your time in Scouts or making your Promise.

Collect your pictures

Ask everyone to collect pictures of lots of different things that show their faith and belief, or celebrations and occasions they use to reflect on.
Remember, you should always check in advance that the people hosting, and everyone there, are happy for you to take pictures, especially in places of worship.
People should gather drawings, objects or items and pictures of people, important objects, places of worship, sacred objects, festivals, traditions, or stories. Everything should be quite small, so you can fit lots on the page when you collage with them.
There are lots of different ways to collect these pictures. Some of them include:

- Photocopying pages from books
- Taking photos on a camera or smartphone and printing them.
- Printing out any online research
- Collect newsletters, magazines or leaflets and cut out any images.
- Draw your own pictures – you could copy them from a book or real place, or draw them from memory.

Create your collage

Everyone should take a piece of paper.
Write the name of celebration, occasion or faith and belief in big letters to fill the page.
Cut out all of the images you collected.
Use the glue to stick the images along the letters, so the pictures spell out the words.
When you’ve finished sticking down all the things that build and make up your faith, belief or celebration stand back and take a look at the big picture.

Reflection

This activity helped you to develop your beliefs. What pictures make up your collage? Why is each thing important to you? How do the things in the images link to your faith? Are any of the images particularly special for you? How are people important in your faith? How do any important or sacred objects link to your beliefs? Do you have any pictures of festivals or customs – why do you take part in these? Do any pictures represent stories or traditions?

This activity could also help you improve wellbeing. Does your place or worship, or your faith, make you feel happy? How else does it make you feel? How does your faith help you feel satisfied with your life? Why are the things you believe important to you? Did you learn anything new when collecting the images or making your collage?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Scissors: Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.
Glue and solvents: Always supervise young people appropriately when they’re using glue and solvent products. Make sure there’s plenty of ventilation. Be aware of any medical conditions that could be affected by glue or solvent use and make adjustments as needed.

Make it accessible

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.