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Alternate Activity 1: Matching in Motion

Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

  • Decide whether to use the active or less active option.

    • Write each term and each definition from Leader Resource 2, Terms and Definitions, on a name tag. (You will have 24 nametags.) Use hanging nametags if you plan to reuse them.
    • For a less-active version: Copy Leader Resource 2, Terms and Definitions, for all participants.

Description of Activity

This activity reinforces youth understanding of twelve terms introduced at different points during Amazing Grace: Exploring Right and Wrong. The terms and their definitions can be found (in unmatched order) in Leader Resource 2. If you use them all, you will have enough for 24 participants. If your group has fewer than that, either use fewer pairs of terms and definitions, consider doing the activity twice in order to use more of them, or ask youth to wear more than one name tag. If your group has more than 24 youth, you might divide it into two parts and give each smaller group a set of labels to use. If you have an uneven number of participants, have a leader join the activity by displaying a label and passively waiting for the appropriate youth to join them.

Before handing out the name tags, explain that the youth will now do a matching activity similar to one they may have done for Session 12, Activity 4, Matching in Motion. The difference here is that they will match up with each other in silence. Each person will have either a term or a definition. When you say to begin, they will move around in silence and match themselves up so that the terms and definitions are standing or sitting in pairs. If anybody has trouble finding a partner, others can help by moving the appropriate term and definition together-but they must do this without speaking.

Allow the matching to proceed. When all have paired off, take a quick look to see if all combinations are correct. If not, say that there is a problem and ask the youth to reconsider the pairs, again, by moving around in silence. If this process ends with another error, ask the youth to try again, this time with speaking allowed. If that, too, results in a mismatch, a leader should gently nudge participants around until they are all with the right partners.

Conclude by asking each pair to state its term and definition aloud. Add any information you think will be useful as they do so.

Less active options: You can do this activity more quickly and quietly-but with less fun-by copying Leader Resource 2, Terms and Definitions, handing the copies and pencils to the group, and letting each participant draw lines to match up the terms and definitions. Alternately, write the terms and definitions on index cards, mix them up, and place them on a table. Then invite the group to work together to arrange the cards in pairs. If your group is large, divide it and let smaller groups do the same activity.

Here are the matches youth should create and the session number and the activity number or name where the terms were introduced (FIA stands for Faith in Action and AA stands for Alternate Activity):

Term (Session/Activity)



Calling (S7/A3)

Feeling you must do or be something to be true to yourself

He felt called to teach children with special needs.


Character (S13/A2)

The real you; the qualities that make you you

The way she responded to crisis demonstrated her true character.


Conscience (S9/A1)

Voice of the soul; an internal sense of right and wrong

Although her friends thought skipping class was cool, her conscience told her it was not.


Covenant (S16/FIA)

Agreement; mutual promise

They made a covenant not to repeat any personal information shared in the group.

Faith (S1/FIA)

Spiritual and religious belief; the activity of making meaning; sense of what you trust or know to be true

He had faith that each person’s effort made a difference in the world.

Golden Rule (S4/A4)

Treat others the way you want them to treat you

Sometimes she found it hard to practice the Golden Rule with her brother.


Guilt (S6/A3) 

Feeling you did something wrong

After he snapped at his mother, he was aware of the uncomfortable feeling of guilt.

Moral relativity (S10/A3)

What is right depends on the situation

To some, killing a person is always wrong; to some, it depends on the situation-an example of moral relativity.

Repent (S12/A1)

 To feel remorse; to say you are sorry

Yom Kippur is a special Jewish holiday that gives people an opportunity to repent for any hurt they have caused others in the past year.

Soul (S7/A2)

The deepest part of yourself; the human spirit

Making music always feeds her soul.

Trinity (S6/A1)

Idea that God is in three parts, not one

Father, Son and Holy Ghost make up the trinity in Catholic theology.


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