Helping Every Child Engage With Faith Through Worship Play

Children at St James CE Primary School, Farnworth, are benefiting from a new Worship Play project, designed to make collective worship more accessible, engaging and inclusive for all.

Previously, the school had adapted Wiggle Worship for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and those who find traditional worship settings challenging. Worship Play is a further development of this, using sensory activities, storytelling and play to help children explore Bible stories in ways that are meaningful to them.

The initiative aims to create a calm, welcoming environment where children can wonder, reflect and make connections with God and the world around them. Through activities involving touch, sound, movement and play, children are encouraged to participate in worship at their own pace and in their own way.

As part of the programme, children will also have opportunities to take on leadership roles by helping to lead weekly Worship Play activities, and take-home activities will enable families to continue exploring themes together.

Canon Jill Pilling, CEO of Archbishop Temple Multi Academy Trust, says of the project, “Sensory worship play helps move RE from simply listening about a Bible story to experiencing and exploring it. It can be used as a starting point for teaching, storytelling, prayer, worship or reflection, while allowing children to explore in their own way and at their own pace.”

There are plans to expand this initiative across all schools in the Archbishop Temple Multi Academy Trust, starting with Bolton Parish CE Primary School later this term.

If you’re feeling inspired by Worship Play, visit our Children and Young People pages for resources and support to help children and young people encounter God in creative, accessible and meaningful ways.