Balloon prayers

To help Scouts develop empathy and write short prayers on behalf of others.

• Identifying the problems
• Measuring change

• A topic is chosen in relation to your project.

• Each Scout is given 2 – 3 minutes to think about this topic and what it means to them.

• Each Scout has a pen and a small piece of paper.

• On the piece of paper each Scout writes down a short prayer in relation to the chosen topic.

• Once the prayer is written it is folded up and placed in a un-inflated balloon.

• Each balloon is then blown up with a separate prayer inside.

• The blown up balloons are then used in a game or batted around the circle.

• At the end of the evening or once the balloons are mixed up the Scouts can burst the balloon and read the prayers out loud.

• The sentiments expressed by the Scouts will be a measure of their understanding of the topic and their empathy towards the people involved.

Scouts can be asked to write and read their own prayers or work together and develop a Scouts' Own on a topic related to their project.

Balloons, paper, pens or pencils.

Tools