Wiltshire RE Starter Stimulus
Starter ideas for the following key question from the 2011 Agreed Syllabus:
KS2.1 What do different people believe about God?
These images offer a way in to getting your pupils thinking about this question.
The slides give some pupils’ responses, revealing different beliefs about God.
You might pose some questions and get pupils to pose their own: e.g.
Is God in a person’s heart? Is God in a place of worship? In the sky? Beyond the
stars? Underneath everything? Through the whole world? Is God hiding? Is God
quiet, or does God speak? What is God like? How does believing in God help some
people?
It offers a flexible resource for you to use with pupils – for example, you may decide
to select some images for your pupils rather than all of them. Some suggestions for
use are given in the notes with some slides and on slides 15-17.
© Wiltshire Council /RE Today Services 2012
Images © Spirited Arts/NATRE. Permission is given for these to be used in Wiltshire schools.
Josh, 7, says:
God is in my heart. God
is bigger than me.
“This is spiritual because the
colours stand for all the good
things the person is praying
for. God loves everyone just
as much as everyone else.”
Olivia and Hannah, 11.
Can God be found in prayer?
This Muslim boy is 9. His picture shows
that Muslims don’t make pictures of
God, but they do believe God is able to
see everything that we do.
7 year old Shahzad says that
God / Allah is everywhere. She
drew this mosque to show that
humans can draw near to God at
the mosque, but really they are
never apart from God.
“The reason I chose this title is because
God is everywhere; in shells, in animals
and in your mind. You might not see God
but God is everywhere and constantly
looking over all the people and animals in
the world, from when you wake up in the
morning to when you fall asleep at night.”
Chloe, age 10
Allah is the Islamic word for “God”. In Islam,
Allah cannot be pictured. This pupil has used a
repeater pattern. It shows that God – Allah – is
in all things.
Sophie is 10.
If you had to give the prize for Spirited Arts, which picture
would win the prize for…
…being the happiest?
…being the most lively?
…telling the most about what God is like?
…being the one that makes you ask the best questions?
These resources are intended as a flexible starter stimulus for the unit
“What do different people believe God is like?” They give answers from
within Christian, Muslim and Hindu traditions.
Here are some suggestions for ways you can use the images, and ideas for
taking the unit further.
1. Key words
Give pupils the following key words that fit a Christian understanding of
God. Help them to find out what they mean if they are unsure of any terms.
Give them a selection of images from this resource and ask them to match
these terms with the images, where possible. Where there are no images
to match the words, ask pupils to think about how to express that idea in
art.
loving
invisible
omnipotent
Father
Spirit
Creator
omnipresent
omniscient
perfect
good
eternal
indescribable
2. Key texts
Give pupils one of the following texts. One is from the Jewish and Christian
scriptures, the other from Islam.
Put the text in the centre of the piece of paper. Ask pupils to label where part of
this text is illustrated by the artwork in this resource. E.g. Jade (slide 9) has
illustrated the idea that God is Creator, “setting the earth on its foundations”. Can
pupils match the words from slide 16 too?
The Lord is compassionate and
gracious, slow to anger, full of love.
As high as the heavens are above the
earth, so great is his love for those
who worship him.
The Lord has set his throne in heaven
and his kingdom rules over all.
He set the earth on its foundations; it
can never be moved.
(from Psalms 103 & 104)
In the name of Allah, Most
Gracious, Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher
and Sustainer of the Worlds;
Most Gracious, Most Merciful;
Master of the day of Judgement.
It is You that we worship and to
You alone do we turn for help.
Show us the straight way.
(from Surah 1, Al-Fatihah)
www.natre.org.uk/spiritedarts
All of these images come from pupil entries to the annual
Spirited Arts competition. Have a look at the amazing gallery
on the website.
Why not enter your pupils into the annual competition?
Details are online, including the themes for the year.
Closing date: end of July each year.