OCN Let’s Talk Interview
In April 2022, Orthodox Pebbles creator Natalie Tzobanakis was invited by the Orthodox Christian Network to do a short video interview discussing the Orthodox Pebbles project. Enjoy!
Orthodox Pebbles sprung forth from our effort to effectively organize, coordinate and teach Sunday School at our local Greek Orthodox parish. As religious educators, we have been striving to familiarize our students with our Church, its theology, services, customs and traditions, within an environment of Christian fellowship and community.
Becoming involved in this ministry, we soon realized that, on a practical level, and in order to offer a meaningful and memorable experience to the children, we should aim at accomplishing two goals:
- Every lesson should be based on a solid knowledge of our faith.
- This knowledge should be transmitted in an engaging, interactive and fun way.
Trying to achieve these goals, we began exploring a variety of sources – Orthodox Christian for the theological background, and Christian as well as secular for fun activity ideas. Naturally, our priests’ input was fundamental in this process. Over time, and as we gained teaching experience, we started compiling these resources into structured lesson plans for use in our own classrooms.
These lesson plans have now become a valuable tool and are currently used not only by us, but also by other Sunday School teachers in our parish and beyond. We would like to share the knowledge and experience we have accumulated, hoping that they will prove to be useful to you, as they have been to us.
Our material is geared toward younger children, ranging in age from Preschool to lower Elementary. Our content includes background information, Bible references, icon explanation, storytelling resources, worksheets, crafts, games and other fun activity ideas. Our resources can be used both in the Sunday School classroom and in the home, and are meant to complement, not replace, the official Orthodox Church curricula.
Your opinion, thoughts, and suggestions are always welcome, so please don’t hesitate to contact us, either using the contact form or sending an email to orthodoxpebbles @ gmail.com.
We wish you a happy and fruitful journey – and we hope you pick up some pebbles along the way!
Orthodox Pebbles 