Cultivating Wonder: How Godly Play Nurtures Children’s Spirituality by Creating Conditions for Wonder

WONDER—It is quickly becoming an oft-used word in the practice of children’s faith formation, the idea focused on leaning into a child’s propensity for wonder in our reflection time in children’s books, children’s Bibles, or Sunday school curriculum. With this growing interest in the use of “wonder” in our work with children, it is important that we reflect on what we mean by wonder and the purpose of cultivating wonder in our faith formation with children. In his paper “The Educational Importance of Deep Wonder,” Schinkel ²   distinguishes between two types of wonder for the educational practitioner: “active wonder” and “deep wonder.” Active wonder is that inquisitive desire to gain a deeper understanding of how or why something works the way it does, or wonder about a new phenomenon or idea. This type of wonder often sparks inquiry and the desire to learn more about a specific topic or phenomenon. “Deep wonder” is “an awe-filled, contemplative response to profound mysteries” and focused on the “mystery of why there is something rather than nothing, at the sheer fact of existence.”

Wonder is at the heart of the Godly Play approach to religious education. A session begins with children crossing a threshold and being greeted by a door person who asks, “Are you ready?” Once inside, the storyteller welcomes the children and works with them to form a circle. The storyteller then presents a story with intentional language and movement designed to help children enter the story. After each story presentation, the storyteller looks up and invites children into active wonder with prompts such as “I wonder what part of the story you liked best,” “I wonder what part is especially for you today,” or “I wonder what part we could leave out and still have everything we need.” The storyteller honors each response, inviting dialogue when appropriate, and facilitates space for silence. Following this time of wondering, children are invited to respond however feels right to them, using the story materials or the various art materials in the room. After the work time, children gather for a feast (often a small snack) and finally end their time with a blessing from the storyteller.

While each component of the Godly Play rhythm has a very specific purpose and intention, wondering is much more central to the Godly Play than just the “wondering” time. Each part of the Godly Play method is designed to encourage children to create meaning through deep wonder, rather than simply telling stories or prompting discussion.

How do we create conditions for deep or contemplative wonder to flourish?

Crossing the Threshold: An Invitation to Mindfulness

The American Psychological Association defines mindfulness as an “awareness of one’s internal states and surroundings…learning to observe their thoughts, emotions, and other present-moment experiences without judging or reacting to them.”

As children prepare to enter the Godly Play space, they are greeted by a doorperson who asks them one simple, but profound question: “Are you ready?” This initial greeting is an intentional invitation for children to bring awareness to their mind and body, a short pause, and an opportunity to mindfully check in with themselves. Throughout the Godly Play session, storytellers will often go back to saying “Are you ready?” as an invitation to the children to once again bring mindful awareness to their current internal state. Beginning the Godly Play experience with this invitation and regular pauses brings a posture of openness, neurologically, spiritually, and relationally, to wonder.

Environment and Beautiful Materials

Neuroscience and experience tell us that wonder often arises in response to beauty: a star-filled sky, a candle flickering in the dark, a moving piece of music. Designers and curators of our most sacred spaces built throughout time have known that beautiful environments are core to opportunities to connect with the divine. This is why Godly Play puts such emphasis on the environment and the storytelling materials. We use handcrafted manipulatives predominantly made from natural materials like wood, stone, and clay. We encourage thoughtfully arranged shelves with particular attention to the focal shelf. We encourage practitioners to use warm lighting and colors, beautiful art on the walls, and touches to make the space feel set aside and sacred. Fundamental to this approach is the belief that children are also worthy of beautifully designed sacred spaces for them to be drawn into wonder and come close to God. This beautiful space supports neural impulses, creating the opportunity for deep wonder to occur.

Prompts to Promote Contemplative Wonder

How we ask questions is crucial to the type of reflection we invite. In Godly Play, we strive to make our wondering questions not only open-ended, but as open as possible so it doesn’t lead, assume, or direct the wondering. For example, a question like “I wonder what part of this story makes you sad?” may appear open-ended, but it implies to the child that they should feel sad about the story, when that may not be an emotion they experience. “I wonder why” certainly is open-ended and non-leading, but it keeps the wondering in the active wondering space—trying to understand or rationalize what the story may be saying. At times, Godly Play provides more active wondering prompts, but the whole of the wondering part of the session is to provide space for silence and contemplation—shifting their engagement with the text from understanding to making meaning of their big questions of life, death, purpose, and faith.

Deep Play: Where Meaning Builds from Wonder

The final piece of Godly Play that creates the conditions for wonder is our commitment to deep play. In Godly Play, true play is open-ended: It has no set purpose or end goal. Instead, its aim is to offer a new path for contemplation and meaning-making. Play invites embodied contemplation and expression of one’s internal state, connecting directly to the pursuit of meaning-making and deep wonder. In many children’s ministries, “play” often means structured games or defined crafts. In Godly Play, however, deep play is the process of coming close to God through contemplative wonder. It is where meaning-making, integration, and wonder take form.

Why Prioritize Deep Wonder in Children’s Spiritual Formation?

The Godly Play commitment to deep wonder rests on the understanding that children are inherently spiritual. Children’s brains have a greater capacity for wonder than adults, and, from a neuroscience perspective, they are in a unique developmental stage to engage meaningfully with their spiritual journey and their connection with God. As we age, our neural pathways become more rigid and efficient, helping us manage daily life but potentially diminishing our capacity for wonder and spiritual openness if we do not actively nurture contemplation.

Children are naturally spiritual beings. Their brains hold more capacity for awe than adults’—a neural flexibility that supports curiosity, imagination, and openness to mystery.

As we age, our neural pathways grow more rigid. Unless we intentionally cultivate space for silence, contemplation, and awe, adults often lose their instinctive sense of wonder.

A Deep Wondering Approach

Whether or not your ministry uses Godly Play materials, creating conditions for deep wondering is an important element to consider in our approaches to spiritual nurture of children. It requires more than adding the phrase “I wonder…”to your reflection questions. By finding ways to incorporate mindful connection to one’s internal and external state, by creating beautiful sacred spaces for children, by intentionally building in wondering prompts, and allowing time for deep play, you can create spaces where children tap into their capacity for deep wonder and build a lifelong orientation for spirituality where faith can flourish.

When we do this, we give children (and ourselves) a profound gift:

a sacred space where mystery is welcome, where God and children come so close to one another, and where faith can grow in the fertile soil of curiosity and awe.