Children, Youth, and Families

Welcome, families! ☀️

Kelli Danaker, Religious Education Assistant — Kelli Danaker (she/her)

Whether you are visiting or new to our congregation or have been around for a good long while, we invite you and your family to check out what’s coming up and consider joining us. Our gathering spaces are alive with curiosity 🔍, exploration 🪄, and community building🌱with a focus on embodied activities ❤️.

Connect with Kelli Danaker, Director of Children & Family Ministries (kelli@uucolumbia.net) with questions and/or to say hello.

Access all small group info

Scroll to learn about gathering opportunities for children ages 0-18:

Nursery Care | Infants and Babies

🧸 When: Sundays, 9:50-11:10AM
🌻 Where: room 112

We are thrilled to announce the reopening of our Nursery. During Sunday mornings, our youngest congregants will be invited to gather in our nursery space and spend time in community with trusted adults. Our UUCC nursery is made possible through partnership with Christ United Methodist Church, who we share building space with at the Owen Brown Interfaith Center.

Baby and Toddler Group

🧸 When: 2nd Wednesday of each month, 10AM
🌻 Where: Room 150

A note from UUCC member Ann Faust, group leader:

Hello! I’m Ann Faust. I have four children, and I worked for maternal child healthcare in variety of roles for the last 28 years. As a new mother, one of the things that helped me get through what seemed like endless questions and many sleepless nights, was attending baby-toddler meetings and sharing my problems while hearing others.

Now that my children are much older, I’d like to try creating an inclusive circle for new families. I invite you to come check out our circle and meet with other families like yours, and different than yours. You can share your experiences with one another and maybe pick up a trick or two that may work for your family.

Please bring a drink for you and your family. We’ll have a shared snack table for us to eat and mingle after. Hope to see you there!

Children’s Class, The Superhero in You | Ages 4-11

🧚🏻When: Sundays, September 6, 2026 – May 30, 2027, 10-11AM
🌻 Where: Room 150

Our Sunday morning Children’s Class is alive this year with curiosity, exploration, and community building. We warmly invite kids ages 4-11 to gather with us most Sunday mornings where together, we will seek, ask questions, and engage in embodied activities to deepen our learning.

Certain Sundays we will have all-ages worship where families are invited to stay together for the whole service in Sanctuary C, but most Sundays we’ll have our Sunday Morning Children’s Religious Education (RE) Class. If the class is happening, it will be listed on our website calendar for that week. We hope you join us! Visitors welcome.

We invite you to register your child so we know we have the most up-to-date information about how we can best support them and stay in touch with you.

Our Whole Lives Gender and Sexuality Class | Kindergarten and Grade 1

🦉 When: Sundays, October 4, 2026 – November 29, 2026, 12-1PM
🌻 Where: Room 170

Our Whole Lives (OWL) is an engaging, age-appropriate, comprehensive, lifespan sexual education curriculum that provides students with information about relationships, communication, gender identity, digital safety, consent, and other sexual health topics. | 🦉Learn about OWL curriculum here

Parent(s) are required to attend these classes with the kiddos.

There will be a mandatory orientation for children and parents Sunday, October 4, 12-2PM.

World Religions | Grades 6 and 7

🕉️ When: Sundays, October 4, 2026 – May 9, 2027, 10-11:30AM
🌻 Where: Room 170

Join us to explore the different religious and spiritual traditions. Our class will visit different faith communities in Howard County and beyond to witness and learn more about the world and its religions.

No classes: October 25, November 8, December 20 and 27, January 10 and 31, March 21 and 28

WhatsApp: Parents with Young Children

Online via Whatsapp 📲

Whether its about parenting, hand-me-downs, play dates, registering for school, or anything in between, fellow UUCC parents are communicating in WhatsApp about it all. Connect with staff member Hannah Nelson to introduce yourself and get added (hannah@uucolumbia.net).

Middle School Youth Group | Grades 6-8

🕰️ When: Sundays beginning August 9, 2026 | 10:15-11AM
🌻 Room: 180 aka teen room downstairs

Calling all UUCC middle schoolers! If you are in grades 6-8, you are invited to join UUCC member KP McLaughlin for Middle School Youth Group! We gather in room 180 downstairs on Sunday mornings after Time for All Ages during the 10AM worship service to socialize, play games, discuss big questions, plan service projects, build community, and more.

If you know a middle schooler who would like to join us, reach out to staff member Kelli Danaker, Kelli@uucolumbia.net or, feel free to drop by on any Sunday morning.

High School Youth Group | Grades 9-12

💛 Sundays beginning August 9, 2026 | 11:11AM-1:11PM
🌻 Room: 180 aka teen room downstairs

High schoolers are invited to meet up with UUCC member KP McLaughin in room 180 downstairs from 11:11 to 1:11PM. Newcomers always welcome! Join us to play games and break into high school and middle school small groups. We’ll discuss big questions, learn about world religions, get to know each other, plan projects to make the world a better place, and more.

If you know a high schooler who would like to join us, reach out to staff member Kelli Danaker, Kelli@uucolumbia.net or, feel free to drop by on any Sunday morning.

Reflection Group – Parents with Kids

💛 Third Sunday of the month | 11:30-1PM
🌻 Room: Room 116 (downstairs, door by the elevator). Childcare in room 150 (downstairs by commons area, where the children’s class is on Sunday mornings)

A monthly Reflection Group for parents with kids. It will be a fun playtime for kids to build community, too. We started last year by hosting three groups in January / February / March 2026 and decided to continue. We hope you join us! Connect with Anna Choe and/or Miriam Pokharel-Wood to chat about the group/join it!