DR. SEUSS AND UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS
GREEN EGGS AND HAM

(NOTE: Please review the Introduction section before using this Session Plan. Thank you.)

SETTING THE STAGE
STORY SYNPOSIS: There is an attempt to get the narrator to eat green eggs and ham, which s/he finally tries. (4 min.)

AFFIRMATION(S): We are always learning.

THEME(S): Be willing to try things
Celebrating diversity
PREPARATION: Note your own eating habits for several days before the session. What foods do you especially like? What foods do you avoid?

NEEDED:
Green Eggs and Ham, Random House, 1960
Collage of foods--magazines or catalogs of foods
Squares of construction paper or cards for "I Will Try" cards.
Note: This story could lead into a congregational dinner of unusual meals, or a general pot luck. There is also a recipe for Dirt Cake, which can be used as a snack.

SESSION PLAN
OPENING: Selected by the group. This can be used each session.

CHECK-IN: Welcome. Each person says his or her name and briefly tells something that was important to them, such as something that went well since the group last met, or something that did not go well.

Leave an empty chair or space for someone who is missing from the group that day, or to recognize that others are welcome to be invited to join the group.

STORY Green Eggs and Ham

EXPLORING
Reflecting
Have you ever been offered something that you are sure that you won't like, and don't even want to try? What happened? Were you made to try it? Did you try it on your own? Did you like it when you tried it?

Visual perspective
Make a collage of pictures of various kinds of food, looking for a variety. Talk about what they have tried and what they have not tried. Allow respectful difference of opinion.

Or make a collage around special foods used at special times: cakes at weddings and birthdays, turkey at Thanksgiving, etc.

Diversity
Do people everywhere eat the same foods? Do people coming to this country to visit or live have to eat our types of food? If you were to visit another country, would you be able to eat the foods that you like? Do foods have special meaning or are there special foods for special occasions?
Invite the congregation to bring dishes that represent different countries to a pot luck lunch or dinner. Have descriptions of each dish, giving the ingredients, the country, and other special notes.

What are the origins of different foods that are on the collage or to be at the pot luck? What foods come from which countries (understanding that we may modify the foods from their original forms!). Examples: Pizza and spaghetti from Italy, egg rolls from Asian countries.

Or where do the foods that we eat come from, literally? What foods are grown locally, and are those available all year? Foods that do not come from the area are transported in from other places. This means that our meals are literally part of a larger world than just our own town.

Trying new things
Or if there is a pot luck meal, or a planned meal, invite participants to try something that they usually would not eat.

Or have a dirt cake for snack (or as desert at the pot luck). Just have it on the table and at some time invite the participants to eat some dirt. How many will try it? (Another way is to have one of the participants who knows about the cake just try it and watch the reactions of those who do not know about the cake.) Recipe for Dirt Cake -- There are various ways to make it. Here is one.
Mix up chocolate instant pudding. Add in Cool Whip and cream cheese (cream cheese can be omitted)
Mix in gummy worms, preferably the smaller ones (Also optional)
Crush package of Oreo cookies.
Clean flower pot--Put a layer of crumbled cookies on the bottom, put in pudding mix, and keep a good covering of cookies on top. Chill for about an hour. Add flowers on the top.)
Make an "I will try" card for each child to take home. Suggestions: On one side have "I Will Try….." On that side or the other side, the participants write or draw things that they are going to try. The objective is for the participant to try something new in the next week, like a food or activity something. There will need to be time when the group meets for feedback. The cards, noting what was tried, can be posted on a bulletin board.

CLOSING:
Participants share the things that they are planning on trying in the next week.

Group review and announcements.
What did they like about the session? (theme, activities, someone special being there, etc.)

Announce the story for the next session and who will be the adult facilitator, or if there are special events in the time before the group meets again.

Rev. Helen Zidowecki, May 2003