AGE:
Infants and Juniors |
THEME:
Our Changing Lives: Starting Anew |
PREPARATION: |
- Display a large collection of identical items - the larger the collection the better the impact. With this collection there should also be an 'odd-one-out' - obviously and significantly different in one respect, e.g. 30 blue balls and one red, a collection of flowers with all white carnations and one red one, 20 school sweatshirts from your school and one from another (i.e. different colour or logo). Prepare the display before the worship begins and arrange it so that the gathered pupils can see.
NB: ONLY display the matching items. Keep the 'odd' one out of sight until needed.
- Dress several pupils all in the same colour T-shirts (black would be ideal). Dress one pupil, who wouldn't mind being different, in another colour of obvious contrast.
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INTRODUCTION: |
- Discuss with pupils how 'nice' it feels to be part of the school family. Everyone's the same, everyone knows everyone, it's easy to find your way around and know where everything is... Once the discussion is flowing, introduce the new idea: 'Hey, wait a minute! Maybe life is not always like that'. Maybe sometimes we have to face new challenges, new people and new places. Maybe there might even be people here, at this moment, feeling left out, uncertain, because they don't know anyone - or maybe they're just a little bit afraid of being 'new'.
- Show pupils the display of 'all the same' and suggest that maybe if life was always the same it might be easier. But without changes we wouldn't become the people we are... interesting, exciting and fun to be with. Our new experiences and challenges help us to grow and learn about others and ourselves. Introduce the 'new item' into your display and ask pupils to offer ideas as to what it might feel like to stand out as the 'new person'.
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DEVELOPMENT: |
- Act out a very brief scenario with the pupils dressed all the same, quietly chatting, laughing, playing etc.. Prepare them all to look round and be silent when the new person (different T-shirt) appears, making their reaction obvious.
- Freeze the scene and ask pupils what they thought about the 'crowd's' reaction. What did the new person feel like?
- Gather the group together again. Share the idea that it is not necessarily dislike of the new person or wanting to be unkind that makes people behave that way. It's more likely to be interest and curiosity, just as we were curious at the different item(s) in the display. Maybe the established group can make the new person feel at home, welcome and 'one of the crowd'.
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REFLECTION: |
- Think about what it might feel like to be facing new situations. What might it feel like to stand out in a crowd? How would you make someone welcome and less of a new person? What things make new situations easier to cope with? Having a friend to help? Sharing it with someone?
- Light a candle in the centre of the 'one of the crowd' display next to the different object. Explain how we all 'shine' in God's eyes and, because each one of us is different, being ourselves is special. We all have something to offer even as part of the 'crowd'.
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MUSIC: |
| 'God knows me', No. 15 in The Complete Come and Praise, BBC Books, ISBN 0 563 345810. |
FOLLOW UP WORK: |
- Make a 'Charter of Welcome' for your school.
- Think of times, places and situations where people might feel 'new, left out, standing out in the crowd'. What could be done? Act out situations which explore 'the crowd's' reactions and 'the new person's' feelings.
- Write a poem where each line starts 'I was lonely but You...' Which tells of God showing his love by caring for us and by always being there for those who need him.
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