It's good to be me: Being unique
To celebrate each child’s uniqueness.
by Janice Ross
Suitable for Key Stage 1
Aims
To celebrate each child’s uniqueness.
Preparation and materials
- Table and whiteboard.
- Briefcase with combination lock.
- Large mirror attached to inside of briefcase.
Assembly
- Explain to the children that you have brought along something very special to show them today. In fact, there is only one of these special things in the world, but you’ve hit a problem. The special thing has got locked inside this briefcase. Your briefcase is one of those with a combination lock, the kind that you may see teachers and businessmen carrying.
(Show briefcase.)
In order to keep the contents in a briefcase such as this one safe, there are four numbers that have all to be lined up correctly before the briefcase will open.
(Point to combination lock. Try to open briefcase.)
The trouble is that you can’t remember the combination! You know that the numbers are 6, 9, 2 and 5, but you can’t remember the order in which they come. You will need some help.
(Take suggestions for combinations of the four numbers.)
How many numbers could be made with these four numbers? Remind the children that only one is going to be the right one.
(Write these suggestions on a whiteboard.) - (Pretend to try some of the number combinations.)
Explain that what we are seeing here is a bit like you and me. There are not 6925 people in the world, not even 9652 people, but millions of people in the world. There is, however, only one ‘me’ and only one ‘you’. Only one with exactly my eye colour, my number of hairs and my fingerprints; only one with exactly your fingerprints, your tone of voice, your particular talent. - Now you might have heard friends say that you are a bit like others in your family, a combination of mum and dad, You might have Grandpa’s curly hair, Grandma’s freckles, You might be sporty like Auntie Sue, you might love fish like Uncle Tom, you might even like to curl up in front of the fire like the cat . . . but you are you! There is really no one like you in the whole world. No one who looks like you, thinks like you, feels like you, laughs like you; no one who can do what you can do, who can become what you can become, and no one who can get to know God like you can get to know God.
- (Enter correct number code. Click open the lock.)
Oh great, we have found the combination! Now who wants to see this special treasure inside? As I said at the beginning, this is the only one in the whole world. An extremely unique and precious object. If I let you see it, you must promise not to tell anyone else. - Ask a few children out to the front table. Let each look inside the briefcase and in the mirror where s/he will see her/himself.
To each child say, ‘Now isn’t that an amazing treasure!’
Who can guess what was inside the briefcase?
Time for reflection
It says in the Bible that God made each one of us very carefully, and that each one of us is a special delight to him.
Let us read the words of this simple poem quietly to ourselves, and then we will say it together as our reflection for today.
I am special,
So God says,
Special to look at,
Special in my ways,
Specially made
To grow and enjoy
All he has made
For girls and boys.
Prayer
Dear God,
thank you that I am special to you.
Thank you that there is nobody else exactly the same as me. I am unique.
That makes me feel good about myself.
Amen.
Song/music
‘There are hundreds of sparrows’ (Come and Praise, 15)
