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Good to be me: All different

To celebrate the fact that we are all different and that we all have our own skills and attributes.

by Jude Scrutton

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To celebrate the fact that we are all different and that we all have our own skills and attributes.

Preparation and materials

  • Green butterfly mask, two caterpillar masks (one black and one for the Monarch caterpillar, with black, white and yellow stripes), and a red ant mask.

  • Pictures of a Monarch butterfly and Monarch caterpillar.
  • Time before assembly to let the actors prepare.

Assembly

  1. Ask the children to say one thing they like about themselves. Teachers can join in with this.
  2. Ask the children who they would like to be like, if they could choose one other person.
  3. Tell the children that you are going to show them a story, and, while they are watching, you want them to think about what the story is trying to teach them.

    Narrator: Once upon a time, there was a small Monarch caterpillar (actor with a Monarch caterpillar mask enters. Display picture of a Monarch caterpillar.).

    Caterpillar: I’ve just had a dream that I was a beautiful butterfly.

    Narrator: He had heard that some caterpillars were able to become butterflies. As he went on his morning stroll, along a nice green leaf, he met an ant (actor with a red ant mask enters).

    Caterpillar: Hello, I want to be a butterfly.

    Red ant: Why?

    Caterpillar: I want to help make this garden more beautiful by helping to spread pollen and add colour to it. I want to be beautiful butterfly. I want to fly. And I want to look beautiful so people look at me.

    Red ant (laughing cruelly): You! You’re just a crawling animal. Crawling slowly is your destiny. Be yourself! Stop dreaming or else the birds will get you.

    Narrator: The caterpillar was upset with the ant’s response and then he moved to another leaf. (Actor with a black caterpillar mask enters.) He met a black caterpillar, and he told him about his dream.

    Black caterpillar: Be yourself! To dream will disappoint you. I do not have parents and no one told me that I can be a butterfly. Just enjoy crawling. Don’t try anything. Don’t try to fly. You are not a butterfly.

    Narrator: The caterpillar moved to another leaf. His friend’s advice made him think that to be a butterfly was not being himself. He had a dream to help the plants, make the garden more beautiful, and be beautiful to others. He wanted to improve himself, but on the other hand he wanted to be himself. A green butterfly landed on the leaf next to him (actor with a green butterfly mask enters).

    Green butterfly:  Why are you sad?

    Caterpillar: I want to be a butterfly.

    Green butterfly: Why?

    Narrator: The caterpillar told the green butterfly, who responded . . .

    Green butterfly: Your friends are right, but being a caterpillar is not enough. You should be yourself, but do not kill your dream. Don’t reject the opportunity to grow. To do nothing or be passive is not to be your self. Keep crawling and find sufficient food. Find a safe place to make a chrysalis to protect yourself and wait for the process. Believe that you can be a butterfly. Believe that you can fly.

    Narrator: The caterpillar did as the green butterfly said. Day by day, Monarch caterpillar crawled and fed. He tried hard to save himself from the predators. One day, when he was ready to transform, he made a protective shell and formed his chrysalis. Time passed, while he slept inside the shell of the chrysalis. Slowly, he turned into a handsome butterfly. His dream came true. (Display picture of a Monarch butterfly.) He became a Monarch butterfly. He flew, made the garden more beautiful and became his best self.
  4. Discuss the moral of the story and the importance of trying to persevere. Encourage the children to be happy with who they are and make the best of what they have got, and they will each be the best person they can be.

Time for reflection

Prayer

Lord God, help me to know my ability,
that I may not attempt with weakness
that which requires strength to undertake;
and make me stable that I may not relax vigilance
even though victory seems assured.
Amen.

Song/music

‘He who would valiant be’ (Come and Praise, 44)

‘When a knight won his spurs’ (Come and Praise, 50)

Publication date: May 2011   (Vol.13 No.5)    Published by SPCK, London, UK.
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