Love Hearts

Love is for sharing - Valentine's Day (14 February)

by Janice Ross

Suitable for Key Stage 1

Aims

To look at the idea that love is for sharing.

Preparation and materials

• You will need one or more packets of Love Hearts sweets. As you are going to eat these during the assembly, you may wish to buy a small packet, remove some sweets before the assembly begins or arrange for other staff members to be ready to sample some for you! Note that the flavours of Love Hearts sweets are: white - vanilla sherbet; yellow - sharp lemon; green - slightly lime; orange - sweet, orangey; purple - berry-like; red – cherry. Also, some common messages are 'Love you', 'You are wonderful', 'Precious', 'My Valentine' and 'All mine'.
• You may like to cut out a heart shape for each child. Depending on school policy, you may also wish to give each child a Love Hearts sweet at the end of the assembly.
• You will also need an image of Love Hearts sweets and the means to display it during the assembly (a couple of examples can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/pf8957k and http://tinyurl.com/odtooep).

Assembly

1. Explain that, because it is Valentine’s Day, you have brought along a packet of Love Hearts sweets.
   
   Show the packet and image of Love Hearts sweets.
   
   Say that these are little tablet-shaped sweets in six fruity flavours. Each of the sweets has a love heart in the middle with a message of love written in it.
2. Take out one sweet, read the message and pop the sweet into your mouth. Make a big deal of the message and the taste. For example, you could say, ‘Here is a white one. Let’s read what it says. "I love you." Oh, how lovely.’ 
   
   Now take out another sweet and repeat the same process. This time you could say, for example, ‘Mmm, this one is a lemon-flavoured one. It tastes delicious. I’ll just have another one!’
   
   Continue in this way until you have read a few messages and described a few flavours. You may wish to hand the sweets round to any other teachers so that they can express their opinions, too!
3. Eventually, point out that there is just one sweet left. Announce that the sweet says, ‘All mine’ – even if it doesn’t!
   
   Place the sweet in your mouth and chew it. Stop suddenly and look guilty. Swallow the sweet and then say, ‘Wait a minute, there is something wrong here. Children, you have sat in assembly for ten minutes and watched me eating all these sweets. That was very selfish of me wasn’t it? I am very sorry!’
4. Remind the children that love is not all about getting the best for ourselves. Love is not selfish. Love is for sharing. Valentine’s Day is about telling other people that we love and appreciate them.
5. Point out that Jesus taught his friends, it is better to give than to receive. That means that we can know real happiness and joy when we give to others.
   
   Finally, if you have prepared heart shapes, explain that, on the way out everyone is going to be given a heart shape (and, if it has been agreed, a Love Hearts sweet). Encourage the children to write a kind message to someone they care about on the paper heart and give it to that person later.

Time for reflection

Show the image of the Love Hearts sweets again.

Think about those who show you love – your family, friends, teachers, even animals.

What message would you like to write on your heart that will tell someone you love them?

Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for your love for us.
Thank you for all the people in our lives who love and care for us.
Help me to be loving and kind to others, too.
Amen.