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Let’s Get Spring-Cleaning!

Enjoying a fresh start

by Becky May

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To encourage us to make a fresh start and clear out things that are unhelpful to us.

Preparation and materials

  • You will need a dustpan and brush (or similar props to indicate spring-cleaning), some strips of paper and a marker pen.

Assembly

  1. Welcome the children by expressing how lovely it is to see them on this beautiful spring morning.

    Ask the children what they like best about this time of year.

    Listen to a range of responses.

  2. Invite the children to share some of the things that they enjoy about springtime and the improving weather.
     
    Help the children to identify some of the changes that happen in nature at this time of year.

  3. Now, ask the children to excuse you for a moment while you do some spring-cleaning.

    Use your dustpan and brush (or similar props) to start spring-cleaning the room.

  4. Point out that many people have an extra-big clean at this time of year, and this is called a ‘spring clean’.

    Ask the children whether anyone in their house has been spring-cleaning.

    Listen to a range of responses.

  5. Explain that after the dark winter months, spring can be a great time for a freshen-up. We might give our homes a big clean from top to bottom or we might use the time to get rid of things that we don’t need any more, especially when we’ve had lots of new things for Christmas. Sometimes, we might need to spring-clean our gardens, pulling up the weeds and making space for new plants to grow.

    Ask the children what spring-cleaning jobs they have been helping with.

    Listen to a range of responses.

  6. Suggest that it might be useful to give our lives a bit of a spring clean, too. Explain that it’s a good idea, every now and then, to examine the things that take up time and space in our lives and see whether any of them are unhelpful to us. If they are, we can clear them out.

    It’s a bit like getting rid of the weeds in our garden: if we clear out what is unhelpful or not needed, it leaves room for the good things to grow.

  7. Ask the children whether they can think of anything that they might want to weed out of their lives.

    Explain that it could be things like bad habits we may have, or things that we waste our time doing that aren’t good for us. Alternatively, it could be some of our behaviours that we know are wrong and that we should stop doing.

    Invite the children to share their ideas, helping them as needed.

    Use the strips of paper and the marker pen to write down the children’s ideas and display them.

  8. Talk about how great it would be if we could all easily remove these things from our lives. Point out that some things are easier than others to put right.

  9. Now, pick up some of the strips of paper, read them out and talk a little bit about them, offering some helpful advice as you do so.

    For example, you could say that this strip of paper talks about someone wanting to stop shouting at their little brother. Suggest that it could be a good idea to move to another room as soon as we begin to feel cross. If we stay in the other room until we have calmed down, we will be better able to avoid shouting.

    As you work through the list, talk about which habits may be harder to give up.

  10. Ask the children to imagine how much better the world would be if people got rid of these things. Getting rid of bad habits requires us to make a change in our lives. Trying to change everything at once can be overwhelming, but perhaps we can make a choice today to weed out or spring-clean one thing from our lives that isn’t good for us and doesn’t help others.

Time for reflection

Let’s make ourselves really quiet for a moment and think about some of the things that weve talked about today. Let’s try to think about one thing that we want to spring-clean out of our life. Let’s spend a moment thinking about how we might begin to do this.

(You may want to offer some further thoughts about what the children could do to help themselves, based on what you have talked about, before allowing a few moments of quiet.)

Pause to allow time for thought.

The Bible has a lot to say about having a fresh start. Christians believe that God can make things new in us, when we trust in him.

We can also help each other to have a new start by forgiving one another when we do things wrong, and encouraging one another as we try to make a change in our lives.

I wonder how we can help each other today!

Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for springtime.
Thank you for sunny days and new growth in the world around us.
Help us to be willing to make a fresh start today.
Help us to be willing to change when needed.
Help us to consider the needs of others.
Help us to spring-clean some of our bad habits out of our lives.
Amen.

Song/music

We’re on this road’ by Fischy Music. A sample is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WnlIvo4IIA (0.47 minutes long)

‘Goodbye winter, hello spring!’ (Spring Assembly Songs by Mark and Helen Johnson, Out of the Ark Music). A sample is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH-XNJ1mQZQ (0.39 minutes long)

Publication date: March 2020   (Vol.22 No.3)    Published by SPCK, London, UK.
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