Pause for Thought: New Life!
Easter promises new life
by Becky May
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To reflect upon Easter and the promise of new life.
Preparation and materials
- You will need a pot of daffodils or another plant grown from a bulb.
- Optional: you may also wish to have available a plant bulb to show the children in the ‘Assembly’, Step 3.
Assembly
- Welcome the children to the assembly and begin by asking how they are feeling today. Do they know what special event happens this month?
- Remind the children that around this time of year, we celebrate Easter. Ask the children what they do to celebrate. No doubt they will mention Easter eggs!
- Show the pot of daffodils to the children.
Ask the children whether any of them planted any bulbs back in the autumn.
If you have a bulb available, you could show it to the children. Point out that the bulb appears to be ‘dead’, but we plant it in the autumn. It is small and simple, and is a dull colour. - Explain how, throughout the winter months, there are no signs of life. All we can see is the soil on the ground; you wouldn’t know that anything was there or have any idea what was to happen. However, in the spring, the bulbs burst into life with their interesting shapes, bright colours and beautiful fragrances.
- Explain to the children that Easter is a Christian festival that reminds us of the time when Jesus died on the cross, only to come back to life and rise again three days later.
- Help the children to see that the daffodil - and other plants grown from bulbs - can remind us of the Easter story. They appear to be dead, but then they burst into new life.
Explain that Christians believe that Jesus didn’t just appear to be dead; he really did die and then come back to life. Christians believe that this was so that we could be forgiven for the wrong things that we have done and live with God forever.
Time for reflection
Encourage the children to make themselves really quiet and think about what you are about to say.
Remind the children that, during the past year, we have had to let go or say goodbye to many things. Some of the things we would have enjoyed have not happened; parts of our ‘old lives’ have changed greatly. Some of us may have had to say goodbye to people we loved. Easter is a reminder that, just as the daffodil bursts into new life, we can look forward to new life ahead of us too, with new things beginning and things opening up once again.
Now, encourage the children to think about the things that they are looking forward to.
If appropriate, you may also like to remind the children of the Easter story’s promise of new life, and of how Jesus came to give us new life. This will need handling with care, particularly if there have been losses in your school community or for individual children.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for Easter.
Thank you for sending your son to die on the cross.
Thank you for your promise of new life.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Celebrate Easter’ by Out of the Ark Music, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovUPYvJ22PY (0.55 minutes long)
‘Sign your cross’ by Nick and Becky Drake, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWiP6jEUl8Y (4.16 minutes long)
Extension activities
- You might like to go for a walk around your school or local area and hunt for signs of new life emerging: plants growing, birds building nests, lambs in nearby fields and so on. This could be an entire outdoor learning lesson! You could also take a camera or tablet with you to take photos for a classroom display.
- As a class, explore the Easter story together. Perhaps you could create a display area full of artefacts for the children to handle and explore, such as a holding cross, an Easter garden scene, a palm cross and a Bible storybook. Include some paper and pens for the children to draw or write their own responses to the objects.
