Pause for Thought: Opposites
Are we hard-hearted or soft-hearted?
by Janice Ross
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To consider what it means to have a hard or soft heart by exploring hard and soft objects.
Preparation and materials
- Have available some hard and soft objects to show the children. Examples could include a garden tool, saucepan, tin or plastic mug and pencil for hard objects and a soft toy, cushion, cotton wool ball and marshmallow for soft objects.
- Have available a bottle of fabric conditioner and a tube of hand cream for display.
- You will also need to be prepared to tell the story of the good Samaritan that is found in Luke 10.30-35 during the ‘Time for reflection’ part of the assembly.
Assembly
- Ask the children what they understand by the word ‘opposite’.
Listen to a range of responses.
Ask the children to give some examples of opposites.
Listen to a range of responses. - Explain that today, we are going to be talking about two opposites: hard and soft.
Ask the following questions.
- What shape do you think of when you think of something soft?
- What shape do you think of when you think of something hard?
- What colours do you think of when you think of something soft?
- What colours do you think of when you think of something hard?
Listen to a range of responses. - Ask the children, ‘How do you know whether something is hard or soft?’
The most likely answer is that we would try feeling the object with our hands. - If possible, ask the children to use their hands to feel something close by that is hard. Ask them what happens when you press on a hard object.
Repeat this with something soft. - Identify that, when we press an object and it changes shape easily, we describe the object as soft.
Show two soft objects, such as the cotton wool ball and the marshmallow, and demonstrate what happens when you press them. - Identify that, when we press an object and we find it really difficult to change its shape, we describe the object as hard.
Show two hard objects, such as the garden tool and the tin mug, and demonstrate what happens when you press them. - Another way to test whether an object is soft or hard is to drop it.
Ask the children to guess what would happen if you dropped the tin mug.
Ask the children to guess what would happen if you dropped the soft toy.
Discuss the different possibilities before dropping the objects and noting the different sounds. - Ask the children, ‘Can we make something soft?’
Listen to a range of responses.
Show the bottle of fabric conditioner.
Explain that fabric conditioner is used to soften clothes. Ask the children whether they know the names of any fabric conditioner that may be used at home. (Suggestions may include brands such as Lenor and Comfort.) - Show the tube of hand cream.
Ask the children why people might use hand cream. - Explain that inside each of our bodies, there is a heart. The heart is a very important organ and it is very soft. It is protected by layers of tissue and muscle, and surrounded by our rib cage. We could consider the rib cage to be a bit like a bike helmet, which is designed to protect a rider’s head from injury.
- However, even though a heart would feel soft to touch, the owner of one can be described as hard-hearted.
Ask the children, ‘What does hard-hearted mean?’
If possible, allow time for discussion.
Time for reflection
Explain that we all face choices in life. We can decide to be hard-hearted or soft-hearted. We can choose to help others or to turn our backs on them.
Tell the story of the good Samaritan that is found in Luke 10.30-35. There are some great versions of this story in many children’s Bibles.
Ask the children to identify who in the story was soft-hearted and who was hard-hearted.
Listen to a range of responses.
Challenge the children to decide whether they would rather be soft-hearted or hard-hearted.
Encourage them to look for ways in which they can show love and care to others today.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the story of the good Samaritan.
Thank you that eventually, a man with a soft heart came along and helped.
Please give us all soft hearts so that we might be kind to others,
Just as we would want others to be kind to us.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Work song’ from the film Cinderella, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2B5hzGeCWY (1.48 minutes long)
Extension activities
- Investigate grades of hardness by looking at different rocks. Try dropping a piece of marble, or similar hard rock, and a sandstone rock. Identify flaking. For older children, this could lead on to studying erosion and the weathering of rocks.
- Investigate the make-up of a shoe. Identify that there are grades of softness within the shoe. Which is the softest part? Which is the hardest part?
