Imagine
We live in a beautiful world
by Rebecca Parkinson (revised, originally published in 2008)
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To help us to appreciate the wonder of the world.
Preparation and materials
- You will need various types of flowers and fruits (from the school’s fruit provision) and some pictures of various types of animals and birds.
Alternatively, you will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Imagine) and the means to display them.
Assembly
- Show Slide 1.
Ask the children to look at the birds and describe their similarities and differences. Can they name them? (Going clockwise from the upper left, the answers are curlew, barn owl, toucan and robin.) Can they see how they might be adapted to live in different environments?
Optional: you may wish to tie in your discussion with the results from this year’s Big Schools’ Birdwatch, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yc35svac - Show Slide 2.
Ask the children whether they can name each type of flower. (Going clockwise from the upper left, the answers are rose, daffodil, daisy and snowdrop.) Ask them to describe what they are like. They may like to describe the colour and shape or the smell.
Ask the children whether they can think of any other types of flower and describe what they are like. - Show Slide 3.
Ask the children what their favourite fruit is. What are the differences between the fruits in the pictures? (Going clockwise from the upper left, the fruits shown are an apple, some blackberries, a grapefruit and some kiwi fruit.) - Ask the children what their favourite type of animal is and why.
Listen to a range of responses.
Show Slide 4. (Going clockwise from the upper left, the animals shown are lion, zebra, giraffe and fennec fox.)
Ask the children to describe some of the differences between these animals. They may describe the animals’ features or where they live, whether they are domestic or wild and so on.
Ask the children whether any of the animals’ characteristics will help them to live in different environments or help them to eat. - Christians and people of many different religions believe that God made the world. They believe that this happened in various ways, but that ultimately, God was involved with its creation.
- Ask the children to close their eyes and imagine what the world would be like if God had only made, say, a robin rather than the wide variety of birds that we have around us. Imagine if the only flowers we could see were daisies and the only animals were cats. Ask the children to imagine what it would be like if the only food we ever ate was banana.
Time for reflection
Explain that God wanted the world to be full of wonder so that it would be an amazing place to live. This is why he created far more variety than we can ever imagine!
Point out that the children have all been given their imaginations to help them to see the wonder in the world around them.
Ask the children to close their eyes and think about the following things. As they are thinking, encourage them to thank God for the wonderful variety that we enjoy and remember the importance of taking care of the world.
- Think about your favourite animal.
- Think about your favourite bird.
- Think about your favourite flower.
- Think about your favourite food.
- Thank God for the wonderful variety in the world.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the wonderful world that we live in.
Thank you that you didn’t make a world that is dull and boring, but one that is bright, colourful and full of amazing variety.
Please help us always to take care of this amazing world.
Amen.
Song/music
‘A whole new world’ from the film Aladdin, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eitDnP0_83k (3.09 minutes long)
