Great Holiday!
An enjoyable summer for everyone!
by Janice Ross (revised, originally published in 2013)
Suitable for Key Stage 1
Aims
To consider all the enjoyable activities that summer brings and how we might help others to enjoy the summer too.
Preparation and materials
- For the ‘Assembly’, Step 1, ask a few children to prepare some short mimes of summer activities prior to the assembly. Suggestions for mimes include playing football, cricket or tennis; swimming; building sandcastles; playing on the swings; skipping; licking an ice cream; and having a barbecue or a picnic. Last, add sweeping the floor, washing the dishes, hanging out laundry and so on.
- Optional: prepare four staff volunteers – one to kick a ball around, one to do some skipping, one to apply imaginary sun cream and lie down on a towel, and one to curl up and read a book.
Assembly
- Start by noting that it’s nearly holiday time. Explain that lots of us have been thinking about all the lovely things that we will do during the holiday.
Next, tell the children that some of them have prepared mimes of some summer activities and you would like those watching to guess what they are.
When the children see the last set of activities involving chores, hopefully, they will respond by looking confused. - Ask the children, ‘Are all of these things summer holiday activities – things that you have been looking forward to?’
- Identify that the last few activities may not be ones that we enjoy as much as the others, but they are necessary jobs, even in summer.
Ask the children, ‘Who will be doing these jobs?’
Identify that while we are having lots of fun during the holiday, those who care for us still have lots to do! - Discuss whether parents and carers need a break from their usual activities too. Explain that taking a break doesn’t mean that the family has to go away on holiday. Everyone can have a break if we all share the workload.
- Optional: ask the first two staff volunteers to come to the front and start playing football and skipping. Then, ask the next two to join them, with one applying imaginary sun cream and lying down on a towel, and the other curling up with a book.
Talk about how not all adults will want to take part in the activities that children enjoy, but they would all love a summer break doing the things that they like to do too!
Time for reflection
Invite the children to think about all their favourite summer activities.
Next, ask them to think about how the adults in their family might like to relax.
Ask the children to picture each person enjoying the summer sunshine.
Encourage the children to think about other people and their needs during the holidays. Is there any way in which they can do something to make the summer holidays a lovely and relaxing time for everyone?
Prayer
Dear God,
We thank you for summer days.
We thank you for school holidays and all the fun that we are looking forward to.
Please help us to think of others too, and do what we can to make sure that our family and friends can have a break and be refreshed.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Thank you, Lord, for this new day’, available at: https://youtu.be/njsdfxK9FcQ (2.14 minutes long)
