Tiny Houses
Living simply
by Claire Law
Suitable for Key Stage 2
Aims
To consider the tiny-house movement and how we might live more simply.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Tiny Houses) and the means to display them.
- Have available the YouTube video ‘The smallest house in Britain’ and the means to show it during the assembly. It is 1.56 minutes long and is available at: https://youtu.be/iLqqEb2kaBI
Assembly
- Show Slide 1.
Ask the children whether they know where the smallest house in Great Britain is.
Listen to a range of responses. - Show Slide 2.
Explain that houses, just like people, come in all different shapes and sizes. Some people live in vast mansions, whereas others live in more compact spaces. But did you know that, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the smallest house in Great Britain is in Conwy, North Wales? - This tiny house was built in the sixteenth century. It has two rooms: a downstairs living space and a cramped upstairs bedroom. The whole property is just over three metres tall, three metres deep and less than two metres wide.
Amazingly, the people who’ve lived there over the years have included couples as well as people living alone. The last person to live in the house was a local fisherman, who was over six feet tall. He was forced to move out in 1900, after the local council decided that the size of the house made it unsuitable for humans to live in.
Show the YouTube video ‘The smallest house in Britain’ (1.56 minutes long). - Ask the children to think of things that they might find difficult if they lived in a house of this size.
Listen to a range of responses.
Explain that there wouldn’t be much room for belongings, nor much chance to find some peace and quiet. People living there would need to be very patient with each other. - Ask the children whether they can think of any good things about living in such a tiny house.
Listen to a range of responses.
Explain that it would cost less to heat a home of this size, and there would be much less of it to clean! - Recently, some people have been starting to consider living in small spaces as a more environmentally-friendly way of life.
This idea is known as the tiny-house movement, and it encourages us to simplify our lives and live with less. It has led architects to experiment to see how small homes could work for people who want to live sustainably. - Tell the children that you are going to show them some tiny houses from other countries where people are trying to live more simply and sustainably.
- Show Slide 3.
First, we have this home in Spain.
Show Slide 4.
Next is this holiday cabin in the Austrian Alps.
Show Slide 5.
Finally, we have this house on wheels, which was self-built by its owner in the USA. - To live in such a small space, people have to commit to living simply. Rather than buying lots of things, people who live in tiny houses must find ways to borrow, hire or share things with others. People have to be resourceful to live well in a tiny house, but they often find that the benefits of living simply in a tiny house outweigh the challenges.
- Show Slide 6.
The tiny-house movement might seem quite new, but its roots go back about 200 years. In the 1840s, a famous American thinker called Henry David Thoreau spent two years living in a small cabin by a lake. The picture on the right shows a reconstruction of the simple interior of Thoreau’s cabin. He spent his time there writing books and poetry, and found that living a simple lifestyle, close to nature, helped him to feel a sense of contentment. He summarized his approach by saying, ‘I make myself rich by making my wants few.’ - Every year, on 12 July - Thoreau’s birthday - National Simplicity Day is celebrated. People around the world use this day to promote the values of living simply. It’s over 200 years since Thoreau’s birth, but many people today also see the value of living simply. They believe that it helps our planet and brings a sense of peace to their lives.
Time for reflection
Living simply can mean different things to different people. So, what might it mean for us?
The Bible tells us that Jesus invited his 12 disciples to live simply by having fewer possessions. He wanted them to travel light. Let’s hear how Mark’s Gospel describes Jesus’ invitation.
Read from Mark 6.7-9.
‘Calling the 12 to him, he began to send them out two by two . . . These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals, but not an extra shirt.”’
These must have been challenging instructions for the disciples, but they did as Jesus said. By doing so, they had the chance to connect with others and trust in the generosity of people they met along the way.
There was another occasion when Jesus spoke about living simply; this time, it was to crowds of people who had gathered to hear his message. In Matthew’s Gospel, we hear how Jesus encouraged his listeners to focus on God’s kingdom rather than on gathering lots of possessions.
Read from Matthew 6.25-27 and 33-34.
‘Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? . . . But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’
In other words, Jesus encourages people to keep things simple by focusing on God’s kingdom. He urges them to trust in God rather than keep accumulating possessions and the worries that go with them.
To live simply, we might commit to consuming or buying less, finding ways to reuse and recycle things, or sharing things with others. What might this look like for us?
Pause to allow time for thought.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
We pray that we take time today to consider what living simply might mean for us.
Help us to consider what benefits we might gain from living simply - and what choices we can make to move towards this.
Help us to be clearer about what matters to us and how we can simplify our lives to live without worry.
Please help us to find hope in the simple trust of your love for us.
Amen.
