Have You Been Honest?
No fibbing allowed!
by Hannah Taylor
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To consider the meaning of honesty and why it is so important.
Preparation and materials
- Have available the YouTube video ‘Pinocchio’s lie’ and the means to show it during the assembly. It is 1.46 minutes long and is available at: https://youtu.be/rUdA54Xk8cg
- Optional: you may wish to read some extracts from books where characters don’t tell the truth. Examples could include:
- It Wasn’t Me by Sadie Gardner
- Hippo Owns Up by Sue Graves
- Finn’s Little Fibs by Tom Percival
- The Truth According to Arthur by Tim Hopgood
- The Boy Who Cried Wolf, one of Aesop’s fables
Assembly
- Ask the children to raise their hand if they have ever told a lie.
Comment on the results! - Point out that all of us have probably told a lie, whether it was because we were scared of getting into trouble, feeling a bit anxious or just plain embarrassed.
- Show the YouTube video ‘Pinocchio’s lie’ (1.46 minutes long).
Ask the children, ‘Why shouldn’t we tell lies? Does anyone have any ideas?’
Listen to a range of responses. - Tell the children that they have just seen Pinocchio realize that telling lies has consequences.
Explain that telling lies can upset others. It can mean that we no longer believe someone, even if they are telling the truth.
This is what happens in one of Aesop’s fables, The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Ask the children if any of them know the story and can retell it to the others. - Ask the children to imagine that they’ve been given a chocolate biscuit. After they’ve finished eating it, they are asked to give it back. But they can’t do that: they’ve eaten it!
Explain that it’s the same with telling lies: if we tell a lie, it can be very hard to take back. - Explain that when something bad happens, it’s much better to tell the truth. Maybe we’ve broken something, forgotten to do something for our teacher or have done something that we wish we hadn’t. Telling the truth can feel scary, but it’s a brave and brilliant thing to do.
- Telling the truth is POWERFUL! It builds trust between us and our friends, our teachers, our siblings and our parents.
Cruel words and lies can be hurtful to the person we say them to. Let’s all remember to be kind and truthful.
Time for reflection
Remind the children that we all make mistakes; it’s part of being human. However, telling the truth about our mistakes is really important.
Let’s think of a time when we lied.
- How did we feel?
- How did the person we lied to feel?
Now let’s think how it could have been different if we had told the truth. Would we have felt better?
Ask the children to think about the consequences of not telling the truth. Encourage them to apologize if they have told a lie about someone, as they seek to put it right.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you for our wonderful friends and family.
Thank you for our adventures and learning.
Please help us to be kind and truthful
So that we can build trust and love with everyone around us.
Amen.
