Time with Friends
The importance of friendship
by Lydia Parkinson
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To consider the importance of friendship and how we can be better friends.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Time with Friends) and the means to display them.
Assembly
- Tell the children that you are going to show them five pictures, and you want them to see if they can work out how they fit together.
- Show Slides 1-5.
After each slide, discuss what the picture shows, but try not to use the word ‘friend’!
Ask the children if they can think of the connection.
Listen to a range of responses. - Show Slide 6.
Explain that the five pictures showed things that we might enjoy doing with our friends. Of course, there are many other things that we like doing with our friends too!
Ask the children what other activities they enjoy with their friends.
Listen to a range of responses. - Ask the children, ‘Is it more important to have a good friend or be a good friend?’
Listen to a range of responses. - Show Slide 7 and read out the quotation.
‘If you want friends, be a friend. If you want good friends, be a good friend. If you want to have friends, you have to be a friend!’
Discuss the meaning of these words with the children. - The Bible has some interesting things to say about friends too.
Show Slides 8-10 and discuss each one.
- Slide 8: ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you.’ (Luke 6.31)
- Slide 9: ‘Carry each other’s burdens.’ (Galatians 6.2)
- Slide 10: ‘A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.’ (Proverbs 17.17)
Time for reflection
Read the quotations on Slides 8-10 again.
Encourage the children to think about these statements during the week; maybe they could be placed in sight in every classroom. Encourage them to think about how they can treat people in such a way that people will want to be their friend.
Encourage them to look out for children who are on their own and may find it more difficult to make friends. Encourage them to have a go at getting to know someone new in the coming week. It could be someone who’s been in their class for a few years, but they’ve never really chatted with, or it could be a newcomer to the school.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for loving us.
Thank you that you want to be our friend.
Please help us to be good friends to one another.
Please help us to think about the needs of other people.
Please help us to be kind and helpful, and to look out for children who are sad or lonely.
Amen.
Song/music
‘You’ve got a friend in me’ from the film Toy Story, available at: https://youtu.be/DNZUKm0ApEM (2.08 minutes long)
