Being different

To help children celebrate and value the differences between people.

by Sophie Jelley

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To help children celebrate and value the differences between people.

Preparation and materials

• You will need the Children’s International Version or other child-friendly version of the Bible, or be prepared to retell Romans 12.4–5 in your own words.
• A freshly baked loaf of bread – still warm if possible.
• A supermarket carrier bag containing individual bread ingredients: yeast, bag of flour, salt, sugar, bottle of water, etc.
• A bread board and bread knife (safely wrapped). The knife is not needed if you choose a French stick or other type of bread that is easy to break.

Assembly

1. Explain that today we are thinking about being different. It’s great that people are different. Talk with the children about whether two people share the same name in their class and whether they are like each other. Even if they have exactly the same name there are no two people who are the same.
2. Say that you’ve been shopping before coming to school today – would anyone like to see what you have in your shopping bag? Choose volunteers to take out the yeast, flour, etc. Ask them if they know what each one is. Ask others to help them if necessary. When we have lots of different things that we put together to make something to eat, what do we call them? Ingredients.
3. Each one of us is different, like the different ingredients, but we can all join together to make one thing.
4. Explain that you are going to read from the New Testament (the Christians’ special book). It’s a letter from a church leader called Paul to the church in Rome. Read (or summarize) Romans 12.4–5. He said that there are lots of different parts of the body but they all belong together and each one is important.
5. This is a bit like all the different ingredients we have here; they all come together to make something important. Can anyone guess what they think these ingredients make? Show the fresh loaf. We need all these things together: without water the bread would be dry; without flour the bread would not be bread; without salt the bread wouldn’t be as tasty; with no yeast it wouldn’t rise. They all need to be there to do their different job to make a perfect loaf.
   
   You could slice (or break off) a piece and get two tasters up to report on the flavour (check school food policy).
6. Christians believe that this is just how God meant the world to be. He made people of different kinds, different races, different faces, different shapes and sizes. Christians believe that he meant them all to share the world that he made for them to live in. It is important that we are all different – God meant us to be that way.
7. Even here in our school, everyone is different too: some are great at football, some at reading, some playing the recorder, some at drama, etc. All different but every one special and every one an important part of the school.

Time for reflection

Reflection

Look at your thumb. There is no one with the same thumb print as you. Every single thumb is different and every single person is different too!

Prayer

Dear God,

Thank you for all our differences here at this school.

Thank you that you created a whole world full of different people.

Help us to know that this makes the world a beautiful and interesting place to live

because we are all special to you.

Amen.

Song/music

‘One more step’ (Come and Praise, 47)