Good things

To help the children think about all the good things in their lives and how they can be shared.

by The Revd Sophie Jelley

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To help the children think about all the good things in their lives and how they can be shared.

Preparation and materials

• You will need an opaque storage box of ‘ingredients’, e.g. baked beans, Ready Brek, water, banana, coffee, plus some more bizarre ones like washing powder and cat food, etc.
• A table to demonstrate on.
• A jar of sweet spread (honey, jam, chocolate spread) and a teaspoon (leave these out of sight in the storage box).
• A blindfold, a mixing bowl and wooden spoon.
• Aprons, ideally one child’s, one adult’s.
• Discuss your plan with a volunteer teacher!

Assembly

1. Ask the children, who likes cooking? Say that you love it and thought we would do some here this morning. Ask for your teacher volunteer to come and join you – ask them how good a cook they think you are. Tie the blindfold on the volunteer and ask them if they trust you. Now choose a child to come and be your stirrer. Put one apron on yourself and the other on the child.
2. Set out the ingredients and ask if your adult volunteer is feeling at all nervous. Add a little of each ingredient into a bowl while the child stirs. Show the mixture to the children when complete – it should be a revolting coloured paste. Say that you think it needs a bit more mixing and as this could get messy you’ll place the bowl inside this box.
3. Carefully place the mixing bowl back into storage box and pretend to mix vigorously. Then take a spoon, so the children think that the teacher is going to taste the mixture. Instead, however, give the teacher a taste of the sweet spread from the jar hidden in the box. Ask how it tastes – it should be delicious. Applaud your volunteers and ask them to return to their places.
4. Ask the children, who thinks the teacher ate the ‘cooking’ mixture? Now show the sweet spread and explain that you wouldn’t do anything to hurt the teacher; instead, you gave them something good.
5. Briefly tell the story in Luke 11.9–13 when Jesus teaches about prayer, saying that when someone prays to God for something, God wants to give them only good things. Mention the fish and egg, the food they need to live and grow, not snakes and scorpions, which can harm and hurt.
6. Christians believe that God is good and wants people to have good things in their lives: food and clothes, education and friends, etc. We know that not all children have the good things they need, but could we all do more to share the good things of the world?

Time for reflection

Reflection

Think about all the good things you have. Spend a moment being thankful.

What could you do to help spread good things to everyone?

What could you do for someone you know?

What could you do for people across the world who do not have all the good things that you do?

Prayer

Dear God,

Thank you that you are good.

You want good things for us.

Help us to be thankful for all that we have.

Help us to share.

Help us to care.

Help us to love.

Amen.

Song/music

‘God is love’ (Come and Praise, 36)