5. The price is right?!

Age range: Primary
Theme: the kingdom parable of the pearl of great price
Resources:
  • There is a PowerPoint provided, but you may prefer to source your own ‘precious’ objects for the introductory game, ‘What’s it worth?’. Use the pictures in the presentation to inspire you! The objects that you choose are likely to change with the age of the children. The pictures in the slideshow have some background information (next page). Choose what to tell your children based on their age / experience, and the format of the game you decide.
  • It’s important to include a ‘wild card’ object e.g. a really tatty, but well-loved teddy, to help children understand that it’s possible to have different interpretations of ‘value’
  • A bowl of pearl beads for the class reflection activity [see end of script]

Gathering:
  • Use whatever ‘gathering’ liturgy you might have established in your school (even if it’s just ‘Good morning!’)

Engaging:
  • Play ‘What’s it worth?’ using the PowerPoint / objects. This game could be played in several ways, dependant on the ages of your children e.g. order the objects from the least to the most valuable; having a team (like on a quiz show) who try to guess the price of each of the objects, maybe writing their suggestion for each in turn on a whiteboard; a hands-up version where children vote for a category e.g. less than £10, over £1000 etc.; or children just taking a wild guess at the price before you reveal it.
  • Don’t let the game, or the discussion following it, become your focus though, or children might miss the message that Jesus taught in the parable.
  • Show all the objects again and very briefly, talk about the relative values – especially the fact that some of the things that are really precious to us might not be as expensive as some other things to buy!
  • “Our parable for assembly this morning is about something else that was very valuable….It’s a story you might be able to join in with as we go along!....[use script The pearl of great price]
  • “So, let’s think what Jesus was saying! [you could ask older children to suggest meanings for themselves]
  • Jesus was giving another message about God and his kingdom to everyone who was listening. The merchant is Jesus himself, who came as God’s great rescuer and paid a very great price, his own life, for the world that God treasured as much as the pearl in the parable: quite simply, you are the pearl of great price!

Responding (and words for worship):
Let’s be still and quiet together now….
…in the stillness, think about the things that you’ve heard today….
….about what something’s worth, its value….
….there are some things that are easy to put a value on, and there are some things that are impossible!....
…..in the quietness, think about the things you value….
…we’ve also heard a parable that Jesus told….
….about a merchant and a pearl, and what the merchant was prepared to do to buy it….
….a picture in words of how God feels about every single person…..
….you are the pearl of great price!....
….which is why Jesus came….
I’m going to turn my thoughts into a prayer now, as I ask God to help us to put some of these ideas into practice. Make the prayer your own if you’d like to…or if you’d prefer not to pray, then just sit quietly with your own thoughts.
Dear God
Thank you for Jesus who told such great stories! Thank you for this parable of the pearl of great price, a story that reminds us that we are all so valuable to you. Help us to value each other as though we were precious treasure.
Amen
Sending: Choose a song from your school repertoire that fits with this theme

PowerPoint ‘What’s it worth?’ game

Background information for teachers

Picture 1: a Lego© minifigure from series 17 – value £2.99

Picture 2:the latest Nintendo games console, Nintendo Switch – value £279.99 (according to Amazon at the time of writing!)

Picture 3: Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for Real Madrid, ex-Man Utd, currently valued at £85,000,00

Picture 4: an old teddy bear – value £unknown, probably not much in terms of money, but maybe priceless to someone who cuddles it in bed every night!

Picture 5: a Lego© Star Wars set (Luke’s landspeeder) – value £19.99

Picture 6: the largest diamond ever mined: the Cullinan Diamond. This was mined in South Africa in 1905, and was so big (weighed 621g, 3,106.75 carats!) that it was cut into 9 other enormous diamonds (picture 1), 2 of which are now found in the Queen’s Crown Jewels (picture group 2), the other 7 being used in various items of jewellery belonging to our Queen. There are also 96 smaller stones! Value: approx. £1.63 billion

The pearl of great price

(a story that’s a bit like ‘This is the house that Jack built’ and ‘There was an old woman’ but without the rhyming!) The words in bold connect with the pictures in the PowerPoint.

This is the pearl, a pearl of great price

That Jesus told this story about.

This is the shop, down a winding street

That was selling the pearl,

The pearl of great price

That Jesus told this story about.

This is the merchant who spotted the pearl

In the shop that was down the winding street,

The shop that was selling the pearl of great price

That Jesus told this story about.

This is the gasp that the merchant gave

When he spotted the pearl that glimmered and gleamed

In the shop that was down the winding street,

The shop that was selling the pearl of great price

That Jesus told this story about.

This is the money the merchant made

By selling his things, so he had nothing left.

He sold all his things to buy the pearl

From the shop that was down the winding street,

The shop that was selling the pearl of great price

That Jesus told this story about.

This is the pearlthe merchant now owns,

That was bought with the money the merchant made.

By selling his things, so he had nothing left.

He sold all his things to buy the pearl

From the shop that was down the winding street,

The shop that was selling the pearl of great price

That Jesus told this story about.

But what does it mean, this strange little tale,

Of the merchant who sold all the things that he owned,

To buy a pearl, a pearl of great price

From the shop that was down the winding street?

Now let’s stop and think…..

‘Thy Kingdom Come’ Collective Worship resource