Bare Necessities
This session uses the song 'Bare Necessities' from The Jungle Book. You may want to use the following clip as a stimulus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ogQ0uge06o
First, show the clip (or play the song). Then, sing the first verse with the class a couple of times:
'Bare necessities,
Those simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean those bare necessities
Mother nature’s recipes
That bring those bare necessities of life'
Start Q: What’s the song about? (and what are ‘bare necessities’?)
I usually give them a simple translation at some point: bare necessities = ‘only those things that are really needed’
TQ: What are those things that are really needed (bare necessities)?
Activity:
Split a board into 2 categories: ‘Needed' and 'Not Needed'. Ask children to come up with a pen and write things up on either category until you’ve got enough for discussion. Then run an enquiry around what’s on the board.
Suggestion/ Tip:
The following week do Diogenes and Alexander (from 40 Lessons to Get Children Thinking') - learn to tell it, if you can!
Ages: Ages 7-11 (KS2), Ages 5-7 (KS1)
Subjects: Language and Meaning, Ethics
Themes: Life, Existence, Difference, Conceptual analysis