Presents and Giving
By Steven Hoggins
Presents come in many forms and invariably people get different presents, so should there be a sense of justice or deserving to the distribution of presents? And what exactly is a present?
Resources
- A big present (or picture of)
- A small present
- A £10 note
- Nothing
- 4 puppets
Stimulus
Place 2 characters (or more) in the middle of the carpet and tell a brief story about it being Christmas and these are the presents they get (£10 and a big present). The children will probably have a fairly immediate response to that so I would suggest not having a direct question to start with, perhaps just ask if they have anything to say. Then see what comes up.
Follow up questions:
- Is money the better present?
- Is money a real present?
- What if it was wrapped up?
Emergent question
- What makes a good present?
Stimulus continued
Add in the other characters whenever you feel it is appropriate. One character has a small present and the other character has nothing.
Task question: Is that OK?
Emergent Questions
- Should some people get bigger presents?
- Should you get what you want? Or what you need?
- Is an empty box a present?
- Should some people get no presents?
- Should everybody get the same present?
- Is chocolate a good present? What if the present is something you love but it is bad for you?
- Should naughty children get presents?
