Items Required: a bag of items (some fairtrade and some not), a large fairtrade logo cut up like a puzzle, some fairtrade chocolate bars, the powerpoint (Click here to download)

Introduction Introduce yourself

Opening Question: What’s your favourite food? (Chocolate)

Opening Game: Invite two volunteers up and give each a muddled picture of the fairtrade logo to complete…when both have competed it give one a small piece of chocolate and one a whole bar and ask them to go back to their seats (make sure you mention that you’ll pay them in chocolate)

Ask: [Showing Fairtrade logo on screen] – This is the logo the volunteers just completed.

Who recognises it?

Who knows what the logo means? (Fairtrade)

Explain: This is a logo called ‘Fairtrade’ and you find it on all sorts or things that you can buy…I’d like 2 volunteers!

Activity 2: Invite your volunteers to go through a bag of shopping finding the items that have the Fairtrade logo on – you could use bananas, sugar, chocolate, coffee etc,

Explain: So there’s lots of products in my shopping bag that have this Fairtrade logo on and I want to tell you this afternoon what it means and I’m going to tell you a story.

This is a story about a man called Justino Peck and he lived with his family in a place called Belize which is near Mexico

Who here grows fruit or vegetables in their garden at home?

Now imagine you couldn’t go to Tescos or Morrissons for food but you could only eat what you grew in your garden.

That would be difficult to grow all that wouldn’t it?

Well when Justino was growing up that’s what his family had to do, they were very poor and could only grow enough food on their farm to feed themselves.

but as he grew up things changed and when Justino was older their farm grew this crop.

(show picture) Who knows what that is?

(The cocoa bean/ Cocoa cacoa pods)

Now Justino and his family had borrowed some money to grow these cocoa beans and to start with they made lots of money

But soon the price of these beans fell which meant that Justino wasn’t making any money from his cocoa beans and he                 couldn’t afford to feed his family.

Who thinks that’s fair?

Now Justino didn’t think this was fair either so he started working with some of the other farmers in his village and they             tried talking to the people who make our chocolate to see if they would pay them a fairer price.

And eventually Justino found someone who would pay him enough money to feed himself and his family and here is the            chocolate bar that his cocoa beans made.

Has anyone seen this in shops? (show picture)

Ask: If you look at the chocolate bar who can see the Fairtrade logo we looked at before?

Now when our volunteers built the puzzles earlier did you think the pay that I gave them were fair?

[No…ask why? – they did the same thing]

So when we see the Fairtrade logo on things we buy or things  our Mums and Dads buy it means that the person who grew it    gets enough money to feed his family and it also means that the people who live in the villages can send their children to school because without being paid enough money for their farming they wouldn’t be able to afford to

Now in your assemblies this term you’ve been thinking about responsibility…who can remember what that means?

[It’s our job/ something we have to do]

Explain: When Jesus was on this earth He told us to treat others as we’d like to be treated which is why I buy chocolate with this Fairtrade picture on. If I was a farmer I’d like to be paid enough to feed myself and my family and so I think buying Fairtrade things is my responsibility.

So when you next go shopping with your Mum or Dad or go to the newsagents on your way home from school look out for this Fairtrade logo.

Prayer: Let’s pray to finish. If you want to make this prayer your own say Amen at the end after me.

Dear God

Thank you for delicious things to eat. Help us to remember the  farmers who grow our food, especially those who are poor.        Thank you for Fairtrade and help us to choose wisely so that  others may have a better life.

Amen