Give a Little Love

Watch the 2020 John Lewis Christmas advert, which shows how kindness has a positive impact on the world around us, and try some of our related teaching ideas with your children!

Watch this video with your children and then try some of our teaching and activity ideas below.

Can’t see the video above? Try refreshing / reloading the page.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• Scroll down and read the storyline in this article. Use this as a model to write your own version of the storyline.
• The advert is called “Give a Little Love”. Write a list of alternative titles for it.
• Choose a scene and write some dialogue for the characters. For example, what could Selina and the little girl say to each other in the section from 1:33 to 1:43?
• Create a storyboard for the advert, showing what happens in each scene.
• Choose one of the settings and write a description of it.
• Retell the story from the point of view of one of the characters.
• Write some Christmas cracker jokes.
• Stop the video and write thought bubbles showing what the characters might be thinking. Some good places to stop are; 0:15, 0:34, 1:15, 1:28 and 2:01, but there are lots of others!
• The purpose of an advert is usually to make people want to buy things. This one, although it does show some products for the company, is mainly trying to get people to donate to charity. Write a list of ways that the advert encourages the viewer to support charities.
• Write another scene for the advert, showing someone being kind.
• Write an acrostic poem using the word KINDNESS.
• Design a poster that encourages others to be kind and #GiveALittleLove.
• Read the ‘Making of’ article and think of some questions that you could ask the people who created the advert.
• Choose a character from the advert. Split a piece of paper into two columns, one titled “Before” and one titles “After”. Write vocabulary in each column that can be used to describe the character’s thoughts and feelings, before and after another character was kind to them.
• Write your own story in which something positive that is passed from one person to another.
• Can you carry out a ‘random act of kindness’ for a friend without them realising that it came from you? Could they then pass on this kindness to somebody else?
• Watch the audio described version of the advert (shown below). Write your own audio description for a scene from the advert.

Maths

• The bus is number 222. Write out all the three-digit numbers that can be made using only one digit (111,222 etc.) Try making them using different maths equipment. What patterns and relationships can you see? What happens when you add and subtract them from each other?
• Fold a piece of paper in half and cut out a heart shape, using the fold as a line of symmetry. What other shapes can you cut this way?
• Make a tally chart of the number of different heart shapes you can spot in the video.

Science

• Investigate what happens when you add salt to snow and ice. Why do we put down salt on the roads and paths when it is snowy and icy?
• Write an explanation of how binoculars work. This Kiddle page has a good diagram and lots of information.
• Research and write a fact file about pigeons or hedgehogs.

Computing

• Due to coronavirus, the song was written using a video call. Collaborate with someone else over the internet to write another verse for it.
• Try filming a short scene using real people as the characters, and then as an animation, using a program like Pivot or an app like Toontastic.
• The advert was made using different styles of animation. How many different animation techniques can you think of? Can you try some of them? The ‘Making Of’ video shows some more images from behind the scenes that may give you some ideas.

Design Technology

• Design gifts that are suitable to put in a cracker.
• Design an outfit for one of the characters.
• Build a puppet or a movable model that could be used as part of an animation.

Art

• Try making a piece of art that uses two different media side by side. For example, you could paint the boy giving the heart to the snowman, and then use pastels to show the snowman changing the tyre.
• Look at the different drawing and animation techniques used. How do you think each one was made?
• Draw a picture that includes a heart motif.
• Look at Banksy’s Girl with Balloon painting. Make your own version.
• Have a go at recreating some of the patterns from the advert. Look carefully, there are a lot! Try running the video at a slower speed so that you can spot them.

Music

• Compose a soundtrack for the advert, using body percussion and/or instruments.
• Learn the song using this lyrics video.

Geography

• Make a map of the public transport stops in your area. Where can you get a bus or a train to?
• How many different modes of transport are there in the advert?

PSHE

• Why do you think John Lewis has chosen to make an advert promoting charities in 2020?
• Describe a time when you have been kind to someone else, or they have been kind to you. How did it make you feel?