Fun Printable Cards to Use in Singing Time

I found this cute printable on what I believe is a vacation/travel site for the LA/Disneyland area so pardon the random link, but I thought these printable pics would translate easily into a no-fuss primary singing time activity. There are 48 cards in total, with one word and one simple picture, including: princess, giant, bones, ice cream, plane, surfboard ...

Ways to Use These Cards:

1. Fun way to sing a song - they have to figure out how to sing "The Family is of God," for instance, while on a plane, or while pretending to eat ice cream ("The family" - lick - "is of" - lick - ...).

2. Use the colors on the cards - the images are just for fun, but everyone in the room wearing the colors on the card that is drawn has to ... get up and sing the song at the front of the room together ... or pat their heads while they sing, etc. This works because most of the cards only use a few different colors, tops.

3. Us for practicing volume or speed or another "real" singing element, e.g., if they choose the "alligator" card they can practice crescendo and decrescendo. If they choose the "princess" card they can practice enunciation.

4. The object of the game is to find answers to some gospel questions, which are in primary song titles. So, take the blank tiles that come with these templates and write in the songs that you have been teaching, for example, "The Family is of God," "I Stand All Amazed." Then have five questions on the board, like "Which song talks about families?" or "Jesus Christ died for me. What song shares this awe for what he did for us?" Then, use just a few of the more appropriate "fun" tiles and mix them in there with the "right" tiles. The kids have a goal to answer the questions by drawing the right pieces before the end of Singing Time. If they draw the wrong piece, there could be a consequence, like maybe they have to answer a question about a line of the song.

One day when I am feeling more ambitious, I might actually make my own cards and have the kids string together something a little closer to what the site originally suggested the cards were for ... though I could see that getting out of hand, too! I have a small game of dice that uses this exact same concept, and there's a good primary singing time activity there as well.

Singing Time Song Review Games

My ward likes to have children that are taking piano lessons play most of the songs in the primary program each year. The ward music director takes care of the assignment - I think she started this tradition. The children usually don't get a significant amount of notice, and their playing isn't quite at the level of the primary pianist, but they do a great job! However, that also means I need to be prepared for slower, choppier playing, and I can't throw any curve balls at the children that are playing during singing time, like playing staccato or having them repeat a line of the song over and over while I am having the children work on a line of the song.

With this in mind, I debated about several options this Sunday to keep the energy level up but contribute to the lesson that day in a very simple way (no creative piano playing allowed), because I really want to get through as many of the songs as possible before General Conference.

So, here's what I debated about to prepare for the program but keep it simple (but appropriately engaging), both in prep work and during Singing Time.

Option #1: Complete a Puzzle
Cut a relevant picture (this month's theme - a picture of someone serving) into a puzzle, and hide it around the room. Reverent children get to go pick up a piece that they spotted, and help build the puzzle. Each puzzle piece will either have a song to sing or if they get a magic piece, they need to give one example of how they can serve others (to fit with this month's service theme).

You can find great pictures depicting service on the LDS.org service site here: http://www.lds.org/media-library/images/service?lang=eng&start=1&end=10

Option #2: Pick a Leaf
I'll hang leaves (or pumpkins for Halloween or turkeys for Thanksgiving ... you get the picture) from a tree (so many ways to make this, but I actually just own several different tree sculptures). Each leaf represents a song or a question about a song or both. The point of the questions is to make them think about the meaning of each song. I always tell them that these songs are about the gospel and our testimonies, and that we will sing more beautifully if we think about what we are singing.

Questions about the song:

Name one way that you know that Heavenly Father loves you.
(hint: "Whenever I ... I'm glad that I live in this ____________________ that Heavenly Father created for me.")

Name one thing you would do if the Savior was standing beside you?
(hint: "If the Savior stood beside me ... would I follow __________________ would I live more _______________ ...")

Name one way we know that we can return to our Father in Heaven.
(hint: "I am a child of God, rich blessings are in store, if I but learn _______________.")

Who lead Joseph Smith to the Golden Plates?
(hint: "An ________ came to Joseph Smith")

Why is it a good thing that just like every star is different, every child is different?
(hint: "Every star is different ... you're the only person who ...)

Why is it important to try to live like Jesus Christ?
(hint: "I like to look for rainbows ...I want to be the BEST I can to ...")

What does the gospel teach us about families after we pass from this earth?
(hint: "Families can be ...")

Option #3: You Be the Judge
Have the teachers or children help judge their own singing. I'll have them hold up their hands to vote for if they felt for each song they are perfect, almost there, or needs work for gusto, volume, and lyrics. I was thinking I could either alternate classes to vote, or choose reverent children to come up and take turns being judges. I could print out little signs for them to hold up and help judge. We could write down the comments and see what we need to work on for the following week.

I decided against this one because I'm worried it will stress out the children pianists but I think this would be good for a program review.

Option #4: Silent Leading
I want to stand up, not say a word, and use motions to show that I don't want to hear any sounds (pointer fingers over lips), then swoop my arms up to show them that I want them to stand up or sit down. I want to have the pianist start playing a song without telling them what I am having them play and see if I can get them to start singing - all while remaining totally silent. The point of this exercise is to have a little fun with them while reminding them of how important it is for them to watch me while they sing.

I had laryngitis my VERY first Sunday as primary chorister, and had to call a sub, but I think now, had I had more experience, I would have been comfortable leading singing time (as long as it was songs they already knew of course) with no voice.

Option #5: Matching Game
This version is for Senior Primary only. I wouldn't want to take the time to cut out pictures for Junior Primary the same week I did this activity because part of the beauty of this one is that it's quick to prepare, so with Junior, I would find a different, simple game, like Pictionary or something I've prepared in advance, like my Singing Elephant.

Thanks to Camille's Primary Singing Time Ideas for sharing this post from livecrafteat.com about a fun take on the traditional matching game. I really want to focus on activities that teach the music, and this game makes them think about the words of the song since they have to match up the titles. You can get really fancy with laminating this and making it reusable but the thing I like about my version is that it required five pieces of paper, a permanent marker, scissors/paper cutter, and it took me 10 minutes to make, total. To do this quickly:

1. Cut up your sheets into four squares per page. Just eye-ball it!
2. Lay out your square so you can see if you have an even number, and arrange the colors in a pleasing manner.
3. Number the squares.
4. Now write the first half of a song title on one square, and the second half on another square. Because your squares are numbered, it's easy to stack your papers up and just skip from one section of the pile to another to quickly add the titles. I put the page number in the lower corner of both squares to easily confirm the kids have made a match and to quickly give the pianist the song number.
5. I had a few extra squares. Since I'm worried about time, I drew pictures on the empty squares. Those can be for "optional" song or whatever, but since I'm worried about time, for me they are bonus - the kids can leave them turned over once they find it, and the get an extra turn!

An Oldie But Goodie: Red Light, Green Light

I'm going back to an oldie but goodie for Singing Time on Labor Day weekend:

Red Light, Green Light, which I used for Singing Time almost exactly one year ago. It's super easy and super fun, and a great way for the children to think about lyrics.

If you haven't already made yourself a Red Light, Green Light prop, DO IT! It's a great go-to that requires no prep time after the first time you make it!

Junior Primary has only had one week to work in "A Child's Prayer" so depending on how the children are participating tomorrow, I might also have them make up motions for that song ...

Song Review -- Prophet Bingo

**Update 5/16/13 - This was a great activity. The kids were engaged and it was an easy activity. Junior and Senior both barely won "Bingo" as a class by the end of our time. (I *might* have gone through the cards towards the end of Junior primary and tried to put a few of the potential Bingo pieces toward the top to up their chance of "Bingo."  I "might" have had the cards fanned out for them to select but in a way that a few were sticking out a tiny bit further than the others. :p Senior Primary just lucked out.)

Prophets Bingo is the perfect song review game to support this month's theme, "Prophets Teach Us to Live the Restored Gospel."

Also, you can teach this as a singing time activity, or you can easily coordinate with whomever is teaching for the day and combine the singing time lesson and sharing time lesson, which the church encourages anyway.


Set up: Put pictures of prophets on the board in a random order, in a grid pattern, 4 x 4, making 16 pictures total. Make a matching deck of cards by printing up a smaller version of the prophets picture.

How to play: The class takes turn drawing cards from a deck, and looking for the corresponding picture on the board. Which they will then highlight. I am going to put these on a chalkboard so they can actually just use chalk and draw a circle around the piece. Each time a child draws a prophet from the deck, they will also find a song associated with that card. We will then sing whatever song is attached to that card. To combine with the teacher, or even if you have enough time, place a quote from the prophet on the back of the card as well, or briefly share one fact or one ask question about the prophet that is selected from the deck. Or, you could even have the quotes or stories listed on a separate board and have the teacher talk about them with the children, as they are selected. In Senior Primary, consider having the children look up scriptures for each Bingo piece.

Object of the game: To form a consecutive line of prophets. This is not a competition between sides of the class - the entire class as a group is encouraged to work together to form a consecutive line (a Bingo!) before class ends. I don't think you'd have time to form a Bingo if you tried to make the classes compete but I think it's more fun when they work in unison anyway.

Where to get prophet images:

Sorry, I didn't make these into a doc this time but it's really easy to just go to the LDS.org image library, and download the images to your computer to print. 


You can find images of ancient prophets by looking at the books for each category:
http://www.lds.org/media-library/images/categories/gospel-art

You can find images of latter-day prophets in the same area but here's a specific link:
http://www.lds.org/media-library/images/gospel-art/latter-day-prophets?lang=eng

Just download everything into one folder, then print it all out, regular size (one image per sheet). Then, hit print again, but this time, choose to put more pics on a page ("wallet," circled below), to get the smaller size for your corresponding set of cards. Your printer might have a slightly different dialog box but it will be the same general idea:

Quotes for prophets: These are the prophets that I will be highlighting (there are more than 16 here so I am still narrowing down), with some corresponding quotes/facts. I may or may not add more details, as I find time to do additional research. Also, I'll see what the teacher wants to do for the facts portion.

Prophet	Song	Scripture	Question / Other
Lehi	Nephi’s  Courage, verse 2	1 Nephi 1:1  1 I, Nephi, having been aborn of bgoodly cparents, therefore I wasdtaught somewhat in all the learning of my father;  1Nephi:1:5 "Wherefore it came to pass that my father, Lehi, as he went forth prayed unto the Lord, yea, even with all his heart, in behalf of his people."	Can anyone tell me how the first verse of the Book of Mormon starts? Who is that describing? Lehi and Sariah were a good father and good mother. They were good examples. Lehi prayed always.
Samuel the Lamanite	Samuel Tells the Story of Baby Jesus	Helaman 13:3 But behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, that he should return again, and prophesy unto the people whatsoever things should come into his heart.	Samuel showed faith in the Lord when he stood on the wall and preached, knowing that if not for the Lord’s protection, he could be hurt by the angry crowd.
Moses	If the Savior Stood Beside Me	Exodus 3:15  15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
Noah	When I Am Baptized	Genesis 9: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 7:1  1 And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.	The Lord made a promise after Noah and his family left the boat,  that he would never flood the earth again. Noah showed obedience by trusting the Lord and building a boat.
Jonah	I am a Child of God	Jonah 2:1  1 Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly	Jonah disobeyed the Lord initially when he was scared, but he showed his faith and prayed.
Alma	No song (because we don’t want to sing every song we turn over)	In the Book of Mormon we read about 2,000 exemplary young men who were exceedingly valiant, courageous, and strong. “Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” (Alma 53:21). These faithful young men paid tribute to their mothers. They said, “Our mothers knew it” (Alma 56:48). I would suspect that the mothers of Captain Moroni, Mosiah, Mormon, and other great leaders also knew. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/mothers-who-know?lang=eng	(Mother’s Day –focused quote.)
Nephi	Nephi’s Courage, vs.1	1 Nephi 3:7 … I will go and do the things which the lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandment s unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way ofr them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.
Joseph Smith, Jr.	An Angel Came to Joseph Smith	http://tinyurl.com/josephquote “Baptism is a sign to God, to angels, and to heaven that we do the will of God, and there is no other way beneath the heavens whereby God hath ordained for man to come to Him to be saved, and enter into the kingdom of God, except faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, and any other course is in vain; then you have the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost.” ( History of the Church, 4:553–557. )  “We came to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists in having a body. The devil has no body, and herein is his punishment. He is pleased when he can obtain the tabernacle of man. . . . All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not.” ( Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 181.)  Joseph Smith Jr., Served 1830–1844 QUOTES “Surely I have contemplated the things of God.” ( History of the Church 5:554 )  “Great blessings await us at this time, and will soon be poured out upon us, if we are faithful in all things, for we are even entitled to greater spiritual blessings than they [the faithful at the time of Christ] were, because they had Christ in person with them, to instruct them in the great plan of salvation. His personal presence we have not, therefore we have need of greater faith.” ( Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 90.)  “When you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.” ( Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 151.)
Ezra Taft  Benson	I am a Child of God	http://tinyurl.com/taftquote “The time is long overdue for a massive flooding of the earth with the Book of Mormon for the many reasons which the Lord has given. In this age of electronic media and mass distribution of the printed word, God will hold us accountable if we do not now move the Book of Mormon in a monumental way.” ( “Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon, ” Ensign, November 1988, 4–5.)  “The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it.” ( “The Great Commandment-Love the Lord, ” Ensign, May 1988, 4.)  “I have a vision of the whole Church getting nearer to God by abiding by the precepts of the Book of Mormon.” ( Conference Report, Oct. 1988, 5.)
Brigham Young	My Heavenly Father Loves Me, vs.2	http://tinyurl.com/brighamquote “I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self security. Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not. ( Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1954], 135.)  “How shall we know that we obey [God]? There is but one method by which we can know it, and that is by the inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord witnessing unto our spirit that we are His, that we love Him, and that He loves us. It is by the spirit of revelation we know this. ( Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1954], 224.)
Howard W. Hunter	No song (because we don’t want to sing every song we turn over)	Quotes: http://tinyurl.com/hunterquote “You should express regularly to your wife and children your reverence and respect for her. Indeed, one of the greatest things a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” ( “Being a Righteous Husband and Father, ” Ensign, Nov. 1994, 50.)  “Let us be a temple-attending people. Attend the temple as frequently as personal circumstances allow. Keep a picture of a temple in your home that your children may see it. Teach them about the purposes of the House of the Lord. Have them plan from their earliest years to go there and to remain worthy of that blessing.” ( “Exceeding Great and Precious Promises, ” Ensign, Nov. 1994, 8.)
Daniel	Follow the Prophet - Daniel	Daniel 6:26-27  26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.  27 He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.	Daniel refused to worship the king as a god and was always true to God, praying to his true God. In turn he was blessed for his faith and protected from a den of lions.
Adam	My Heavenly Father Loves Me, vs.1	Luke 1:70 - Zacharias prophesizes: "As he aspake by the mouth of his holy bprophets, which have been since the world began." Moses 5: 10-11  10 And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have enjoy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.  11 And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had a seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.
Moroni	No song (because we don’t want to sing every song we turn over)
Abraham	I am a Child of God
Abinadi	No song (because we don’t want to sing every song we turn over)
President Hinckley	No song (because we don’t want to sing every song we turn over)	http://tinyurl.com/hinckleyquote “Under the plan of heaven, the husband and the wife walk side by side as companions, neither one ahead of the other, but a daughter of God and a son of God walking side by side. Let your families be families of love and peace and happiness. Gather your children around you and have your family home evenings, teach your children the ways of the Lord, read to them from the scriptures, and let them come to know the great truths of the eternal gospel as set forth in these words of the Almighty.” ( “Selections from Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign, Mar. 2001, 64.)  “Believe in Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer, the Son of God, who came to earth and walked the dusty roads of Palestine-the Son of God-to teach us the way of truth and light and salvation, and who, in one great and glorious act offered an atonement for each of us. He opened the way of salvation and exaltation for each of us, under which we may go forward in the Church and kingdom of God. Be not faithless, but believe in the great and wonderful and marvelous blessings of the Atonement.” ( “Selections from Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign, Mar. 2001, 64.)
President Monson	Give Said the Little Stream (one of his favorite songs)	Danny and I learned several difficult but important lessons that day—not the least of which was the importance of obedience. … Obedience is a hallmark of prophets; it has provided strength and knowledge to them throughout the ages. It is essential for us to realize that we, as well, are entitled to this source of strength and knowledge. It is readily available to each of us today as we obey God’s commandments. … The knowledge which we seek, the answers for which we yearn, and the strength which we desire today to meet the challenges of a complex and changing world can be ours when we willingly obey the Lord’s commandments -- President Monson, “Obedience Brings Blessings,” April 2013 General Conference

Inspiration for this activity: A year ago, a friend of mine (Vikki) cleaned out a bunch of activity books that she used to inspire her for various callings she has had over the years, working with children and youth. I took a couple of these books but never used them. There are just so many fun things to do every Sunday! However, I felt inspired to peruse the books recently and found one I wanted to incorporate into a Singing Time activity this Sunday because it fit so well with this month's Prophets theme.

The activity book is from 1994 and is both out of print and updated, but the general idea is good. It is called the "Articles of Faith Idea and Activity Book Vol.2," by Karen Finch. The book included hand drawings of sixteen prophets, with a matching deck of smaller cards, for Bingo. I elaborated on the idea and updated it with new images of prophets that we have now that were called after 1994, but I thank Karen for the lovely starting point of making a Bingo board with prophets!

Choose the Right board game

I revisited the "Choose the Right" board game that I played in January last year, to draw 2012 to a close but I changed some rules, and I added new cards to incorporate, the songs that we had learned over the year, as well as the lessons that have been taught.

Basic rules:
1. Instead of using color cards to move forward (like with Candyland, which is what I did originally), children just choose a "Choice" card. I had simple choice cards like, "You washed the dishes without being asked. Take one step forward," but I also had specific ones from the lesson manual, like the examples below. Depending on the choice (and sometime they were "bad choices") the child could move a piece forward or backward on the board.

2. Rather than having the two sides of the room compete against each other, I told them the object of the game was to get as many of their pieces home as possible. They could move any of three pieces. This made them a lot more reverent. In senior primary, they also managed to get three of their pieces home.

3. If they landed on a music square or depending on the card they drew, they could take a music card. This gave them extra points to move forward faster on the board.

Song Review - Secret Word

I want to focus on the best way possible to sing every song and force the children to really think about the words, and I think this activity will help me to accomplish that goal.

The concept is simple, but I specifically wanted to share what secret words I will use and why, as well as how I want to incorporate origami for presentation.

First, the concept:

Assign each class a secret word. As the class sings all the primary songs, each class has a special action for their secret word, which they will make whenever the word comes up, no matter the song. At the end of the class, we'll try to see if children can guess each classes' secret word. That's it! So simple, but I think it will really make the children think about the words and be interested in singing.

These are the words I selected based on the frequency in which they occur in songs, as well as where I can recall they appear in songs (I have about six classes per sharing time so this gives me a spare). Each of the words I selected appears in at least two songs that we will be singing in our primary program. In addition, each of the songs will have at least two words in it for which a class will be participating.

The secret word and the action that I will be using (unless I change my mind about the action before Sunday, ha ha):

• Choose or Choice - Stand up and sit down (I have the children sign this song so I didn't want to pick something that made it so that they couldn't continue to sign, too.)
• Right - Stand, spin around once, and sit down (I have the children sign this song so I didn't want to pick something that made it so that they couldn't continue to sign, too.)
• Jesus, Lord, or God -  Clap three times
• Light - Do the wave
• Rain - Stomp your feet a few times
• Holy Ghost/ Holy Spirit - Hold your hand to your ear as if you are listening to the Holy Ghost
• Man or Men - Change seats with someone in your class
• Try - Hop on one foot three times
• Wise or Wisdom - Clap your hands, then snap your fingers. Do this twice. (So you clap, snap, clap, snap.)
• Child or Children - Shake someone's hand. (Hint: If there are an uneven number of children in your class, you may need to shake two people's hands.)

Where I noted the word appears in the songs that we are singing in our Primary Program
(and hence, why I selected that word):

As a Child of God - Light, God, Choose, Holy Ghost, Child
When I Am Baptized - God, Rain
Choose the Right - Light, Right, Holy Spirit, Choose, Wisdom, God
Stand for the Right - Light, Right
I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus, vs.1 - Jesus, Choice, Try
The Wise Man and the Foolish Man - Wise, Rain, Man
Nephi's Courage - Lord, Try
I Think When I Read that Sweet Story - Jesus, Men, Children

Origami:
When I was in fifth grade, we passed each other notes in class by folding the paper in a fun way that had a little tab at the top. I'll upload a picture once I've done it but having used origami for several previous sharing time activities, I know there are plenty of origami sites if you want to add a little extra fun here. This way, I can get them excited about the came and pass to their teachers their secret words.

Making the songs mean something:
I feel it is really important to make sure the children understand and are thinking about the meaning behind the words they sing, so this is something I always try to emphasize.

This week, I saw a beautiful rainbow, so I am going to ask the children to raise their hand if they saw a rainbow this week (since I saw it in our neighborhood). Then, I will ask them if it reminded any of them of the covenants they have made or will make with their Father in Heaven, and use it as refresher reminder about the beauty and meaning of the lovely song, "When I Am Baptized."

Singing Dice with an Easy Easter Theme

I needed a substitute for primary last week, but did not want to lose progress with my primary children. I had planned to begin a new song, but instead, wanted them to at least be reviewing the songs that we have been learning for the last few months.

                                     

This is what I consider to be an old chorister favorite - dice! I think the Primary Manual even references this idea in the short section for choristers. I have been wanting to make these dice for a while now. I think they make a great activity, but also liked the idea of having them around for back-up, and for substitutes.

I was going to create dice for three different features but decided to honor Easter by putting the third option inside of Easter eggs.


My first choice substitute (J.P.) said, "yes," when I asked her, so I was very happy. She's a talented musician, and I thought she'd be great with the kids. I let her know that the activity was optional, but went ahead and shared the above with her as an optional activity.

The funny thing is that she told me later that her husband was asked to substitute for the chorister in ward choir on the same day. We have a lot of musical talent in our ward but somehow, both of us choristers went to the same family for our first choice substitute!


I have a lovely Easter tree that I wanted to work into my activity for Easter Sunday, too, but I don't think I will have enough time so it will have to wait another year. I'm actually going to be using the "I Think When I Read that Sweet Story" song from my previous post, but with a few Easter-y alterations to focus more strongly on the Savior. More to come ...

Dice 1: What song we will sing. 
Choose the Right
As a Child of God
I Often Go Walking
Stand for the Right
Child's Choice
Teacher's Choice

Dice 2: What verse we will sing.
Verse 1
Verse 2. If no verse 2, then sing verse 1 twice.
Verse 3. If no verse 3, then sing verse 2.
Verse 1.
Verse 2. If no verse 2, then sing verse 1 twice.
Verse 3. If no verse 3, then sing verse 1.

Easter Eggs: How to sing the song.
Staccato
Crescendo and Decrescendo
Backwards (face the back of the room)
Standing on one foot
Pianist's choice
Teacher's choice (prepare some suggestions in advance so you don't catch a teacher off guard)
Marching
Echo (Have one side sing, and then the other side echo the song)
Snapping fingers
Clapping hands

Singing Time Activities to Learn the Songs Better - "Conducting Elephant" and "Helmet Hero"

I had fun with Singing Time today. Then again, I always do, but I love when everything goes more smoothly than expected. I highly recommend these activities when you want to review and reinforce songs that you have been teaching.

Scroll down to learn about:

• Junior Primary - Conducting Elephant
• Senior Primary - Helmet Hero

Junior Primary - Conducting Elephant 

I drew an elephant onto a piece of cardboard, then cut out a hole for the trunk. I added some grey paint later when I happened to have some Acrylics out for a different project. I am glad I ended up adding color, but in hindsight, I would just use a piece of gray poster paper and a black Sharpie.

I demonstrated the Conducting Elephant to the children with the first song we sang, by putting my arm through the hole and conducting through the hole so that it looked like I was waving the elephant's trunk around. I then told the children that if they sang the song very well, they would get to wear the gray sock (the elephant's trunk) and conduct the song.

This worked well, as the children sang more and more with each time a child went up to conduct. Each time I called a child up, I reminded them that I was looking for good singers so that I could have them come up, and by the third time through, almost everyone was singing. However, even the children that weren't singing at first was very intrigued and attentive. I am not sure why it took some of the children a few times through to start singing, but they were reverent until they decided to sing, and did eventually join the rest of the children, so I consider this a win.

I had also planned to give a very brief conducting lesson, which I forgot to do, but the children were great with finding a rhythm and gamely trying to conduct on their own. I actually stayed up front and conducted with them, or in the case of a little CTR4 girl, helped to hold her elephant while she conducted.

Credits
I first heard the idea for the Conducting Elephant at the Idea Door in a 2010 post. The blogger could not remember where she heard the idea but I have since seen it listed on other websites. The earliest reference I can find is in 2008 at j e n n y s m i t h . n e t

Senior Primary - Helmet Hero

I was originally going to make a game modeled after a show that aired for a short time, that I loved, calling "Singing Bee." In this game, contestants had to perfectly quote the next line of a song after the game show band stopped singing the lyrics. I was going to modify it so it was child-friendly (in other words, so children wouldn't feel bad if they messed up), but then I stumbled onto Headband Hero, which was the same concept, but way less complicated, at ldsprimaryposters.com:

"A great one for when the kids are needing to repeat a song over and over, but to help it not be monotonous. Invite 1 child to come to the front of the room and wear a ‘sweat’ headband on their head. The singing leader has a bucket of words. She pulls one out and shows it to the pianist and the other children and places it on the sweat band, where the 1 child can’t see it. Begin singing the song. As you come to the word that is stuck on the headband, the primary doesn’t sing that word. The child with the headband on has to try and tell us what word comes next - that we didn’t sing. Sr. Primary loves this one."

I made some modifications that I felt worked very well:

1. I did not have a headband so I made a hat out of foil. I just used the simple origami of a paper hat, but I used foil instead of paper.
2. I took words from several songs I wanted to review, but I assigned a color to each song to help me keep track of which words belonged to which song.
3. I let the children choose the word themselves, but not see it, as I attached it to their helmet. 
4. I sang each song through to the end before I asked the child to guess the word that we had skipped over. This helped cement the song in the children's minds.

I was super happy with how well this activity went. I have some older boys that really don't like to sing, and they were really into it, especially because they kept hoping they would have a chance to wear the "helmet." I used the Singing Time jar to fairly choose someone to come up. We did this our entire Singing Time without having to change up the activity.

Choose the Right Sign Language Activity - February 2012 - Week 3

I decided for this week to teach the children "Choose the Right" in sign language. In Junior Primary, I started by just showing them the phrase "Choose the right," but they picked it up so fast and sang so well that I ended up teaching them all three verses. The children were really into this activity, so participation was high.

In Senior Primary, the kids learned the song so fast that I threw in another activity, which made them a bit more rowdy, but which they greatly enjoyed. I had them pass a stick that said "CTR" on it, and asked the pianist to randomly stop playing at certain points in the song. Whomever was holding the stick had to finish the line of the song. To take pressure of the children, I said they could ask for help from the person on either side of them. I said the teachers were also included in this activity. Children were flinging that stick fast, because they didn't want to be caught having to say the next line of the song, even though they did really well. It was a lot of fun but definitely more rowdy than the signing part of the activity. I had to remind them that they couldn't just throw the stick to get it out of their hands when the song stopped. I also told the children that if they missed the line, we would start over from the very beginning. We never started over though, because they did pretty well.

Regarding the sign language, I studied the sign language for the song from several different sources, because of course, there are many different ways to sign a word and phrase.

I ended up relying the most heavily on these sources and using a mix:

1. Debra Woods' YouTube video about teaching the children "Choose the Right."
2. The LDS.org official "Choose the Right" video. The church has all the Hymns and Children's Hymns in sign language online.
3. A friend who is not deaf but has an extensive deaf community of friends.
4. My own, more limited experience. I had many friends growing up that knew sign language because of a deaf girl in my stake, with whom I was also friends at one point, but when I was much younger.  I taught myself the sign alphabet in grade school out of the back of a Helen Keller book after reading it to myself. ;) I also know numerous other signs from having memorized many songs in sign over the years. I have enjoyed recognizing signs in various songs but refrained from overdoing it with showing children too many signs and songs at once, even if I know the signs to other songs. I want to keep things fresh for them.

I highly recommend this as a singing time lesson - it made learning these verses go by fast. When children forgot a line of the song, I hinted it by showing them the sign for it, and then they remembered it fast. It was great!

I should add that I had a couple of sunbeams and the next age up lost interest occasionally. For those children, I focused on just trying to get them to at least learn the phrase, "Choose the Right" and a few other signs that they tended to enjoy, like the action for "Peace in righteous doing" (signing the swinging of the arms for "doing"), by spending more time on those areas. I also found that if I walked right up to them while signing, they noticed the attention and began singing and signing again. The Sunbeams are so new to primary right now, that compared to past weeks, I felt they were quite intrigued overall.

January 2012 - Week 3 - "As a Child of God" - Choice Board Game

I wanted to spend more time working on "As a Child of God" but after two weeks of it, I could tell the children needed a different approach where they didn't know they were practicing the song.

I came up with a board game that is a more advanced, musical version of a childhood favorite - Candyland!

I divided the room into two halves, using the aisle as the diving line. One side was the Blue team, the other side the Green team.

Object of the game
Move their board piece from start to "home," where they could be with their family. Children did this by selecting "Choose the Right" cards to tell them how many steps they could move forward - or backward. I attached velcro stickers to each space on the board and to the game pieces so that I could put the board up on the wall for everyone to see.

Choose the Right cards
If the scenario on the card had them making the right choice, they were rewarded by going forward a certain amount of steps. If the scenario on the card had them making a bad choice, they went backward a certain amount of steps.

This is where the music part came into the game:
1. If children chose the right "choose the right" card, they were told they could draw a music card, too.
2. If children landed on certain parts of the board, they were told they could draw a music card.

                                     

Music cards
Music cards were an opportunity for children to move several steps forward in the game. Most of the music cards involved singing a verse of the song. I wanted to force them to think about the song and sing it really well so most of the cards had them counting how many times they sang a certain word in the song. Those were the amount of steps they could move forward.

This game worked great because the children were really singing the songs well and participating heavily because they were so interested in gaining points to move forward. The game worked really well in that the two teams kept getting way ahead of each other, only to have the other team catch up. It was very competitive. I did have to remind the children to be more reverent, as there was a lot of loud cheering or loud groaning depending on what card was drawn.

I used the "Helping Hands" can to make sure children had fair opportunities to come up and take their turns, too. I did have a new sunbeam prostrate himself right in front of me because he wanted another turn but at least he wasn't yelling. He did something similar the following week because we wouldn't sing "Happy Birthday" to him (it wasn't his birthday this month), ha. I let the children come up and move their game pieces themselves too.

I had a lot of fun, and more importantly, I felt it made the children feel excited to sing. I had some of my best participation ever, even with some of the older boys that don't like to sing.

November - Week 1 - Reverence is Love, Samuel Tells the Story of Baby Jesus, Two Happy Feet

Week 1 focused on learning three new songs:
1. Reverence is Love - p.31
2. Samuel Tells the Story of baby Jesus - p.36
3. Two Happy Feet - p. 270

Reverence is Love

The theme for November was "reverence," so after reading the lesson outlines for the children, I decided to teach them a song that some knew, but most didn't know, called, "Reverence is Love." I was going to make my own pictures to help the children remember the lines of the song, but I actually found two different sets that other primary choristers had prepared, and used theirs.

However, I started off with a game. This was also an idea that the previous primary choristor had printed off so I don't know where she found it, but it was probably someone else's blog. I put hints under giant musical notes, which were then taped to a poster. I let children throw a hacky sack onto the poster, which was on the floor. The notes had hints about the song. This was a fun way to introduce a new song.

I was worried that this would be too easy because the children all knew the song, or too hard, because none of them knew the song, but in both my classes (junior primary and senior primary), the children figured out the song after turning over two-thirds of the notes/hints. It was perfect.

I then used a flip chart to introduce and teach the song. I didn't play any special games with the flip chart, since I want to do different things with the flip charts each time. I was going to make my own flip chart but there were several that were good out there so I thought maybe I should conserve my energy for a different song, later.

I combined these two flip charts, using the pictures I liked best from each version:

1. One that I found on SugarDoodle.net who found it at "The Ordinary Adventures of a Primary Chorister" 
2. One that I found on Jolly Jenn's site, who I guess makes a ton of flip charts.

This was a good lesson. The introduction easily caught the attention of the children, and the flip chart helped them to memorize the song quickly.

Samuel Tells the Story of Baby Jesus

I had so much fun introducing this song. It is a very catchy song. My primary president told me that her son was singing it during the week following primary! I was also going to make my own flip chart but I found one online that was so fabulous that I couldn't pass it up. There are actually several really good ones for this particular song but the one I chose worked really well with the children. I have been Googling for 10 minutes now because I can't find it anymore, but I keep finding other really awesome ones ... so if I find it, I'll post it. The one I found used five sheets of paper.

I played a game where I put all the pictures up on the chalkboard, then scrambled it. I had the children unscramble it a few times. Then, I had them point to the pictures while we sang (still scrambled) to see how well they knew it. This was a lot of fun, and the children really enjoyed the concept. This idea was a modified version that I found on Primary Singing Time Ideas which I used in Week 4 of November.

Two Happy Feet

This song doesn't need much explanation. I made up a bunch of movements for the song, and sang it with Junior Primary to help them get their wiggles out, and they loved it. I just wanted to draw attention to it because it is a fabulous, fun song.