Top Five Favorite Things in the Annual Children's Primary Program

It's that time of the year again. Primary Program season! This year will be the first year that I haven't had a key role in preparing the children for the program (either as President or Chorister) in eight years. I loved my years in Primary but I didn't realize how much Primary took up my waking hours between work and family so this year, I'm taking a very relaxed breath and focusing on other areas of my life (and my new calling as adult Sunday School teacher). 

However, in memory of eight great years, here are my top five favorite things to do in a Primary Program:

1. Let the children share their testimonies in a way they are comfortable sharing:

Our method was to interview the children beforehand and to use that interview to help them write a one-sentence script that they could memorize. Your interview questions should be age-sensitive. You might ask a younger child:

a) What can you tell me about Jesus?

b) What is your favorite Bible story?

c) What does it mean to "Love One Another"?

Obviously, it helps to look at the "Come Follow Me Manual for Primary" to choose questions based on each month's topics. We always interviewed them in the hallway with the doors open, and sitting in little chairs. We had several interviews happening at the same time so the children could see each other and not get intimidated about their interview.

2. Create a physical program

Our Primary programs always covered a few different themes, which we punctuated with a song, a talk assignment for a child, and by having some of the other children share their simple answers to the questions. I tried to make this clear in the program by typing up the program to include that information, including the name of the child in the order that they would be speaking. I felt that the program was an opportunity for the children to bear their testimonies, and I wanted those that were in the congregation to be able to follow. Leave off the names of the children if this is too intimidating, but try to list out the song names and themes. This helps people focus in on the topic better.

3. Make sure your songs help convey the message

We made sure to introduce each section with either the talk first or the song first. One year, while the song was about the theme, the message was subtle, so I added in a second song, back-to-back, which was the song about the Fourth Article of Faith.

4. Give the congregation an opportunity to participate and share their testimony as well

Every year, the children learned at least one song from the Hymnal. So, when the children sang their hymn, we always invited the congregation to join in for the last verse. I think it's powerful for the children to get to sing something they know well with the rest of the ward.

5.  Most importantly, listen to the spirit

Don't get caught up in being perfect. Don't write a perfect script and assign your five best speakers to impress the congregation. Focus on why the Primary Program is important - it's an opportunity for Primary children to testify of Christ - all children - not just the ones that are particularly articulate. This is not a fancy performance, nor is it a recital. Put the Lord and the children first. And finally ... be considerate and don't go over. The teachers in the second hour put a lot of preparation into their lessons, too :)

Primary Program Song Review - New twist on "Name that Song" and "Opposites" sides singing!

Our Primary chorister made up two fun activities to review lyrics today, to get ready for the Primary Program (which is at the end of this month in our ward). This was such a fun activity.  The kids loved it, and it made them think about the lyrics. He combined two fun activities, one to decide on the song, and then another to sing the verse of a song.

NAME THE SONG AND VERSE
First, to choose a song, a children came to the front of the room and pulled a slip of paper out of a box. The paper listed a line from a song. The Primary then had to identify the name of the song and the verse in which the song came from!

To make it easier, our chorister (Blake), made three different sets of slips that he rated as "easy," "medium," and "hard." This way, he could choose which box to let people choose from based on his assessment of how well they were doing with guessing.

For example, can you guess the song and verse for this line?

Answer: "I am a child of God" verse 3! Here are the other two sets of slips.

Blake kindly let me take a picture of all of the lines he chose so that if you do this, you can use the same set!

OPPOSITES SINGING GAME

Blake put opposing sides on each side of a stick. He flipped the stick back and forth as the children sang. I've seen and personally done different versions of this too, but the way he chose to do it was just super fun for the kids. It worked really well. So, in the pics below, I've taken the pic from one side, then flipped all the sticks. East vs. West (different sides of the room), Back vs Front (back two rows vs. front two rows of the room), etc. 

The Big Review!! Getting ready for the Primary program. Working on trouble lines.

Our ward's Primary program is coming up at the end of this month! Do you feel like your children know the lines of each song well?

The key to working on trouble spots is to find fun ways to get children to think about the words of the song and fun ways to practice repetition with a trouble spot. From personal experience, these were all particularly effective and fun song reviews for working on lyrics and memorization.

Senior Primary

Helmet Hero - This way, Primary kids were all staring at the phrase and thinking about it, and the kid in front was concentrating heavily as well. (Could be used in Junior if you have the child leave the room and tell the other children what the word says - since they can't all read.)

Senior or Junior Primary

Echo Chamber - This gets all the children out of their seats and focuses on repetition in a fun way. Also, this one takes NO ADVANCED PREP!

Secret Word - In the version I shared in this old post, I was going for words that were repeated often. However, if you have a song with trouble spots, I would focus on that word being the secret word. Even if it only gets said once, children will notice if a class suddenly does something funny or interesting right when that word or phrase is sung. Again, this gets children to concentrate. You can also modify this and use an image that might not be obvious but is a secret image that goes with the mystery line.

Red Light, Green Light - This one is great because it's easy to re-use, and makes the children think about the words of the song as they are humming or not singing.

Junior Primary

Singing Elephant - This one is only effective if you pull it out rarely so it's a special treat, and I would use it once children know the words fairly well.

What are your most effective song review activities?

The Primary Program - Where Should You Stand? Tips for getting the kids to sing with volume.

Where to Stand
When our primary was large, and we had to squeeze folding chairs into every empty space in the choir area, we found that it worked to choose a spot a few pews back in the chapel, and stand on a stool. We set the easel for the music in the pew area directly in front of that spot, which meant that I reserved a spot on a bench and then the spot on the bench directly in front of me. This was my favorite place to stand with a large choir.

Another year, the primary had shrunk enough that we tried having me direct so that I was up on the stands too, and the microphone was directly behind me when I was facing the children. The children responded better to requests for more volume, with me so close to them. It felt less intimidating. This was my favorite place to stand for a medium size choir.

For Mother's Day and other programs, when the children just come up from where they are sitting with their families, instead of being in the choir seats, I stood in front of the very front-most pew or sometimes even stayed seated. This was a great spot because I was right there in front of the kids, and proximity made them more comfortable.

I have seen choir directors stand in the center of one of the aisles, and that's not a bad spot, but I like to be centered in front of the kids.

Also, make sure that wherever you stand, both the pianist and if you need an organ, the organist can see you, too.

Sing out Loud
I realized pretty quickly as a primary chorister that the louder I sang, the louder the kids sang. They really do follow us so if we sing the wrong words, they sing the wrong words with us. If we sing forte, they sing forte with us.

I have been involved with the Primary Program and all times that the children sing in sacrament for eight years now, either as a chorister or primary president. It's noticeable that every time the chorister isn't comfortable singing loudly, the primary kids are a lot more quiet.

In addition, if the primary kids feel isolated from each other, they also have a tendency to sing more quietly. So, if you have a primary that is so small that they don't fill the primary seats, consider having them stand just behind the microphone and have them squish in close together. All of this stuff makes a big difference in volume and confidence!

Lastly, simple movements, like cupping my hand behind my ear helped.

What I don't recommend is having someone else hold up volume cards. The kids should be looking at you, not someone else.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

My Nativity ABCs

by Esther Yu Sumner

Giveaway ends October 10, 2017.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

10 Song Review Ideas to Get Ready for the Primary Program

It's that time of the year when Primary choristers and leaders are preparing for the Primary Program.

Here's a round-up of my favorite song review activities that I've personally seen be very effective for the kids - not just singing every song over and over again, but finding ways to identify problem areas and strengthen them in a way that is fun and effective.

These activities are highly engaging so everyone is paying attention, plus someone gets the honor of coming to the front of the room so there's high participation all the way around.

I've added a "prep work" level so you know if you can prepare this the morning of church or if you need to do some work in advance.

1. For Senior Primary: Helmet Hero. For Junior Primary: Singing Elephant.
Prep work: Moderate for Senior, High for Junior
What: Children get to come up to the front of the room and fill in the blank to finish the missing lines to a song. This is difficult for Junior Primary because they can't read so I have them play Singing Elephant instead.

2. Red Light, Green Light
Prep work: Moderate
What: The entire class is forced to think about lines of the song when they stop singing and then start singing again in random spots depending on what color thread is pulled out of a canister. Let the kids pull the thread out!

3. Echo Chamber
Prep work: None
What: This is a no-prep activity and it really drills the lines into children's heads without them feeling bored about it, as children split into each corner of the room and take turns echoing one line at each other before moving to the next line. You need to give your pianist a little bit of warning though! The other fun way to do this is to have the two sides of the room echo each other, but I like four corners better.

4. How Loud Can You Sing?
Prep work: Low
What: (Same link as previous post so you have to scroll down a bit for this one.) I do this one last because once the kids can show me they are confident that they know the words, we work on their confidence in being able to sing loudly but beautifully while in the big chapel.

5. Singing Olympics
Prep work: High
What: This is if you want to "go big" and if your president will let you have the entire hour for singing time. Prepare fun activities that lead to choosing a song, then the judges review your for how well you know the lyrics, how loudly you sang, if you were watching the chorister, etc. It's a really great way to identify where the children need help singing. Oftentimes, it's the second verse of the song that's a problem. This is also best as a two-week activity. But, it's so fun!

6. Judges Song Review
Prep work: Low
What: If you want to do something similar to #5 but with way less prep work, prepare some simple but themed signs like these ones, put the songs for review in a jar, and ask a few judges to come in at the end of the song, hold up signs for how the children did. You can make it fancier if you want by having a progress bar up on the board that shows how the judges ranked each song.

(If I get at least 10 requests for these guys, which also includes Proud Pumpkin and Say What Werewolf. I will re-draw them and scan them for folks to print out.)

I made a fancy progress bar several years ago for Pioneer Day but you could even just draw bars on the chalkboard and color them in:

7. For Junior: Pop-Up Puppet
Prep work: Low
What: The kids in Junior primary LOVE this puppet that slowly creeps out of a box and looks around if the children are doing a good job with singing. So this is also a good way to test lyrics and volume. I love this because all I did was put wrapping paper around a box and put my arm through, using a puppet I owned. If you don't own one ask your neighbors. My friend that was a chorister before me had a really cool homemade one that was attached to a stick and sat inside what I remember as being an ice cream cone shaped funnel. But I can see using a Pringle canister.

8. Hot Potato
Prep work: Low
What: This is another great no prep activity. Grab a potato, a pom-pom, something easy to pass from one child to the other. They sing the song and when the music stops, whomever is holding the item has to tell everyone the next line of the song. A few caveats: I don't like to make kids too uncomfortable with being put on the spot so they are allowed to ask the neighbor to the left and right of them for help with the words. Also, they are not allowed to throw the item. They have to pass it gently.

9. Pretend It's the Day!
Prep work: Low
What: Pretend it's the day of the program. Have them come in, talk to them in low voices, maybe describe the scene. Ask them if they are at the edge of their seats. Have them slowly rise. Make them sit back down and stand again if they did this poorly. Sing the song, etc. This one isn't going to be as fun if you don't get into all the extra moves and I wouldn't do this until the end. It's more of performance preparation than song review so I saved this one for the end.

10. Follow the Leader
Here's another end-of-the-line prep one but it's also so great to work on dynamics with them. You could even have a child come up to the front and get to try doing the moves and having everyone follow that person.

And finally, on a related note, but not one that will help with song reviews:

I have a little announcement! I have a new children's book coming out that I wrote for my Primary kids. From now until October 10, 2017, you can enter to win one of ten free copies here!



My Nativity ABCs is available for pre-order now on Amazon and will be in bookstores in mid-October. I'm so excited. Thanks for all the support of my primary chorister blog over the years. After years of putting together creative ideas for the children my mind has been so full of ideas for the children. I'm so excited to share this with the Primary kids. I actually have this book to a tune in my head (it's a rhyming ABC story).

Review Song Game: Find the Butterfly (or Turkey or Pumpkin) ...

I'm playing a simple "find the butterfly" game this Sunday.

This is from an activity I planned two years ago and never had time to fit in - but modified. I want to share the original way I planned to play this game, as well as the modified version. One version is better for reviewing songs for the program, while the other version is better if you've completed the program and have a little more time.

This can clearly be adapted to any image but I originally made it for a Spring Activity. I've noticed the bright, bold colors tend to appeal to the younger children.

How it Works

Each petal, stem, and each section of grass is attached to the poster board with Velcro stickers. Children can "pluck" an item off the board to determine the next song.

Version 1 - Find the Butterfly and You Choose the Song

• If a child chooses a petal with a butterfly behind it, they get to pick a song to sing. 
• If a child chooses a petal with two butterflies behind it (that are attached together), their teacher gets to pick a song to sing.

This is a fun way to sing a variety of songs from throughout the year, not just the songs in the primary program. You can write some of the songs from this year's program and other well know songs behind various pedals and leafs.

Version 2 - Find the Butterfly and Win a Prize

I have given out treats a total of one or possibly two times my entire time as primary chorister because I generally don't want to resort to bribery or bring candy into the room as a way to get their attention. For that reason though, I am comfortable making an exception - because it is so rare.

• If a child chooses a petal with a butterfly behind it, they earn one Starburst for each child and teacher in the room. I will tell the children that I'll count up how many they earned and give them to the teachers to hand out after the sharing time lesson. Obviously, I don't want them singing with a Starburst in their mouth, nor would the sharing time teacher appreciate hearing rustling paper while she teaches the lesson. I specifically chose the Starburst because of the program song, "Every Star is Different."
• If a child chooses a petal with two butterflies behind it, they earn a sticker in Junior Primary. I'm not sure what they will earn in Senior Primary but I'm thinking the eleven-year-olds might not be very impressed with a sticker - maybe they get a different piece of candy.

I have to make this modification instead of going with Version 1 because we don't have time to sing extra songs if we are getting ready for the primary program. The children that are playing the piano in the program all need the opportunity to practice with the children so this method ensures I have time to focus on the children and their piano playing.

I plan to stop them and fix issues in the songs where we reach them, and just make a point of making sure each song is fine-tuned and ready for the program. I could do this just by itself but I hope the spring flowers adds a little bit of attention-getting variety without taking too much additional time. It will also encourage them to be reverent and participate because they of course will not be allowed to participate if they are not being reverent.

Song Review for 2013 Singing Time Primary Music Program

This Sunday I want to work on reviewing all of the songs in the Primary Program. I will have the children match images to song titles, then we will work on the song that they identified. If we have time in Senior Primary, we will also look up the scriptures that go to the images that I have selected for each song. My main purpose in putting together this activity is focusing on the meaning of each song. I want to remind them that every song we sing teaches gospel principles, and that singing the words of the song while thinking about what the song is teaching will help us to sing more beautifully. Therefore, after a song is identified, I will stop to ask a few questions to ensure that the children truly understand the teachings to the words they are singing.

I will cover or cut off the titles for each image below so that the children don't know what each image board is about, of course.

You can print these images below. Just click on an image to blow up to full size on your computer screen. Then, right-click with your mouse, then click the "print" button. If you have trouble with this, send me your email address and I will try to email a PDF file to you. (It's currently 9/14/13, close to 11 a.m. MT so I'll check back sometime this evening!)

I made each board with images I found on lds.org/media-library/images: