LEGO Pinewood Derby

For the Sunday after our Sacrament Meeting Program, I knew the kids would want to do something laid-back and fun for Singing Time. They had earned it!

My son was a new Cub Scout so I had Pinewood Derby on the brain -- I decided to do a LEGO Pinewood Derby! I made a very very simple cardboard ramp (and in the Primary room, I just propped it up against a chair at the back of the room).

For both Junior and Senior it was the same.
I put together bags of LEGOs beforehand, one per class. The same exact number and type of LEGOs. Also beforehand, we made 5 basic LEGO cars (Junior and Senior each have 5 classes) -- wheels and a base for them to build on.

I also prepared papers that listed their song choices.

So we began by singing one song together.
Then I handed out the bags of LEGOs to each class, and one of the cars, and told them they had a couple of minutes to work together to add the LEGO pieces to their car.
We then chose two classes to go first -- they raced their cars, and the winner got to pick the next song from my list of songs.
Then another class raced the winner of that race.
And so on until everyone raced.
It was kind of rowdy but fun!

Sealed! Families Can Be Together Forever

I saw a great idea floating around online and thought our Primary would click into it, so I did it this past Sunday as an "icebreaker" and the kids seemed to really enjoy it! Some of the adults commented after that it was a neat concept. Thank you inter-webs!

So here's what I did to introduce the song!

My songlist:

Families Can Be Together Forever, pg. 188
I Am a Child of God, pg. 2
Family History, I Am Doing It, pg. 94
Hearts of the Children, pg. 92
I Love to See the Temple, pg. 95

The Family, pg. 194

I brought an empty gallon-sized Ziploc bag and a Little People family (mom, dad, brother, sister, baby) and a picture of a temple.

I told the kids we were going to learn "Families Can Be Together Forever" this month and that I wanted them to pay close attention to what I was going to do, and see if they could figure out why I did it.

I started singing the song (some kids sang with me) while I put in the Little People one by one, and the temple picture. Sealed the bag. Shook it around a little, and turned it upside down in time with the end of the first verse. I asked the kids why I did all of that and the Junior kids kind of got it, and the Senior kids pretty much got it. Either way, great! We talked about being sealed, etc. Then I asked them to pay attention again, and this time I sang it through and took the temple out, and dramatically turned the unsealed bag upside down -- Kersplat! Kind of violent and the boys got a kick out of it especially. It made for some good discussion, and I pointed out that many families are not sealed for various reasons and that the reason we're talking about this song is so the kids can plan for their own futures regardless of their own family situation. We sang it again to seal the family back up! So that was three times practicing the first verse and they had it down by then!

Then we sang various family songs. I called up a kid, the picked one of the Little People and put them in the Little People house and we'd sing like that family member (also an idea I found online). 

Mom: Take off my wedding ring and show the kids down each row as we sing. Talk about the symbol of eternity in wedding rings.

Dad: Sing each line twice because dads like to repeat themselves

Teenage sister – Sing super fast because teenagers are always running around
Brother: Sing staccato because boys are always jumping around and bouncing off walls
Baby: Sing in a baby crying voice

Cookie Motivation!

Well we all know how kids love treats as a motivator!
Last year I did Charlie The Reverent (CTR) and gave him armor as we learned each song.
This year I thought maybe I could get away with no motivator board? But then I read about other fun ideas music leaders are doing and thought it might be fun to do something!

SO I made this "cookie choir" motivation board.
My cookie recipe takes 8 ingredients and wouldn't ya know -- there are eight songs we're learning this year!

So as they pass off each song, they will earn an ingredient and I'll move it over to the mixing bowl (it's on there with rolled painter's tape on the back).

Simple!

POP Songs

Our Primary kids are singing two songs this upcoming Father's Day: 
- Love is Spoken Here's 2nd verse
- My Dad

We started off wanting to do something else two weeks ago, and then I changed my mind, so I really have only had two weeks of practice with them. Normally should be okay, but they weren't "getting it" as easily as the Mother's Day songs. Who knows why! So I knew I needed to spend more time on it this past Sunday, the last chance! I don't necessarily LOVE focusing a ton of Singing Time on these types of things. It feels like a task with undue pressure and never enough time to practice. But I know the reward is great, because the moms and the dads love having the kids sing to them on their special days!

I liked some Singing Time ideas I was seeing about balloons online. I know our Primary kids are big on excitement and big props and objects so I knew the balloons would go over well.

I brought in a bag of balloons and a sign that said "Pop Songs" = Pop, like Dad, and Pop, like POP! THE BALLOON JUST POPPED!

I knew I had to analogize balloons to the Holy Ghost, the topic of the week, and I wanted to get in some When I Am Baptized practice (song of the month).

I started off doing a rainstorm (where we rub hands, snap fingers, clap, pat thighs, stomp, then in reverse). I told them I wanted to show them what PEACE actually felt like. 
At the end of the rainstorm when it was quiet, we quietly started "When I Am Baptized." 
It was nice. 
Then I introduced the "Pop Songs" and talked about balloons and how they are related to the Holy Ghost. Thank goodness for the analogy I found online! I told the kids if you blow up a balloon and ask two kids on opposite sides of the room to touch it, obviously they can't. But if you let the air out of the room, everyone can feel it. The Holy Ghost is not confined by a body and therefore can influence everyone similar to that. It was a bit of a stretch of an analogy but, hey, there you go.

Then I had a volunteer teacher come up and sit up near me the whole time. They were the judge. If the kids were singing the Father's Day song well, they'd blow up the balloon a little. If not, they'd let air out. The goal was to get it so big that we could pop it! It worked GREAT. One balloon per song. Then I did another balloon for both songs in a row. 
I had them sing nice and loud, I had them stand up, etc. 

I did feel badly that a couple of kids in each group were TERRIFIED of it popping. I told them that when I was a kid, that was one of my biggest fears too so I wouldn't surprise them with the pop. They'd know so they could cover their ears or leave etc. One little Sunbeam was so terrified he bolted from the room, and they found him across the building in the kitchen! Okay, that's sad and I feel badly but it was funny too. He's a sweet boy. 

What I drew for the "My Dad" flipchart:

Word of Wisdom!

This upcoming Sunday, the Sharing Time topic is about the Word of Wisdom!

I might do what I did last year for that topic! It was pretty fun!

First I pointed out to the kids that the Word of Wisdom can be abbreviated as "WOW" the Lord loves me so much that He has given us a list of things that we should and shouldn't partake of, to help us avoid addictions and help avoid things that cause us to lose our ability to have a clear mind and make good choices, or do our part to try to keep our body free of diseases! 

And then I showed them that you can make a W O W sign with your hands: One hand with three fingers up for "W" then make an "O" shape with your mouth and then the other hand also with a "W" -- they liked that!

I wanted to do something fun, so I brought in a set of things that add flavor to our foods. I told the kids they are all natural, and help people enjoy their healthy food even more because of the added flavor. It was a fun guessing game.

I took spices from our cupboard and covered up the labels with paper so they couldn't read them. Called a kid up, had them guess the smell...and if they could then they picked out something from a bag of objects that I brought. And sang the corresponding song!

Scents:
Cinnamon, garlic powder, vanilla, herbs, etc. Pick your favorites! They actually had some amazing guesses! One kid guessed turmeric!

Objects and songs:
Dumbbell -- For Health and Strength
Temple model -- The Lord Gave Me a Temple
Soap -- The Word of Wisdom
Shoe -- Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
Pillow or small clock -- Healthy Wealthy and Wise

You can also try to squeeze in the songs for the year into the list and make it relevant to the topic!

Joseph Smith's Sing-story

Because our Stake has Stake Conference on the last Sunday of this month, yesterday was our last Sunday in Primary for learning about Joseph Smith and the Restoration!

The song I picked for April's "choice" month was "The Golden Plates" -- I love the sing-song melody! It reminds me of the pioneer songs, like "Covered Wagons." I covered a cracker box with gold shiny tagboard (sorry, I don't have a picture) and used them as a prop last week.

For yesterday's Singing Time, I realized how many songs are in the Children's Songbook about the story of the Restoration! And how many paintings are in the Gospel Art Book! So it seemed like a no-brainer type of a Singing Time -- we would sing his story!

(from the Gospel Art Book)

I made a big sign to tape up to the podium that said, "Joseph's Journey."
I try to avoid using the word "journey" in the figurative sense, because cheezy shows like "The Bachelor" and all the schmaltzy reality TV overused "journey" and now it's tainted. But for Joseph Smith, I made an exception!

Then we talked about some trivia from his life, while showing a picture in the Gospel Art Book, and then sang the corresponding song!

My plan is below!

Picture of Joseph Smith reading the Bible, pg. 89 Gospel Art Book

Joseph wondered which church was true, he found this passage in The Bible, which led him to pray and ask God which was the true church. What was the bible verse? (James 1:5)

Search Ponder and Pray, (pg. 109)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Picture of the Sacred Grove (from the ward library!)

The Sacred Grove was located near Joseph Smith’s home. If you wanted to visit the Sacred Grove area today, what state is it in? (Palmyra, NY)

The Sacred Grove (#87)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First Vision, pg. 90

JUNIOR         How old was Joseph Smith when he received the First Vision? (14)

SENIOR         What month and year did Joseph Smith receive the First Vision? (April 1820)

This Is My Beloved Son (#76)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel Moroni in his bedroom, pg. 91 Gospel Art Book

JUNIOR         How many times did the Angel Moroni visit him that first night? (3)

SENIOR         The Angel Moroni visited Joseph Smith three times in that first night, he woke up and went out to the fields exhausted, and Moroni visited him again. Who did the Angel Moroni instruct Joseph Smith to tell about the visions and commandments he had received? (his father)

An Angel Came to Joseph Smith (#86)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Golden Plates, pg. 86 Gospel Art Book

Who were the Three Witnesses who saw the plates? (others did too) (David Whitmer, Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery)

The Golden Plates (#86)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Priesthood restoration, pg. 93/94 Gospel Art Book

Who visited to give the Aaronic Priesthood to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery?

The Priesthood Is Restored (#89)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If time,  I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ, pg. 77

Mother's Day Spray Fun!

It's always kind of a goal to have the mother's tear up as their kids sing in Sacrament Meeting on Mother's Day...right?

I took one of the free big Priority Mail boxes and cut out two eye holes that were at the same height as our spray bottle. My plan is to put the spray bottle inside the box. Then I created a mother image on the front of the box covered with plastic wrap (contact paper would work better).

My plan is to have the kids practice the Mother's Day songs the best they can and see if they can make the mother cry! I'll spray out some water when they are nice and loud!

Two Easter Ideas

Looking for ideas for an Easter Singing Time?

I'm toying with two ideas, one is more reverent than the other.

So I thought I would share.

One is this from the blog Primary Notes 29 and is a great list of Easter symbols, paired with scriptures and Primary songs!
http://primarynotes29.blogspot.com/2013/03/easter-symbols-with-scriptures-and-songs.html

The other is  less reverent but a fun set of ideas for an Easter "Comp-Egg-Tition" from Sugardoodle.
http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1863&Itemid=5

I will be deciding between these two, or merging the two ideas somehow!

Watercolor Eggs

I couldn't wait to do an Easter Singing Time lesson until Easter!
So we did the cool watercolor/white crayon trick that I've seen on Pinterest.
It was fun!

I started out showing them some beautiful artwork from the Gospel Art Book.
We talked about how there aren't cartoons on the walls of our church buildings -- there are beautiful paintings to help us feel the Spirit.
And that art can be a wonderful way we get to know our Savior better.

I had our watercolor set, a brush, and a cup with a little water.

I had six large construction-paper-sized eggs (one set for Junior and one set for Senior). I'd written in white crayon a phrase from a song (see below). They had to paint over it to reveal what I'd written.

With the Junior kids, I called them up one at a time to paint, but it took longer than I'd hoped so we ended up starting each song before they'd finished revealing.

So for the Senior kids, I did the painting so they could all see it and it went faster. I'd recommend this. 

Phrase on the egg and the corresponding song:

He is always near me / If the Savior Stood Beside Me

Joy fills our hearts / Jesus Has Risen

Raise your joys and triumphs high / Christ the Lord Has Risen Today

I thank Him reverently / My Heavenly Father Loves Me

He wakened and he left the tomb / Did Jesus Really Live Again?

Rise with living breath / He Sent His Son

It was a fun singing time and the kids loved to see the words revealed. The older kids already knew how it was done, but the Junior kids didn't and were excited to hear the trick!

St. Patrick's Day!

I honestly wouldn't have had it on my radar that St. Patrick's Day was on Sunday if not for the Facebook group for Primary Music Leaders and other blogs.

So....yay!

One of our school colors happens to be green, so we have some fun green "stuff" for a leprechaun to wear including a sequined fedora. And one of our Primary teachers in the Senior group is named Patrick! So all of that got me thinking.

Here are my thoughts that I need to finalize, but I thought I'd throw it all out there in case it helps someone.
I plan to create a big rainbow visual with a "real" pot of gold at the end but the pot will be empty.
Our leprechaun will have to tell us where he hid the gold.
We'll have paper shamrocks with a song on the back and a clue from the leprechaun on how to sing:
"If you want my pot of gold, you must sing this very bold!"
We'll talk about Lucky vs. Blessed.
And sing the below songs.

The pot of gold will be a big vase of Rolos (or some other gold candy), to pass out at the end.
And behind the pot of gold will be a picture of the Savior to show that he's our real treasure!

I know we won't get through all of these, but I love that it's a fun way to review the songs we've already learned this year!

I Am A Child of God 2 / We are lucky to have a Father in Heaven who loves us

A Young Man Prepared 166 / We are lucky to have missionaries to teach us

My Heavenly Father Loves Me 228 / We are lucky to live in a beautiful world

If the Savior Stood Beside Me / We are lucky to be able to feel Jesus' love through the Holy Ghost

Families Can Be Together Forever 188 / We are lucky to have temples so that our families can be together forever 

Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes 275 / We are lucky to have bodies

When I Am Baptized 103 / We are lucky to be able to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost

I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ 77 / We are lucky to be members of the Church

We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet 19 / We are lucky to have a prophet

Word Trap

I was struggling with a way to keep the kids learning "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" while keeping their attention.
I decided on a game for Senior Primary that I adapted from here:
http://www.leadership-with-you.com/leadership-icebreakers.html
(For Junior we did "Who What How" which is always a fun review.)

I decided to call it "Word Trap" and I was kind of nervous because it wasn't a tried and true idea someone else had done. But I decided to throw caution to the wind and try it. It was fun! It does take some time so it's only good for reviewing one song.

Basically everyone sits on the floor in a circle with one kid in the middle with a butterfly net...or some other prop you can find at your house. I had words from the song on a card, spaced out within the song. I showed the first kid the word they had to listen for. The kids started singing the song, and the middle kid tracked the song around the circle - one word per kid. The kids didn't know ahead of time what the word was but when they sang it, the kid whose word it was got tapped in and got the net and I showed them the next word. And so on.

It was fun to do.

If the Savior Stood Beside Me poster

You know those days you spend hours putting together a visual for one of the Program songs? And you're all, "Dude, I can't believe how long this took me!"

And you kind of feel sorry for yourself and then you feel kind of proud and then you go take a nap.

If the Savior Stood Beside Me: Four Corners

Oh how I pondered and pondered and PONDERED for weeks on how to present this song.
My modus operandi is games, but this song felt too sacred and special to start it off with a game the first week.

So I used a combination of the ideas in my previous post!

First I asked the kids if it's hard to always choose the right.
I was holding that picture from the Gospel Art Kit of the Savior holding a lamb.
Do they think it would be easier to choose the right if we had someone standing next to us each time?
What if our best friend was standing next to us? Our Primary President? Our Mom or Dad?
What if Jesus was standing next to us? Would it be easier then to always choose the right? Would we be more kind to others? Would we listen to the same music, watch the same shows? Be more honest?

We do have someone very special in life that is always there for us. We may not always be able to see or hear or feel Him, but He is always there.

For the Junior kids, I then went more methodically through the first verse, singing it once through (DON'T WE LOVE SINGING SOLOS!!! HAHAHAHA)
But for the Senior kids, a lot of them remembered it! I was pretty impressed.
So I started right off with putting things on the board, as detailed below.

In going through the first verse, I pointed out that the Savior is mentioned at the beginning and at the end.
I put up two pictures of the Savior (the same one) -- on the right hand side and on the left hand side of the board, leaving room for four pieces of paper between.
We talked about how there were 4 questions, all starting with "Would"
I put up four different colors of paper, each with a question mark, between the pictures of the Savior.

We sang it through, talking about the questions.
I then handed out the same color papers, dividing the kids into 4 groups. They were numbered.
They had to tell me what their question was, we sang it, and then we played "Four Corners."
The groups each went into a corner, and we sang the verse through with just the 1st group singing the 1st question and so forth.
We switched a few more times and then we were done!

This could be done for the second verse too, although I will come up with something different.
This was a more calm Singing Time, no wild game or distracting props. It was nice to do this once in awhile, especially for a song so special as this one about the Savior.

If The Savior Stood Beside Me: Ideas

This song is so beautiful!

I didn't really want to come up with a silly-seeming game for such a spiritual song, so I've been compiling ideas from others and am sharing below. Still have to figure out what exactly I'm doing. It's Saturday. Yep, seems about right! Sigh!

Great idea for all month from the blog What These Hands Do:

Source: whatthesehandsdo.blogspot.com via Cailean on Pinterest

And this flip chart is perfect, from the blog Singing Magic:

Source: singingmagic.blogspot.com via Cailean on Pinterest

I also really liked this PDF from Sugardoodle!

Will add more if I find more that I like the best!

4th of July! Sing for America!

I love 4th of July so I was excited to do a themed Singing Time!

I came up with a game, "Sing for America" with a silly red white and blue sign with stars etc.

Questions were typed out and folded up and put in one of our bowls that's white and blue.
I had a bunch of big cut-out stars with ways-to-sing on the back.
A kid came up to pick a question and try to answer it. If they got it right, they picked a star and read on the back how we're supposed to sing the song. I did this last July so I don't remember the ways....but one of them was to hold their hand on their heart while singing, and one was to have their arms around their neighbor and sway.

QUESTIONS!

The Jaredites crossed the ocean and came to America on 

A) The Titanic B) Large canoes C) Barges D) They actually swam

(Sing: America the Beautiful)

America's early history is contained in an ancient record called: 

A) The Bible B) The Dead Sea Scrolls C) The Book of Mormon D) The Ensign

(Sing: p.118 Book of Mormon Stories)

Fill in the blank: My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of _____________ 

A) Nobility B) Beauty C) Peach trees D) Liberty

(Sing: p.339 My Country, 'Tis of Thee)

Who is this scripture talking about? "And I looked and beheld a man among the gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters, and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man, and he went forth upon the waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land." -1Nephi 13:12 

A) President Obama B) Christopher Columbus C) Abraham Lincoln D) The brother of Jared

(Sing wise man and foolish man )

Joseph Smith restored the only true church in which state? 

A) New York B) Utah C) Hawaii D) California

(Sing: p. 86 The Golden Plates)

What is our national bird? 

A) the pheonix B) the bald eagle C) the seagull D) the turkey

(Sing: p.228 My Heavenly Father Loves Me)

Tithing Singing Time

I made a HUGE purse to fit some HUGE paper money I made. I figured the bigger the better to get the kids' attention.
So I took my BIG dollar bills out of my big purse and we talked about tithing and what it pays for!
We sang a song about each answer and I had a secondary activity to do WHILE we were singing (for the most part) to keep them on their toes.

Answer: Temples! Building, maintaining, and operating temples and church buildings.
Song: I Love to See the Temple
Activity: I asked the oldest class to NOT sing every 10th word!

Answer: Family History work! Couldn't do this without temples!
Song: Family History, I Am Doing It
Activity: Stand up and sway side to side until the 10th beat where we jump! (this was cute to watch)

Answer: Missionary program!
Song: I Hope They Call Me On a Mission
Activity: We tried to list 10 missionaries we knew from our ward currently serving or recently returned

Answer: In the late 1800s pioneers paid their tithing in livestock, crops, or work
Song: The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden
Activity: Tried to list 10 animals/crops the pioneers might have had, and sang as one of those animals (moo'd the melody, could also baa the melody etc.)

To finish we sang Nephi's Courage, because it takes courage to have faith to pay tithing!

Sing It or Spray It

This was a lot of fun and got the kids pretty hyper, especially Senior, so beware!

"Sing It or Spray It" - a good review game

We started singing a song, and then I cut the kids off at a certain point.

Then I called up a class or a person (choose based on what suits your needs best) and if they knew the next line, they earned the umbrella that I brought. 

I then sprayed them with a spray bottle filled with water!

If they didn't know the next line, they got a little itty bit wet. It was a lot of fun.

Some of the Senior kids tried to use the umbrella as a sword against me and my spray bottle!

Fun to do something different once in awhile!

Butterflies

Something simple I did in a Junior Singing Time last year was use a cute butterfly/bug net I found in the dollar section at Target. There are always a lot of cute CHEAP things there!

I cut out paper butterflies and folded them in half a little so they'd flutter down nicely.
On each butterfly I'd written the name of a song.
A kid was chosen to be the one to toss those butterflies up in the air. I had them stand on a chair, with my help, to make sure they could flutter down for a longer time.
Another kid got to hold the net. They tried to catch one of the butterflies! We tried until they could, and then we'd sing that song.

A really simple and sweet Singing Time game, and perfect for upcoming Spring!

Commandments Challenge

On the 4th Sunday of each month, I do a review of all the Primary Program songs we've learned thus far!

So today we did a "Commandment Challenge" (I used the concept of "Truth or Consequences" that I found here.) I said that just as there are consequences for not keeping the commandments, there are consequences for not getting the question right! (the only reason I chose "Commandment" as the "theme" is because the theme for this Sunday's Sharing Time lesson was about following the commandments. This could easily be adapted to any theme!)

Here's how it worked: 

• I chose one kid from my popsicle stick jar for each round.
• They chose a teacher to challenge. Both came to the front.
• I asked the kid the question and said their Primary friends could help them!
• I then asked the teacher their question and said no one could help them, heh heh. 
• Whoever got it wrong had to do the consequence (keeping my globe beach ball up in the air as we sang the song verse after each question --- this consequence was chosen because in February we did a lot of "world" stuff because MY Heavenly Father Loves Me is all about the world etc.)

I hinted to the teachers that this "might be rigged against the teachers, a little" to give them a heads up that they shouldn't feel badly if they couldn't answer it. Because the whole point was that the kids' questions were pretty easy, about the songs, and the teachers questions were pretty hard! So the teachers would always have to do the consequence!

It was a blast to see them each trying to do it. One of the male teachers was able to keep it in the air the whole time, even employing the use of his head and feet!

Here's what I did for Junior, and Senior (question 1 = kid, question 2 = teacher)

JUNIOR

For the song “I am a Child of God”

1) In the first verse, Heavenly Father has given you an earthly home with parents ____ and ____?

2)  How many languages has this song been translated into?       Over 90

SING THE FIRST VERSE

For the song “My Heavenly Father Loves Me”

1)  In the first verse, what do we feel as it rushes by?

2) What is the fastest recorded wind speed for Seattle, and what year did it happen? 66 mph, Nov. 13, 1981

SING THE FIRST VERSE

For the song “Keep the Commandments”

1) It says in “Keep the Commandments” that “He will send _______” what?

2) We read about Moses, the Prophet who brought to pass the 10 Commandments, in the Book of Exodus. How many WORDS are in the book of Exodus?      32,685

SING "KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS" IN FULL

For the song “I am a Child of God”

1) In the second verse, we sing “I am a child of God, and so my needs are great, help me to ___________”??

2) How do you say “I am a Child of God” in Swedish?  Jag är Guds lilla barn 

SING THE SECOND VERSE

For the song “My Heavenly Father Loves Me”

1) In the second verse, it says “He gave me my eyes that I might see” _______?

2) How long does the average blink last? The average blink lasts for about 1/10th of a second.

SING THE SECOND VERSE

For the song “I am a Child of God”

1) In the third verse, we sing “I am a child of God, Rich blessings are __________”

2) Rich blessings can be found in the temple. When was the Seattle Temple announced? 11/15/75

SING THE THIRD VERSE

For the song “My Heavenly Father Loves Me”

1) In the first verse we sing, “I’m glad that I live in ____________”

2) What is exact the world’s population as of Saturday night? 6,973,738,433

SING THE FIRST VERSE

SENIOR

For the song “I am a Child of God”

1) In the first verse, Heavenly Father has given you an earthly home with parents ____ and ____?

2)  How many languages has this song been translated into?       Over 90

SING THE FIRST VERSE

For the song “My Heavenly Father Loves Me”

1) In the first verse, we sing about what type of flower and what type of flowering tree

2) At Temple Square in Salt Lake City, how many varieties of plants are in bloom there? Over 700

SING THE FIRST VERSE

For the song “Keep the Commandments”

1) It says in “Keep the Commandments” that “He will send _______” what?

2) We read about Moses, the Prophet who brought to pass the 10 Commandments, in the Book of Exodus. How many WORDS are in the book of Exodus?      32,685

SING "KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS" IN FULL

For the song “I am a Child of God”

1) In the second verse, we sing “I am a child of God, and so my needs are great, help me to ___________”??

2) How do you say “I am a Child of God” in Swedish?  Jag är Guds lilla barn 

For the song “My Heavenly Father Loves Me”

1) In the second verse we sing, “He gave me my ears that I might hear ____________”

2) How many bones are in our ear and how small are they? Three, all 3 could fit on a penny

SING THE SECOND VERSE

For the song “I am a Child of God”

1) In the third verse, we sing, “I am a child of God, rich blessings are in store, If I ____________”

2) Rich blessings can be found in the temple. When was the Seattle Temple announced? 11/15/75

SING THE THIRD VERSE

For the song “My Heavenly Father Loves Me”

1) At the end of the song we sing, “He gave me my _____, my ______, my ________”

2) What is exact the world’s population as of Saturday night? 6,973,738,433

SING THE SECOND VERSE

I Am a Child of God poster

This was fun to make and use!

It's a large and very stiff poster board with a hole cut out for a kiddo to stick their head through as they hold it.

I saw a similar thing on Pinterest and thought it would work well for this song.

Each verse is separated by the orange lines.

Articles of Faith 3 + 12

Call me crazy! I'm doing the Articles of Faith songs as extra songs this year, one per month, but not in order!

In January we did 12:

And in February we're doing 3:

My Heavenly Father Loves Me, Week 3

Week Three because Week Two of February I spent on our Valentine's Day Singing Time!

Here's what I did!

I ordered a U.S. map (free because I'm a AAA member).
I also found some of those fun sticky hands at Target in the party section! A package of 8 for $2. I couldn't resist!

So in order to not be singing "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" over and over like we did the first week, I thought of a way to incorporate a lot of other songs.

On the map are 9 different taped states.
I assigned each state to a particular word from the song.
First the kids played "pass the globe" while we sang "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" and the pianist chose when to stop. Whoever was holding the globe wigot to come up and grab a sticky slapper and tried to slap one of the states.
For example, let's say they slap Colorado.
I assigned Colorado to the word "TREE" (our pianist will have the list of words and song so she can keep up) But I didn't tell the kids it's "TREE" -- instead the pianist and I started on "Popcorn Popping" and when we reached the word "TREE" I rang a little bell I have, and stopped.

The kids had to tell me/sing for me which part of "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" the word "TREE" is in.
I was so happy to see that many of them could think of it!
Then we continued with "pass the globe" and then stopped, and so on and so forth!

And so on.
Here are the words and the songs I chose:
BIRD - In the Leafy Treetops
SKY - Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime (third verse only)
RAIN - Rain is Falling All Around
TOUCH - Little Purple Pansies
TREE - Popcorn Popping
WORLD - Joy to the World
EYE - A Smile is Like the Sunshine
HEAR - Christmas Bells
HEART - The Hearts of the Children

Remember you only sing the small portion of the song with the word in it (in the interest of time) and you make sure the ring the bell. Even if they don't know the song, they'll enjoy hearing you sing it and they'll be excited to hear when the bell rings!

My Heavenly Father Loves Me, Week 1

This song is so visual! I thought it would be fun to teach it to the kids with a lot of objects!

So here's what I brought:

Stuffed animal SONG OF BIRD
Blue fabric BLUE BLUE SKY
Spray bottle (with water!) RAIN ON MY FACE
Fan (plugged in!) WIND AS IT RUSHES BY
Play flower VELVET ROSE
Drawing LILAC TREE
Globe BEAUTIFUL WORLD

Funny glasses EYES
Toy butterfly BUTTERFLY WINGS
Ear cut out of cardstock EARS
Bell MAGICAL SOUND OF THINGS
Mirror MY LIFE, MY MIND
Hands in the shape of a heart MY HEART
Arms folded in prayer I THANK HIM REV'RENTLY
Globe again FOR ALL HIS CREATIONS

It felt like I was on Minute to Win It as I had to quickly grab the objects off the table as we sang the part.
It was a lot of fun.
The Senior kids wanted to try to be able to grab them in time as we sang it, so I gave them a lot of turns.

Definitely their favorite was the spray bottle sprayed at them!
And the fan blown on them!

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission

Our Primary kids talked about this song last week so I thought it would be a fun Opening Song this week!

I love how easy it is to make a "poster board" with regular size sheets of paper taped together, then folded up. Easy to bring too!

Valentine's Singing Time!

I really wanted Singing Time this past Sunday to be a Valentine's Day theme! I love the holiday!
After asking on blogs and a Facebook Primary group, I found the perfect mesh of different ideas. It's important to find what works for your own Primary.

I cut out 12 big construction paper hearts, meant to look like those Sweethearts hearts above, with different messages on the front. The words are actually from the corresponding song! Taped them with blue painter's tape (one of my favorite tools in my bag!) to the podium and had a kid come up, pick a heart, guess what the song was (with the rest of the kids' help) and then we sang the song.

It was neat to see how well they knew all of these songs -- at the very least they knew the melody and some of the words! And it was fun to take a break from learning Program songs!

At the end, they each got a spoonful of the hearts!

4 EVER                      Families Can Be Together Forever, pg. 188
BIG KISS                         Daddy's Homecoming, pg. 210

CALL ME                         Quickly I'll Obey, pg. 197
DIG ME                           Prophet Said to Plant a Garden, pg. 237

HEART OF GOLD              Golden Plates, pg. 86

I DO                              Mother I Love You, pg. 207
I LOVE YOU                  The Dearest Names, pg. 208
I’M GLAD                        My Heavenly Father Loves Me, pg. 228
LOVE                             I Feel My Savior's Love, pg. 74
SMILE                       Smiles, pg. 267
THE BEST                   When I Am Baptized, pg. 103

WISE UP                          Wise Man and Foolish Man, pg. 281

Marshmallows!

The theme today was that Heavenly Father's plan is a plan of happiness!

I told the kids that I thought and thought about how I could do "I am a Child of God" with that theme, and that I realized what made me happiest in Primary was when we played a game!

So I used an idea I had seen before.

Basically you bring a bowl and marshmallows and chopsticks (don't you love the crazy things we bring!). I didn't have chopsticks so I used wooden skewers with the sharp part sawed off.

I had a teacher go first. We sang the first verse while the teacher tried to get marshmallows in the bowl with the sticks. Way harder than you'd think!

Then they picked a kid in their class and we sang the second verse, third verse with a teacher, etc. We got some good practice in and the kids had a blast!

Year in Review!

I thought it would be a FUN and EASY Singing Time this past Sunday, the last Sunday of the year, to do a Year in Review Singing Time!

I made up a timeline four-sheets-of-paper long (taped together). 
I like to tape signs etc. to the podium using Painter's Tape (blue) because the tape is wide and strong, doesn't ruin anything, and is so handy to have in my bag!

I picked the songs to sing that we'd performed for the ward for holidays etc.

Easter (He Sent His Son)

Mother's Day (I Often Go Walking)

Father's Day (Fathers)

4th of July (we have a picnic) (My Country 'Tis of Thee)

Pioneer Day (Covered Wagons)

We got a little kooky. I happened to have a black light (the kind that glows purple-y when shining on white) lightbulb so I brought that in and a lab coat I have, as well as some futuristic costume glasses. We pretended to go back in time! 

I had a volunteer kid come up for each song, don the lab coat and glasses and I asked them to also mess up their hair a bit to really get into "mad scientist" mode. I had the lights turned off, turned on the black light, everyone made a funny "going back in time" sound, and I had the volunteer kid take the black light (which was in a caged lamp thingy my husband uses for home projects), and shine it on the date we were going back to.

We sang the song, then moved onto the next volunteer mad scientist and song.

Simple and fun!
And also really encouraging how well the kids remembered the songs that we'd pretty much only sung for those special events and not again after. I did bring in my visual aids, so I guess that helped!