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!

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!

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

Missionaries 'Round the Table!

This Sunday is the first "real" Singing Time for the month for me! 
Last Sunday was our Program and the Sunday before was a big practice!

So it's a missionary-theme this month for Sharing Time.
In thinking of how to incorporate missionary work AND singing Thanksgiving songs (so many fun ones), I've come up with a "MISSIONARIES 'ROUND THE TABLE" idea.

There are so many great rounds in the Songbook.

I brought in things to set the table (we used one of the smaller tables in our Primary room): A tablecloth, cloth napkins, cups, plates and forks!

Because the rounds in the Songbook are split into four, we need four missionaries! 
I called up a pair of boy elders and girl sisters, with fake nametags to tape on. 

After we quickly learned our round, the Primary kids were split up into four groups. 
The missionaries each had an index card labeled 1-4, each with an assignment for when their group sings their line: 
Unfold everyone's napkins and tuck them into the neck of their shirt, stack all the plates, stack all the cups, and put a fork in everyone's cup. This was all pretty much done at the same time since the groups start singing so soon after one another. Made for chaotic table activity and was so funny!

The Primary kids then had to guess which missionary was their group's assigned missionary and what their action was. They guessed pretty well!

Songs for the Rounds:
For Health and Strength, pg. 21a Songbook (an official round)
For Thy Bounteous Blessings, pg. 21b Songbook (an official round)
A Song of Thanks, pg. 20 (can easily be made into a round, I think)
Beauty Everywhere, pg. 232 (can be made into a round probably!)
A Prayer of Thanksgiving, pg. 93 hymnbook (will make into a round for the older kids)

List of all rounds in the Songbook, click here

Sing or Dare

This was a pretty fun Singing Time and a fun way to review!

I saw this on another chorister blog: Sing or Dare!
Took two 12"x18" sheets of yellow paper and created a "road sign" look to them.

The kids had the choice of SING or DARE. 
SING had different ways to sing the songs we were reviewing.
DARE had a fun quick question or silly activity.
For my ease, I had the SING and DARE cues/clues/directions taped to the back of their respective signs.

It was a nice way to keep the kids engaged and participatory!

Sundae School

It's so fun to make a simple visual for the kids and I find it helps me stay focused on my lesson plan!

The theme for Sharing Time was about doing things on the Sabbath that helps us stay close to Heavenly Father (this was in August). So I thought doing a play on words with "Sunday School" --> "Sundae School" would be funny.

Simple simple!
Black tagboard oriented long-ways, with a cut-out/drawn cone at the bottom.
Then all sorts of construction paper crazy food, along with ice cream scoops of course!
I had these paper clipped to the side of the tagboard.
We did a little quiz between songs about the songs with relation to the Sabbath. The kid who answered the question right got to come up and pick: ice cream scoop or crazy food!

At the end of the Senior Singing Time we had a funny tall ice cream cone. The Junior kids actually only picked ice cream! Above is a photo of the visual after the last group, the Seniors. Some of the scoops got taped up all crazy. The visual was about 3' tall. 

My quiz:

1. Visiting your neighbors is a great thing to do on the Sabbath.

Which verse of “I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus” does it mention “trying to love my neighbor”? (2^nd)

JUNIOR KIDS Stand up and face your neighbor and clap hands together while singing the second verse

SENIOR KIDS link arms and skip around the room while singing the second verse

2. Prophet Ezra Taft Benson said something we should definitely NOT do on the Sabbath and that is “wasting time.” What’s an example of how we could waste time on a Sunday!

A word that is the opposite of wasting time or being lazy is TRY.

Let’s stand up every time we sing “try” in “I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus!”

Sing the whole song

3. How many times do we sing the word “love” or a form of the word “love” (like “loving”) in our song of the month, “I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus”?  Take some guesses!

The closest person gets to pick silly food or ice cream scoop! ANSWER = THIRTEEN including both chorus’

Everyone sing the whole song and count how many versions of love we sing!

4. In the song it says “At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice, but I try to listen as the still small voice whispers….” What are ways we can make sure we can HEAR the Holy Ghost whispering to us on a Sunday, by not….? We should pray, listen to only quiet peaceful music to invite the Spirit in, speak in quiet tones in our house, etc.

Whisper that verse

5. “I try to remember the lessons he taught” is in “I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus”

What do we do on Sundays at church where we hear the words “…always remember him…” and “…eat in remembrance of the body of the thy Son…” (sacrament prayer)

Extra challenge: In what section of the doctrine & covenants do we find the Sacrament prayer? 20!

Make your remembering face (stroke chin, tape side of head, funny etc.) and sing!!

6. “I watch for the day of gladness when Jesus will come again”

What is the name of that day – that great event when Jesus will come again? (the Second Coming)

Everyone turn and watch the watch up on the wall while singing that part

Hula Hoop

Aren't we all pretty amused at the crazy props we bring to church? The Sunday we did the hula hoop review, I couldn't get over the fact that I needed a hula hoop for my calling!

This was an EASY Singing Time!
I brought a big hula hoop (tested it on all of my kids to make sure all ages could use that size of a hoop) and our dress-up fake flower lei.
I told the kids we were going to HAWAII for our review!
Called up a kid to hula hoop and started singing the second they started hula hooping.
If they dropped it, we stopped singing until they had it going again but I had the piano keep playing so the kids had to sing along in their heads to know where we were in the song when we sang again. A good way to keep their brains working and keep reviewing!
Some kids were able to hula hoop the entire song! 
The only difficulty is SO many kids wanted to go, that some songs I split up one kid per verse. And even then we couldn't get to all of them. So, I told them they could come over to my house one day and hula hoop all they wanted!

What's the Secret Word?

Found this idea on a chorister blog and it was SUCH a huge hit! Kids and teachers were talking about it days and weeks after. And what's great is it's simple to prepare and execute, the teachers are the main ones "on display" so it gives you a little break, and the kids have to SING in order for the game to work!

The sign I made to tape up onto the podium (I like signs!):

I had five teachers to come up front and sit in chairs facing the kids.
They were each given a piece of paper that I'd put together, each paper different. 
Here's an example: 

So we had five teachers sitting in chairs facing the kids.
We'd start singing one of the songs and the teachers would quickly look at their paper to know which word they were supposed to do an action for. This also tested if the teachers knew the songs! 
As you can see there are blank spots on the above example. Not every teacher had a word assigned to them for every single song because frankly it was hard to think of actions for them to do!! But it worked out; the kids couldn't necessarily remember more than a few actions/word combinations per song anyway! 

The kids did great at paying attention to what the teachers were doing, even while singing! It was a blast!

EDITED TO ADD FOUR PAGES FROM A SINGING TIME I JUST DID. You can see how each one is different, one page was given to a teacher. Four teachers total, different words and different actions. A few didn't have a word for that song since there weren't enough repeating words.

Who What How

One of the best ideas I found online was a "Who What How" type of a game. I changed it a little to work for our Primary, and it was a big hit. I've done it a few times and it's always fun! In fact sometimes reverence goes out the window, which is always a little bit of an "oops" moment for me!

And what's great for a music leader is it's super simple to put together and simple to execute...and it works for Junior and Senior Primary!

You have three containers, a WHO a WHAT and a HOW.
The "WHO" is what group of kids sing.
The "WHAT" is what verse they sing. This is great for reviewing!
The "HOW" is how they'll sing - this is where things get crazy!

Examples of Who:
Boys with brown eyes, girls with blue eyes, teachers, wearing anything red (or other colors), has ridden a horse, likes to swim, likes any green vegetable, left-handed, visited the SLC temple, likes to chew gum

Examples of What:
Various verses of the songs you want or need to sing.

Examples of How:
Hum the melody, like a robot (and dance too), like a cowboy, one big breath, with no blinking, like a cat (meow the melody), like an opera star, plug your nose

So you print out all the who, what, and how options, cut them up into strips, fold them up and put them carefully into the right container (might want to color code on different colors of paper for each container because this can get tricky!) and then you call up three kids for each round....each kid picks a container and takes one strip out, you put all three together (a who/what/how) and have fun!

Road Trip Signs

Because road signs are such a great visual, for one Singing Time we went on a "road trip" and I made up some fake road signs for the kids to try to figure out (and then we'd sign the corresponding song).

The theme for Primary that Sunday was how the prophets help us to choose the right, so the theme for the signs were different prophets! I was impressed that even the Junior Primary kids could get most of them right.

First I passed out paper plates for steering wheels to steer, then when it came time to STOP we looked at the first sign, guessed it and sang the song, and then went back to steering!

See if you can guess them! (answers at the very bottom)

answers:
Truth From Elijah, An Angel Came to Joseph Smith, Fifth Article of Faith, Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus, Prophet Said to Plant a Garden