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!

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!

Charlie the Reverent!

Today was our Primary Program! It went pretty well and I'm SO GLAD it's over! I kept having nightmares that I'd have a wardrobe malfunction in front of the ward as I led the kids.

After, in Singing Time, I brought in this guy since he was fully armored up! Let me explain below!

Soon after I was called as Music Leader in late January, and saw the theme for the year was "Choose the Right," I thought it might be fun to have a visual that the kids can work towards as they learn the songs for the Program.

I saw a cute idea on another blog and adapted it for our Primary.

I made a construction-paper guy on a large posterboard and brought him in for Singing Time in March.
I told them he needs to put on the whole armor of God this year and let them come up with a name (I took both Junior and Senior's suggestions into account) and he came back the next week with three pieces of armor already (they'd learned January's, February's, and March's songs pretty well already).

I made sure to read them the scripture in Ephesians 6:11-17 that corresponds with each component of armor.
Each month as they learned the song well enough, he got another part of his armor.

Armor = Foil cut out and glued, and a black sharpie! Easy!

And this can be adapted for next year's theme, I Am a Child of God. Maybe the poster can have many children...heading towards the temple. Maybe each song is a stepping stone or something! It can be based on the month's themes.

Inexpensive Visuals Idea!

As a new Primary Music Leader, I wondered how on earth I could do all the signs and visuals I'd seen other choristers do without breaking the bank (mine or our Primary budget's!).

While I do still use posterboard, especially when I find good deals....and I do use BOTH sides of the posterboard (something I didn't clue into until MONTHS after I was called...d'oh!), one of the greatest ideas I found was good ol' white printer paper!

Super cheap! Paper and tape are my favorite tools.

So I take regular paper, tape it together either lengthwise or the regular vertical orientation, and when I need a bigger "poster board" then I tape them into a grid of four. If I do a careful job with all the seams, it's easy to fold up and open and use. If I am hasty then the seams get kind of wonky and it doesn't fold as easily. 

But in general it's GREAT! 
Here's my paper visuals for Mother's Day and Father's Day songs this year.

Going to the Dentist!

So hard to think of different fun ways to do reviews, right? 
I borrowed my Mom's lab coat and stethoscope and modified an idea I found on another blog. Getting the "cavities" out of the songs!

I drew a person with a big smile and LOTS of teeth on a big poster board.
On each tooth I wrote one song name...the songs we have been reviewing for our Program!

I told the kids we were going to take our songs to the dentist!

Called a kid up, let them put on the doctor coat, and gave them a stethoscope to "listen" for holes in the songs as the kids sang. I asked them to look for 4 things (which would mean four potential cavities!
1. Do they know the words?
2. Do they know the melody?
3. Are they watching me lead them?
4. Are they smiling? 
If they did really well on all four categories of the song, the kid dentist put a "star" on that tooth (with a pencil, since we have Junior and Senior Singing Time!) to show it's sparkling clean!

If they didn't, they drew a black dot on the tooth to indicate a cavity! 
So then we had to work on that cavity!
The dentist chose one of the toothpaste flavors - I had these tacked up to the board next to the smiling guy poster.
On the back of each toothpaste there was written a way to sing the song (since they get so tired of just singing normally!):
1. Stand up and sing
2. Sing to the Primary Presidency (they stood up front)
3. Open the door and sing loud enough for someone down the hallway to hear.
4. Sing softly but with every word clear
5. Sing with your arms around your neighbors
6. Sing while copying hand motions

If they did well and needed to get rid of those cavities, the dentist used the "Singing Time Toothbrush" to erase all of those out! (there was a carefully placed eraser taped to the back of the toothbrush)

It was fun, and especially fun to see how the different kid dentists responded to their peers. One older Senior Primary boy didn't think his friends did well at all and gave them all 4 cavities! Ruthless! 

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

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

Keep the Commandments

It's fun to do atypical songs for opening songs -- just gotta find one short enough! 

For a fun visual aid, because we were learning about the commandments in Sharing Time, I had some leftover cardboard (cardboard is the best -- am I right!??!) and thought about simply taping them together to look like the tablets....and putting some of the phrases to the song on (mostly for Senior Primary and the Junior Primary kids who can read!!!) and putting on some Hebrew too! 

And just because I knew my little smarties in Primary would ask "what does the Hebrew say!?!?" I put the translation on. It was easy to find the Ten Commandments in Hebrew online, and since I have some Jewish ancestry it was doubly fun for me.

Stand for the Right!

When I read that "Stand for the Right" was to be one of the songs this year, I was pretty excited. As a new chorister, seeing such a SHORT song on the list made my job feel a little easier!

I saw something similar to this on another blog, but adapted and made it my own. I wanted something fun and interactive since it was so short.

Took some brads and made some spinners.
One spinner made to be hidden with "Be True! Be True!" coming out of the prophet's mouth.

Another spinner with a Pac-Man type of a chunk cut out, to show "at work, or at play, in darkness or light."

Showing what the back looks like:

It was fun to make, but a little tough to spin those spinners fast enough to keep up with the kids!