It's a zoo out there!

I used this idea a few months ago (and the kids loved it!) I decided to use it again tomorrow in junior primary...with a few additions.

See this cool sticks pictured above? I was volunteering at the school book fair last week and they were for sale on the table that's full of silly gadgets that gets more sales then the books...you know that table? Yup, I thought so....Anyway, since i got $10 of bucks to spend just for volunteering, i decided to donate it to primary music and i bought these. I thought they'd go perfect with The Crazy Chorister's idea of primary gone wild. Here's what i think i'll do:

We'll use our puppets/stuffed animals to choose songs, here's the ones i'm using, a few of The Crazy Chorister's ideas and a few of my own...

Lion: Leonard Lion likes to be loud but is learning to sing reverently at church. Start by singing as loudly as you can. Then gradually get softer. Next, try to sing each phrase in one big breath.

Chipmunk: (Hinges) Charlie Chipmunk loves primary teachers. Have the teachers stand up and do hinges as the children sing it. Have the teachers pretend they are very old and slow. Then have the kids stand up and do it as fast as they can.

Dog: (Popcorn Popping) Donald the dog is always running fast. He likes us to sing while playing hot potato. We'll pass around a bean bag (one for each side of the room) as fast as we can while singing and try to make it all the way around before the end of song.

Owl: Oscar Owl is not used to the light. He likes the dark. Sing with the lights off.

Parrot: (As a Child of God) Polly Parrot likes to hum while we're learning the tune of a new song..we'll hum the song until Polly lands on someone's head and then we'll sing the words, then hum again when she flies away...

Tiger- Tim the Tiger loves to sneak up on people and loves the game “hide and seek". I'll give a bean bag to someone and have a child come and find it while you sing song. (play just like hot/cold-sing loud when close, soft when far away)

Giraffe- Gerald the giraffe loves to be goofy. Tell the children that Gerald loves to play “teacher guess the song”. If the teacher can guess the song in a few notes, the chorister "gets" to wear goofy's hat (my son got it at Disneyland years ago). If they guess it wrong, the teacher "gets" to wear the hat during the song.

Elephant-Eddie the Elephant likes to poke people with his long trunk. We'll sing staccato with Eddie.

Monkey-Marvin Monkey likes to climb trees. Sometimes he climbs high, sometimes low. When he is up high, we'll sing loud, and we'll sing soft when he's low. Watch out though-he likes to be tricky! *If he lands on your head, you'll have to say the next few words in the song before he'll start climbing again...

Frog-(The Church of Jesus Christ p. 77) Freddy Frog is so excited to be in primary that he just cannot sit still. He hops right out of his seat every time he hears the word “I”. (primary stands when sing “I”)

*if you don't have the same animals, just change the animals but you can still use the same actions

So....how do my animal wands fit in with all this? Good question!!! I'm not entirely sure yet but i think i'll select 5 children to use my wands...maybe with Leo the Lion and Eddie the Elephant, or maybe even Oscar the Owl....it'll be like jeopardy-not knowing which animal has double jeopardy (or the surprise) behind it....maybe i'll use the wands with all 3 animals, that way i can use 15 children and that's always a plus when i have so many who want turns!

Anyway, i'll have the 5 kids come up and either lead the music or have a parade up and down the aisle, or have them mimic me while i lead in a rainbow pattern or staccato, etc. All while singing the song.....I have the entire time for music tomorrow...i think this will keep them interested....at least i'm hoping it will!

*You'll notice i haven't chosen all the songs yet...i'm working on that part still...

*Sr. primary will be doing musical scripture chase from my earlier post...i'll post the scriptures for that soon....