Chinese New Year

So, while perusing other chorister blogs, I read this post by "I heart primary music". I wanted to post it here in case some of my readers aren't familiar with that blog....I thought her idea was great for several reasons.

#1-it engages the children. I've noticed my senior primary LOVES to learn about things, like trivia or other tidbit information and if i can find a way to relate that to singing, then it's golden. This idea is great for that...i mean, how many children are going to know much about the Chinese New Year?

#2-i like to recognize different holidays during singing time since sharing time tends to focus more on other things. Singing time facilitates itself well to doing a fun holiday activity while at the same time being able to bring in the spirit through the song. With this activity, they can not only practice our new song, but also learn that "tidbit" information they seem to crave, all while trying to recognize the spirit through singing.

#3-It's simple!!

#4-It's new and different enough to capture their attention

#5-It's easily adaptable for junior and senior primary.

That being said, here's what i plan to do:

For senior primary: we'll play that famous Chinese game, Rock, paper, scissors. We'll do it one of 3 ways. Or a mix of all 3. I'll probably play it by ear and do it depending on how reverently they respond....

First option: i'll have one child play against me, like "I heart primary music" suggests. If I win, we review "As a Child of God", it they win, they pick a coin that has a song title on the back.

Second option: (this one uses all the primary children at the same time and therefore may be less reverent so make sure you state explicit expectations of their conduct for playing it this way) Anyway, I'll have each primary child turn to their neighbor (and have the teachers make sure they all have partners) and play rock, paper, scissors. Before we start i'll tell them the rules, "no shouting when you win, hands stay down, stay in your seats, we do it together, etc". Then i'll count to 3 and say "rock, paper, scissors" so we're all doing it at the same time and it's not chaotic. Then i'll say, "if you won with paper, raise your hand", or "if you won with scissors, raise your hand". If there's exactly 8 winners for whatever i called out (8 is a lucky number for chinese), then i'll call on one of the 8 to pick their favorite song for us to sing, (or pick a coin with a song on it). If there's not 8, then we'll review "As a Child of God". (This might be tricky to get exactly 8 so be prepared to be flexible and if there's never 8 but you really want to give them the chance to pick the song, you can do like "The Price is Right" game show and say, 8 or less but not more)

*A tie voids that partnership from having a winner. No "do overs".

Third option: I have a dragon beanie baby (since it's the year of the dragon) and we'll pass it around while singing. (if senior primary can handle it, sometimes they get too out of control with this kind of thing...) Whoever ends up with it at the end of our song will be the one to play "rock, paper, scissors" with me next.

For Junior primary: My daughter made 4 dragons (as shown) Here is the link for the chinese dragon craft.

We'll play rock, paper, scissors as listed above (most likely option #1 or #3), and I'll choose 4 children at a time to have a chinese dragon parade while we sing each song. I like using 4 children so that several children get the opportunity to participate (we have a large primary) yet it's not too many to get out of hand. They'll go up and down the aisles...walking, not running. I don't want to detract from reverent songs so we'll probably sing songs like, "Wise/Foolish Man", "Fun to Do", "Book of Mormon Stories", "I hope they call me on a mission", etc.

When/if I win "rock, paper, scissors"-we'll review "As a Child of God", and i'll have them hold the dragons up front standing by me and practice waving them to the melody.

Anyway, thank you "I heart primary music" for sharing your ideas! You have certainly helped me!

Hershey kisses because WE LOVE TO SING!!

This sunday is our last primary before Christmas since we only have Sacrament meeting on Christmas day. I just want to SING! SING! SING! and get in as many Christmas songs as possible but i know that having an activity of some sort will help keep their attention...especially because we'll be all combined for primary on sunday so i'll have nearly 100 children.

Here's my idea: (taken from a popular FHE game using big candy bars) In order to accommodate my desire to sing, sing, sing, AND keep the children interested, i decided that i am going to have one class at a time come to the front where i'll have a long table set up with utensils and gloves for each child. They'll also have a bowl of hershey kisses in front of them. The rest of the primary will act as the "timer" and sing a christmas song. Those up front will have the duration of the song to unwrap as many kisses as they can with gloves on and using the utensils. (i plan on making this harder for the older kids with big gloves and allowing the sunbeams to do it without gloves). They have to unwrap the kiss, and throw the trash away with their utensils before they can get another kiss. Of course, they can keep whatever they open. Even if they don't open one, they'll get a chocolate kiss for participating.

I'll rotate through, having each class get a turn (as long as they are reverent and are singing when it's not their turn to unwrap). I think this will allow us to sing lots of songs and keep the primary involved. I'm hoping anyway!!! :)

Baking cookies is fun to do!

I can't remember where i saw this idea, but it's a great one and the kids love it! Sing "Fun to Do" using these words/actions:

Making some cookies is fun to do...

Mixing the dough....

rolling the dough...

Cutting the shapes...

Sprinkling the sugar...

Waiting for baking is hard to do. (fold arms, tap foot like waiting)

Eating our cookies...

The younger kids, sunbeams especially, love this!

Pin the bow on the present

I did this last year and pulled it out for an encore today. It is a simple way to sing lots of Christmas songs and keep the children engaged at the same time. Blindfold one child (or a teacher)-I just use one of those beauty sleeping shades that i bought at the dollar store. Once the person can't see, point to the present they are going to pin the bow on so that all the children know which one is the goal. Give them a bow with that fun tac stuff on the back. Then, play just like hot/cold. Start singing softly and continue softly while they are far away then sing louder when they get closer to the "mark". I put ribbon on the presents and showed the primary that our goal was to pin the bow at the intersection of the 2 ribbons. They loved it. This year i placed all the presents together on the board, but if you want to make it more challenging, put the presents all around the primary room and the blindfolded person will have to walk all over searching for the "chosen" present by listening to the volume of the singers. Be aware of where they are going though so that they don't trip on something....Have fun!

Singing with Christmas trees!

For SR. primary: I am teaching 2 different Christmas songs tomorrow for performances coming up. We are learning "Silent Night" in German and "If i had been in Bethlehem". I know i won't have time for much of an activity so i printed several of these Christmas trees-each with a different number in the center. Before primary, I will tape them under chairs randomly. I plan on having the children look under their chairs to see who has the trees. I will have all those with trees come up front. Whoever has #1 will sing phrase 1 with their class (I will have the words to the song written on a poster and each phrase will have a number in front of it), the person with #2 will sing phrase 2 with their class and so forth. I'll probably have the children with trees swap with each other so that their classes get a turn singing other phrases too. I'm hoping this will be an organized way to help them learn these songs.

For JR. primary, I printed these Christmas singing cards posted by Brittney that she found on pinterest. I'll tell them what song we're singing, then they will pick a card to determine how we'll sing. For example:

elf-tiptoe in place like we're sneaking

Christmas tree-spread our arms like branches

angel-fly like an angel

santa claus-put our hands on our bellies and pretend we're laughing while we sing

ornament-roll our hands

reindeer-prance in place

snowflake-twirl and spin in place

gingerbread-run in place

candy cane-twist

snowman-melt to the floor

If I had been in Bethlehem

One of the counselors in primary asked me to teach this song. I'd never heard it so i was definitely curious. I immediately looked it up online....it is a beautiful song. It is by Sally DeFord and was published in the Friend in December 1989 which i think means it is approved for use in primary. :) Anyway, if you're looking for a new Christmas song this year, check out this one here. I plan on making visuals for this song. I'll try to post them when i'm done if you're interested.

Name that holiday tune

Many of us probably put up our Christmas trees this weekend so i decided that in primary we'll do the same thing. We are going to play "name that tune" (at least in SR. primary) Each side of the primary room will "bid" for how many notes they think they need in order to guess the song and then the person who actually guesses the correct song after hearing the notes will get to pick an ornament and help me decorate my tree. Simple. Effective. Ready to go.

Singing with CANDY!

So...i had this idea today. I'm not sure yet exactly how to use it but here it is:

I thought it'd be fun to do something with the candy the kids all got while trick or treating this week. I picked some candies and wrote little rhymes for each of them with ways to sing. I plan on using these as some type of "sing like a..." game.

I think i'll start by saying something like, "how many of you still have candy leftover from Halloween? I bet our candy can help us sing!" I'll display either real candy bars or pictures with the rhymes on back.

Here's the rhymes: (some of them are rough, i know-i'm still working on them)

Skittles: These colors are red, yellow, green and blue. Check the color you are wearing, we'll sing with just a few. (call out colors, whoever is wearing that color sings)

Lemon drops: Ew, it's sour! Better scrunch up your face to sing this song at a super brisk pace! (sing with a sour face and do it quick)

3 Musketeers: Pick 1 friend and a teacher and you 3 will be our starring feature. (the 3 sing either a phrase or the whole song)

Snickers:When you laugh, you sometimes wiggle, lets sing this song while we giggle!

Baby Ruth: Who has a baby in their house? Lets sing this as quiet as a mouse.

Butterfinger: Grab your friends hand and we'll sing while we stand.

Twix: Betwixt you and me, our classes will sing the best as can be! (2 classes sing at a time)

Milk duds: Chew it slow or else it'll stick. We'll sing this song anything but quick. (sing slowly)

Almond joy-What shows joy for all to see? It's a smile from you and me! (sing while smiling)

Can you think of rhymes for a Crunch bar? M&M's? Kit kat? Reeses? Licorice? I'd love to hear your creativity!

Pioneer Day!

Since i'll be gone on pioneer day, i decided to start our pioneer singing time next sunday the 17th and have it be something the substitute can continue to do on the 24th if she chooses. I saw this idea here and thought it'd work great for a 2 week pioneer singing time. I am making a wagon wheel spinner (as seen on various chorister blogs-if i remember when i'm done-i'll post a picture) Anyway, have different pioneer graphics on each wheel space that will indicate how the song is to be sung. (if you use the blue tack you can change the pictures without ruining your wheel) Here's the graphics i'll use(thank you ordinary adventures of a primary chorister!):

Ox-sing very slowly-pioneers used teams of oxen to pull their wagons and they went slowly since they were so heavy.

Rabbit-sing very fast-Pioneers saw lots of rabbits on the trail and they were fast!

Pioneer girl-girls only. (have a girl come up and wear a bonnet/apron etc.)

Pioneer boy-boys only sing. (have a boy come up and put on a vest, hat, etc.)

Snake-sing quietly. They encountered many snakes along the trail. sing quietly so you don't disturb the snakes!

Native American child-children trade seats during one phrase of the song. The pioneers saw many many indians on the trail and would often "trade" items for food or other things they needed.

Ax and chopped wood-sing "choppy" (staccato). Pioneer children often had the job of collecting firewood for campfires.

Beehive and bee-have a child hold a picture of a beehive in the air and everyone hums. when the child hides the picture, sing the words. The bee symbolized how busy the pioneers were, just like bees! Ant-children stomp to the beat. When their camps were invaded by insects, they'd have to stomp them off!

Cow-a child leave the room. Someone hides the cow. The child returns and the rest of the children sing loud/soft to indicate when he's close/far. If a cow wandered away from the camp, sometimes the children would help search for them and bring them back.

Mountains-echo sing. Divide the children in two and have the first group sing a phrase of the song, while the second group echoes them. (have the pianist play each phrase twice throughout the entire song) When the pioneers finally reached the mountains they discovered places in the canyon, between 2 mountains, that would echo what they said.

After each picture has been landed on with the spinner and used in a song, replace it with a new picture. (this is why i thought it'd work great for 2 weeks-there's enough pictures to use to keep us busy!) You can choose to sing pioneer songs or program review songs and you can even sing a song multiple times for different spins.

I also liked the idea of using "Fun to Do" by using pioneer phrases. For example, crossing the plains (pretend they are riding a horse), riding a wagon (hold on and bounce up and down or drive the wagon), forging a river (make swimming motions), milking a cow (hold hands in fists and move up and down), walking to zion (swing arms and pretend you are walking). Another fun song change i read about was, singing p. 261 Here we are together and change the words to "we're crossing the plains". I plan on using a combination of program songs and pioneer songs. Happy pioneer day!

Primary Fireworks!

I saw this idea on sugardoodle.net and knew i had to try it. It's a great idea for revealing what songs will be sung that day. I'll "light the firework" which will pop the balloon and reveal the song title inside. Here's how i made it: First, i bought a box of push-pops and told my kids to eat up but save the sticks. Then, i covered toilet paper rolls with shiny paper and attached 4th of july decorations on the ends. I put a push pin through the bottom of the push pop stick as shown here:
I attached a balloon to the top end of the roll, tied a string on the end of the balloon and pulled it through the toilet paper roll, stapling it at the end to hold the balloon in place. I'll push the stick up through the toilet paper roll until the pin punctures the balloon and it pops. I'm sure it'll keep the primary on the edge of their seat, not knowing exactly when it'll pop. I plan to sing the patriotic songs in the primary book as well as 1 or 2 from the hymn book. I made mini songbooks with the words since i don't expect the kids to know all these songs and there's not enough time to teach them. For junior primary, i am only doing 1 patriotic song and the rest are songs they know. Happy 4th of July!

Songs from dads

Since this sunday is Father's Day, i decided to include some dad's in singing time. (without them actually having to be there) Using my smartphone, i recorded several dads singing primary songs. A couple dads chose to sing in different voices to try and throw the children off. (we'll see if it worked!) Anyway, i told the dads they could pick any song to sing (provided the primary knows it) or i would assign them a song to sing if they preferred. Each dad sang for about 20 seconds. I will play each recording on sunday and have the children guess who is singing and what song it is. In order to limit the pool of dads the children choose from, I will have a paper "bust" of each dad for them to choose from and a bunch of paper ties with the songs written on them. I will choose a reverent child to try and place the correct tie on the bust of the dad who sang the song. (I think i'll give them 3 chances to get it right-if they need it) When they get it correct, we will sing that song all together. Anyway, that's it. Pretty simple. It just takes some time getting the dad's recordings but i think the primary will enjoy guessing. I used dad's who have children in primary, male teachers, and i had the bishopric sing together for one song (challenge question) Have fun!

Update: This was sooo much fun today! I ended up not listing the names of the singing dads like i thought i would. I just played the recording and let the kids guess who it was. They did great and only had trouble guessing one dad. (I gave them some clues to help and then they got it) Lots of fun. Rather than making paper ties, I pre-tied several of my husbands ties and had those hanging on the board. When they guessed the singing dad correctly, they got to put a tie on our "dad". (I used a bust from a game I found in our game closet). Most the dads sang in their normal voices but one dad sang "In the Leafy Treetops" with a very heavy Texas twang and the kids couldn't stop laughing. Very fun day!

Mother's Day

Since April is general conference and also stake conference for us, I knew i needed to start teaching our Mother's day songs that we will be singing in sacrament meeting. We're singing the 1st verse of Love is Spoken Here (p. 190) followed by verses 1 and 3 of Mother Dear (p. 206a) I thought of several different ways to teach the songs but ended up choosing the poster method. I REALLY want the children to learn the songs well and posters seem to do the trick for our primary. The good thing about posters is that it helps junior primary learn the words while visualizing and we can use the blobs to cover up different portions of the poster as we practice. Most of all, this way of teaching a song is easiest for me. :) Are you singing in sacrament meeting? I'd love to hear what songs you chose to sing......

St. Patricks Day Fun!

I bought a few of these hats from the $1 section at Target. There are so many ways to use them year after year. Here are a few ideas:

1.velcro (or tape) phrases from a song on each hat. Have one child from each class wear a hat and their corresponding class sings that phrase, then rotate hats so every class has a chance to sing each phrase of the song.

2. Attach phrases from several different songs. (one on each hat) and have the children guess which song it is from. The child that guesses correctly gets to wear the hat and help lead the song.

3. Each hat can represent a way in which to sing the song. The child chooses a hat and wears it while he/she leads that movement.

4. Attach a song to each hat and have a child choose a hat. They get to wear the hat and help lead.

5. Have a class sing off. Whichever class sings a song (or phrase) best, their teacher gets to wear a hat. Continue until all the teachers are wearing the hats.

6. Invite several children to come up (the same # as hats you have). Have them play "musical chairs" walking around the hats on the floor or you can put the hats on chairs. (the rest of primary sings to provide the music). When you cut off the singing, the children up front stop in front of a hat, pick it up, put it on. Have a preselected hat that has special instructions or a question. Before you start each round, whisper which hat is the "chosen" one to your pianist and keep a list of questions to use. (for example, what is your favorite thing to do in the spring? Shake hands with all the teachers, Tell us one of your favorite talents, name all the children in your class, etc.) This is fun because it allows you to practice having the primary stop singing when you cut them off and it gives everyone a chance to learn something about a few primary children.

7. Attach a St. Patty's day riddle to each hat. Look here or here to get some riddle ideas to get you started. (it'd be fun to add a fun way to sing the song to the riddle too) Invite a child to choose a hat, answer the riddle and wear the hat while the primary sings the song!

8. There are no doubt many many more ways to use these hats, i'd love to hear your ideas!

How would YOU use the hats??