Sing The Rainbow (Skittles)

I saw a lot of people posting different variations of this online. Here's my version.

I introduced it by mentioning St. Patrick's Day and symbols of that holiday, including the rainbow (put up pot of gold and rainbow picture) and told them that we were going to "Sing the Rainbow" today (put up Super Singing Skittles sign and SKITTLES acronym picture) and read the acronym. As I put up the colored Skittle pieces, I explained that there was a song on the back of each one. Then the other leaders passed out a container (disposable condiments containers) to each child and teacher. Each container had in it one of each colored Skittle to make the colors of the rainbow. (To make these you have to purchase both the original and wild berry flavored Skittles.) I explained the rules of the Skittle containers: They could only open them when I told them to, only eat them when I told them to, could not shake them or they would be taken away. I then gave them permission to open the container and pull out one Skittle and hold it, then I started choosing children. For this particular activity, I wrote the names of each Primary child on a colored popsicle stick (so we had all the colors of the rainbow). I put them all in a can (there was a Jr. and Sr.) and drew from there. I called out the name of the child I drew and asked them what color they chose, that's the Skittle color we sang. Then the kids were allowed to quickly eat their one Skittle before we sang. With one group they all ate what they drew and it somehow worked out. With the other group they would put theirs back and eat the color chosen. We kept going until all the songs were sung. Yummy fun!

Songs for each color:

Red - Gethsemane (he bled for us)

Orange - Did Jesus Really Live Again (sunrise)

Yellow - The Primary Colors (red, YELLOW, and blue)

Green - Give Said the Little Stream (..."the grass grows greener still"...)

Blue - My Heavenly Father Loves Me (..."or look at the blue, blue sky"...)

Purple - Little Purple Pansies

In the Leafy Tree Tops

She says: " I have some huge flowers I will have some kids hold for the second verse, so I wanted some birds for the first. I don’t think I want the kids all handling them, so I am thinking of making a nest for them or I think it would be really cool if I could figure out how to make a tree branch that I could hang them in and have a child hold the branch.  Maybe a branch from an artificial tree."

Songs for General Conference

Every Sunday before General Conference I have to sing prophet songs.  Two of them that are my favorites and absolute musts are:

Latter-Day Prophets - I read this idea somewhere to do small and decided it would be fun to do big too!  I have taken 16 sheet protectors and taped them together side by side, then I inserted an 8x11 picture of each prophet in order from Joseph Smith to Thomas S. Monson.  I also printed little strips of paper with their names on them so you can read them better and slid them inside the sleeves to the bottom in front of the pictures.  Then you fold it up accordian style.  You could use it as a sort of flipchart but what our Primary likes to do is hold it out long with helpers (it takes about 8!) while we sing it.

Modern Day Apostles (As I Have Love You) -  I also read this one somewhere years ago.  We sing the last names of the First Presidecy and the Quorum of the Twelve to the tune of "As I Have Loved You".  I put all their pictures up in order with a strip of paper taped to the front with just their last name large so it's easy to read.  It's a fun way to review who they'll be listening to the next weekend so that they're more familiar with their faces.  So it goes like this:

"Monsen and Eyring, Uchdorf, Packer Perry, Nelsen, Oaks, Ballard, Scott and Hales, Holland and Bednar, Cook, Christofferson, Anderson, these are the modern-day apostles."

We often also sing "Follow the Prophet" and this year I added the 2nd verse of "If I Listen With My Heart" since we'd learned it.  It was perfect!

Songs for Spring!

      

Here is my list of favorites for Spring (which is also where I got the name for my blog, hee hee):

• Give Said The Little Stream:  We do kind of a fun variation on this song.  I got the idea from Peggy North on Sugardoodle.  "For every word that begins with a G, clap hands once (i.e. Give, Go, Grows, Greener, etc.) For every word that begins with an S, stand up and sit back down (i.e. Stream, Small, Still, Singing) Obviously, everyone sings this sitting down, so that they can stand and sit at the appropriate times--you'll need your own chair at the front.  The children LOVE this.  Start out slow when they're first learning, but as they get to know it better, the second time through they just love going FAST, and you get a workout on the chorus, especially!  I have done this every time I was a chorister, and it's always a hit.  I've since added snaps for words that begin with R (rain, raise). " We do head nods on the R words.  The kids really like it and it's a nice way to get some extra energy out!

• In The Leafy Tree Tops:  I brought a bird on a popsicle stick for a child to hold during the first verse and a flower for the second.  Of course we also all stand and do actions for the song as well.

• Little Purple Pansies:  I have a beautiful picture of a field of pansies (many purple ones) that I got out of an old calendar.  You could probably google one.

• Popcorn Popping: I also have a calendar page of an orchard of apricot trees in full bloom, so that the children can see why it looks like popcorn on the trees. (We of course do all the actions too.)

• Wind Is Blowing All Around (Rain Is Falling All Around):  Especially for the month of March!  I tell them about the days being "Lambs" or "Lions" and on the "Lion" days, how the wind roars!!!  I plan on next year having a lamb and lion prop or puppet to help me out. :)

Check out this fun Spring Singing Aide at Precious Primary!  It's really cute!

Stand For the Right

I was scrambling around looking for a flipchart for this song and found this simple fun idea by Cara Webber on Sugerdoodle:

Our prophet has some words for you (boy stands holding picture of prophet)

And these are the words:

“Be true, be true.”
(only boy holding picture says “be true, be true”)

At work or at play,
(child holds up broom in one hand and baseball bat in other hand)

In darkness or light,
(child holds up flashlight and turns it on when everyone sings “light”)

Be true, be true,
(boy holding prophet’s picture says “be true, be true”)

And stand for the right.
(everyone stands when singing “stand for the right”)

What I changed:

For "Be true, be true" I actually made a sign for Sr. Primary to hold with the words on it.  For Jr. Primary I laminated a large bee cutout.



For "work" and "play" I used a duster and a baseball (they fit better in my bag than a broom and bat).

It was nice because I could put everything in a small bag and I took the bag with me for a couple of weeks.  They learned it really fast, and had it memorized by the end of March. :)