Hawaiian Song Review

We just got back from my daughter’s wedding in Hawai’i. The groom’s family live on Oahu so they were married in the La’ie Temple. It was our first time there and it was AMAZING! I wanted to share some of that experience with the Primary children so I showed them pictures of the temple and the wedding and we sang “I Love To See the Temple” and I shared how my daughter has sung that song since she was a little girl in Primary and know she finally had that dream come true! I told them that they can too one day.

Next we talked about “Paradise” in the scriptures, the Garden of Eden and when Christ spoke to the thieves when he was crucified from this week’s lesson. Then I shared this poster of some of my favorites things from the paradise I visited. They came up and chose items that had the songs written on the back BUT there was a twist! They had to come up three at a time and one would choose the item that had the song on it, then each of them had to do something during the song. One had to put on a Kukui Nut and shell lei and do the hula, one had to squat and make the ugly face and grunt like the tiki statues and one had to lightly strum the Ukelele. It was so fun!!!

Valentine's Songs

I'm used something that a previous music leader made. The small hearts all fit in the large heart pocket to be drawn. On the back of each heart is a song about love. On one she had a corny valentine joke, I decided to take it further and put one on the back of each one to read before we sing! 😄

Another variation is the laminated bookmark things. You have the kids and/or teachers, leaders fill it out with their name and their favorite Primary song, put them in the heart and draw from them what to sing. 😊

Mr. Potato Head

For one Sunday, the lesson was "I Have Been Sent To Earth To Gain a Body and Be Tested". I decided to do the Mr. Potato Head idea that I've seen on here and sing songs about the body. There is a song on the back of each piece (or set like ears, arms etc.).

Eyes - "Two Little Eyes"

Ears - "I Have Two Ears"

Mouth - "If You Chance To Meet a Frown"

Nose - "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" (last word 😉)

Hands - "I Have Two Little Hands"

Feet - "Two Happy Feet" or "If You're Happy and You Know it"

Body - "Hinges" or "Do As I'm Doing".

Scrolling "TV"

I have seen this idea many times and I have never made one, but a previous Primary music leader did and I used it and the kids loved it! I took a picture of the outside and inside and I'll let you figure out how to put it together! Lol!! You can swap out songs by just untaping the ends that are taped to the pvc pipe. Each new song just has to be taped together in order on both sides so that it doesn't catch. The pencil nubs keep the handles from sliding into the box.

Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?

My singing partner today likes warm hugs! 😄I needed to drill the Spanish verse that we learned for I Am A Child of God so I printed and laminated pieces of Olaf and then put magnet tape on the back of each piece. As they sang each time through (sections at first and then the whole verse) a member of the Presidency watched the children and chose someone who was paying attention and singing well to come pick a piece of him out of a ziplock baggie and put it on the chalkboard. They were very attentive and sounded great! I was so pleased! "Do You Want To Build A Snowman" for the win!! ☃️

You could also put the numbers of different songs on the back of each piece.

UNO Review

Last fall when I was trying to find a fun way to review all our songs for the program, I ran across this UNO Review idea. Several people posted it so I don't know who actually came up with the idea (but it was not me). I originally used it for our program songs review and it worked out perfectly as we had eight songs and the kids loved it! I used a file that Whitney Bennett posted on Facebook:

Here are her directions for getting it printed: "I just put this together in Photoshop and wanted to share it with you all in case anyone was wanting it. I am printing it as a 20x30 at Costco for $8.99, laminating it, and mounting it to foam board (for long lasting durability). If you are interested in printing this off and using it, please download the high-resolution print file in the following link (copy and paste): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzsbI9PhThK0X1NuNUVnaDc5N3M/view Make sure you print it as a 20x30, otherwise it will NOT fit the print correctly and cropping will occur. Have fun everyone! *PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK AND CLICK THE DOWNLOAD ICON ON THE TOP OF THE WINDOW. IF YOU JUST SAVE THE ATTACHED FILE, IT WILL BE GRAINY WHEN PRINTED BECAUSE IT IS NOT THE HIGH-RESOLUTION GRAPHIC." So I printed it, laminated it and made song titles in each of the four colors. I did two in each color and I would swap in a new one once the first one was sung.

There are lots of ways to play. What I did was pull out of a deck of Uno cards one of each color of the skips, reverses, ones, twos and all the wilds. I would choose a child to come up and choose a card. The color on the card told us which song we were going to sing (on wilds they would pick a color) and the symbol would give further details. On "skips" I think we had them skip while they sang. You can also have them skip certain words. On "reverses" they had to turn around and sing to the back wall. This really helped me see how well they knew their songs! 1 or 2 was the first or second verse or one or two times depending on the song and how many verses it had (none of them had more than two). Again on "wilds", they got to choose. As I said, it was a big hit! Then in January of this year, someone suggested using it for reviewing the four verses of I Am A Child Of God. It worked pretty well. I ended up using these exact printouts for my verses, however, this is someone else's picture of theirs. I did end up pasting over a church produced picture of the Savior for the third verse.

I have seen several people post that they also used Uno for teaching a song, although I have not tried that yet!

Bean Bag Toss

Here is a picture of a game that she made, she made it out of PVC pipes.  She just had the kids toss a bean bag into the pipes and each pipe is numbered, so you can assign the numbers to songs or whatever.  The kids love it!

My sister-in-law recently became Primary Chorister in her ward so her husband made this clever way for the Primary kids to choose songs.  It's based on a song that's very popular with kids right now called "What Does The Fox Say?".  This version is "What Do the Kids Sing?".   The idea is to put the fox and the speech bubbles up on a board, and have names of songs on the back.  The kids pick what the fox sings, and then turn the bubble over, and that is what the kids sing. :D





The best way to download a good image from the PDF images above is to right click the white rectangular box to the right of the "thumb image" you want and "save picture as" to your computer.

Who, What, How Review

As program time is quickly approaching, I know that many of you are looking for new ways to review the songs you've learned.  This was one of my favorites that I read somewhere, that you can use several times and the kids never get sick of it.

Choose cans or jars that have wide mouths so that you or the children can reach in to choose.  Cover with whatever you choose.  I just used wide strips of scrapbook paper and made labels with more paper.  I printed the words from the computer all on one page and then cut them out.  I chose to do the jars in the Primary colors (red, yellow and blue).  I cut out matching slips of paper to put the choices on.  You could type them and print them too, but I just wrote them out by hand. (I accidently switched the red and yellow paper when I took this photo, oops!  So just pretend).

The "Who" jar says who gets to sing the song or verse.  I put the following choices:  boys, girls, teachers, everyone, left handed, right handed, blonde/red hair, brown/black hair, blue/green eyes, brown/hazel eyes, birthday Jan.-Jun., birthday Jun.-Dec., first name A-M, last name A-M, first name N-Z, last name N-Z, favorite colors red,orange yellow or pink, favorite colors green, blue, purple or black, wearing anything white, wearing anything black, dog lovers, cat lovers, horse lovers, pizza lovers, and (my personal favorite) chocolate lovers.

The "What" jar has every song you're working on for the program.  Songs with more than one verse get split up so there is only one verse per paper.

The "How" jar has different fun ways you can sing a song to make it interesting.  (I tried to be careful not to let a somewhat rowdy "how" be chosen for a really quiet sacred song.)  Here are the choices I put in the "How" jar: Standing, turn right, turn left, with eyes closed, standing on left leg, standing on right leg, very fast, very slow, kneeling, marching, hands on head, turn around, very high, very low, laying down, happy, sad, whisper sing, hands folded, swaying, with no blinking, patting your head and rubbing your belly,  head hanging upside down, Tabernacle choir, popcorn popping (random popping up and down from standing position), with Frogs (see post about frogs on a stick), find spot (hot and cold game with a large circle), missing word (missing word game), with traffic signs (signs of slow, stop and go), slinky (I used a slinky to have them sing soft to loud - closed to completely open).  You could add in any games you have played with them.

As time allows, you have kids come up (or you can) and draw one paper out of each jar and lay it down in front (as pictured).  Read each of the three choices out loud to the whole group. (Sr. Primary or older Jr. Primary can read their own).  Then the people chosen sing the song chosen in the way chosen!  The more choices you can put in the Who and How jars, it makes each time different and something new. :D

The Fourth Article of Faith

Like many of you, I chose this song for June because it goes so well.  I found a really great flipchart for this song and I can't find where I got it from!  I wasn't going to do one, because they know it pretty well.  But I notice that the Sr. Primary knew it a lot better than the Jr.  So, I printed one and it has really helped!  I let five kids come up and each hold a part of the song.  The first week I wanted to sing it several times through, so I had each group go tap a new person to come up and hold pages.  Since we're split, we got through everyone in only few rounds!  Here are some other nice charts you can use that are on Sugardoodle.  If I ever find mine again, I'll add it to the post. :)

He Died That We Might Live Again

For our program song for April we will be learning "He Died That We Might Live Again".  Once again, I found some great ideas on Sugardoodle.  A lady named Bonnie shared the idea she read of a perfect introduction to the song.  She refers to this story, "Plane Crashes Into The Potomac"  and of the bravery shown by a couple of men to save other's lives.

I'm going to use the "Who, What, Where, When, Why, How" idea with wordstrips from Becky (same Sugardoodle link) for the Senior primary.  But for the Junior I think I'll do an Easter song introduction idea that I found on Teaching LDS Children.

Update 4/10/11 - I didn't end up having time yet to make the Easter song introduction box, hopefully I can for next week. The word strips worked so well though!  I've only done the first half of the song because we're also working on another song for Easter.  We'll finish it next week. To do the matching game, I printed the question words (who, what, where etc.,) on colored paper.  Then I printed the phrases on white sheets. I ended up doing a phrase on each sheet that I printed.  Before we began, I magneted the question words on the board.  For the Jr. Primary, I did them in order.  As we sang each phrase, we discussed which question it answered.  For the Sr. Primary, I mixed up the questions words all over the board.  Then as we sang each phrase, they had to figure out which question it answered and put it in order. As we learned it this week, I divided the phrases one way, but I'm going to change them for next week to this:

WHY: "He died that we might live again"
WHO: "Lord Jesus, our Redeemer true"
WHERE: "He died on Cal-v'ry's lonely hill"
HOW: "His life he gave for me and you"
WHEN: "He rose from the grave on Easter Morn"
WHO #2: "Our Savior and our King"
WHAT: "He showed his love for all man-kind"
WE CAN: "For his great love, give thanks and sing
                 "Re-joice! Re-joice! and sing, sing, sing."

For Junior Primary, after we learned each phrase, I picked a child to look for a plastic Easter Egg (I had hidden several around the room before we began) and we repeated and repeated until they found an egg -then we had to stop and go on to the next one.  They LOVED it!!!

Update 4/17/11 -  I forgot to take my list with me to church today.  (I hate it when I do that!) So when I got there I ended up rearranging all the question words because I couldn't remember what I had put down.  It still worked though.  Here is a picture of how it ended up at the end of today.

We continued our Easter egg hunt this week.  I went ahead and did an Easter egg hunt with the Sr. Primary too because they begged last week once they found out that the Jr. Primary had done one.  It's amazing how much more the children pay attention and sing well when they want to be picked for doing a good job. ;)  By the end of both singing times, they knew the song really well, and I had their attention most of the time! Yay!

Easter Ideas!

I really love this simple "Ways to Sing in an Egg Carton" that I found on Precious Primary.  As I find or come up with other Easter ideas I like, I'll add them to this post.

Here is a great Easter song introduction idea and really fun Easter egg song review at Teaching LDS Children.

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!

I Will Follow God's Plan

This is my favorite flipchart for this song, by Bridgette Patterson.   It uses some great pictures like this one from the Friend.

For Review:

I really liked this idea from Sofia's Primary Ideas . "To review this song, have the different sections of the Plan of Salvation cut out. " (She used this one from a Sharing Time on the  Plan of Salvation in the Friend by Margaret Lifferth.)

 

"Invite a child to come to the front and arrange in the right order- and see if they can do so before the end of the song. For older children, make this more complicated by having them arrange on a table only using their chin or elbow."

  My problem was that I felt these pictures were too small and I didn't have the time or means to blow them up.  So instead I chose Gospel Art Pictures and other Primary pictures that matched the small pictures like these ones below:

 I slid each picture in a sheet protector and stuck a strip of magnet to the back of the sheet protector.  That way I could stick them to the chalkboard and they could re-arrange them easily to put them in order.  I still put the small pictures up in order on the top, kind of as a "cheat sheet".  I think it helped them not get confused or discouraged. I also chose two children at a time so they could kind of do it as a team and that worked well.

If I Listen With My Heart

I really love the Theme Song that they've chosen for this year.  The more we sing it, the more I love it! 

Week 1: Introduction and "chorus"

To introduce the song "If I Listen With My Heart", I chose an idea from Loralee Kurzius:

Call a helper to the front. As you do so the Pianist discreetly makes a small tapping noise, peaks over piano and says, “Did you HEAR that? What is thatPretend you can’t hear it. When the kids tell you they can, tell

Ask the helper to tell you about their favorite scripture story. After they begin, cover your ears.  If they stop talking, tell them to go ahead, you are listening and then start to hum and walk away while they are talking.

• Discuss whether or not you were really listening.
• What does it mean to “listen with my heart”?
• Ask them how to listen with your heart (eye contact-not being busy, etc.)

Week 2: Verse 1

I also used part of an an idea from Loralee Kurzius and changed it just a little:

If we had been little children when Jesus lived on earth we could have walked with him and listen to his words.  Well, we can’t go back to that time, but how can we hear his words today? (pull out scriptures) Discuss how reading the scriptures is listening to Christ's words.  Although He isn't here in person, we can hear His voice through the scriptures.

• Read a scripture quickly (she suggests Matthew7:26). Was I really listening to what I read?
• Ask how to listen with your heart when reading (with the spirit)
• Ask them to listen with their hearts while you read again (vs. 24).

To teach the words of the 1st verse, I wrote each line with a different color marker on a white board.  We went color by color to learn the verse.  That way, they knew when to stop and it broke the song up into learnable pieces.  If you were reviewing, you could erase each color as they learn that part really well.

Week 3: Verse 2

For this week, we reviewed verse one and the chorus and then learned verse two.  I found an idea that I really loved on the Teaching LDS Children website.  I laminated the whole thing so that I can use it over and over!  I showed it to my family the night before church when I got it all done, and they loved it! 

You can go to their website for the full directions and patterns. :)  It's really great!

Week 4: Verse 3

Next week, I plan on using part of an idea from Tanya Conrad:

I have several sounds recorded (from www.FindSounds.com).  The ones I chose were:

1. Laughter of a Child
2. Doorbell
3. Elephant
4. Ambulance (these are louder sounds). 

Then we will talk about how those are easier sounds to hear.  What about quieter sounds?  Then I will play:

1. Wind
2. River
3. Sparrow
4. Whisper (I whisper "And if I listen with my heart I hear the Savior's voice)

I will ask the children if they could understand what I said.

As I am using this for a different verse than she did, after I play the sounds I am going to talk about how the Holy Ghost is a quiet sound and we have to listen carefully to hear him.  We will discuss how if we listen to the Holy Ghost, we can hear the Savior's voice.

I also really love this idea from Loralee Kurzius:

"When I teach the third verse of this song , (HG comforts me) I'll not only wear my warm, fuzzy slippers, but I'll get the presidency

and teachers to do it too. The kids will be so curious about them by the time we get to Singing Time that they'll totally go home

talking about it and remembering that the Holy Spirit give you a warm, comforting feeling!!!"

To teach the words of the song, I think I'm going to use another idea that I found on Teaching LDS Children:

"Tell the children that they are now going to learn the third verse of the song “If I Listen with My Heart”. Explain that this verse is about the Holy Ghost being a way we can hear the Savior’s voice. The Saviour communicates with us through the Holy Ghost.  There are many different things that the Holy Ghost tells us that the Savior wants us to know.  
Ask the children if they have ever seen a stain glass window. Explain that a stain glass window is many pieces of colored glass combined to make a beautiful picture. When light comes through the window, its beauty can fill us with joy, and uplift and warm our souls. Explain that the Holy Ghost can also fill our lives with joy, warm our souls, and light up our life with beauty. Like the different pieces of a stain glass window, there are different things the Holy Ghost does. A few of those things are mentioned in this verse."



There's a story to go with it as well from The Friend with photos she's put together that you could use if you have time.  She does such a great job!



Click here for the story pictures, stain glass pattern, and word pages.


Week 5: Review


For the last week I want to review all three verses a couple of times. Before we sing, I'm going to review the three different ways we can hear the Savior's voice (the scriptures, the prophet, and the whisperings of the Holy Ghost).  I'm going to use this idea I found on Teaching LDS Children where you put a picture of the Savior in the back and use pictures of the scriptures, the prophet and the words "whisperings of the Holy Ghost" printed on vellum to place over the picture of the Savior showing how you hear his voice through those three ways.  Cool huh? (Click here for the verse one pictures and words to print.)



I will sing through the whole song with the flip chart I printed. (There are several different ones you can choose from on Sugardoodle) .  The second time through, I'm going to hand out "Listen/Hear" sticks for the children to hold up on the right word as we sing.  (This idea was originally in the Outline for Sharing Time 2011 pg.27) You print out these hearts with "Listen" and "Hear" on them and glue them to either side of a popsicle stick.  (Click here for the link to the "Love Cards" or go to sharingtime.lds.org for a simple b&w version you can color).






















They have to listen for the right words to hold them up on.  The two words are used a lot more frequently in the first two verses, and only in the chorus on the third, but I that's ok.  They'll have fun with them.  :)  (Update: The kids LOVED these!  I've used them for a couple weeks now!)

Update: I actually ended up doing something different that the heart sticks.  I'm going to use them in February.  Instead, I used an idea that I found on Precious Primary for reviewing songs called "Leaping Frog".  It worked so well, and the kids LOVED it!  There were only enough lily pads for the first two phrases (18 notes) in the song,  so then I used my frog on a popsicle stick to mark the melody up and down (as they suggest). (For following the lily pads, I used one on a skewer like the picture below).  Once the kids got the hang of it, I passed out a "frog on a stick" to every child and let them follow the lily pads in their mind, hopping with their own frogs and then do the melody up and down like I had done.  That was the most involved our little Sunbeams and CTR 5 classes have been in Singing Time and even the "big kids" thought it was fun!  This one is definately a keeper!!!




More Review:


In February, I plan to use another idea from on Teaching LDS Children to help them memorize the song.


"You put all the words the first verse seperate (or in small groups) and put them on the board.



Then I will have each child search for their "Valentine Word" under their chair (if you have Jr. and Sr. Primary split, they'll need to put them back).  Each word will be one that is sung in the song throughout the verse (the more frequent, the better).  You call multiple children up to take out "thier words" so you can sing it again. You could do this several times with kids taking words out each time." 

You could even adapt this to all three verses by adding words from the other verses and numbering the words 1,2, or 3.  Then after you have sung each verse through once,  you'd call multiple children up with the right number (verse 1, 2, or 3) to take out "thier words" so you can sing it again. 



For the second verse, I'll take the word strips from week three off the rings and magnet them in order (with their help) on the board.  We may see if someone can put them in order while we sing. :)


For the third verse, we may take the stain glass window apart piece at a time or something.  I'll have to think about that one some more.

I'm hoping to have it memorized in time for our Ward Conference the end of February when the Stake comes to visit!  :)