So, it's been some time since I've had any ideas for singing time, but I finally came up with one! I've been trying to come up with an idea that would be fun, capture their attention, but also let us learn and review the song. This is my idea...
I am teaching "When He Comes Again" for the April song, but this idea would work for any song and can be used in many different ways.
Ker-plunk is a game I picked up at toys r us for about $12. If you have never seen it, the basic concept is that a bunk of sticks are placed through the middle of two cups, and then marbles are placed on top of the sticks. One by one, the sticks are removed, while trying not to let any of the marbles fall.
There are three colors of sticks. Neon Pink, Neon Orange, and Neon Green.
I have divided my song into three phrases and coordinated them with the color.
Neon Pink: "I wonder when he comes again. Will herald angels sing? Will earth be white with drifted snow, or will the world know spring?"
Neon Orange: "I wonder if one star will shine far brighter than the rest? Will daylight stay the whole night through? Will song birds leave their nest?"
Neon Green: "I'm sure he'll call his little ones, to gather round his kneee, because he said in days gone by, suffer them to come to me."
I'll call up children to remove a stick. If the stick they chose drops marbles, we will sing that color's phrase. How many marbles drop, will determine how many times we will sing the phrase...up to 4 times through. (so if 6 marbles drop, the maximum times we will sing that phrase would still be 4).
In order to keep their attention through the repeating of phrases, I have visuals for the words, about 3 per phrase. I'll pick three kids to hold them up and get them in the right order. If we need to sing it again, they will pick someone else to hold their picture and get it in the right order. Hopefully I'll be able to use all of them at least once, hopefully more.
I'm not sure if I'll do the same thing with the Sr.'s or not, since they pretty much already know the song, but I'm hoping this will help out my Jr's. :)
How did the Kerplunk go? Did the game itself perform well? Was it easy to quickly reset the game for the next person? I think this sounds like a fun idea. I have been teaching the Junior Primary but now will be teaching Senior Primary music instead. Would this be fun for them too?
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ReplyDeleteThe game went quite well, although it took more time than I thought. I played it with the Sr. primary as well, and they really liked it. I did tell them when more than 5 marbles fell, we would only have to sing that phrase until I felt they knew it. This motivated them to sing out even more. As far as set up, I only played it once with Jr. primary, and reset it while they were having sharing time, to be ready for the Sr primary, who also only played it once. I hope this helps!
What a fun idea! I am going to raid my game closet and see how I can apply this to what I have. Thanks for sharing. Carrie
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