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Sunday, January 31, 2010

January week 5: Game

I wanted desperately to get this posted before today, but it just didn't happen. However, I am SO happy to report from personal experience, that this worked AWESOME for our primary!

I have the entire primary time for singing time on 5th Sundays, so I took the opportunity to play a game with the kids.

FOOTBALL! 

I got the idea from the primary music group on yahoo groups. (If you are not a member, SIGN UP!) There are some awesome ideas and helps! Thanks Angie Rhodes, for the awesome ideas and questions! (I don't know if you check this blog or not, but I wanted to make sure I give you the credit for this great idea!)




I probably put in way too much time on this, but I love how it turned out. You could just draw one out on the chalk board when you get to church, and keep it simple. The kids will still have fun!


I printed off three footballs from the internet onto card stock. One ball was used for the 1st verse, another for the chorus, and the third for the 2nd verse.


On the back of each football, I wrote a "Wiggle song". (see examples below)

To play, I first chose someone to come pick our game ball, and set it on the 20 yard line. 

Then we sang through the verse/chorus, and I told them to pay special attention to the words. Then I asked them some questions (posted below). If they answered correctly, which of course they did, I would move the ball to the next yard line...or so. I tried to move the ball so that by the time they answered the last question, they would make a touch down.

We had fun raising both our arms in the air to say "GOAL!" when we made it. 

After every 3 or 4 questions, we would sing through the verse, to keep it "fresh" in our minds. 

The wiggle songs I chose, were to really give them a break and get up and m.o.v.e!

 Here's what we did:

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes:  We all stood up, and did the actions, like normal. The next time through, we stood still except for the last word (nose) and pointed to it, but didn't sing the word. The next time, we added the action to the next to last word (point to mouth) and did not sing it as well.  So every time you sing the song, you add another word to be left off and point to that body part in its place. By the final time through, there will be no singing, and only pointing to the body parts. (Is that completely confusing?!) Sorry! I actually only tried this with Sr. primary and they loved it. I think Jr.'s would like it too)

Give Said the Little Stream: You can read about how to do this here. This is one of our favorite wiggle songs, and I LOVE to see the concentration on their faces!

Popcorn popping: I got this idea from another blog...but can't remember who. (Ugh, I'm so bad about that! SORRY!) Anyway, the tuba section of the BYU marching band, will sometime play "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree". They only do this when we're winning (I was a member of the band for 3 years while at BYU). When they play, the fans will randomly jump out of their seats, like popcorn popping.  When we do this with the primary, there's not so much singing happening, but they love it and it helps to get the wiggles out! 

Questions used: Again, these are Angie's questions, so I take NO credit for them! I loved the more thought provoking questions such as "What does it mean to "Give My Heart to Him." I was really impressed with the answers that even the sunbeams gave. It was an awesome experience.

**for the fill-in-the-blank questions, I raised a finger for each blank instead of saying "A blank blank blank in a beautiful place. I told them to listen for the missing words. They got it.

Verse 1:
1) A __ __ __ in a beautiful place 
2) Who was gathered 'round Jesus? a) people b) children c) apostles
3) He __ and __ as they felt of His love.
4) Each saw the (what) on His face? a) lines b) beard c) tears
5) The __ that He __ for His __ ones
6) I know He feels for (who)? a) me b) you c) us
7) I did not __ __ or __ on His __
__, Jesus is real to me.
8) What scripture story could the first verse be talking about?
9) How can Jesus be real to you if you didn't see him in person?
When they are done answering these questions, they should have made a touch-down and are now ready to take a break and do the wiggle song listed on the back of the ball. A NEW game-ball is chosen and placed on the 20 yard line. 

Chorus:
1) I know He (what)? a) gives b) loves c) lives
2) I will follow __
3) __ __ I give to Him
4) I know that (who) loves me? a) Heavenly Father b) my Savior c) my
mommy (I emphasized that although all three of these individuals love us, the answer is the one sung about in 
the song)
5) What does "My heart I give to Him" mean?
6) When we sing about something we know, it is the same as what?
(bearing testimony)

Verse 2:
1) Now __ __ __ in a beautiful place
2) (what) the teachings of Jesus? a) teaching b) hearing c) learning
3) Parents and teachers will __ __ the __
4) (what) my path every day? a) lighting b) righting c) fighting
5) __ in the __ of my Savior's love
6) I feel His (what) touch. a) tender b) gentle c) loving
7) __ each day, I will __ His way
8) Home to my (what) above. a) Father b) Savior c) heaven
9) Living __ __, I will follow __ __
10) How do parents and teachers help guide the way?
11) We sing "Living each day I will follow His way." How does that lead us  "home to [our] Father above?"




7 comments:

  1. Seriously--can you come to my ward? What a cute idea! I love it!! Looks like so much fun!

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  2. How very fitting for the superbowl. Thanks for all the ideas. I will have to try to adapt it to our new song for feb.

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  3. I love this idea a lot. I am going to try to adopt this idea for Feb or March. I was wondering how wide and long is the football field. I could tell if you used two poster boards. Love this idea. By the way love this blog.

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  4. Twilight mom:
    The black background was a foam posterboard that I inherited, and the Green foot ball field were two 12x12 scrapbook pieces of paper, and a third 12x12 green paper cut in half, and stuck on the ends. Hope this helps! I just taped the pieces together and stuck them on the board. the ends did hang off of the posterboard, but didn't seem to be a problem.

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  5. I was just wondering what did you use to draw the white lines, I tried using a white color pencil and you can't see it as well.

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  6. twilight mom:
    I used a white paint pen, I picked up at Joann's. It's in the scrapbooking section.

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  7. Thanks a lot for the info. I am going to use this idea for Follow the Prophet, so thanks so much.

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