Potato Head Review

For Mother's day, I wanted to do something motherly-related for singing time.

I got the inspiration from this blog. She had real mom items to dress up with, but I didn't have enough of these things, so I came up with using the Potato-head toy.

This would work well for Father's day, or any day, for that matter.

This IS a "competition" game, which I generally try to stay away from. I did preface this game to the kids, by saying that we are often discouraged by competition games, because sometimes, the kids get too wrapped up in winning the game, instead of just having fun playing the game. Then I told them that I have been watching them for the 2 years that I have had this calling, and felt like it is something they could handle. I knew that THEY knew how to have fun, without making others feel bad, or getting out of control.

They did just fine. :)

Anyway. On to the game:

I had prewritten two posters with blanks on them. Except for the color of marker, the posters are the same.  I used heavy duty magnets, and posted them on the blackboard.

Each team gets a Mrs. Potato Head set.

(I think we had glasses and the purse too, but I forgot about these when I took the picture)

The game:

1) The primary sings the song continually, until the game is over (the poster is filled in).

2) Each person fills in TWO words on the poster, and puts ONE piece on the potato head.

(We had 11 pieces, so that makes 22 words to fill-in on the poster)

3) Once you have played, you can not go again. (I wanted to make sure that not the same 5 people were playing the game.) We let teacher's play as well.

4) First team to complete their poster and have the MOST complete Mrs. Potato head, wins. 

5) If you are caught NOT singing, I will pull off a part from your assembled potato head. I HIGHLY recommend doing this, or they get too caught up in the game, and forget to sing. I DID take off a piece or two during our game...

This was such a big hit, and I know THEY know the words to the song now. When the game was over, I didn't say anything about the "winner", but as soon as the winning team had one, I just stopped the game and said "Great job everyone! you guys did awesome!" and moved on to the next thing in my lesson plan.

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?"

January week 3: Reinforcement

I'm SO sorry that I'm getting this out the day before Sunday, but we had a death in the family. Yes, our pet hampster of 2 years, passed away. It's been a little emotional over here, and I just wasn't able to get to this until now.


I found this idea, somewhere...  I'm pretty sure it was on a fellow chorister's blog, but I swear I went through every archive and could not find it. So, to whomever's idea this is, THANK YOU.  Please let me know so I can give you credit!


Anyway, here's the plan:

You take a box (I used a shoe box), place a reward inside (I used Smarties') and wrap it up. Then you attach a bunch of tags with ribbons. The orginal idea [insert name of person who deserves much credit here} was to put the names of all the program songs on the tags, and as the kids mastered each song, they would cut off a tag, getting them closer to finding out what is inside the gift.

I'm modifying this idea just a little, to use it for just ONE song. I placed a phrase or two of January's song "I know my Savior Loves Me" on each gift tag. There are 9 tags total. Here are the linkgs to the tag PDF and WORD Document.  files.

I'm going to start with the Chorus, (all on one tag). We'll work on singing it until we've mastered it. This means, no visuals, and no singing help from me. Once they've got it, I'll call a child up to cut the ribbon with the corresponding tag.

 We will work through the song backwards, starting with the last phrase of the second verse FIRST. That way, we can just add on, singing to the end, and not have to stop the song in awkward places.

I'm not sure if we'll finish in one Sunday, (probably not), so we'll finish the next week if we need to.

We have split Senior and Junior singing time, so I have already pre-cut the ribbon for the Senior Primary, and will just use the same tags.

January week 2: Repetition!

So, last week, we introduced the song, and sang it through once or twice.

This week's goal is just to repeat like crazy, but not let them get bored.

For my repeat week, I desperately tried to come up with an original idea, but let's face it, I'm just not that creative. :) so, I'm adapting an idea from Sofia's primary ideas.

The idea is to get some smaller, white dry-erase boards. She mentioned you could get them at Target or the dollar store. I couldn't find them at either, so forked out a few more bucks at wal-mart. I have plans to use them for other things, so I'm considering it an "investment." :) Of course, you can always use just the chalkboard. The erase-boards are nice because of A) color, and B) That the rest of the primary can't really see what is being drawn until it is time for the reveal! (I think I've watched too many reality shows...)

Bascially, it's a game of pictionary. :)

For Junior primary: We'll review the song once, and then I'll call up two children to come and illustrate something that shows that Heavenly Father Loves them. (i.e. families, nature, gospel, etc.) (I'll have a jar of paper strips if they need an "idea"

While they are "illustrating" we will sing through one verse of the song with the chorus. We'll alternate verses, to make sure they get practice singing.  When we are done singing, it is time for them to be done coloring, and to show their picture to the primary, where we (the primary) will then guess what their picture is of.

I plan on using the popsicle stick idea to help me pick my helpers, but The Crazy Chorister has some great ideas on other helper-picker methods.

I'm hoping that with the 20 minute allotment for singing time, all of the children will get a turn. We have about 30-40 in Jr and 20-30 in Sr.

for Senior: I'm trying to make it a little bit harder, and so they have to pay attention to the song more. They will be asked to illustrate a line of the song while we sing a verse, and then we'll have to guess which line they drew.

 I'll have a jar with the following lines written on separate strips of paper, so they don't take too long trying to pick out a phrase: click HERE for the word file, or PDF file, so all you have to do is cut up the strips and stick them in a jar.  

Since two children will be drawing at one time (each on separate boards) I'm going to have them illustrate the same idea. It will be fun to see the different interpretations!

Once all of the papers have been drawn, we'll stick them all back in again until we run out of time.

Here are the phrases for the wordstrips...

A long time ago in a beautiful place

children were gathered 'round Jesus

Parents and teachers will help guide the way

Lighting my path everyday

I did not touch him or sit on his knee

Now I am here in a beautiful place, learning the teachings of Jesus

Wrapped in the arms of my Savior's love, I feel is gentle touch

My heart I give to him

Each saw the tears on his face

I will follow faithfully

home to my Father above

I know that my savior loves me

Little People review

Hi! I'm back! I'm sorry for the lack of posts, but we've recently moved...took forever to get the internet hooked up...went on vacation...blah blah blah...

Anyway, I've been anxious to post this idea I used a few weeks back. It worked surprisingly well!

We had learned the verses to Families are together forever the previous week. So, this week, I reminded them about the song we had learned about "families". Then I brought out a family of "little people". I had a Dad, Mom, Brother, Sister, and Baby.

I told the kids to look at them very carefully. After a few seconds, I covered them up, and we sang through one of the verses.
When we finished singing, I took away one of the figures (all still covered up), then had them guess which one I took. They had no problems figuring it out.

but then...

we added the family "pets".

For junior primary I added them two at a time. For Senior primary, I just stuck them all out at once. After adding the figures, we'd cover them up, sing a verse, then I'd call a volunteer to take one away, then they'd guess which one was missing.

We played this Over and over and over, so they didn't notice how many times we sang through the verses! At the end, I told them I was going to try to make it harder, by having the sing BOTH verses...giving them more time to forget! They loved the challenge. My own kids begged to play the game when we got home from church.

Can you tell which one is missing?

When I do this again, I plan on bringing in "extended" family, i.e. aunts, uncles, cousins, etc! :)

Verse Review

I used this to review the first verse of How Firm a Foundation, but it could be used with any song.

My visuals for the first verse look like this. . .

The previous week I had introduced the visuals, explained the song and taught the verse. My goal now was to review and cement what they had learned.

I had the oldest class put the visuals in order (as shown above) on a bulletin board before we finished singing through the song twice. When they were done we sang it together as an entire primary (ours is combined Jr & Sr) to check it.

I told the children I was going to trick them by turning over one visual. Then they sang it again--without me singing on the part with the visual turned over. We did this over and over until all the visuals were turned over and I wasn't singing at all. Each time I made a big deal about how NOW I could trick them or said things like, "Oh well, I have only turned over red so far and I KNOW I'll trick you by doing a YELLOW one" etc. As they sang, I would cover my mouth and put my arms out or my hands on my hips with an expression like "I got you now!" on my face. The kids ate it up. They LOVED it. We sang the song repeatedly and they had a lot of fun trying to prove to me that I COULDN'T trick them. After everything was turned over I told them they must have super x-ray vision to see through the paper and I bet if I turn the bulletin board around THEN it would trick them. Even the little sunbeams were singing their hearts out to prove me wrong. The kids had a lot of fun and didn't even realize how many zillion times we sang the verse!

Another idea for How Firm a Foundation

The art work is courtesy of Jeni at Singing time Helps, I just put two on a page, rather than one per page, I will cut them in half before using.

I am going to have the kids put the pictures in order as I sing the song a few times - to get them familiar with the song. Then I will give a picture, or two, to each class and they will be in charge of those words and we will go around the primary room with each class singing just their "part".

I've split songs up into parts like this before, having one class in charge of just one phrase, and we go around the room and have the class stand as they sing their part (the pianist has to keep watch to slow down between parts) and the kids really love it, and they really learn the song well using this method.

NOTE: In respect for Jeni's terms of use, you will need to go to her blog (following the link above) to view the visuals discussed in this post. Go there--they are great! Thanks for the reminder Jeni!

Keyword Game

This is an idea found on sugardoodle that I plan to use with my Jr's tomorrow.

preparation: Print out or draw, many images of a key. I found a clipart one, copy and pasted it to word, and adjusted it to the size I wanted. Cut them out and LAMINATE, so you can use them again. Write, with a dry-erase marker, key words to a song. I am only doing the verse we are working on.

Put into action: Ask a child to leave the room. Invite another child to draw out a key word. (I'll place a sandwhich bag with the keys inside, in a hat.) Have the child tell the rest of the primary what the word is. For example, "Father". Invite the other child back into the primary room and to come up to the front. They can put on the hat if they want. Have the primary sing the song/verse but leave out the "keyword". The child with the hat will try to guess which word is the keyword.

Because it's JR primary, and many of them may not understand the concept or have the ability to leave out the word, I'll have a stop sign on a stick, that I'll hold up for the "hat child" on the keyword, then put down again, so they'll know which word we were supposed to leave out. :)

Singing Dice

I made these blocks from 8x8 boxes I got at a mail & packing store, for about $1 each. I covered the sides with card stock paper in different colors. Then, I put contact paper over that, with clea packing tape on the edges to seal it. Now, I can use them for practically anything! You just tape on whatever you want, and take it off when you're done.

Today I put the different verses on one. Each side was labeled either Verse 1 or Verse 2. (You can use as many verses as you want..well, up to 6 that is...)

on the other box, I labeled each side with a different way to sing the song. These include:
Girls Sing
Boys sing
Stand up
Eyes Closed
Stand on one foot
March in place
Hum
Sing standing backwards
Clap Pattern (You can make these up, but today I did a 3/4 pattern. Slap the knees on beat one, then clap twice for beats 2 and 3)

There are more than 6 ideas, so I can change them out and add new ones, thanks to the laminated box.

You can also put dots on each side, to resemble a giant dice.