The Holy Ghost Singing Time

The Holy Ghost is a topic discussed in the Come Follow Me- For Primary curriculum many times throughout the year.

In the June 2019 Friend there is an article titled " The Holy Ghost Is..." You can find the article HERE.  I have taken the pictures from the article and made them bigger so I can post them on the board you can download the enlarged pictures HERE.  I cut out and laminated the pictures and then placed them in a gift bag.  You could also gather items to represent those listed and use them instead of the pictures.

Music Lesson: Begin by showing the children the gift bag and telling them that you are going to talk about a special gift that Heavenly Father gives each of us when we are baptized. Ask if anyone can guess what the gift is.  If a child knows great, if not then tell them it's the Holy Ghost.  Then ask children to draw the pictures out of the bag and discuss what the picture represents that the Holy Ghost is.  When all of the pictures are on the board sing the song you have chosen about the Holy Ghost.

I have chosen Listen, Listen on page 107 of the Children's Songbook, but this activity would be appropriate for any of the songs about the Holy Ghost from the songbook.  Listen, Listen is a very short song that can be sang as a round and learned quickly.  My primary children LOVE rounds so I thought this would be a fun song for them.  To teach the song I will first sing it to them while they listen and then I will have them join in singing the song several times through.  Once I feel like we have the words down I will teach them how to do it in a round.  This song is supposed to be sang a cappella.  For the program we are going to use the handbells to sing it through one time before going into the round a cappella.  Even if you aren't planning on playing the bells during your program they are a fun addition to singing time and help the children engage with the music.

You can find my bell chart HERE (one thing to note is that the middle C and high C notes are the same color.  This song uses both notes so you will need to make sure the children playing C notes know which notes are theirs.  The first C is high and the other 4 Cs are middle C).  If you haven't used handbells before THIS is a good link to check out.  These are the handbells that I use.  You can find them HERE on Amazon. 

Shhh Don't Wake Dad

With Father's Day coming up I wanted to find a fun activity that I could use to review already learned songs as well as sing some of the Father's Day songs in the primary song book.  I found this fun idea called "Shhhh Don't Wake Dad" HERE.

 For those who are familiar with the game "Don't Eat Pete" this is a variation of that game.

To play the game you need to print the board.  This can be done by downloading HERE and printing it at a print shop in size 11x14 or Camille's Primary Ideas has a link HERE to print the board in a tiled format.  With this method you print at home and tape the tiles together to make a full board.  I opted to use the tiled option and it turned out great.  I decided to laminate my board and then tape together.  This way I can take it apart and store it for future use.  You will also need to print out the game pieces HERE.

How to play the game: post the game board where everyone can see it and explain that the primary is going to sing the dads to sleep.  Sing your fist song and then choose a child who was singing well to go to the hallway.  The other children will choose the dad that is going to wake up.  When the child in the hallway returns they will start to place the game pieces on each dad until they come to the dad that was chosen.

When they try to touch the dad that was chosen the primary will whisper 
"shhh don't wake dad".  Then that child will return to his/her seat and you will sing your next song and continue play.  Make a list of songs that you want to sing prior to primary starting and coincide them with the dads.  My list is going to be a combination of review songs that we have learned this year, songs about fathers and movement songs. Their are lots of variations that could be used so just be creative and have fun.

Baptism Medley- Baptism and When I am Baptized Part 2

This week I taught the second part of the medley which is When I am Baptized.  My primary children already know this song because we sang it for the program in 2018.  So for us it was just a review and learning it with the new accompaniment.

You can see how I taught the first verse of  this song HERE and also find a link to listen and buy the music.

To review this song I handed out colored scarves to the primary children and had them move them in an arch over their heads like they were making a rainbow.  This should be smooth and in rhythm with the music.  I had them sing this way while singing "I like to look for rainbows whenever their is rain and ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again" For the next part of the song we used the scarves to make quick downward falling motions like raindrops in a staccato pattern.  We did this while singing, "I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.  I want to be the best I can and live with God again."

We sang this several times through until I felt like the children had the words down.  We also sang the second verse the same way.

For the medley the first verse of Baptism and second verse of When I Am Baptized are sang simultaneously.  When we put these two parts together I had the group that was singing Baptism use the rhythm wands with the actions I had taught the week before and the group singing When I Am Baptized use the scarves using the actions above.  It was fun to see both the wands and scarves moving at the same time in different patterns.     

Song Hospital

In my ward the primary program is scheduled for mid-September.  That means we only have about 4 months left to finish up the songs we will be singing.  I like to do reviews along the way of all the songs we have learned to date to make sure that the children are remembering them from month to month, rather than wait until right before the program to cram.  This is especially important for us since the program is in September, which means that many children will be missing in the month prior to the program for summer vacations.

I decided to spend a couple of weeks doing a fun review game I got from my mom, who is also the primary chorister in her ward.  The game is called "The Song Hospital" and is  a fun way to get the children excited about practicing and "fixing" any problems the songs may be having.

To play this review you first need to make the "Hospital" my mom found this idea HERE and you can click the link to find the graphics to make your hospital.  This is what my mom's board looks like.

At the beginning of singing time I put on a white doctor's coat and hung a stethoscope around my neck. This really got the children's attention and they were eager to find out what was going on.  I told the children that this week all of our songs got sick and I had to take them to the song hospital.  Then I brought out my "hospital".   All of the songs had the sick emoji in the envelope to start.  I asked the children how many of them had been sick and had to go to the doctor before.  I told them the doctor's job is to help people get better.  Next, I brought out a few things that they might see  a doctor use and explained to them how we were going to use them to help our songs get better.

Small flash light- Sometimes when we go to the doctor they look in our ears with a light to make sure they aren't infected.  So today we need to look at our songs and make sure that we can hear the words and understand what is being said.

Tongue depressor- The doctor might have us open our mouths wide and say awww.  So today we need to have our songs open their mouths big so they can be heard really well.

Stethoscope- The doctor listens to our hearts to make sure it is working properly and is healthy.  We need to listen to our songs and make sure that they have a lot of "heart", this means that they have feeling and make people feel the message and the spirit.

I then told the children as they sang the song I would listen to see what needed to be "fixed" to make the songs feel better so they could leave the hospital.  We started with the first song and as they sang I would decide what item best fit how they could make the song feel better and then we would sing it again to see if it worked.  I only had the children sing the song about 3 times before deciding on it's final status.  Either it would feel a little better, but need to stay in the hospital a little longer or feel better and get to go home.  Then we went on to the next song.  I planned to use this activity for 2 weeks in a row and then bring it back one more time as it gets closer to our program.  This is what my board looked like at the end of our first week.  I left everything the same to take it back the following week so the children could start from where they had left off.

Love One Another

For the month of June I am going to use the song "Love One Another" as the scripture song.  You can see how I use scripture songs in primary HERE.

I will introduce the song by talking about how Jesus loves us and ask the children some of the ways we know this.  Then I will tell them that we are going to sing a song that tells us how we can show Jesus that we love Him.  We will sing the song and after I will ask the children if they heard the answer.  

To make the song a little more fun I am going to give the children jingle bell bracelets and have them shake the bells every time they sing the word love.  I purchased THESE  bells to use in nursery, but I like to let the older children use them once in awhile too.  

Swat a Song

Primary singing time review game: 

I found these cute fly swatters at the dollar store and wanted to make a singing time game with them.  So I came up this game called "Swat a Song".  (if you can't find these exact swatters any fly swatter will do)

To make the game print 16 lily pads on full sheets of paper and then 16 ladybugs and frogs 4 of each per page.  Then attach a bug or frog to the back of each lily pad.  I printed the bugs and frogs on card stock so they couldn't be seen through the lily pads.  I laminated mine, but you could also put them in sheet protectors if you don't have a laminator.

You can download the printables HERE

The clipart is from http://www.clipartpanda.com/  and clipart-library.com

How to play the game:  Before singing time use magnets to put the lily pads up on the chalkboard or just lay them on the floor in a 4x4 grid like this:

   Choose two children at once to come up and use the fly swatters to swat 1 lily pad each.  Turn over what has been swatted and sing according to what you have assigned to that combination. 

Ideas for what to assign to the possible combinations: 

A frog + a frog = first verse of review song or let children choose from a list of song options that you want to review. 

A frog + a bug = second verse of review song or a program song 

(this combination is the most likely to be chosen so you should assign whatever you want the most work on to this category.)

A bug+a bug = fun song or activity added to review song

The great thing about this game  is it is very versatile and can be used a lot of different ways.  So once you make the game pieces you can reuse it throughout the year to review in a number of different ways.  My primary children really liked this and will be excited to see it return in the near future. 

In the Leafy Treetops

The song "In the Leafy Treetops" is a fun song that has a great rhythm and makes me feel happy. I wanted to use this song as a movement song to break up learning program songs.  So I posted the words (Camille over at Camille's Primary Ideas has a great suggestion on how to do this HERE) and we just started right in on the singing.  The children who can't read yet picked it up really quickly after singing it a few times through.  To make the song a little more fun and get the children moving I made sticks with pictures of a bird, a tree and a sun on them.  Each child got 1 picture and when we sang the part of the song that mentioned that picture they stood up and put their picture in the air.

The second verse says, "the flowers were nodding" I was in a primary once and the children thought the song said," the flowers were naughty". :) So when I taught it I quickly made sure the children understood that sometimes people "nod" as a way to greet each other before we started singing.  Then I had the children nod their heads when we sang, "the flowers are nodding" and shake hands with the person on their left when we sang, "how do you do they say" and shake hands with the person on their right when we sang, "how do you do today".  

If you want to use the same clip art images as mine you can find them at the links below. I downloaded them and then put them in a PowerPoint image to print.  I made the images about a 1/4 of a sheet each.  

Bird- Click HERE 

Tree- Click HERE

Sun- Click HERE

  

I Know That My Savior Loves Me

I am teaching, "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" for the month of May.  This song was a program song in 2010 and can be found HERE as well as in the above link.

In May the Come Follow Me in Primary curriculum focuses on how much the Savior loves us and how we can return to be with Him and our Heavenly Father.  The suggested songs are Keep the Commandments, Families Can Be Together Forever and I Am a Child of God.  Since our primary children are really familiar with these particular songs I wanted to teach something new that had a similar message and this song does that perfectly.  However, I will be singing the suggested songs as review songs and using Keep the Commandments as our scripture song for the month.  You can see how I use scripture songs in primary HERE.  You can watch a video of the fun actions I put to Keep the Commandments HERE.

I really love the song, "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" because it reminds me of a story being told.  It starts out by saying, "A long time ago in a beautiful place, children were gathered round Jesus."  The wording makes me think of a bed time story, "a long time ago".  The words are so personal and help the children understand that Jesus is a REAL person who loves them and lives.

Last week I introduced this song during the last 10 minutes of singing time by singing the chorus to the children and then teaching them the sign language.  The signs are really simple and the children picked up on them fast.  By the end of the 10 minutes most of the children were able to do the entire chorus.  You can watch a YouTube video of the sign language HERE.  I am only teaching the sign language for the chorus, but the video shows signs for the entire song.

The versus to this song I am going to teach by using THIS flip chart that I found on Susan Fitch's website.  I printed the flip chart and put it together in a spiral bound scrapbook I had on hand to make it look like a book.

Make sure to print the pages double sided so that when you turn the pages it looks like an actual book.  If you can't find a book like this you could also put it together by stapling the edges together, using book rings or having it bound at a copy shop.  You could also just put it in a binder, but because of the page orientation the pages won't turn like a standard book.  I also had to use the custom scale feature when I printed so that the pictures would fit within the book nicely.  I printed at 70% for the book I was using.  

Music Lesson: I will begin by asking the children if they like to read stories and if their parents read books to them.  I'll let them share for a few minutes what types of books they like to read.  Then we will discuss how some stories are real and some stories are true.  I will explain that I'm going to read them a story about something that is true.  I will then read the book that I made.  Once I finish reading the book we will talk about how we know the things in the book are real and why knowing they are real is important.  Once we finish the discussion I will use the book again, but this time to sing the song. Then we will add the chorus and sign language, which we already learned last week.  I am going to introduce both the first and the second verses when we read the book, but will probably focus on singing the first verse one week and the second verse the next week.

I am teaching this song on Mother's Day so I am going to play the game "Sing Your Heart Out" to help the children sing the song multiple times without getting tired of it.  You can find my post on how to play this game HERE.

Sing You're Heart Out- Mother's Day Activity

Since this week is Mother's Day I wanted to do something in singing time that related, but I didn't want to lose a week of teaching our song for the month.  So I decided to do a game I'm calling,
 "Sing You're Heart Out".  I made this "Mommy Meter" that has encouraging phrases on it that mom's might say to their children.

I'm going to teach the song "I Know That My Savior Loves Me". Then  I will use the meter to encourage the children to sing the song so we get in some repetition.   As they sing the heart will move up to each encouraging phrase until it reaches the smiling mom.  I will probably add in a few other songs so everyone doesn't get bored. If you aren't teaching a song this could also be used to sing Mother's Day songs or any other songs that you want to review.  

To make the "Mommy Meter" I  downloaded the mommy from HERE and then printed it out.  I cut a poster board so it was long and a little bit wider than the mommy's head.  Then I made a small hole in the bottom and top of the poster board to put the yarn through. I then tied both ends of the yarn at the back of the poster board, like this:

  

You want it to be tight enough that it will hold the heart close to the board, but not so tight that it rips it.  I secured the holes by putting a piece of scotch tape where the tension of the yarn looked like it might start to tear. 

Then I cut a piece of sturdy but thin cardboard (another piece of poster board would also work) smaller than the heart and secured it to the string so that their would be something to secure the heart onto.  

After I made sure that the pulley system was going to work I wrote the phrases about every 2 inches up the board.  The entire thing took me about 15 minutes to put together.  

Did Jesus Really Live Again?

I chose to teach "Did Jesus Really Live Again" as a scripture song for the month of April.  You can see how I am implementing scripture songs into singing time this year HERE.  When I teach "scripture songs" I try to spend more time focusing on the doctrine the song is teaching rather than memorizing the words.

I love how this song asks questions that people might wonder about and then provides the answers to the questions. The entire song seems like a conversation between two people.  So I printed out the questions and the answers to the questions on separate pieces of paper.  I led a discussion with the primary children talking about the three questions the song asks and the answers.  We briefly discussed the events that happened when Jesus was resurrected.  Then I held up the paper with the questions and we sang it.  I followed this by holding up the words to the answer and we sang that.  We sang all three verses this way.

Next time we sing this song I am going to have all of the teachers stand together facing the children.  Then the teachers will sing the questions and the children will sing the answers. After a few times through we might switch parts.

You can print the word strips that I used HERE.

Have a Very Happy Birthday

For 2019 I am going to have the primary children sing the third verse only of this song to the primary teachers when they have a birthday.  We will be using THESE finger lights.

Before starting the song hand out a finger light to each child and wait until they have them on their fingers.  The first time this takes a few minutes,but it gets faster as they learn how to do it. To teach the hand actions the first time just sing through the song once having the children watch you and then have them join you on the second time through.  It's easy and the children pick up on the actions quickly.  I would suggest teaching this song during a review or activity week before you need to use it for the first time.  That way you don't have to take a lot of time teaching the song while the birthday person is waiting to be sang to.

You can see my actions in the video below.  It's a little hard to see, but I do have a red finger light on my right hand.  At the end of the song while all of the children have their candles (hands with finger light) in the air have the birthday person give a big blow as if they are blowing out all the birthday candles on a cake.  Once they "blow" them out the children put their hands down.