These are the songs that I sing in nursery and the activity I do with each one. To see my earlier post on choosing songs for nursery and other tips click HERE
All of the songs I sing are in the Children's Songbook
All of the songs I sing are in the Children's Songbook
I start every nursery singing time with the song Hello Friends pg 254. "Hello friends it's nice to be here with you in nursery..." I substitute primary for nursery. I sing this song while the children are gathering and it helps them recognize that it's time to transition to singing time.
Once all of the children are gathered I hand out small pictures of temples and we sing
I Love to See the Temple pg 95 while the children look at the pictures.
I purchased these little cards from Deseret Book several years ago. I lamented them punched a hole in the corner and put a book ring that opens easily through them to keep them all together. The kit that I purchased I couldn't find, but THIS set is similar. You could also just clip temple pictures from church magazines and laminate them if you don't want to purchase something.
I Love to See the Temple pg 95 while the children look at the pictures.
I purchased these little cards from Deseret Book several years ago. I lamented them punched a hole in the corner and put a book ring that opens easily through them to keep them all together. The kit that I purchased I couldn't find, but THIS set is similar. You could also just clip temple pictures from church magazines and laminate them if you don't want to purchase something.
Not many of the children sing this song with me yet, but I had a nursery leader tell me a few weeks ago that one of the nursery children recognized the temple on his tie and he thought it was because we had been singing this song with the pictures. So that put a little smile on my face.
Rain Is Falling All Around pg 241- I use this song all year long and change out what is falling based on the season. We use the egg shakers to make the sound of the rain, snow, leaves...as we sing the song.
THESE Egg Shakers are fun and versatile. They can be added to about any song to help keep the children interested. Other songs on my list that could easily be used with egg shakers are Fun to Do, Wise Man/Foolish Man and Popcorn Popping.
Fun to Do pg 253- We use hand actions that go along with the words while we sing this song . We sing this song through 3 times and I use the words reading a book (put hands together like an open book), singing a song (bring your open palm to your mouth and move it away indicating your voice leaving your mouth) and folding my arms (have children fold arms) in that order.
Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam pg 60- This song is definitely a favorite in my nursery. To sing it I have the children wear THESE shutter glasses (they LOVE these) and put THESE sunshine rings on their finger. Then we do the standard open and close sunburst movement every time we sing "sunbeam". I put my rings on pointed to the inside of my hands so when I open them the sun peaks out.
NOTE: I know a lot of people like to have the children jump out of their seat when they sing "sunbeam", but I caution against this because it is a very hard habit to break once they become Sunbeams in the older primary. Then you don't have a few small nursery children jumping, but a lot of children jumping around and it becomes irreverent pretty quickly.
NOTE: I know a lot of people like to have the children jump out of their seat when they sing "sunbeam", but I caution against this because it is a very hard habit to break once they become Sunbeams in the older primary. Then you don't have a few small nursery children jumping, but a lot of children jumping around and it becomes irreverent pretty quickly.
Roll Your Hands pg 274- We use hand motions with this song. I try to exaggerate the quickly and slowly parts so the children anticipate the change of speed.
If You're Happy pg 266- For this song I use THESE jingle bell bracelets. We sing it first by clapping our hands and then a second time through by singing "if you're happy and you know it put 'em in the air" We raise our hands and shake our fingers during this verse. Sometimes I add shout hooray if the children are still enjoying the bells.
Follow the Prophet pg 110- To sing this song I printed 4x6 photos of President Nelson. I had mine printed at a photo shop (I didn't want to use that much ink on my printer) and then laminated them and adhered them to popsicle sticks. Each child gets a picture stick and then we march around in a circle singing the chorus only of Follow the Prophet. I usually sing it two times through. You can download the picture of President Nelson HERE.
We end by singing I Am a Child of God pg 2. For this song I have all the children sit in a semi-circle and fold their arms. Then I turn the pages in THIS picture board book called, "I am a Child of God" by Greg Olsen, while we sing. This just helps to keep the children focused because not many of them have started singing the words to this song yet. You could also cut out pictures from church magazines or print from lds.org and laminate.
In January I taught the song Jesus Once was a Little Child pg 55 in primary singing time. I made picture sticks to go along with the repeating words in the song. So I decided it would be fun to sing this song in nursery as well since I already had the visuals prepared. I don't sing it every week, but sometimes I sing it for the closing song in place of I Am a Child of God. I only sing the first verse with the nursery children.
Hello Friends pg 254 (Gathering song)
I Love to See the Temple pg 95 (Opening song)
I Am a Child of God pg 2 OR Jesus Once was a Little Child pg 55(Closing Song)
With these songs I sing about 6 activity songs. The songs that I already mentioned above are the ones my nursery children like the most so they are our staples, but each week I do switch out 1 or 2 of those songs with an activity song from the following list just to keep things fresh and help familiarize the children with a variety of songs.
The Wise Man and the Foolish Man pg 281- We do hand actions to this song and then use the egg shakers to make the sound of the rain as it comes tumbling down. I usually rotate this out with another song that uses egg shakers.
Book of Mormon Stories pg 118- Sing with hand actions
Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes pg 275- Sing with actions
Popcorn Popping pg 242- Sing with hand actions or egg shakers
Little Seeds pg 243- Sing with actions
Smiles pg 267- I made a smiling and frowning face and put them on Popsicle sticks. As we sing the children flip them to the face that matches the words.
Some of my ideas came from Camille's Primary Ideas she also had a number of different songs and activities that I don't use that you may want to check out.
Of course after you have gathered all of your wonderful visuals and noisemakers you will need a nursery bag that will hold everything. I found THIS amazing bag and it holds everything I use for nursery as well as all of my primary singing time stuff. All of the pockets help keep things organized and easy to find.
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