Crying Mother

If you are looking for a great way to get the kids excited to sing on Mother's Day in Sacrament meeting, this little lady may very well do the trick.  It certainly did with our kiddos.  

This is the "Crying Mama".  I'd seen this idea years ago (on Sugardoodle I believe) when I was the enrichment leader.  I've never forgotten it because it seemed like such a fun idea.  I'm so excited to be in a calling that I can use it on now.

Here's what you do.  

Step 1:  Make a mama.  I just made up a pattern but I'm sure you could google a mother and that would work even better as my drawing skills leave much to be desired. :) 

 Step 2:  Cut out the mama.  

Step 3:  laminate her so that she is waterproof, 

Step 4:  Punch holes out of the center of her eyeballs (large enough that the spout of a spray bottle can fit through the eyeball.  HINT:  I had a little problem with the makeup and eye color running down the mama's face as I cut out the eye holes AFTER I had laminated them .  Cut out the eye holes prior to laminating.  Make sure that the eye holes on the mama are a tiny bit SMALLER than the eye holes in the laminate. This will ensure that the paper is not right up to the edge, which could create running. Sorry if that doesn't make sense.  I can't think of how else to describe it. 

Step 5:  Place the spray bottle through the mama's eyes and hold by the spray bottle.  

How it went down...

I started out singing time by asking the kids if they've ever seen their mom cry happy tears.  We talked about how sometimes when moms feel the spirit or are very happy about something, they cry.  I told them that we wanted to make our mothers cry happy tears on Mother's Day with our beautiful singing.  

Since we didn't want to give away our singing surprise to our moms before Mother's day, there was no way that we could test out our singing on them before then.  Instead I introduced the "Crying Mama" to the kids.  

As we worked on the different songs for Mother's Day, the kids had to try to make the Mama cry.  This worked like a charm. The kids sang with so much power and energy and we seemed to learn the songs in a snap this go round-always a nice treat.  

HELPFUL HINT...

I made sure that I didn't squirt the kids but that the tears were streaming down the mama's face instead so that I didn't have any kids in tears instead.

I walked around the room and so that every child felt like they were the one that made the mama cry.  I think it's important for each child to feel like they are an important part of singing time.

Anyway, thought I'd pass this idea along as it was so effective for us.  Have fun with your Mother's Day song prep.  It's always one of my favorite times to have the primary sing.  They love their mamas and it really seems to show on Mother's Day.  

"Spring Fever" meter

I feel like I have been M.I.A. from this blog for way too long.  Things are finally settling down a bit after our move.  Fortunately we had a couple weeks after the move where I didn't have to do my calling as we had general conference one week and then sacrament only the next week (they'd just refinished the wood floors in the gym and the smell was a little too much for everyone).  So I had a few weeks off from my calling.  It's nice to get back into the swing of things though and spend some time with my favorite little peeps.

I don't know about you all, but here in Georgia, Spring is definitely in the air, as my allergies can attest.  I thought it would be fun to make a "Spring Fever" thermometer to measure the level of "Spring Fever" with our singing in Primary.  Spring Fever is different than a typical fever.  Spring Fever symptoms include:  Excited, Enthusiastic, Energetic, and Expressive.

What better way to determine if they had these symptoms than through their singing.   Fortunately, if the kids had a high level of Spring Fever, there was a special remedy/pill to treat it (jellybeans that I'd found on clearance after Easter).  

As we sang several different songs that went along with the theme for the month, I called on different children to come up and control the meter. This worked really well as I only called on the kids that seemed to have an extra high level of "Spring Fever".

While this was a very effective music time tool, and I will definitely use it again, I am going to have to come up with a better system for the lever that rises.  It was just kind of loose and wobbly under the board. 

To make the meter...

1.  Glue the meter wording onto a poster board. 

2.  Use a second layer of poster board to make it extra sturdy

3.  Cut out a 2-inch strip in all layers (where the meter will show).  I did this with an x-acto knife and it worked great.

4.  I secured another 3"wide x14" long strip of poster board to the back of the poster (right behind the area that was cut out.  I secured this strip to the top and the bottom.  This held my lever to the back of the board and made it possible for the lever to slide up and down underneath this strip. Like I said, I will come up with a better system for this and pass that information along when I do.  There's a better way I am sure.

***If anyone wants a copy of the Spring Fever meter, let me know and I will email it to you.  

Happy Spring to you all!