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.