"I spy" gospel principles

Where this is a fifth Sunday, I thought it would be fun to wrap up the month by reviewing different ways that "Jesus Christ has taught us to Choose the Right"-which was the theme for April.
I have a hard time throwing the Friend magazines out.  We had years' worth of the magazines stockpiled.  However, we do so much with the Friend online now that it seems pointless to keep the paper copies.  They just collect dust. Last year I decided it was time to get rid of all but the current year's issues but before I did, I took out a ton of the pictures that I thought I could use for something at a later date.  Turns out that this was that perfect "something".

I found several of the pictures that went along with the theme and different ways that we can choose the right.  I numbered the songs 1-8 and then found songs that corresponded with the pictures.  Then I broke out the "I spy" scopes that I made awhile back for a different activity.

Here's how singing time will go down-assuming it will go as planned. :)  I will place the different pictures around the room.  One child will come up and pick a number (1-8) out of a basket or bag.  The pianist will play the song that corresponds with the picture.  I will give her a key beforehand of what each number represents so that she knows what song to play.  The child will have to use his/her "I spy" scope to find the song on the wall.  They can get help if they don't know what it is.

Once they've found the picture, we'll briefly talk about how that picture represents a way that we can choose the right.  Then we will sing that song. Easy Peasy!

Here's the songs I selected...
1- Boy reading Scripture- Search Ponder and Pray-109
2- Boy playing basketball- Jesus said love everyone- 61
3- Gospel Standards- Choose the Right- hymn book-
4- Joseph Smith- Follow the Prophet-
5- temple- I love to see the temple-95
6- Earth- As a child of God
7- Body- The Lord gave me a temple- 153
8- Sunshine-Jesus wants me for a sunbeam-60

Should be a very simple activity but I'm hoping it will wrap up the theme for the month in a way that the kids will understand the principle behind it.  

Choose the Right Match Game

(Click image to enlarge)

 What you need:
-a foam core/poster board- I used foam core board for durability as I plan to use this again.
-4 strips of plastic vinyl
  for pockets
-gospel related clip art
  with numbers on back
-hot glue gun

In a nutshell:
Cut clipart out.  I did 4" squares. Number clipart on the back.  Cut 3" strips of clear vinyl the width of the posterboard (I got this at Walmart in the fabric dept-super cheap.  Hot glue the bottom and sides of vinyl to the poster.  Place the clipart in the vinyl pockets with the numbers face up.

Play this just like the memory game but with each match they find, sing the song that coordinates to that picture.   You could use any clip art out there. I just happened to have these from an F.H.E kit I did ages ago so I made these work.  Here's what I am doing.

 Nephi- Nephi’s Courage (120-121)

Liahona- Follow the Prophet (110-111)

Daniel-  Faith (96)

Earth- I lived in Heaven (4)

Commandments-  Keep the Commandments (146)

Noah- Do as I’m doing (276)

Tree of Life-  Families can be together forever (188)

Joseph- I am a Child of God (2)

We always seem to have a few more minutes in Sr. Primary.  If that's the case, I will have them also tell how that picture represents "Choosing the Right".

"As a Child of God" song learning idea

I was trying to come up with a way to present the new song "As a Child of God" for January and came across this idea on the Crazy Chorister blog.

I thought it was an awesome idea as it would work for both Jr. and Sr. Primary. Some weeks I feel like I am preparing two totally different music times to make it work for each age group so I'm always happy when I come across an idea that will work for both.

The kids loved this activity and learned the verses really quickly.  Jr. Primary was so cute with it BUT I must say that I had a REALLY hard time keeping the Sr. Primary reverent with this activity.   I came home a little frustrated because even though they enjoyed it, the spirit and message of the song (and it's a beautiful message) got lost in the silliness of the activity.  I actually lost sleep over it Sunday night because I have a responsibility to teach the kids but I also want them to enjoy what we do.  

I feel like I've come up with a way to redeem that this Sunday and impress upon the kids the importance of reverence during our music time so that the spirit can be there with us.  I will post more about that later and let you know how it goes.  I think it will really drive the message home.

Having said all that, I may have scared anyone away from the idea but I do think that this is a great way to present a new song.  It just needs to be done carefully. 

Preparation:

The original idea suggested using bags but I used two file folders.  On each folder I put "Choose the Right" as the kids were going to try to Choose the Right folder.

I googled a bunch of objects that corresponded with the words in the song:  For each of those items, I also chose a silly, or opposite item. All of the pictures were placed in the folders (I mixed it up so that there were some correct and some incorrect in each folder).

Earth / Saturn

Choices CTR Shield / Ice Cream Cone

Family/ Snowman

Peace/ War

Prophet/ Television

You get the point. Here's how it played out. The kids wanted to play Boy vs. Girls (seems to be their favorite).  I explained that we were learning a new song about making choices.  I had the song written up on the board, but with several blanks (that the items above would represent).  So we would go over he first line of the song and say "I came to _______ with the power to Choose".  One boy and one girl  came up and each picked a folder.   One of the folders contained the picture of the Earth while the other contained the picture of Saturn. The group that "Chose the Right" folder got a point.  We then sang through that part of the song several times before moving on to the next phrase.  We repeated the activity over again until all we had the song down.  Clear as mud? :)

We will review the song again next Sunday but I think they did a great job learning the song quickly.

I made these "I Spy" telescopes (one for boys and one for girls) to scope of the girl or boy who was participating and singing. They were the ones who got to come up and pick the folder. I used a pringles can, cut it in half, covered them in some scrapbook paper and then added "I Spy" to them.  These were very effective.  I will be using them again for sure.