"Getting the Bugs out" music time idea

Oh this sad neglected blog. We had such a busy summer (can't believe it's already over).  I'm trying to get back into the swing of things now.  All four of my kiddos are off to school this year so that should leave me a little more time.  First time in 13 1/2 years that I haven't had a little one in tow with me every day.  It's going to be strange...and sad...and way too quiet around this place. :)   

As the primary program nears, we have "learned" all of the songs, yet many of them leave much to be desired.  As a Child of God is definitely one of those.  I'm not sure why the kids didn't take to this song as well as it's such a beautiful song.

I decided that we needed to do some fine tuning.  One of the teachers suggested that her kids weren't singing it because they didn't remember the words.  Sometimes we learn the songs but then we move on and don't practice it again for awhile (my bad).  I decided that if that class was struggling with the words, maybe there were others as well.  I figured we might as well start back at square 1.  

I made a poster with all of the verses (we have the chorus polished so I didn't put that one on the poster).  I added a bunch of detachable bugs to the poster.  Tomorrow we will focus on "getting the bugs" out of this song, whether it be learning the words, or working on dynamics.  I am bringing a fly swatter (clean of course). :)  As we polish the different verses, I will let the kids come and swat one of the bugs.  The goal is to be "bug free" by the end of singing time.

Another fun idea I had for this as I have an adorable bee costume lying around...I will have one of the children wear the costume and buzz around the room as the children are singing.  If the bee spots a child singing "BEE-autifully" he/she will sting them.   Every person that gets a sting will get a little candy bug after sharing time.  I don't think I will need to do the candy bug with Jr. as they just LOVE to sing for me but Senior may need a little added incentive.

Should be an enjoyable day and hopefully we can finally master this song!  The program is sneaking up quickly.

***If anyone would like the poster, I have it saved as a pdf, and I'd be happy to email it to you. You would just have to take it into FedEx/kinkos to have it enlarged (or you can do what I did and just enlarge it at home on the printer and piece it all together-a trickier route but definitely cheaper).

I also created a pdf of the bug clipart if you would like that.  Just let me know.  

Good luck polishing up songs for the program everyone! :)

 

This is my cute little guy who "stung" the kids.  I failed to mention that the "sting" was just a dot sticker. That's how I knew who got the bug candy at the end of singing time.  Turns out the kids sang FANTASTIC in both Jr. and Sr. so they all got stung.  Love it when that happens. :)

Feeling the Savior's love through music

It was a very difficult summer for our Primary.  Senior primary in particular, as we lost two boys (brothers) from our ward who were killed in a horrible boating accident on the lake.  The sadness and the senselessness of this accident (caused by a drunk boater) left the children, and all of us leaders brokenhearted. One of the boys was in our Senior primary.  To put him into words, if there was ever such a thing as a living, breathing cartoon character, it would be him.  He was the life of primary.

The Sunday after the accident I didn't know what to do.  I didn't even want to do music time.  I didn't think I'd make it through even a verse, let alone a whole singing time without breaking down.  I kept praying trying to know what I should do.  My husband had bought me some flowers a few days earlier and they'd cheered me up on many occasion.  I woke up one morning and saw these flowers and felt prompted to make a bouquet of "love" for the kids.  Death is such a confusing thing for children to understand (sometimes for us adults as well) but I wanted them to understand that even though sad things happen sometimes, we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and is watching over us.  

To the bouquet my husband gave me, I added a bunch of hearts with songs that bore witness of that truth-Our Heavenly Father loves us. I had children come up and pull out a heart (that had the names of the songs on the back), we talked about how that song helped us to know that our Heavenly Father loves us, and then we sang the song.

One thing that I want the kids to understand as I serve in this calling is that good music can comfort, uplift, teach, and strengthen us.    The spirit was very strong and I think that it brought comfort to the children.  I know that it did to me at least.

Summer Olympics 2012

So I know that Olympics are almost over and I am a little late in posting this but it could still be done for a couple more weeks.

I have to give credit where it is due as most of the ideas on here came from here (love her site).  I just changed it up a bit to work for our primary. 

To kick off our olympics, the kids passed around the torch as we sang our first song.  Whoever was left holding the torch at the end of the song, was our first athlete.

On the board, I had listed all of the events that the kids could participate in that day.  The first athlete came up to choose their event.

 

Most of the events I did exactly as the above mentioned link so refer to her site for more in-depth descriptions, as I'm feeling a little lazy (or maybe just tired) tonight. :)

For the High Jump, I had several songs listed on post-it notes.  They were stacked one on top of the other, up the wall.  The athlete chosen for that event jumped as high as they could to grab a note.  That was the next song we sang.

 This was our diving event- Each of the little divers, had a name of a song listed on the back. The first diver to make it into the jar was the song we sang next. 

For the javelin, I did several strips of tape on the floor about 1 ft. above each other.  I wrote different ways/people to sing the song: girls only (boys were aiming for that one), :) boys only, whistle the song, snap the beat of the song, etc). 

For the javelin, we used a straw.  The kids just threw it as far as they could.  Wherever it landed was the way we did the next song.

For Volleyball, we tossed a balloon around as we sang the song. The person that had the "volleyball" when the music stopped was our next athlete. 

Our last event was Basketball.  I had some star baskets in Red, White, and Blue that were perfect for his as we were team USA (wish I would have gotten pics of this).  In the bottom of each basket, I had a song listed.  The athlete would throw a small ball towards the baskets.  Whichever basket they made the shot in, we sang that song.

In the end, our team took the gold (especially Junior).  I really enjoyed preparing this music time as there's such an energy buzzing all around with the Olympics. 

***If you want any of the signs or logos I made, just let me know and I will shoot them your way.

"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.  

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!

Moving on!

I haven't been very good about posting the last couple weeks but we are in the process of moving-TODAY!!! Thus, the post at 3 a.m.  I've been up all night just thinking about today.  So excited!  Figured I'd get caught up on here since I can't think of much else to do at this hour.

For tomorrow, I thought it would be fun and EASY (EASY being the honest reason) to do something that corresponds with our move.  This has nothing to do with the theme for the week of  "I am blessed when I choose to follow the prophet" but I figure that if I even show up tomorrow, I am doing good, right? :)

The kids are going to help me pack up for the big move. I put several items in a bag.  I want to make sure that I pack up these particular items for the move as they are some of the most important things to me.  I will call one child at a time to come up and pull out an item.  They will try to guess why that item is important to me and then put that item into my little suitcase.

Items include:
Picture of Family (definitely want to take them along)-  A happy Family
Scriptures- Book of Mormon stories
Picture of Jesus-   I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ
Popcorn (food-can't live with it, can't live without it) :) - Popcorn Popping
Towel (important to keep our bodies clean and pure)- My body is a temple

Obviously this music time would only really be applicable to someone who's moving but who knows, maybe one of you are as well and this would work for you too. :)  Have a great weekend!

UPDATE:  I actually was able to tie this into the theme after all with some last minute thinking.  I told the kids that I wanted to make sure that I had all of the things necessary in my new home to have the spirit there.  The prophet has taught me many things that I can do to have happiness in my home.  Then we went through all of the items in the bag and talked about how those items can bless our home.