Sing like a robot? a snake? an opera singer?

Today’s idea comes from Sister J., a phenomenal music leader who has a million (ok, maybe only 38) ways for kids to sing. These ideas are especially good to keep kids interested while they learn a new song. You know how it goes — kids need repetition to learn a new song, but if you just ask them to sing it over and over (and over and over), they’ll groan, go cross-eyed and get fidgety. But if you have them sing different ways, you can keep them singing the same song until the millennium. From time to time, Sister J. puts five or six of the following ideas on slips of paper and calls on a child to choose one. (Click to download the pdf 38 Exciting Ways to Sing.)  If you frequently do sign language when you sing, you can keep signing as you do many of these (particularly #1 – singing AND signing like a robot!).

Naturally, some weeks you’ll want to skip the gimmicks and sing sweetly, hoping the children will feel the Spirit and learn the message of the words. But from time to time (especially during the full moon when the whole Primary is on overdrive), it’s fun to mix it up with some of these fun ways to sing.

1. Sing like a robot (jerky and monotone). 
2. March in place.
3. Sing like a human musical note — stand tall for the high notes, crouch down for lower notes. Some music leaders do this with their hands, indicating when the music moves up or down; this way kids can use their whole bodies.
4. Sing like an opera singer.
5. Tap your toes.
6. Have a child conduct the music while the music leader takes a seat in the audience.
7. Crescendo (get louder) throughout the song. This is harder than it sounds — you have to increase in volume ever-so-gradually so that you’ve got somewhere to go until you finish strong!
8. Decrescendo (get softer) throughout the song.
9. Sing like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
10. Sing in a cone of silence — just lip synch the words.
11. Sing in pairs. Divide up the children so they have a partner. You could move the chairs so they’re facing each other. Each child sings every other word, alternating throughout the song. (This too is harder than it sounds, to switch on each word instead of switching by syllables!) Then switch, so the other child sings the first word.
12. Sing the whole song while standing on one leg. No, you can’t hop, rest your foot on your other leg, or put it down for a minute.
13. Face the back of the room and sing. Yes, that means the music leader is behind the children, so children have to sing without a chorister!
14. Sing like an angel.
15. Sing like the Statue of Liberty. Assume the Lady Liberty pose — right hand holding up an imaginary lamp, left hand holding an imaginary book at your side.
16. Pat your head and rub your tummy while you sing.
17. Whisper.
18. Sing while your hands do the actions to “head, shoulders, knees and toes.”
19. Slap your lap in rhythm.
20. Do the chicken dance.
21. Just your row or class sings.
22. Do hula motions while you sing.
23. Sing with your eyes closed.
24. Snap your fingers in rhythm.
25. Hold your nose shut while you sing.
26. Sing like a snake, holding out every “SSSSSSSSS.”
27. Sing in a very high (falsetto) voice.
28. Sing in a very low, deep voice.
29. Pound your hand like a hammer in rhythm.
30. Omit one or two words that appear frequently in the song.
31. Hold your tongue and sing. Well, try to sing, anyway.
32. Take a deep breath and see if you can make it through the whole song on one breath.
33. Drum your fingers together in rhythym.
34. Sing staccato (short, disconnected notes).
35. Sing legato (smooth and connected).
36. Clap out the rhythm.
37. Sing like you’re bearing your testimony.
38. Child’s choice.

Even if you choose one of the silly ways to sing, you might want to end with #37 — sing like you’re bearing your testimony, concentrating on the words and the message of the song, letting the music carry you heavenward. Happy singing!

- Marci, with guest contributor Sister J.

Scouting – Primary’s Final Frontier

Click to download the Scout Parent Letter. Then just fill in the blanks!

Perhaps you too feel mystified by Cub Scouting and the 11-year-old-Scout program. Perhaps you feel like you’ve got the rest of Primary figured out – always with room for repentance and growth, but at least you have a purchase point on Sharing Time, nursery, activity days, and the Children’s Songbook. But Scouting? Primary leaders and parents alike may feel like they’re in uncharted territory.

Pat to the rescue! This intrepid lady Scouter has many years of experience in the church and in Scouting, and is ready to be your guide. Pat shares the attached “Scout Letter” (see above to download), written in collaboration with many others. This letter is an orientation letter given to parents as soon as their son approaches Scouting years. In it you’ll find all kinds of answers to questions, from where to get the uniform to why the church has adopted the Scouting program.

Raising my own four sons, I know how much the Scouting program gave them confidence and practice in setting goals, meeting a challenge, and making it all fun. I know that the Lord cares about children’s spirits, bodies and minds – and has structured His church to support children with character-building activities as well as religious growth opportunities.

Has Scouting influenced your boys’ lives?

~Marci, with guest contributor Pat

photo from lds.org

Singing Time – Art Class!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE OUR NEXT GUEST AUTHOR? Send along your ideas to primaryinzion@yahoo.com!

Today’s guest author Jenny S. from Arizona adds a another fun singing time – Art class! Jenny adds to her bio: “I thoroughly enjoy being Primary chorister, but I didn’t always feel that way.  But this calling has been very rewarding (and fun) to me and I feel much better equipped to teach the gospel through music to my own children.”

Notice in the photo the child in a wheelchair, whose teacher is drawing for her so she can participate in this fun activity.

Items to Bring: dry erase markers or chalk and erasers for each class, and list of songs to practice, cut into strips placed in a pencil box or lunchbox, pencils and paper for each class (Senior Primary only).

Set up the Board: With dry erase marker or chalk, divide enough sections for each class with class name at the top of each section.

Junior Primary Activity: ”Today we’ll start out with a very fun class – Art!” A reverent volunteer chooses a song from the box.  Then each class teacher selects one reverent volunteer to come up to board. In their designated section, they draw what they hear while the rest of the children sing the song.  Praise their “musical drawings” and repeat until everyone gets a chance to draw.

Senior Primary Activity: “Today we’ll start out with a very fun class – Art!” One child from each class comes to the front, is discreetly shown the song title for the song we will sing. Then they have 30 seconds to draw a picture that represents the song. Give each class a paper and pen to write down their guess before any class gets to guess aloud.  When time is up, begin with the youngest class and let them guess first what the title is.  Do not reveal the answer until each class gets a turn to guess. Next, sing that song.  The teachers look for participating children and choose that person to be the next representative. Repeat until all songs have been sung.

Enjoy!

- Jenny S.

The Nursery to Sunbeams Transition

Today we are sharing some great ideas from our guest author Martha, a former Primary President and mother to 6 adorable children, and Kim, Primary President, outdoorswoman, and mother of five.

Martha says: It’s that time of year! Anyone out there looking for Nursery to Sunbeams transition ideas? Here are a few things we have done in our ward.

This year we have tried to help prepare our Nursery children for the transition to Sunbeams in a couple of ways. First, we have them join the Junior Primary for singing time during the months of November and December. We make a big deal out of welcoming them, sing songs they know and love, and count down the weeks until they become Sunbeams. Some are uncertain to begin with, but they all seem really excited to come in now. Secondly, we have had the Nursery class move to a small classroom during their lesson time, and encourage them to sit nicely and practice being attentive in a classroom environment. This year we will also use a Nursery Leader who has been serving for a few months move up and become a Sunbeam Teacher. We’re hopeful that a familiar face will make the transition smoother.

My own son started Sunbeams a year ago, and had a big struggle adjusting. He missed the cars in nursery! After a few very rough weeks I found the key to helping him was to make sure I framed Primary attendance as a privilege that he would earn as he behaved in a way that qualified him to be there (of course, the alternative had to be worse, like sitting quietly in the car with me). When he saw Primary as the place he wanted to be, his perspective totally shifted, and so did his behavior. I am so thankful because he had a wonderful year of Sunbeams that has started him off on the right foot in Primary. Of course, as Primary leaders, we will not be taking any children out to sit in a car. But, my experience highlights the importance of positively and actively engaging parents of children struggling with transition (which the Sunbeam teacher did in our case). If you ask parents to help you make a plan to make Primary attendance a positive and rewarding experience for their child, they will be part of the team, and are likely to have some good ideas. Like Kindergarten, Sunbeams can have a big influence in setting the tone for many future years of Primary experience. It is worth getting right!

Guest author Kim adds: Our ward had sixteen (count ‘em, SIXTEEN) new Sunbeams at once. Rather than having them sit on the front row as is the custom, we had them sit on the second row, so they’d be corralled in a bit. Having the classes sit in age order was not as important as containing sixteen wandering new Sunbeams.

We also jump right into opening prayer, singing time and sharing time, leaving the talk and scripture for after sharing time. That way, if the Sunbeams have had enough, we can dismiss them to classes and do the talk and scripture with the remaining children. A little flexibility and a lot of love go a long way in easing the Nursery-to-Sunbeams transition.

Primary Sacrament Meeting Program outline–click, print and go!

Today we are sharing a wonderful Primary Sacrament Meeting Program Outline contributed by our guest author Kim, Primary President and mother of 5 children who loves photography and hiking, camping, and biking anytime, anywhere.

Download this Primary Program Outline and read how this Primary prepares for their successful program:

We have the narrators read the themes and scriptures for each song, then we have each of the Primary children give a short statement from one of the questions listed below.

To prepare, we assign each class to a monthly theme.  We find it is easiest to pull the kids out one at a time during singing time the month before and collect their answers (we usually have them say one sentence each). Then we email the part to their parents several times before the program and ask them to help their children memorize it.  It can be arranged so that some classes have children answer the same question (usually the younger kids), while other classes have children answer different questions in the same topic.  Either way works great.

When we did the program last year, it worked very smoothly to have each class line up at the microphone while the narrators said their part.  Then after their parts, they walked back to their seats while the introduction to the song was being played.

We gave a copy of the program to all the teachers so they knew when to take their classes up to the microphone.  The narrators knew to start their part right after each song.  No cues were needed from the presidency and the program ran all by itself.

A few other things that helped:  We put nametags on all the seats several weeks in advance so all the children knew where they sat.  We practiced several times having them come from the audience to their seats until they had it memorized.

We estimated about 5 minutes per class and with 8 sections, the program turned out to be 40 minutes.

We hope this helps make your program easier and more enjoyable.

~Kim, guest author

Back to School Singing Time – Packing my Backpack

Today’s guest author is Jenny S. in Arizona, who is a preschool teacher,  Primary chorister, and mother of 3 busy boys. She writes, “I love hiking, and try to fit in snatches of good literature. I am passionate about home organization – largely because it has been lacking in my home!” Jenny led a dynamite singing time — notice the kids in the photo standing up straight like pencils in a pencil box? Here’s her idea:

Preparation: Collect the items below. Make a list of songs you’d like the children to practice, putting a number on each of the items. Children choose an item, then sing that song as indicated:

“Today we are going to practice going back to school. Let’s get ready! Choose something from my school bag and we’ll sing that song in different ways to match the item.”

pencil  = sing it staccato for a sharp pencil.

backpack = sing it legato – big & full like a stuffed backpack.

markers = sing with a smile because markers are fun to use!

pencil box = because a pencil box keeps our pencils together, everyone stand straight and tall like a pencil, scoot close together like pencils in a box and sing together.

eraser = sing it while pretending to erase the words.

notebook = sing it while pretending to write the words in a notebook, turning pages as you go.

lunchbox = sing it while rubbing your tummy, as if you’re full of lunch.

Have fun with the children at this exciting time of new beginnings!

-Jenny S.

Visual Aids Make Learning FUN!

Our Guest Author today is Erin, the Music Chorister Extraordinaire in my ward Primary.  She brings great visuals that help children learn new songs and is very kind when my son flips through her binders. ~ Marjorie

As the ward Music Leader, I use a 3-ring binder for a lot of my visual aids. I keep them in plastic pages so it is easy for me and the children to follow along. My first and best resource is sugardoodle.net. They have a primary section, song index, a specific section for the music leaders, sharing time, etc. They not only have visual aids but ideas for games, what to do for birthdays, and a whole lot more. My number one recommendation is to check out this site!

Sugardoodle is a site that has many contributors.  They make amazing flipcharts for primary songs.  For some examples of song flipcharts on the site click here and here: (open this one in Word or as a PDF). “JollyJen” is the most famous flipchart maker on sugardoodle. I have never met her but would like to thank her for saving me many an hour searching for images online and probably unwittingly breaking copyright laws. I love the color pictures she does but usually use black and white cartoon versions because my printer only prints black and white.  You can keep all the words on the pages for harder songs, use key words for simpler songs or just pictures for non-readers. I sometimes download the flipcharts and edit them myself to make the changes I want.

Once in a while (especially for Senior Primary) I go the whole hog and write the entire song verse on a poster or the chalkboard. They have fun having me erase words each time we sing it, until all the words have been erased and they have the song memorized!

I also make my own cutouts from colored paper or sticky-backed foam sheets. You can find foam sheets at a craft store or Wal-Mart. Our church magazines (Ensign, New Era, Friend) have great pictures that you can cutout and use.  I generally use these for songs about family, prophets or the Savior as those are the most common pictures in church magazines.  I also cut out flower pictures from my “Better Homes and Gardens” magazines to make a flipchart for I Often Go Walking last year for Mother’s day!

Recently I had the Senior primary illustrate their own images for a song flipchart. They colored pictures for Choose the Right, the song for February 2012. They got a big kick out of  making the pictures themselves!

Other things to consider for visual aids: Holidays and Seasons; Size and color; Objects that help illustrate a song (e.g. flashlight for “sun” or “light” in a song); Sign language and other hand movements (have the kids help you come up with them!); Make a puzzle, each piece has a song to sing.  Make it creative, make it yours, make it colorful, make it fun!

-Erin

Erin is the mother of an adorable little girl.  She loves young adult fiction, going to movies and Girl’s Nights.  She also creates wicked cool wedding hairstyles!

Choose the Right Journal and other Primary Incentive Ideas

Today’s guest author Heidi is a fabulous primary president!  I visited her ward and saw some great ideas that I thought other primaries might want to implement.  I especially love the idea of a CTR Journal and a child being able to share how they Choose the Right that week with everyone.  I know from personal experience (4 children) that sometimes teachers and leaders put a tremendous amount of work, thought and prayer into projects designed to encourage choosing the right, etc.  that usually most children ignore, after an initial burst of enthusiasm.  By creating one CTR Journal for junior and one journal for senior primary Heidi gave children the opportunity to be examples to the other children, strengthened their desire to choose the right by letting them know they are not alone in making difficult choices and ensured that everyone could, and probably would, participate even if coming from a less active home. ~Marjorie

Bring your Scriptures to Church:

The Incentive: Chocolate chips

The Purpose: To create the habit of bringing scriptures to church

To encourage the children to bring their scriptures each week, we put one chocolate chip into a 2 cup container for each child that brings their scriptures.   We chose 2 cups because that is the average measurement in a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  On a typical week, we add about 40 chips into the measuring cup. It took us about 6 months to fill it last time and we then made cookies for the kids and gave 2 cookies in a baggie to each child.  It was such a hit and such a motivator, we emptied the cup and started all over again.  Every week kids come up to me and just show me their scriptures.  We are liberal in our counting.  They can bring just a Book of Mormon, or they can borrow them from the library.  It has really gotten our Junior Primary in the habit of bringing them – I’d say the numbers have doubled since we started.

Choose The Right Journal:

The Incentive: Take a turn telling everyone about something you did during the week

The Purpose: To think about the choices we make each day and support one another in choosing the right

To promote this year’s theme we started a CTR Journal in both Junior and Senior Primary.  We put blank paper and plastic page protectors in a 3 ring binder (which we then put in a big zip-lock bag to protect it).  A child takes the journal home with them and writes on a page (or draws a picture) about something they did that week to Choose the Right.  Then on Sunday they return the binder and they read or share what they put in the binder during Sharing Time.  They then pick the name of the child to take the journal home the next week.  I have been so impressed with the things the kids are writing about.  They are showing lots of courage to make the right choices when others around them aren’t.  It helps all the children see that they aren’t alone when faced with tough choices.  The final books at the end of the year will be priceless!  And best of all it encourages family involvement, which we love.

~Heidi, mother of 3 spirited little angels.  When not doing laundry, volunteering at schools, driving the after-school shuttle service or monitoring homework and piano, she can be found reading, baking cookies and dreaming of the next beach vacation.

Nursery Lesson from a Laundry Basket!

Today we are sharing wonderful Nursery Lesson ideas by our guest author Danielle.  One Sunday I peeked into the Nursery room to check on my daughter and I saw her and all the children happily sitting in laundry baskets! I just had to know what that ingenious lesson idea was.  Danielle shares her lesson plan here for all of you!  ~Michelle

 Printable PDF of this Nursery Lesson

Topic: I Will Say “I’m Sorry”, Lesson 16

Visuals/Props I need to bring (or make):

• A toy hammer or tool for each child (If you don’t have enough tools for each child, you could use wooden spoons or measuring cups as hammers and plastic knives as saws).
• A laundry basket for each child (or a cardboard box would work too!)
• 1 small toy for them to model taking and giving back
• A monkey puppet for each child. Tape a picture of a monkey to the back of a plastic spoon.

1. Gathering Activity:

Have all your lesson materials together (in a bag or basket) and start playing and singing Ring around the Rosies.

2. Welcome Song:

Here We Are Together (CS 261) substituting the word “Family” for “Nursery”.

3. Ask a child to offer the opening prayer.

4. Lesson:

• Show picture of Nephi building a ship (pg. 70). “This is Nephi. Heavenly Father told him to build a boat. Today you get to build your own boat.”
• Give each child a laundry basket turned upside down and toy hammers and other tools to “build” a boat. (If you don’t have enough toy tools you could use measuring cups or wooden spoons as hammers and plastic knives as saws.) Give them a few minutes to hammer (saw, or screw) their boats.
• Collect the tools and tuck them away out of sight. As you are gathering the tools tell the children, “Nephi’s brothers said ‘your boat won’t float!’ and that made Nephi feel sad.  Nephi’s brothers finally said ‘I’m sorry’ and they all got to ride in the boat with their Mom and Dad.” (Have the children turn the laundry baskets over and sit in their boats.)
• Sing  Row, Row, Row your Boat
• Have two children at a time step out of their boats and role model saying sorry. Give one child the small toy and narrate as the second child takes the toy. “Oh no! Now, Sarah feels sad. But Ben gives the toy back and says ‘I’m sorry.’” (loud cheering and applause since this is usually very hard for Ben to do).  Give each child a turn to practice saying “I’m sorry”.
• Sing Five Little Monkeys. Give each child a monkey puppet and use your hands as the alligator as you sing with actions: “5 little monkeys swinging from a tree, teasing Mr. Alligator, ‘you can’t catch me, no you can’t catch me.’ Along comes Mr. Alligator quiet as can be and snaps that monkey right out of the tree (as you pretend to snap someone’s monkey away).”  Then say, “but then the monkey says ‘I’m sorry’ and the Alligator says ‘I’m sorry too. Let’s be friends!’ (Have the monkey ride the alligator back to the child to swing in the tree again.) Repeat for each child.
• If the children are still engaged you could also sing I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus (CS 78) or Choose the Right Way (CS 160).

5. Ask a child to offer the closing prayer.

~Danielle

Danielle is the mother of an adorable and fiesty 2-year-old and a beautiful newborn and loves to find fun family activities in the city.  She was recently released from her calling as Nursery Leader.

“Primary Hit Parade” — fun music idea

Today’s guest author Julia created the following music activity for Senior Primary:

At the start of Sharing Time, before Singing Time, take a couple of minutes and pass out small slips of paper and pencils. Ask each child to list their top three favorite children’s songs or hymns. (Be prepared for creative spelling and new titles for familiar songs! but you’ll probably be able to figure most of them out.)

Then, while the presidency is doing Sharing Time, compile the votes and sing the top winners, as many as you have time for. You may be surprised at the songs the children love the best!

In Junior Primary, you can try a variation: sing a selection of songs and ask for votes: “Love it, Like it, or Not My Favorite.”

You might like to publish the results in the Primary column of your ward newsletter, or in the Sunday program.

You’ll find out which musical gospel messages have most deeply penetrated the minds of the children. Enjoy the fun!

~Julia

Julia is a former Primary President and current music leader.