August 12, 2010

Back to School Primary singing time

I lead the music for the children at church, and this year I did a back to school music time. I started by asking the kids to raise their hands if they were starting school soon, and if they wanted to play pretend with me. I told them I was going to pretend to be the teacher and they could be my students. I pulled out my teacher glasses, pointer, and bell. I told them that whenever I rang my bell, they were supposed to sit up straight and fold their arms. We practiced that several times, and I asked them to really slouch before I rang the bell, and they thought that was fun. Next I pulled out a backpack that I had filled with school supplies. I invited up a child to pull something out of the bag, and then we would sing a song with an activity that went along with the school supply. Here's what I had:

erasers - we "erased" a word in the song. We sang "follow the prophet" and were silent whenever we were supposed to sing "prophet"

glue sticks - we glued first our legs together, and then our arms to our sides, so that we had to hold really still while we sang "come follow me"

crayons - the children only sang when I held up the color they were wearing. I put three different colors on each card and held up the cards as we sang "He sent his son"

ruler - we measured how well the children sang. They were given a grade for their reverence while singing, how beautifully they sang, and how well they said the words while we sang "Beautiful Savior"

calculator - we counted how many times we said the word "faith" while singing the song "Faith"

magnifying glass - they watched me closely and copied me perfectly while we sang "I belong to the church of Jesus Christ", so if I put my hand on my head or lifted my leg, they followed

pencil - we "wrote" our own songs, singing "fun to do", or "if you're happy and you know it"

scissors - I "cut out" the kids who were too wiggly while singing "The Holy Ghost". I tapped them on the head if I saw them move and then they would sit down

sharpener - we "sharpened" our song by clearly enunciating each word for "I know my Savior loves me"

Between each song the kids slouched in their chairs and I rang the bell and called up another child to pick an item. The kids had a lot of fun with it the first week, and we only got through 3 items, so I can still use it for 1 or 2 more weeks.


(added - Today I threw some tape into the backpack also and told the kids that I had taped their mouth shut and they had to just hum the song. Fortunately, they weren't too silly with it.)

6 comments:

  1. I posted a comment a few days ago- why hasn't it shown up? Testing, testing...

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  2. OK, that one worked.
    YOU ARE AMAZING! I am using this idea tomorrow. Love it!

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  3. This went amazing!!! I am new to this calling and found your site, I love it! Anyway, I did this last Sunday, we sang As A Child of God while we were stuck together with glue! It was incredible! When we were done singing I looked over at my Primary Presidency and tehy were crying. I have never seen the kids sing so amazing! Thank you for your ideas!

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  4. Thanks for the nice feedback! I'm glad it worked well for you.

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  5. I just googled 'back to school singing time ideas' and found your blog! I know this plan will work great with the primary! You are fantastic!
    Candace Heward

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