Summertime

Every week we sing the Hello Song to visitors.  I've been meaning to teach them a new welcome song for a year now, but haven't had the opportunity until now.  I'm excited to teach them We Welcome You tomorrow and will just do it using a flip chart I found on Sugardoodle.

Since that's pretty short we'll also be singing Oh, What Do You Do In the Summertime? by reviewing the words (we sang it last year) and then singing again playing SING-LIKE-A.... with the idea I found here. 

If they catch on to the song pretty fast and we want to move on, we'll review some program songs by playing SING-LIKE-A.

*Update: This singing time was SO MUCH FUN!  The kids really enjoyed learning new songs by singing in different voices and being included by getting to choose the circle describing the way to sing.  I'm sure I'll do this again when review time for the program comes around.

Next Week

I'll be doing a version of THIS next week.

Review Pictionary

We're going to be playing Pictionary this Sunday to review our January - June songs.  Very simple with no prep. - Love it.

All I need is my fun, colored chalk and a rag (I'll dampen it before Primary) so the kids can wipe their hands when they are finished drawing.

For Sr. Primary I'll divide the kids into 2 teams.  I'll pick one of the 6 songs and whisper it to 2 kids from each team.  They'll then draw the song on the chalkboard.  Once it's guessed, we'll sing it.

For Jr. Primary I'll ask the teachers to do the drawing, and probably have the songs listed on the board.


Thanks, Singing In Primary, for a fast, fun idea!

Happy Father's Day!

I know I wrote that our primary would be singing Love At Home for Father's Day, but our primary president suggested this song instead:  My Father Taught Me.  Our Jr. singers were so cute singing Daddy's Homecoming and the Sr. kids did this one in Sacrament meeting today.  It turned out very nice.

For singing time I reviewed Nephi's Courage using these awesome pictures.  I had the younger kids put the pictures in order as we sang the song.

And then, because it's Father's Day, I had the kids put together a picture of a dad as we sang some of their favorite songs.  I really like how the dad turned out; it just seemed to capture the expression I see on so many fathers.  I also took it into the nursery and they loved it, too.  Of course, I can't take full credit for it because I found the idea here.  Happy Father's Day!

Love At Home

I'm so glad I can look online for ideas.  I didn't want to do a song from the Children's Songbook for Father's Day so I went looking around and decided that our Primary will be singing "Love At Home" from the hymn book.  Here's the flip chart I found on In the Leafy Treetops... blog.

This is what I want to do next week.  I love reminding myself.

When I Am Baptized

To teach the primary kids this song, I'll be using a flip chart found here.

My wonderful sister shared this great idea with me to help make it a little more fun.  I'm not sure where she found it, but I'll do a variation of what's below:

PREPARATION: make ribbon wands for each child using a popcicle stick and about 3
feet of inexpensive ribbon. I get it at Michaels 3 spools for a dollar satin
ribbon about 1/4" wide. You may want to make them rainbow colors.

SUPPLIES: Colored chalk.

Give ribbon wands to teachers enough for their class before you start to sing.

Last week we learned one of my favorite Primary songs. This week I want to have
some fun with the song.

ATTENION GETTER: Sometimes a composer paints a picture with the music. Listen
and see if you can see what the composer is painting in the first line of this
song. Take a piece of colored chalk and on its side draw a large arch on the
chalkboard as you sing the first line of the song. What do you think he is
painting?

Sing second line of the song and draw another arch with a different color of
chalk.
Explain how the composer is making a rainbow by having the music go up in pitch
and then down.

We want to sing these lines very Legato, or smooth. See if you can make this
very Legato. Take a big breath and try to sing the whole line of the song
without taking a breath. Sing these two lines a couple of times very legato.

Now. Listen to the next line of the song. What do you think the composer is
painting with this part of the song. Draw raindrops up and down with the pitch
of the song as you sing. What do you think? Isn't it amazing how this song can
paint a picture? When the rain falls, is it smooth or is in disconnected?
Disconnected in music is called staccato. When we sing this line lets sing the
words disconnected or staccato.

Pass out ribbon wands. Now lets try something fun. When we sing the first two
lines lets make big arches back and forth like our rainbow. When we sing the
rain part, maybe we can make little squiggles up and down like the rain falling.

Bear Testimony: Music can do many wonderful things. It can paint pictures, and
it can invite the spirit to help us gain a testimony of the principles of the
gospel we sing about. Have you felt the spirit as we've sung this beautiful
song? I know that we can learn many important lessons from our Primary songs
that will help us all our lives......