Winter Singing Time Ideas

Well, it’s about time we had a snowstorm in Utah.  So let’s get prepared to sing some fun songs about Winter. It is around the corner.  And let’s do some snowball activities too! That is always fun for the kids!

Here’s a Link for Ping Pong Balls. These would make fine snowballs…..

  My sister-in-law also gave me a fun idea to do after the primary presentation when the pressure is kind of off to do the required songs, and you have more freedom to do some new tunes.

You could also use styrofoam balls for snowballs…..

Give each of the kids a piece of white scratch paper. It could have stuff on the back, nothing fancy. Then tell them to write their favorite primary song on it and crumple it up. Then tell them it’s their once a year time when they can pelt you with snowballs! Yipee! They will love that.

Juggle your snowballs using old white socks tied in a knot or white marshmallows…giant sized! 

One class at a time can go and throw the snowballs at you. Then you reach down and pick one up! Whoever’s snowball it is you will then sing their favorite song however you want to. Maybe they could try to “juggle” 3 snowballs while you get everyone to sing. (these could be white beanbags made with old white socks filled with rice or dried beans or popcorn, then tied in a fat knot and cut off. OR they could be some of those giant marshmallows they sell for a dollar at the market!  Or you could use ping pong balls. They are only a few buck at Walmart or Target in the sporting goods section. That is always fun! Or white whiffle balls would work great too. I’ve bought sets of 4 of those for a dollar at the Dollar store.

Whiffle balls could also be white snowballs! 

I thought you could be prepared with a fun little song taken from Primary-to-Go. Let’s do a fun rendition of Popcorn Popping called “Snowflakes Falling”

 Popcorn Popping with a little WINTER TWIST!  

Snowflakes Falling on the Evergreen Trees…..

I LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW AND WHAT DID I SEE?
(Put your hands in round circles like binoculars around your eyes)


SNOWFLAKES FALLING ON THE EVERGREEN TREE.
(wiggle fingers from high to down low like snow falling)


WINTER’S BROUGHT ME SUCH A NICE SURPRISE,
(close both fists, then flick them open on surprise)


SNOWFLAKES FALLING RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES. 
(wiggle your fingers above your head and pass in front of your face)


I CAN MAKE A SNOWBALL, I KNOW I CAN,
(motions of making a snowball with both cupped hands)


THREE SNOWBALLS MAKE A BIG SNOWMAN.
(motion your arms to make the outline of a 3 circled snowman)


I KNOW IT’S REALLY SO, AND I’M GLAD TO SEE,
(nod yes, at the same time you  point to your smiling face)


SNOWFLAKES FALLING ON THE EVERGREEN TREES.
(wiggle your fingers from high to down low like snow falling).

Once There Was a Snowman…

Here are the guitar or autoharp chords if you want to play them instead of piano. 

  Another good song is Once There Was a Once There was a Snowman. Link to my post with pictures I did last winter.  Snowman Link. I made this above last winter. It’s made from an old sheet. I choose a child to come up and scrunch down really little with it in their hands. Then when we sing tall, tall, tall, they make it grow. When it melts then the opposite of course. They let the snowman shrink back to a puddle again.

Have some fun when the weather changes again! In the meantime I’m gettin my new winter coat ready!

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Musical Chicken Pox

I have heard of Musical Measles. Well how about Musical Chicken Pox? If you can get some sticker dots from Walmart to use as  “chicken pox” (I think they are about $3.00 for a pack of a few hundred).

Here are the dots I would buy. I’d probably give each teacher a half sheet.

Then before you start singing time you can ask all the teachers to help you by listening and watching for some good singing by the kids in their classes. Then you can give them each a half sheet of stickers. They can help by putting  sticker dots on kids’ faces in their primary class as you all sing.

I’d probably try making a chicken “hat” like this from an old baseball cap and felt. 

Then ask the kids, “Do YOU want to get musical chicken pox?” if they want to get chicken pox too they need to really sing for you! Then sing your first song. Tell the kids you will be watching for good singers who might be catching the musical “chicken Pox”. Tell the teachers to watch and add pox as they want.

Fuzzy Chicken Child Costume
But if you had a chicken costume,  it might be really fun to “be” the chicken too! 

 You could put a chicken hat on if you can find one (since it IS HALLOWEEN TIME after all!). Then go around and put the “pox”on teacher’s faces as well as kid’s faces.  As you see more and more kids singing their hearts out, you will be able to add “pox”. Don’t leave out the presidency or the pianist. The kids will love seeing that.   At the end of the song pick a teacher  to choose one of their “pocked up” kids.

HERE’s a LINK to a cute chicken head for $15.00 if you also need a Halloween costume for this year! The picture is below.

I LOVE this hat. I’d buy it just for Halloween it’s so cute!  You could probably make one though with just
a chicken stuffed animal from the DI and a baseball cap and a glue gun. 

The one with the most “chicken pox” from that teacher’s class gets to come pick the next song.  I think I would put the songs on round circles on the board just in keeping with the “chicken pox” theme.  Am I spelling pox right? Ah, who cares.  LOL.  Happy singing!

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Primary Cowboy Singing Time

I have lots of neighbors around where I live in Utah who have horses, corrals and barns. These are true cowboys, not just posers like my husband and I when we want to wear our cowboy boots and hats and pretend….. snicker….

October Singing Time

So since we are having lots of scarecrow festivals around these parts, let’s get into the hay maze habit and do some cow ropin’ and yee hawing! It would be REALLY fun for the kids if you had a real cowboy from your ward come and show them how to swing a rope to catch something.

Cowboy Singing Time

Here is an idea from Jocelyn Williams… at this LINK HERE.
!

Looking at this guy roping the steer…this is how I’d do it…just taped onto the back of a chair….

Get a bunch of little ropes and cowboy hats, and if you can borrow a set of chaps that would be cool. Tell everyone you are going to go ropin cows for a song.

Lasso a steer for Singing Time!

A clip art picture of a steer bull you can copy off to make your cardboard bulls is HERE at Color Your Own.com. I would copy it on brown paper and then cut them out and glue them down on some cardboard. If you have 2 that would be enough. Put them on the backs of chairs like the picture above.
If they get the rope over one of the cow’s longhorns everybody has to stand up and say “YEE HAW”
and then they get to pick a horseshoe off of the board which will have songs on the back.

Older kids you could have questions for them to go with the sharing time lesson where they have to answer before roping one of your “cattle”.  Have fun doin’ some calf ropin’ in Primary! Yee Haw!

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October Singing Time Fun!

Okay my FAVORITE HOLIDAY is this month! Yip Yip Hooray it’s almost Halloween! I don’t know why I’ve always loved it. Maybe it is the costumes and dressing up. Maybe it is the black and orange and all the icons (pumpkins, cats, Frankie, skeletons etc.)  But I’m a Halloween nut. I’ve got almost as many Halloween Boxes for decorating that I do for Christmas….yeah I know….it’s an illness…..snicker….

October Singing Time in Primary is fun! 

Use some decorations from home! 

I’ve got gobs of them….

Can you tell I love Hobby Lobby?

Oh yes….and The Dollar Store! I got these both for one dollar! 

Linens from Kohls…I always love their table runners….

And we can’t forget Taipan Trading? Oh no! Look at this cute plate I just picked up with a 25% off coupon! 

Here’s my front entry….

Side table….There’s my little Marisa! 

Coffee table is so creepy! 

Another end table….

Use some of these cute decs for Singing Time in Primary! 

Kids would love a few light up pumpkins or skeletons to choose a song from! 

So this month be sure to do some fun Halloween singing time! There are plenty of things you could do; Halloween Tic Tac Toe with songs….. I found a cute handmade Tic Tac Toe out of popsicle sticks and pom poms HERE at Busy Bee Crafts. You could make it for Primary and bring if home for your kids to play with. They’d LOVE that!

.Halloween choose a black or orange balloon and pop them to find the song we are singing……

Kids love to pop the balloons to find out what song to sing inside…..

Or just bring in some Halloween Decorations and put a song number on the back of each one.  It is fun for the kids to see all your cute decs.  I usually ask a question about the lesson before they can raise their hand to come up and choose. That way you are doing double duty; a recap of the lesson and some fun stuff too.

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Conference Time

Wasn’t Conference Great?   You could do a neat singing time next week on all the primary songs about temples and then do a little quiz about how many temples were announced and where they are being built!

Temples Singing Time

New temples announced for ProvoBarranquillaDurbanKinshasa, and Star Valley.Paris made official” taken from chuch website. 

Link HERE to a great lesson with a temple mobile on the importance of temples by Robert D. Hales. It is short and easy to see how you could use it as a little lesson to do with singing time and temples.

Temples Singing Time

I’d use temple pictures from the library each with a song on the back having to do with temples.

The Lord Gave Me a Temple #153
Families Can Be Together Forever #188
I Love to See The Temple #95
The Hearts of the Children #92, 93
This is God’s House #30
Truth from Elijah #90, 91

Temples singing Time

A cute coloring page for the song is HERE.  You could pass this out at the end of singing time for kids to take home and color.

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Jesus is called by Many Names

One of the best singing time ideas I’ve ever done is this one. Nothing ever goes wrong when you sing about the Savior. That’s just a given. So……

Get lots of pictures from the library of every kind– depicting the Savior. If you can get 10 pictures that would be great! Then place them across the chalkboard and on chairs and the piano with tape. Then make some words from the wordsearch with names of Jesus on 3 x 5 cards. Place those with tape or magnets onto the chalkboard during your preparation time.

He is our deliverer or our rock or savior

Then when students come in they will know what songs we are singing today; Songs about Jesus! 
Here are some of my favorites:
1. Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam
2. Tell Me the Stories of Jesus
3. I’m Trying to Be like Jesus
4. Jesus Said Love Everyone
5. I Belong To the Church of Jesus Christ
6. Baptism (Jesus Said to John the Baptist)
7. If The Savior Stood Beside Me

Put the songs names and page numbers on yellow sticky papers on the backs of the pictures around the room. Add a few more that are your favorites.


Jesus is the shepherd who looks for lost sheep or the Lamb of God

bible word puzzle

bible word puzzle

A neat wordsearch I found could be the springboard for talking about Jesus and all the names he is called by in the Bible. It can be found here at  Word Game World.  Pass out copies to each class and they can work in partners. When they find a name for Jesus they can raise their hand.

Jesus is almighty, the Life, the Way, Son of God.

Now the object of the game is to have the kids find one of the names of Jesus from the wordsearch (they can work in partners using their chairs as desks). When they find one they can match it up to a picture and tell the group why they think they go together.  Then you can put the 3 x 5 card with it that matches the word from the wordsearch. Then sing the song on the back.  

Be sure to discuss what is happening in the pictures for those kids who might not know all the stories of the new testament and all of the miracles of Jesus.

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