March 2012 – Pattie's Primary Place

Easter Primary Singing Time Resurrection Eggs

The Resurrection of Christ….the greatest event to ever take place for us….

I have SO loved this idea since getting it once in Relief Society in a lesson on the great sacrifice of our Savior and His Atonement. I have used this around the Easter dinner table in my family. I’ve used it teaching teenagers in Sunday School and in a Family Night. And I’ve reused it in primary.

Kids love object lessons. And this easter egg “signs of the Savior’s Sacrifice for us” is a great object lesson for kids and adults alike. Every year, when I’ve taken out my little basket of eggs I’ve got a tear in my eye. I love the Savior. I believe in Him with all my heart. And I know in whom I have trusted.

If you want to hear a great talk check it out HERE.

In this chaotic life we are all a part of, it is a simple and clear walk through the steps to the Savior’s crucifiction and resurrection, easily understood. I would try if I could to get the presidency to let you have a little extra time one of these upcoming weeks leading up to Easter.

I love this painting depicting the sacrifice our Savior made for us….

So many times we address just the “Next Lesson” in the yearly lessons at church. As a former Catholic, and a convert to the church, I always have mixed feelings about this. Why not recognize the greatest sacrifice ever made, given by the greatest who ever lived among us on the National holiday of Easter? I never did get that. Try to honor the Savior on Easter. That’s my simple and heartfelt message.

Another favorite painting of mine…I’m looking for a big copy of it to put in my greatroom remodel…it says to me….”I will look for you when you are lost…even though you are odd, different, ugly, damaged” His love for us, evident.

The eggs can be put together using this easy tutorial HERE at Serving Pink Lemonade’s blog. . Use stuff around the house to fill your eggs. Another with a LIST is HERE at scribd.com. I actually like both of them. You could do a combination of both lists. I would skip the vinegar though, yucky :D. A third lists is here copied from Yahoo Voices.

Egg #1: (palm) Jesus rode into Jerusalem and the people waved palm branches. Matthew 21:1-11

Egg #2: (cotton ball with cologne on it) Mary poured perfume on Jesus’ feet. John 12:3

Egg #3: (bread) Jesus shared the Last Supper with His disciples. Matthew 26:26

Egg #4: (coins) Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Matthew 26: 14-15

Egg #5: (a thorny stick) Soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head. John 19:2

Egg #6: (cross made from toothpicks) Jesus carried His own cross. John 19:17

Egg #7: (dice) Soldiers took Jesus’ clothes from him and cast lots for them. John 19:24

Egg #8: (nail) Jesus was nailed to the cross. John 19:18

Egg #9: (sponge) They gave Jesus vinegar mixed with gall to drink. Matthew 27:34

Egg #10: (whole cloves) Spices are used to prepare Jesus for burial. John 19:40

Egg #11: (rock) The stone covering to Jesus’ tomb was rolled away. Matthew 28:2

Egg #12: (empty) He is not here He has risen! Matthew 28:6

I would try to use the songs in the Easter section on one Sunday as well as going over your song for the month. Some links for flipcards on good Easter songs are HERE at Precious Primary. 1. Jesus Has Risen 70, 2. Hosanna 66, Beautiful Savior 62 To Think About Jesus 71, etc. HERE is a flipchart on He Sent His Son at Sugardoodle. Pick a child to come up and choose an egg. Read the scripture inside and show what object is inside and explain what part it played in the Easter story. It is usually a very quiet and reverent time, you will see. It may be your favorite thing you ever do in primary.

This picture is from another bogger Beyond Sippy Cups HERE.

I would also include the list of items in a copied off piece of paper to send home with the kids after primary and tell them they can make up their own dozen eggs with help from parents and redo it in their own family night. I loved getting this for my family and I would encourage any primary leaders to do the same. It has made a big difference in my life and my family’s too I believe.

sidewalk chalking & egg dyeing

And don’t forget to color eggs and get some sidewalk chalk for Easter! One of life’s fun memory makers if you have kids or grandkids of any age! Happy Easter!

PATTIE

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St. Patrick’s Day Primary Music

We have stake conference on Sunday. It is a day I always look forward to because you kind of have a day off, you know what I mean? Yeah! And we get to have an apostle at our meeting! Wa HOO!

Well if you are not as lucky as us… Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day and I can tell you from teaching little kids for 18 years that they LOVE this holiday. They love leprechauns, and green clovers, and pots of gold and 3 wishes. You have GOT to do something for Leprechaun, wearing of the green day.

March Primary Music ideas….

Maybe you could put on a green goofy hat and do an original Riverdance Irish Jig or something. I once made the elder’s quorum get up on stage for an Irish ward dinner I was in charge of. I made them all wear green headbands and told them we were looking for “The Lords of the Dance”. It was hysterical watching all these big burly dudes trying to do some fancy dancing. But if you want something a little more reverent…..

Do an Irish Jig for good singing! I’m not saying you have
to dress UP like a leprechaun….just wear a lot of green…or a hat!

Cut out some 3 leaf clover shamrocks and put songs behind each one. Then tape them to the white board. Then call on kids to come up and say 3 things they love about _______. You fill in the blank. Or what 3 wishes could you give to people in your family. Or what 3 things could you do for service to somebody you know?

Shamrocks with songs on the back would be fun for kids to choose…

Or if you want to involve everybody and you can be given some extra 3 minutes of time, ALL the kids could have a green paper shamrock. And ALL of them could write 3 things to do for service, 1 on each of the 3 leaves of their clovers. (These are really easy to trace and cut out by the way). Just use green paper and pass out pencils. It is always good to get them to do something while we are singing away.

Sing till you find the pot of gold for March Primary singing time…

You could actually have some ROLO candies or Hersheys mini candy bars for the kiddos too!

Another thing you could do is “Hide the Pot of Gold” and have them do the HOT and COLD game. Only you could say when the leprechaun (the primary child wearing a green hat) gets near the gold sing louder, and when he is now finding gold at all sing softer. This is always a fun way to review the song over and over to get it memorized.

St. Patrick’s Day Singing Time fun…..

Another idea is to put riddles on the backs of your shamrocks on the board. A cute idea for riddles is HERE at Precious Primary. And they can be copied off onto paper and taped to the shamrocks. Cute Idea! Maybe read a riddle off in between singing the songs on the shamrocks? That could be fun!

I decorated up my house for St. Patty’s Day….since it IS my Irish background we are celebrating,
and….well my name IS Pattie! It’s MY holiday!

Anyway…..HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY TOMORROW! Wear something green and don’t get pinched!

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March Primary Music Ideas

Skip a Letter is fun…… Have the child pick a letter from choices in a bowl. Skip whatever words in the song start with that letter. Be sure to have choices that have many words of the song starting with that letter. Then have kids try to be quiet on all the words with that letter during the song…. for Choose the Right for instance they might choose the C letter. It is fun to do and the kids become really attentive to the words so they don’t mess up! Great for practicing over and over.

You could bring foam letters from the Dollar Store or make some out of cardstock or scrapbook paper.

Heads or Tails – use a big pie pan. Draw a heads on one side and a tails on the inside. Throw the pan up in the air and whichever side you have decided is going to be boys and which side is girls tells who will be singing the chorus of the song. Everybody can sing the verses. Then do it again for the next song in your practice time.

You could also just have a round sign that has the words “HEADS” on one side,
and “TAILS” on the other side.

You could also cover some large dice or a small box (cube shaped) with
pictures of all kinds of heads and tails….

You could also just use a small cube shaped box and cover each of the 6 sides with a word or picture of heads and tails of many different coins. That would give even more variety. Then choose a child to roll the
cube down the middle aisle of Primary to decide girls or boys, or even left side of the room and right side of the room sings the chorus of the song. Sometimes this can get roudy, but it is a lot of fun too.

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March Primary Music Activities

The song for MARCH, THIS month is STAND FOR THE RIGHT. A cute flipchart for this song can be found HERE at Rackcdn.com. NEXT month is a Free Choice Song . I like choosing one they know for one of the free choice songs. This is “Be True” The link for the flipchart is HERE

Be True, Be True, And Stand For the Right!

Today I think I will do a very fun activity. There is usually a time in your month when the Bishop or a member of the Bishopric is scheduled to come into your primary to give a message and visit with the kids. Find out which week that is ahead of time and you can do something really fun, if he will agree to stick around for 10 minutes of your music time. That’s usually all I will do this particular activity for.

Find your husband’s oldest, ugliest tie to cute up!

The next thing you need is a couple of your husband’s or dad’s or somebody’s old ties. Because you are going to cut them up and pretty much destroy them. So be sure they are ties with a spot or two on them. Then you call the bishop or the counselor up and you tell the kids you are going to cut his tie as they sing and do a really, really good job on the song. If you have words to the songs, or a flipchart, unhook it and give a phrase to each class in the room. Then get a really big pair of scissors, you are gonna have FUN WITH THIS!

My husband donated lots of ties over the years….

So then start singing the song. The kids know if they do a good job you are going to cut the bishop’s tie. Do it however you want, you can wait till the verse is over and then have a funny little chat asking the bishop if he thinks it was good enough? He can play along and say, no, not really, let’s hear it again. Or he can say, “Well it was okay, maybe good enough for one little snip!” and then go ahead and cut one inch off the bottom of his tie. The kids will absolutely LOVE this. It is so fun for them to see the bishop as a playful, loving guy, willing to come in and interact with them in a memorable way too.

A VERY fun singing game for the kids is Cut the Bishop’s Tie

Cut the Bishop’s Tie!

Then go and do a few more tries on the most important song you are working on. Then you can end his time with you with the song “He’s Our Bishop”, just run through it once and cut the tie all the way up to the top on that one. It is a really fun activity to do once in awhile, maybe twice a year. Be sure it is another member of the bishopric next time, so the same relationship can be developed with a different member of your ward’s leadership. It’s always a fun singing time activity to motivate kids to sing their best.

Bring in your Dr. Seuss Hat to Primary to choose songs from tomorrow!

Aren’t our handprint Thing 1s sooooo cute?

Now yesterday was Dr. Seuss Day in my classroom and I just HAD to share these cute Thing 1 and Thing 2 creations. They were so cute. Another idea is to bring your tall red and white, striped, Dr.Seuss HAT into primary and put the songs in the hat and have the kids pick them out. Or you could pin them on. Either way have “all the fun that is funnest!” Dr. Seuss Rocks.

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