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| Here I am Singing verses to our new January song… |
Well I’m looking forward to February because it has my 2nd favorite holiday in it…..Valentines Day! It’s the holiday of love, hearts, chocolates and kisses. What could be better than that? So I will probably be doing a few fun music times around the Valentine theme. One that I think is always fun is using balloons. I think, since I have a bunch from my 1st grade classroom I’ll use just some 9 inch colorful balloons. But if you don’t have any a cute idea would be to go to a craft store that has Valentine heart shaped balloons and use a selection of those. I think 6 or 7 is enough.
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| If you’re happy and you know it then your face will surely show it! |
I would pick out several songs from the 2011 presentation that the kids may already have been exposed to.
Like “I Love to See the Temple” and I’m going to do “Love One Another” in sign language. So I will write those down on a little piece of paper like a 1 x 2 inch tiny sheet. Then I’ll roll it up into a thin tube and slip it into a heart balloon. Then do that with 4 or 5 other songs, including our song of the month. Always try to include just some action songs, so they can stand up and get their wiggles out halfway through singing! I chose to do “If You’re Happy and You Know It!”
Then when I get to church I use some masking tape and tape the 6 or 7 balloons up onto the chalkboard that we have in our primary. It is on wheels. Then when it is time for singing, I pick a name from one of our sticks and they get to come pop a ballooon! And then we get to sing that song.
Now I know it is Super Bowl Sunday, and that is a temptation, so if you are a sports nut, go for it. It’s another way you could use the balloons, just buy football shaped ones. Or you could play the Superbowl game I got from another chorister. The link is HERE
On of my favorite websites to peruse Saturday night for ideas for Sunday singing is Sugar Doodle. They always have a flipchart to copy on the new song, or organization ideas. Or just the songs themselves are listed in ABC order to listen to and learn. There was one here that I liked, and may use parts of. If you need to see a year in advance, these organized types of people are a big help! Link is HERE. If I do use these I just scratch out and add a song here and there to make it my own.
This week I will probably use one of my fun little singing helps named LESTER. He is a wild faced little singer who’s tongue goes up and down as the kids sing better. It’s just something to keep them engaged, more or less. It is easy to make one of these.
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| The red tongue (red ribbon sewn to the white) goes up as you pull from the back….too funny! |
I just used poster board and a clip art of a wide open mouth. You could also do one with a flower that grows, a rocket that takes off, a temperature that rises, the ideas are limitless. Just use your imagination.
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| Here we are doing Love One Another to sign language |
Here are a few examples of what you could make on the poster board. For Lester I used just some red fur for his head. This would have been even cuter as a clown now that I think about it. The nose could have been a big, round red one and the clown eyes could have been, you know some big Xs. Oh, well, maybe next month for that idea.
You just need a slit cut at the top of his mouth and at the bottom with an Xacto Knife. Then use red ribbon sewn onto white ribbon into a loop shape. Then feed it into both his bottom and top mouth and attach the pieces together a bit loosely and sew it carefully with a slip stitch. Then decorate the head of the clown, or Lester, or a rocket or whatever, with colorful markers.
Here is another one with the spider that climbs towards the flower as you pull the string up and down from the back. It’s a little less wierd looking than Lester but the kids, for some reason, love LESTER! Hmmm….
When the kids all sing you can have the red ribbon or the spider creep slowly higher and higher as they sing to encourage strong, clear singing! It’s a lot of fun to make and to use and I probably bring one type of these out every 2 months or so just for fun.
Recap:
1. Rocket with the red strip being the fire and rocket fuel pushing the rocket to blast off.
2. A thermometer can have funny sayings on the side like: Gettin warmed up, RED HOT SINGING! Come on! Don’t cool DOWN! Something like that.
3. A Clown or Frog or Face with the red tongue coming up and up and up as singing improves! Have fun with it! (I was just thinking the balloons and the clown might go nicely hand in hand if you choose to do this another time)
4. Flower can have a green stem (that grows and grows and grows) as they sing better.
5. A car or train moving up a steep hill.
In some of these ideas you would attach the rocket or flower or train to a strip of color and that would move up and down as you pulled it down or up from the back. Be creative! Use colored scrapbook paper with some cute designs or images on it if you are not an artist.
I found a few examples of a flipchart (my favorite way to teach the songs) for the new song I Will Follow God’s Plan. You will need a color printer or else print in black and white and spend the evening coloring your pictures with markers. I glue them on poster board and then punch a hole in each page and attach a medium ring so they can flip easily forward and backward. Here is a link for a cute one. HERE. Another one is HERE. I personally like the ones with words but you may not. Here is another flipchart Link HERE
Have fun with your chorister calling! Pattie