We’ve got Musical Measles Singing Time Idea

I love this idea that I heard of recently that was done in a friend’s primary for music time. The kids in primary LOVE stickers and are motivated to sing if they know they can earn a sticker of any kind. So why not get some round stickers, maybe happy face stickers but call them “MEASLES”.  And the kids can earn a measles!

 “It’s measle motivation”!

                           

Pass out a strip of a dozen stickers to each of the teachers.  After each song, tell the kids “Your teachers are going to give you the MEASLES if your singing is great!”  Then just lead the songs like you normally would, showing the visual aids, or just directing. 
                                                  

You can point out to the teacher somebody YOU think deserves a measle sticker, but it is really going to be their jobs. Have them put it right on the kids’ faces.  It is super fun.  That way each class will be motivated and recognized.

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Pioneer Day Singing Time

                                                   

I did a fun activity last year for Pioneer day July 24 that would be fun to do again. It was called “What is Your Favorite PIE-O-NEER” Song? (but it really means…..what’s your favorite PIE!)



What’s YOUR favorite Pioneer song?



I made a little pie chart with 8 different kinds of pies on the top listed; banana cream, blueberry, chocolate, lemon, etc. and the kids would come up and choose their favorite pie. I cut slits on either sides of the pie pieces but left about 2 inches up at the middle uncut, so the pie would stay together.  Underneath each pie piece was a song we needed to practice mixed in with 4 pioneer songs from the songbook.

Pioneer Songs for Pioneer Day….

It might be fun to bring in a few spatulas and have the kids come up and direct the music leading with a pie spatula or a pancake turner. That would be a lot of fun. Here are the songs I did;
1. Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked Flipchart from Jollyjenn is HERE.
2. The Handcart Song  The Handcart Song from Sugar Doodle link is HERE.
3. To Be a Pioneer

If You’re a Pioneer and You Know it then Your Face Will Surely Show it!!!

4. If You’re Happy and You Know It (change the words to If You’re a Pioneer and You Know It) and then use the motions clap your hands, march on the trail, shout “This is the Place”. 


Pioneer Day Singing Time!

It’s an imporant day to honor the pioneers. So maybe a short pioneer story in between singing the songs if you have extra time would be in order.  I can’t imagine how hard being a pioneer was in their day. I wouldn’t want to trade places with them, that’s for sure.  But I bet they wouldn’t trade places with us if they had the chance either. It’s not a cakewalk living in our crazy times. (or a Pie-o-neer trek…LOL) Happy Pioneer Day!                                                   

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Watercolor Vase Singing Time

This idea was adapted from “The Crazy Chorister’s” post on Measuring Vase.  You could use a vase, a glass jar, or a clear glass pitcher… anything clear where the kids can see the water rising.   A tall vase or container that is thin would work the best.  Maybe a tall tube type vase.
                                                                
Get some food coloring and choose a bright color to tint the water in a different container or pitcher.  Then tell the kids you are going to add water to the vase depending on how well the groups sings.  Tell them you are looking for 4 things; 1. singing the words correctly, 2. singing pretty with feeling, 3. everybody participating,  and 4.watching you while you switch signs between “sing soft” and “sing loud” so you know they are really paying attention.

Use any kind of flowers, any kind of tall, clear vase!

                                                             
Then pick your first song.   You can have a few silk flowers in the vase (or paper ones on a plastic straw stem) and have somebody come up and pick flower 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.  Then have a little piece of tape sticking out of each flower or straw with the song name on it.  Then sing the song after that flower is chosen.  Then tell them what you thought; really great, so-so, or just okay, and add that much water.   Motivate them to get up to the next line and draw a line with a marker.

I would use 5 to 6 flowers with song names attached….

                                                         
Then pick another child to pick the next flower.  The vase will be filled with colored water by the time your singing time minutes are up.  You could try starting with yellow water and then adding red to see if it turns orange. Then add more red to turn the orange to red.  That would add to the fun and motivation!

Alternate the signs “Loud” and “Soft” while they sing to add to the fun….Start with yellow water….add red to it….watch it colorchange!  

Thanks Crazy Chorister for your ideas. It helps to have some new ones now and then doesn’t it? Keep up the good work everybody!

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Let’s Go Golfing Primary Singing Time

My kids took a Jr. Golfing course when they were little kids. They were given little Jr. sized putters and golf clubs. See if you can find a small putter or golf club good for kids and bring it into primary. Then collect a bag or bucket of golf balls.

Try a Primary Singing Time Golf Game for fun and participation!

Use a trash can or a bucket to catch the balls (laying on it’s side). Mark it with a sign that says “HOLE IN ONE”.  Then draw white circles out of construction paper and number them 1 to 8. They are “golf balls”. Write the names of the songs on the back and tape  them up on the board.  We are playing Primary Golf!

(I also happen to see little metal and plastic golf clubs for kids at K-Mart for $5.00 and $7.00 so I bought a set for my grandkids…it also comes with the holes in one and extra golf balls! What luck!)

Use a bucket or trash basket for the “hole in one” for Primary Singing Time
Fore!  Look out while I putt!

                                           
Choose 1 child to come up, pick a ball off the board, then tell the group the name of the song that’s on the back.  The teacher picks a few kids to stand up and recite each line. Go through entire song this way.

Here we are hiking Snow Canyon in St. George. We don’t golf much, but we do find a good hike fun! 

 Then have “reciters” come up….Maybe 4 to 6 are needed to  recite the lines of the song. (Skip choruses) If they do so correctly they get a chance to “putt”.  Make the group line up and they get a point for their “class team” if they get a hole in one.

Number some paper balls for song choices for Primary Singing Time (listed on back of balls)

 Then we all sing the song together.   Hopefully the putting will go rather quickly.  Then start over, picking another child to go choose a golf ball off the board for the next song. Be sure and bring a few extra golf balls! Have fun golfing in singing time!

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4th of July Singing Time

                                                              

For the 4th of July I would get red, white, and blue decorations from around your house and tape a song to each of the decorations.  Have kids come up and pick a decoration and tell the group why they are proud to be living in the USA.  It is good to have kids remind each other of how lucky we are to be Americans. 

Here’s some decorations from my house…lots to choose from!

Another idea is to have little flags you purchase from the dollar store or Hobby Lobby. I found them at Hobby Lobby for 49 cents each. You could buy 8 flags to decorate your house and use them also in singing time                                              
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 Pass them out to the class singing the nicest and they get to wave the flags on the next song. This is just a mini motivator to have some good singing happening.
                                               

I’d bring a few things from my Table Decs too!

I noticed at Walmart that they have red white and blue decorated Taffy pieces for only a few bucks and it’s a GIANT BAG! You could do a tic tac toe game using red white and blue Xs and Os and yarn and the winning team gets the candy or just use it to give one for each child that comes up and shares why they are proud to be living in the USA.  An Independence Day link to a Quiz is HERE.   Happy 4th of July Everybody!
                                                           

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Primary Song Apron

                                      Choose and Review Apron

I got a new idea from Matilda at Primary Primary Singing Time with Matilda LINK HERE.  She has the kids come up and choose a song from one of the pockets. This would be very easy to make with old scraps of material. But you could also just go buy a really cute, large, gift bag from the dollar store and write the songs one folded up papers inside. 

                                    

I had an additional idea to do. I always have kids do a job when they come up. So you could have kids pick the song and then for a gummy worm they have to recite the first line of the song. Then go pick a friend to do the 2nd line of the song for a gummy bear or worm. Kids will do lots of nutty things for a gummy worm!

Then when the song is recited completely sing the song!  Fun additions to this could be 1. sing hopping on 1 foot, 2. sing it while doing the twist swaying side to side, 3. Sing while snapping your fingers, 4. march in place. These all are fun ways to break up the primary singing time minutes with a little get up and move!

                                        

Then switch and have someone else come up and pick a new song.  This would be a fun activity to bring out every few months.  The primary singing bag or apron.

She also had a fun idea using Dollar Store Big Ears.  If she can’t hear the kids singing she puts on the big ears for another chorus of singing the song.  That would be a funny way to motivate kids to sing louder. Thanks
Matilda!

                                   I can

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Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

Summer has finally arrived in Utah! We have snow melting so fast everybody is worried about floods now! One week we had 10 new inches of snow, the next week it was in the 70s! Crazy weather! But I think summer is FINALLY HERE!

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So sing Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree! It is a favorite of all the Sunbeams, that’s for sure.  It can be a fun thing to do while practicing the monthly song and resinging all the ones you have taught so far. 

Another fun thing to do is substitute the word ‘pop’ with another action. For example: us  dance-corn, clap-corn, hop-corn, kickbox-corn, cheer-corn, snap-corn, etc. (then do the actions during this verse of the song…ie. do some kickboxing while singing the song, or some cheerleading with pantomimed pom poms!)

I looked out the window and what did I see?
Have the kids come up with different 1 syllable words to use instead of “pop”  It is silly but it would be fun for the little ones.

SPIN A SPINNER TO SING!
A fun game that you could play is to have kids roll a dice or spin a spinner. Then write on the board 6 different funny things the kids must do while they sing the song. So if they roll a 1, all the kids sing on one leg; Roll a 2 boys hum and girls sing; Roll a 3 girls hum and boys sing; Roll a 4 and Everybody trades chairs to sing. Roll a 5 and everybody whistles the chorus of the song; Roll a 6 and kids have to sing in an opera voice or birdy voice.  Have fun with whatever you write up on the board for 1 – 6. Change it up to suit your kids.
                                                          
           If you don’t have a spinner from one of your kids games and can’t make one, then use a paper clip and a pencil and just spin that way on a round circle cut into 6 pie pieces. The paper clip will stop spinning on one of the 6 pie pieces (you have numbered them 1 – 6) and that will be the action you do during the song.  Kids will LOVE this! And it will keep them engaged to resing all your songs over and over.                               

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Hula Hoop Singing

                                                   

I have 6 hula hoops in my classroom at school. I took them home for the summer so my grandkids can play with them. I had a fun idea for a Primary chorister activity.

                                             

Have 3 kids come up at a time and try to hula hoop all through the singing of the song. As they drop their hula hoops they are out and have to stand still inside the hula hoop. The winner is the one who stays hula hooping and is still twirling the hula hoop by the end of the verse and chorus. 

                                                  

Then the 3 kids get to go pick out 3 more kids for the next song.  Maybe even 4 kids. I think it would be a fun activity to watch and to actually DO!  Too bad I could never hula hoop. I’m too uncoordinated still!

For the Song I would practice the “I Love to See The Temple” song. Here is a flipchart from Sugardoodle.
                                                 

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BEAN BAG SONG TOSS, 5 STAR SINGING GAME

I got this idea from Divine Secrets of a Primary Chorister. Link to her site from mine over tot he right side of my blog.

Bean Bag Song Toss        

Put giant notes on the floor with a song name on it. Have a child throw a beanbag, sing whatever song the beanbag lands on. The fun songs should be farther away.
I like ideas like this because it is easy to make up and some weeks you simply have to practice the songs over and over to get them learned. But if kids have a game to play along with singing, it sure is more fun.
5 STARS FOR SINGING    
My daughter gave me this idea yesterday. She said her primary chorister made up 5 stars game but used Easter Eggs. I say use the 5 stars on a stick and have one of them a glittery star. So the teachers get to be chosen to give the song (after being sung) 5 stars, 4 stars, 3 stars, etc. and tell the kids what they need to do to earn 5 stars…..or better yet….THE GLITTERY STAR! (for 6 stars!)
Glittery Star is the one to go for!!!   
The kids will work really hard to earn 5 stars but to go for the glittery star they have to sing very special.
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Father’s DAY of course!

Next week would be a good time to start practicing a fathers day number or two. Since the Bishop is the father of the ward, maybe the song “He’s Our Bishop” would be in order. My personal favorite is “I’m So Glad When Daddy Comes Home.” It is so cute for little guys to sing it. And it is easy to learn.

The link to Jolli Jenn’s flipchart of “Daddy’s Homecoming” is HERE.  It’s a really cute song I loved doing.
Another cute one I love is “I Know My Father Lives” which would also be appropriate for Father’s day. It is sung about Heavenly Father, of course. It is short and sweet and a flipchart from Jollli Jenn can be found HERE. I remember one of my sons singing this as a duet with me one Father’s Day when he was only 4.

Now he’s got a little 10 month old girl of his own. She is a cutie too.

You could also teach actions to go with the song “Daddy’s Homecoming” that would be cute for the kids to do in Sacrament Meeting. After all, it’s only fair if they did Mother’s Day to not forget the dads!  “Clap my hands and SHOUT (hands outsides of mouth) for joy and climbing motion for climb upon his knee (slap knees). Put my arms around his neck you could criss cross the arms in front and then do a hugging back and forth motion for “hug him tight like this” and then of course you have to do the GREAT BIG KISS motion using your hand to blow a big kiss. Dads will love that.  Happy singing!

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