Pattie's Primary Place – Page 9 – Good Stuff for Primary Leaders

Olympics Singing Time Using OLYMPIC RINGS

Make up some Olympic Rings out of some kind of construction paper, wrapping paper, poster board or just print them out and glue them on a poster. Put the OLYMPIC RINGS on the floor! Have a child throw a beanbag and then, sing whatever song the beanbag lands on. You could tape little white pieces of paper inside the rings OR if you put some tape over a section, just write with a dry erase marker on top.

Then have the kids stand 3 feet away and throw a few beanbags! 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. And most of you are practicing like crazy for the Primary Presentation coming up!!

Bean Bags can be made from old colored socks with rice poured into the toe and tied off and cut. Super Easy! Or buy a colorful set like this at Oriental Trading for $10.00!

Anything that would be fun and motivating for the kids will be helpful during these last few weeks of practice before the big day. Have fun all you stars out there!

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5 Stars for Singing Time in August

Kids love a good bean bag toss. I do the beanbag toss for almost every classroom party we have all year. I just have a different shape to toss the beanbags through!

Put giant notes on the floor with a song name on it. OR better yet, put the OLYMPIC RINGS on the floor! Have a child throw a beanbag and then, sing whatever song the beanbag lands on. The wiggle, fun songs should be farthest 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. And most of you are practicing like crazy for the Primary Presentation coming up!!

5 STARS FOR SINGING

My daughter gave me this idea that they do in her primary. She said her primary chorister made up 5 stars using the 5 stars on sticks. But one of the star sticks is a special one. Just paint or glitter one of the stars with glitter. Call it the glittery 5th star.

Then sing the song, pick an adult to RATE THE SONG using from 5 stars, 4 stars, 3 stars, etc.and then come up and pick that many star sticks. If they only get one or two, then tell the kids what they need to do to earn 5 stars…..or better yet….THE GLITTERY 5th STAR!

Glittery Star is the one to go for!!!

The kids will work really hard to earn 5 stars. They will want to try for the glittery star so they have to sing very special. Keep urging them on till one of the adults gives all 5 stars!

Try to think of some fun way to use the sticks. Maybe one of the kids in the class where the teacher rated the singing, could come up and hold all the stars and wave them to the music like they are leading the group. Or that teacher could pass the stars to her class and they can sway them to the beat of the song. Anything that would be fun and motivating for the kids will be helpful during these last few weeks of practice before the big day. Have fun all you stars out there!

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Olympics Singing Time Ideas

The Olympics is coming soon. So I thought of something that I used to do in Primary Singing Time during the Olympics that is always fun. Olympic Ribbon Sticks for twirling to music!

Olympic Ribbon Twirling…we can do some of that in Primary Singing Time!

HERE at Oriental Trading is the set I bought to use for music time and in my classroom. I used it at end of the year musical too to add some pizzaz! Kids love twirling the ribbons to music like they do in the Olympics. But you can make your own twirlers too.

Make up some ribbons on individual chop sticks and pass them out to 5 or 7 kids in your Primary. They can stand in place and whip the ribbons around to the beat of the song you are singing like they are doing the Gymnastic Artistic Ribbon Dancing.

I just taped the ribbons on to some wooden skewers I had gotten from the Dollar Store. Or you could use chopsticks. You’d only need 3 pairs. I bet Pei Wei or Panda would give them to you FREE!

My hubs always says, “That’s stupid, it’s not even a sport, Look Ma, I got a gold medal in ribbon waving!!” lol. He makes me laugh all day long.

This is ribbon I had on hand. You could use curling ribbon or craft ribbons of any kind.

Here’s how mine look. I think I made them about 3 feet long with ribbon.

Use up all your leftover ribbons from packages. Glue gun the end of the ribbon to the pointy tip of the chopstick.

These are the REAL ribbons for gymnasts…..but we could do them in rainbow colors!

Then make up a list of songs on the board and choose kids to come up and get a chopstick and choose a song. Then they can pass out the rest to their friends and have them all stand up and wave like crazy while the rest of the group sing their hearts out.

Fun Olympic Ribbon Singing Time Fun!

These were from ebay. I bought a set for my classroom from Oriental Trading for $20.00 bucks. You could also make
them out of crepe paper but they wouldn’t last but a day. Link HERE to see.

Hey, I thought it was really fun! Kids will too!

Then you choose the next really great singer to choose another song and pass the other sticks out to his friends. By the time you are done almost everybody will have had a chance to do some Olympic Ribbon Gymnastics. (At least you can call it that!) 😀

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Pioneer Day Singing Time

8 FUN SONGS FOR PIONEER DAY SINGING TIME Songs…..

1. Pioneer Children Sang As They Walked Children’s Songbook 2142. Little Pioneer Children Children’s Songbook 2163. To Be a Pioneer Children’s Songbook 2184. The Oxcart Children’s Songbook 2195. The Handcart Song Children’s Songbook 2206. Fun to Do Children’s Songbook 253 7. When We’re Helping Children’s Songbook 1988. If You’re Happy and You Know it Children’s Songbook )

I like EASY for making some fun singing time activities. So for Pioneer Day coming up I think a cute thing to do is spin for your favorite PIE -O-NEER song. You could make a giant spinner out of cardboard, or just cut a piece of construction paper circle into 8 sections and put a different song underneath each one.

My favorite is To Be a Pioneer….it’s so easy to learn too!

Kids can spin to choose a pie, and Pioneer Songs are underneath. I actually used scrapbook paper.

An easy way to make a spinner is just place it on a table and use a pencil and a paper clip and use the point of the pencil on the inside of the paper clip and use your finger to flip the paper clip till it spins around the pie. Here’s a picture.

You could also do it with numbered, Pioneer Pinwheels! The link for learning how to
make one is HERE at Cafe Mom.

Instead of numbers you could put song names, or pie names like I did, or just leave it at numbers and use it again and again. I would color each number in rainbow order though. No sense having it LOOK plain! We like CUTSIE here!

Bring a broom handle and have the kids “walk and walk” around the primary room like they are pulling a handcart. They will LOVE IT!

You could also come dressed with an apron and pioneer hat. Or get a few hats and pass them around on the teacher’s heads. I would have those teachers then watch for great singers in their classes to put the hat on for the next song sung. Boy’s hats could be straw hats, or you could add a few suspenders or vests. That is a GREAT motivator for some good singing to happen!!

A link to a PDF of a Pioneer hat pattern is HERE from a stake that did a pioneer trek. So nice of them to SHARE! I love when that happens!

PATTIE

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Primary Birthday Singing Time!

Today I’ll share some fun things you can do for the kids’ birthdays. Besides the cute little doo dad the primary leaders give them for their birthday it would be fun to do some different things besides just singing the birthday songs.

This idea is from Primary Singing Time link is HERE.She has other cute ideas too.

SING A BIRTHDAY SONG IN A ROUND!

SING IN A ROUND:
Sing “You’ve had a Birthday” (CS 285) in a round:
Divide up the room into 2, 3 or 4 groups. Assign a singing leader to each group. Following the breaks listed in the Children’s Songbook, cue each group, in turn, to start singing the song (from the beginning).
1st group: You’ve had a birthday shout Hoo-ray.
2nd group starts, You’ve had a birthday shout Hoo-ray. etc.

How about doing the HAND JIVE! This idea is from Primary Singing’s blog, link is HERE. I would do this song to “Happy Happy Birthday Children Dear”
1. Slap legs twice on “Happy Happy”
2. Clap twice on ” Birthday”
3. Wave hands in front of the other twice on “Children Dear”
REPEAT
4. Slap legs twice on “Happy Day will”
5. Clap Twice on “Come To”
6. Wave hands in front of the other twice on “You all Year!”
keep going through the entire song.

BIRTHDAY KIDS WEAR THE BIRTHDAY HAT!!
There are also birthday cake hats you can purchase for the child to wear while they are sung to. I’ve never purchased one but I wish I had. They are soooo cute and the kids love them.
Here are links to a few I’ve seen online. HERE at Webhats.

This hat is $13.59 on sale! I could use this in my family or my classroom too!

The link for this hat is Here at everafter store. It’s only $14.95 It would be fun to see my 28 year old 6 foot 4 son wearing this hat as we sing happy birthday to him now, wouldn’t it? Super fun!!

For MORE fun than a hen in a pen, try the CHICKEN DANCE!!! It goes good with this birthday song “This month is such a special one it’s birthday time for you…

1. Both hands make a “talking”motion, 4 x to “This month is such a special one”
2. Flap wings like a chicken (hands by armpits, and wave the elbows up and down) 4x to “It’s birthday time for you”
3.Make body twist back and forth (4 beats) to “We really want to celebrate”
4.Clap four times to “This happy day with you”
5. repeat the 4 x fingers talking motion fo “Yippedy aye and hidey ho”
6. Repeat 4 x flapping wings to “there’s something we can do”
7. Repeat body twist 4 x to “We’ll sing a song that we all know”
8. Repeat clapping 4 x to “Happy Birthday to you!”

HOPE YOU CAN FIND A FEW WAYS TO SPICE UP PRIMARY BIRTHDAY SINGING TIME!!!

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He’s Our Bishop…

Today I think a very fun activity is to play “CUT THE BISHOP’S TIE!” . 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.

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….

1. Busy as a man can be,
He’s our bishop.
He finds time to talk to me;
He’s our bishop.
Always kindly words he’ll say
To the children ev’ry day.
Let us help him ev’ry way;
He’s our bishop.

2. Cheerful as he serves the Lord,
He’s our bishop.
He’s the father of our ward;
He’s our bishop.
He helps us to do the right
In our Heav’nly Father’s sight.
We love him with all our might;
He’s our bishop.

Words and music: Robert P. Manookin

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.

Here’s another great idea for singing the song “OUR BISHOP”

I won’t take credit for this but I saw one of our music leaders do this and the children loved it. We took photos of our Bishop acting out the song. Around the time the music leader wanted to teach it, our Bishop was re-shingling his roof. His wife had a photo of him and his daughter (who was in Primary at the time) on the roof. We used that for “Busy as a man can be”. Then we posed him at the front of the Primary as if giving a bishopric message for “He takes time to talk to me”. We had photos of him doing follow the leader and the whole bishopric among other poses for different phrases. (Shared by Lisa in Murray, UT / Primary Music Yahoo Group)

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.

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Musical Measles

How about playing Musical Measles? If you can get some sticker dots from Walmart to use as “measles or 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? (or musical measles?) Then 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 measles or chicken pox”. Tell the teachers to watch and add pox as they want.

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 but you wouldn’t have to. I just got a cute fur deer hat that I might use and call it musical deer pox. It doesn’t really matter. Be creative. Somebody is gonna catch something musical this week and you’ve got the dots to prove it!!!

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 really want to get crazy. :O 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 or musical measles” theme. Am I spelling pox right? Ah, who cares. LOL. Happy singing!

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August Primary Singing Time

Most choristers are getting ready for the primary presentation in September. I always started to add my musical instruments about now. I always had a few instruments as accompaniments to the song. It adds so much.

I looked out the window and what did I see? Popcorn popping on the apricot tree! ALWAYS
add some funny songs into your weekly list.

One idea is to use the older kids who can play the violin. I had 2 girls a few years ago that played alongside an easy, repetitive chorus of one of the presentation songs.

Most years I have used resonator bells to accompany a song. I love the wood block bells and they sound delightful tinkling in the background. You can use other types of bells too.

First Note 15 Note Wood Xylophone
One I recommend is a xylophone set for $20 bucks. The tones of these bells is very crisp and rises above the piano AND the singing. And you can get a child who has some piano lessons in his/her background to play a simple rythm or several children to do chords to add to the chorus of a song. The link is HERE for Musician’s Friend, where I bought mine. The kids LOVE them. they have many other types of bells to choose from for around $25.00.
Rhythm Band RB2130 Plastic Resonator Bells
Another thing to start is maybe a song with sign language. I tried to do this every other year. It is so moving to watch young kids sign a song. Love One Another has signs in the songbook.

Another instrument I’ve used in the past is a flutist. I don’t care if it is an adult or a primary child, it always adds to the meeting.

And lastly, I will add some solos and trios or duets. Many songs have a harder 2nd or 3rd verse that the kids do not really master in time. If that is the case in your primary, then add an older group of boys or girls or a mix to trio the 2nd verse.

Of couse they couldn’t be dressed up as cute as this trio of BEARS (and Goldilocks) we just performed in my classroom, but singing trios are always a cute addition to the Primary Program.

It especially has worked well in missionary type songs. It just brings such a sweet spirit to the song lyrics to have individual kids sing them at the microphone. Anyway, add some special things to your program this month, so you have time to practice and perfect the special musical touches.

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Memorial Day Singing Time

Memorial Day is this Sunday. I found some coloring pages of military men, all 5 branches of the military’s special seals and other patriotic symbols in blackline master format for copying. It would be fun to shrink them to 2 on a page and hand out one for each child as they come into primary or leave primary on Sunday.

Children Coloring of Marine Soldier at coloring-pages-book-for-kids-boys.com
The link is HERE for the blackline masters.

In honor of all our Veterans and relatives we’ve lost in wars and those still serving, let’s do a …..pop the red, white, and blue balloon singing time!!!

I’ll write the song numbers on small slips of paper and roll them up into a thin tube and slip it inside the balloons and then blow them all up.
US Air Force Flag coloring sheet - free at coloring-pages-book-for-kids-boys.com

US Air Force Flag coloring sheet - free at coloring-pages-book-for-kids-boys.com

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.

If you’re happy and you know it then your face will surely show it!

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.
USA Military Eagle coloring at coloring-pages-book-for-kids-boys.com
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. Link is HERE.
Free Coloring Page US Army Flag at coloring-pages-book-for-kids-boys.com
Long time ago I made a fun little singing helper 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.

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.

I would also bring some FLAGS to put up somewhere in my display with the red white and blue balloons for Memorial Day Primary Singing Time.

Use RED, WHITE, AND BLUE BALLOONS THIS MEMORIAL DAY IN PRIMARY!

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.
Free Coloring Pages Of US Navy Flag at coloring-pages-book-for-kids-boys.com
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.

This is a fun way to get kids to sing in Primary Singing Time.

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…:D

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 one!!!) The frog could have a little fly on the end of his red tongue that goes up, that would be cute.
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. Google your shape of choice, ie. train blacklines free, and then click on “images” at the top left side of the screen and see what comes up!

Have fun with your chorister calling! Remember, if the kids AND you are having fun AND learning, you are doing a good job. Pattie

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A Funny Mother’s Day Story

My beautiful family

I thought I would share one of my near and dearest stories of being a mom. NOT! It happened one night when I was President of a church organization called The Stake Primary. It was helping with 7 church organizations for the children 3 to 11. I was holding a board meeting down the street at a friend’s home who was on my board.

Busy church activities sometimes took over my life…sometimes.

I knew I would only be gone a little over an hour and my husband was on his way home from work. I called him and he assured me he would be home by 7:00. So I left my 11 year old daughter Tiff in charge at about 10 minutes till, but forgot, (excellent mom that I am) to give her the phone number. I just didn’t think it would be an issue. I left the kids playing with play dough and with plenty of snacks and took off.

Me on a much better day…

Little did I know how wrong I would be. About an hour later I got a call from a neighbor Terry, down the street. She said the words no mom wants to hear, “Pattie, I don’t want to alarm you, but you better get home right this minute!” and she didn’t tell me why. I jumped in the car and tore home (about 2 blocks). As I turned my corner my eyes met with police cars, lights flashing, paramedics, and the fire department all in my driveway. And no cars of ours there.

And just about every neighbor in my entire neighborhood standing out on their front lawn wondering where in the heck the parents were and what terrible disaster had struck inside the house while those no good parents were gone who knows where!

Mother’s Day Story

When I got there I ran inside with my heart in my stomach, praying all was well. I met a fireman that goes to my church and asked him what had happened. It is comical now, but at the time, not so much. My 4 year old had put some of the playdough in his ear and the kids tried getting it out. When they couldn’t they called 911 to ask how to get playdough out of somebody’s ears.

I’ll never forget the 911 call we had for playdough in the ear….it still gives me chills!

Yeah. A real emergency, playdough in the ears. I couldn’t even believe it. I learned later that my 11 year old daughter had told the police, “My mom is at a church meeting.” So the officer had taken her in his squad car down to my church and paraded around asking where I was. Yeah. I know. Not just my neighborhood was I toast, but now also at church. Complete humiliation! It was a really bad night for a mom, as you can just imagine.

Mother’s Day Story

The funny part comes later when all the hoopla had left my house. I had pulled all the curtains. The kids had gone to bed and I was sitting in the dark crying, my happy go lucky husband shows up. He’d forgotten HE ALSO had a church meeting. He was a high counselor in our church and also had a 7:00 pm meeting he’d forgotten AND neglected to tell me about. So he simply went straight to his meeting leaving me in the dust.
The next day was Halloween. Yeah. I remember trick or treating through my neighborhood THAT year.

At Halloween this year with my 3 granddaughters….MUCH more fun!

So I guess, time + crisis = humor, as they say. I can laugh about it now, but it was probably my worst experience as a mom. But as all moms know, there are a multitude of stories, almost equally awful, that we could substitute, am I right? I can tell you with complete conviction, looking back, it is ALL WORTH IT.

Cuz look what I got!

My family is the best, most important thing in my life. Enjoy them while they are little. It goes so quick. Happy Mother’s Day to all who mother, whether it is your own kids or others, we all honor you today. For all the highs and all the lows, for all the laundry, the meals, the parent-teacher conferences, the doctor visits, the Scouts, music lessons, laundry, PTA meetings, sports, taxiing, and did I say laundry? …homework you helped with and Birthday parties you planned. It’s your day to shine! Happy Mother’s Day!

Love this kid. Even tho he was the Playdough pusher…..we all survived anyway, and flourished!

The college grad playdough pusher…..yes I’ve gotten over it…it took a lot of therapy…….just kidding. Who could afford therapy?….I had good friends. And that’s the best a mom can ask for. Don’t ever think your worst days of being mom are not worth it. Because it all is so worth it. It is the hardest job. But it is the most worthwhile thing I’ve ever accomplished. Yup. And Halloween trick or treating is even more fun now with grandkiddos. And there is always this funny story I have to tell too……

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