Singing is Contagious!

Today to help the kids practice the songs we're singing for Christmas really well, I let them give me the Singing Measles!

Image from here
I didn't redecorate myself at home to get a picture of it.

Materials: Round label stickers

Instructions: Tell the kids that good singing is contagious! Ask what the chicken pox looks like (lots of spots) and say we're going to play a game: If they are singing really well, they will become contagious. Their teachers will give the good singers each a sticker that they can use to decorate/infect me. After each song, tell the teachers to give stickers only to kids who were really singing. Then give them a chance to cover you with stickers :)

Pros: I got some very nice, loud singing out of them, the best I've heard in a month :)

Cons: It wasn't until I was sitting on a chair, letting myself be decorated by swarms of kids that I began to think about other contagions this time of year, ones that could really make me ill. When I got home, I immediately showered and dropped all my clothes in the wash.
No, this con won't stop me from doing it again, but maybe next time I'll bring hand sanitizer for everyone to use prior to starting :)

How well do you know your FAVORITE song?!

How well do you know your FAVORITE song?!

That's a challenge for the kids. After we did this activity I said to myself, "This is their favorite game to play." Then I realized that was wrong. What I should have said was, "This is my favorite game to play with them."

For some reason, whenever I pull out fancy props from the closet, the kids don't seem to like it quite as well as the really simple games we play.

Materials: masking tape, paper strips, Sharpie

Instructions: Tell the kids you want to challenge a person who things that they know their favorite song really well. Tell them that we will sing their favorite song for them, but leave out a word, and when we're done, they'll have to tell us what the word is.
Get a volunteer who is up to the challenge and find out what the favorite song is. Write a common word on a wordstrip, big enough to read, and tape it to their forehead. Then get them to show the pianist so he can not play the note for that word, too.
Then sing it, and then ask the kid what word it was.
Most of the kids are so proud, they keep their wordstrips on their forehead for the rest of singing time.

Samuel the Lamanite

Today I decided, very shortly before primary started, that I wanted to teach the Samuel the Lamanite verse of Book of Mormon Stories (p. 118) in conjunction with Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus (p. 36). We've already been learning Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus.

Arrows could not hit him for a man of God was he.
Get the whole cut out from LDS.org here

I thought this was great to remind the kids of more of the story of Samuel. The Christmas song tells about how he prophesied of baby Jesus's birth in 5 years and that a night will be as day. We discussed that this meant that the sun would go down, but it would still be light out. Note: we did this a week ago when we first learned the song.
The verse of Book of Mormon Stories tells another part of the story: Samuel taught from the city wall and people shot arrows at him and couldn't hit him. Also, he was a Lamanite teaching repentance to the wicked Nephites.

I taught it with hand motions, call and repeat:

Samuel the Lamanite, high on the city wall (form a wall with your hands)
Came to warn the people, and repentance was his call, (pretend you're Samuel, waving a hand from left to right, like you're looking at a crowd below you)
Arrows could not hit him for a man of God was he. (pretend to shoot arrows)
And he taught in the land righteously. (right hand out, left hand out [positioned similar to the "I don't know" pose], right hand in, left hand in, head down [end with your arms folded].
I never knew describing those actions would be confusing. These are the same actions I use for the end of the first 2 verses as well)

The kids really enjoyed this song, and I felt it helped the younger ones learn more about the story of Samuel the Lamanite.Still, I don't think we'll perform this song before "Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus" during Sacrament :)

Some of you get to be turkeys... A November singing time

On my hand turkey, I had actually written a clue for each song on each feather and the head. Before each song I let the kids guess what each clue meant.
ex. BoM was Book of Mormon Stories
ex. Head was Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

Materials: a turkey picture (I just drew a hand turkey on the board with chalk), a bag/envelope with the following papers inside

--wearing red

--wearing blue

--wearing black

--boys

--girls

--blue eyes

--brown eyes
--green eyes

--freckles

Instructions: I told the kids that today I would pick some kids to be turkeys. Now turkeys don't really know the words to the songs: they only know one word. Everyone who is not a turkey sings all the song, but the turkeys sit quietly and then sing only the one word. (at this point all the kids were raising their hands, hoping to be turkeys).

Then I told them my envelope would tell me who the turkeys would be. I drew a slip from the envelope

(If I picked the blue eyes one, the children with blue eyes are turkeys).

Then I picked a word from the song, example "asleep" in "Away in a Manger," and that is the only word the turkeys sing. I also had them put their hands up on their chins when they sang the word, to look like the... thing that hangs off a turkey's neck. 

We sang each song through a few times, picking new turkeys and words each time.

Pros: The kids loved being declared turkeys. How surprising is that?! Also, this was a good activity to review a set of songs each a few times.

Primary CDs 2013

I just thought I'd share where I got mp3s for the primary song CDs (don't worry, nothing illegal).
The LDS website has suggested mp3s here, but I was so excited to find some other options too.

1) If the Savior Stood Beside Me--here is a free mp3 that's gorgeous from  Sally Deford's Website. I use the one from Angie Jack. Just a note on the church website version: the kids sing the wrong word on the 2nd verse. Just another reason to use the Angie Jack version.

2) Audio from General Conference children choirs!
I was thrilled to find these. Just search for whatever song you want. "My Heavenly Father Loves Me"  is under the name Primary Song Medley (yes, with I Know My Father Lives)
I like the children choir versions better than the ones suggested in the primary program links.

3) You can beg people from Youtube for the right to use their audio. I had little luck with this route, but I found lots of versions of songs I'd love to use if I had permission.

We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet

We started by doing what was suggested in the 2013 Primary Program book: I made word strips in different colors with each half of a line and then put the second halves of lines around the room. The first halves of lines (on the left) I put in order, taped on the board (because I hadn't figured out the yarn trick at that point).
Then I had the kids try to pick out the second half of each line. Some kids picked up immediately that the colors corresponded, the first half of line to the second half, but most kids really struggled to think which of the word strips came next.
After we had a line put together we sang it. That got boring, so I had 1/2 the kids stand up and sing the first part of the line and then sit down while the other half of the kids stood and finished each line for them. That was fun. Most of my directing was getting the kids up and down. With the teachers' help in the classes, the kids got the words.
The words are hard for kids and we did discuss them some.
I also brought in props to go with each:
Lines 1-2) The conference ensign with our prophet's picture on it
Line 3) A picture of the golden plates
Line 4) I drew a picture of the sun in chalk and talked about how the gospel makes us feel good, just like rays of the sun make us warm (very hard concept, yes)
Line 5) An apple, since food is a blessing (which the kids wanted to eat. Don't eat my prop!)
Line 6) A picture of a hand
Line 7) Work gloves for service
Line 8) A heart for love

Now I found that many word strips really cumbersome to magnet up or take up, so I bought a hot glue gun (just $3) and glued it to yarn. These fold up, and you can just hang them up.
You can also turn individual pages backwards when you're memorizing.

I also had the music coordinator in Sacrament have the congregation sing this as a hymn about a month after the kids started learning it.

Review-- If the Savior Stood Beside Me

So the kids are losing the words to "It the Savior Stood Beside Me," and with as many verbs are in the song, who can blame them?
Would I THINK of his commandments and TRY harder to be true?
Would I FOLLOW his example? Would I live more RIGHTEOUSLY? (okay, that's an adverb)

Verse 2 hard part:
Would my words be TRUE and KIND if he were never far away? (Yeah, I know. These are pronouns.)
Would I try to SHARE the gospel? Would I speak more REVERENTLY?

I narrowed it down a bit and decided to make scratch off surprises for the key words.
Directions below, idea came from here, though.
Materials:

Clear Contact paper
Acrylic paint
Regular dish soap
A disposable bowl to mix, scissors, a spoon, sturdy paper, a pencil

1) Make your papers to scratch off by writing the lyrics, leaving space for "think," follow," etc. to be covered.
2) Cut out an oval shape that will fit over each hidden word.
3) On the paper side of clear contact paper, trace the 6 ovals (approximate is fine)
4) To make the scratch off paint, combine 2 parts acrylic paint and 1 part dish soap. You will need 3-4 layers of it. Paint it on the plastic side of the clear contact paper.
5) After the layers are all dry, cut them out (using your tracing on the back) and hide your lyrics with them.

When running this I put them with the corresponding picture hints and explained what we were trying to find. Then I had them sing the first verse and try to remember what words filled in the blanks (this part worked well. I did motions for think and follow to get the kids connecting the dots).
Then I asked who thought they knew what went in the first blank. After the guess, I let them scratch it off and see how it went.

Pros: This was fun. I was a bit nervous that the kids would be so excited about scratching with coins that they wouldn't know the words, but each kid I asked had paid attention and knew what was under that paint.

Cons: I actually tweaked the ratio of paint to dish soap. Don't do that. It made it hard to scratch off.

We only got through the first verse last time. I think I'm going to redo the scratchers on some more first verse cards and see if the kids remembered (quickly) before moving onto the second verse.

Back to School week

The older kids were looking a little bored last week, so I decided to change it up a bit.
This week I wrote Aa Bb Cc on the board and brought some things in for a back to school theme.
After the welcome song, I told them that this week was school themed and that I needed to look more like a teacher. Right then and there I put my hair up in a silly, loose bun, stuffed it with pencils, and donned little framed glasses which I wore WAY down on my nose. I wish I had brought a shawl.

Me as a "teacher," getting them ready for school to start.

I asked the a volunteer to pick out of my school objects the one that represented recess, because they'd been working hard at church so far and deserved some recess!
He picked a ball and then we sang a wiggle song as recess.
Next I said that we had to do some cutting, just like we do in school, and could someone pick out the correct school object?
She picked the scissors. I told the "students" that we were going to cut, not paper, but that the scissors were a symbol. I told the kids that we were all going to stand and sing and my helped was going to find the very very best singer and CUT them from singing--that means that they have to sit down and the rest of us will have to finish without our best singers. (I sent her 4 times in the song to cut someone).
After that, running out of time since we started singing time by going into RS and singing I Like to Look for Rainbows for them, we only had time for 1 more.
I asked a volunteer to pick our class pet. It was the frog and we played Find the Frog (directions here) together.

I also had an eraser that we could have used to "erase" words from one of our songs. We didn't get that far.

Pros: The kids thought it was funny when I dressed up. The teachers may have thought it was funnier. Also, they were interested in practicing the same songs for the program, that we really need to learn.

Cons: Maybe just that I did have volunteers so some kids wanted a turn and didn't get them. But I really didn't have any problems today.

When I Am Baptized p. 102

Most of the kids really know this one already, I discovered when I taught it. But I had been tricky and used it as the closing song the week before to test the waters, and only about half the kids sang it then.
Here's what I did.

Materials: several pieces of chalk, chalkboard that rolls

Instructions: I wrote the first letter of each word to the song on the rolling chalk board down low, EXCEPT a key word from each line. Then I left a big box there. and wrote that word at the bottom.
The first line looked like this:

ILTLF (box with "rainbows" written in the bottom).

Then I asked for artists to come up and draw the key words (Rainbows, Rain, Ponder, Earth--that was for verse 1). I showed them how to read the first letters, and then we sang it through.

The Pros: This was easy and the kids liked to come up and draw on the board. Because they are chalk drawings, it encouraged kids to go fast.

The Cons: It was a "I'm going to choose a few people to participate while everyone else gets to watch" activity. Also, the first week I tried this I put it on the chalk board in the back and some of the boxes were too high for the kids to reach even on chairs. But putting it on the rolling chalkboard helps it be close enough to the kids that they can see the pictures even down low.

Another idea that I wish I did, but never found the materials:
I wanted to make a rain stick for this song! How cool would that have been? But I couldn't find a round heavy cardboard tube. But I keep my eyes peeled for one and I can always add it in later.
And, yes, the post office didn't have one. There's are all square. But thinking now, maybe a square rain stick would be cool too.
Directions to make one:
http://theimaginationtree.com/2011/02/diy-rain-stick.html
And while the directions look good, I probably would decorate it differently :) This woman let her 2 year old do it.

Families Can Be Together Forever, week 2

Materials: Flip chart for this song (found here.) Ziplock bag of toys (I used props that I had just used for another activity), bean bag, picture of a temple

Object Lesson (no credit should go to me. I borrowed this)
Instructions: show that the Ziplock bag is open.
"If I turn this bag of (props) over, what will happen to them?"
(They'll fall on the floor)
"How can I make sure they stay together? Yes, I need to zip it up and SEAL the zipper."
Now turn the bag over and shake.
"Can you unseal the zipper? Yes, but I know a different kind of sealing that works to keep families together forever. Were does this SEALING happen? Yes, the temple. (Point to temple picture) And whose power is it that seals families together? (The priesthood power, God's power)

I am thankful for my family because:
After reviewing the words, tell the kids that as they sing, they have to watch me. As they sing the song, they are going to be passing a bean bag around, making sure it gets to everyone. Whenever I hold up the picture of the temple, they need to stop singing (make sure the pianist can see you so they can stop too). Then whoever is holding the bean bag gets to share 1 reason why they are thankful for their family.

25 minutes and NO helpers

Today in primary singing time we did a lot. We sang the Pioneer Children Sang As They Walked, then we learned (went over, many kids know this song) "Families Can Be Together Forever." After that we sang a wiggle song.

The kids were involved, and yet after I sat down I realized that I didn't use any kids as helpers at ALL.
I kind of liked that since then no kids felt like they were dying for a turn. I'll tell you a bit about what I did.
For "Pioneer Children" I introduced it with the theme of pioneers, who they were, etc. I asked the kids what they knew about pioneers, and then we sang the song with a flip chart that I found in the closet which had all the words.

Just a side note, I usually don't like flip charts to have all the words. This makes kids rely on them too much. On the other hand, since I don't actually care if the kids get this one memorized, and the chart was already made up that way, I went with it. But normally, no way. Or I detach the words after the first few weeks.
We sang it through while walking in place. I had the boys and girls switch off singing every other line. We sang it twice.

Families Can Be Together Forever p. 188
 
After this I got out this month's July 2013 Ensign and showed them the picture of the Nauvoo saints leaving, heading West, and tragically leaving the temple behind. I got close to them,walking around, asking kids to tell me what they saw. It let all the kids participate a little. Then I asked about the building in the background. One boy identified it as the temple. I explained how the Saints worked to build it. I told them about how the saints were almost done when the Lord told them they needed to leave because people were being mean to them. I asked them why they finished the temple, when they knew they would have to leave it behind. (This got some really good answers. I love how thoughtful kids can be.) Then I asked what covenants and ordinances occur in the temple. We discussed how you can be with your family forever.
Yes, this was a lead in for Families Can Be Together Forever.
This song we just sang twice because they really seemed to know it. I'll show you the flip chart I made.

example of the pages when colored

And then I colored them with colored pencils and put them in page protectors. At first I put clear contact paper over all my flip books, but that takes a long time. Then I found a pack of 15 page protectors at the dollar store. Also, I know lots of people print them off in color. I dislike this because ink can be expensive and coloring isn't hard.

I sometimes wonder if flip charts or these other methods are as necessary for the songs the kids are already familiar with, but then I realize that the younger kids really do need the confidence of being taught every word. It's the first time really learning these songs for them. Also, the very young sometimes don't sing in church, but their parents report that at home they know a lot of the words.

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes p. 275
After this we did Head Shoulders, Knees and Toes, but with a twist. I had body part cards in a bag and picked 4 new body parts to sing instead of H, S, K, T. Then we sang it. Because we were a little in a hurry because my time was running short, I just picked them and posted them on the board. The kids were excited and one boy said we should do 8 new body parts (instead of doing the traditional eyes ears mouth and nose) I promised that for next week.

I realized after making the below pictures that no one could read them, so I wrote the body parts big on the back and used a magnet to attach to the board. Yes, that's a fail on my part.

I got the great page to color here.

That was my singing time with no special volunteers, and it really worked well. Perhaps I would choose special volunteers to help me do the actions for the new Head Shoulders Knees and Toes song. But I think today's plans worked well because I got the kids up for the first song, told them a story for the lead in to the second, and then really got them moving and thinking for the third. It seems like the more involved I can get the entire group, the better.
No, I'm not against ever choosing volunteers. But it was a relief from last week. I had 2 volunteers each time we sang a song through last week and everyone wanted a turn.

All Find the Frog Singing Time, a reflection

We had a fifth Sunday and so the presidency generously gave to me all 45 minutes for singing time. We hadn't played their favorite game, hot and cold called Find the Frog, in a little while. I figured this would be a good thing to do to review all the songs we've learned so far for the program. Plus they love it.
I posted picture reminders for all the songs (that really took awhile to set up before primary), and then we dived right in.
The Pros: We covered most of our songs, even stopping to work on timing on the last line to If the Savior Stood Beside Me. The kids would sing out in hopes of being chosen next to either find or hide the frog next game. I could tell there were some words the kids really knew. Also, despite some rowdiness, I think the kids had a really good time.

The Cons: The kids got somewhat rowdy. Part of this was that there was a special 5th Sunday combined meeting for the adults, so we only had 3 adults in primary, since the bishop wanted all the adults possible to attend that meeting. Also, whenever I stopped to do something else not involving the frog, the kids got impatient. I did threaten to take away the game if the kids didn't shape up, and that got them really focused.

Next Time: I think I will start everything else, and then bring out the frog game, instead of  bringing it out first. Also, I may want to use choosing sticks with the kids' names on them to pick to make it fair. I say "may" because at the beginning just choosing the good singers worked really well. But by the end I ended up having to ask, "Who hasn't gotten a turn with the frog yet?" And it's not like the younger ones could even remember correctly. Also, I would like to do some wiggle songs/activities before starting to make kids more tired since hot and cold actually requires little movement from the group.

So any ideas from your own experiences?

"Jesus Has Risen" p. 70 Teaching a Song in Just a Few Weeks

I became the singing time leader in mid February this year. I realized the kids didn't yet know the song they were supposed to have learned that month--some didn't know it at all. So I was focused on that. Then I turned the calendar a few weeks later and realized just how close Easter was--at the end of March. So I asked around about what the kids already might know for them to sing for Easter in Sacrament. (I had moved in recently. I still struggle with knowing what songs to pick so the kids will know them.)
I was told, "Jesus Has Risen" p. 70. I stole an idea from a chorister in Provo.

Materials: a printout of the words of "Jesus Has Risen," with each phrase cut separately

Instructions: Explain that in order to learn a great song really fast, we were going to create our own motions. I handed a phrase of the song to each class and had their teachers help them plan an action for each. I also explained that while we were doing actions to help us learn, we would not be doing them in Sacrament meeting. After a few minutes, with me walking around and asking if we were all doing okay? and if anyone needed help, I asked for the phrases in order. We did the first phrase, singing and actions, and then I asked for the second, and we did them together. Repeat until you're singing the entire song.

Note: I only had 1 paper for the line "Jesus has risen" even though you sing it 3 times and we did the same action each time.

Pros: This really helped the kids learn the song quickly. By week 2 they were confident, while I think flip charts and pictures can make kids rely on them and more fearful of memorizing (and we didn't have time for that)

Cons: When I set each class off by themselves, things got crazy. I had only been there 3 weeks and was still trying to earn their respect, and this didn't help. In retrospect, small group work is harder to control than having the entire class doing one thing. When management is already a bit hairy, this can be hard to do. However, I saw it work fine in another primary, and the next week things were a lot better. I can probably repeat this if I want now since the kids know me better.

The Blindfolded Listener

Blindfolds are always fun.

Materials: Blindfold (I used a scarf, but it got really hot. I'll have to use something else next time), pictures that go with the song you're singing.

Instructions: I explained to the kids that I was going to do an activity with a blindfold. We needed someone who thought they knew all the words to a song. They would go out of the room and we would secretly pick 1 picture (that corresponds to a line of the song). Then they would come back in and be blindfolded. We would sing every line of the song through EXCEPT the line for the picture we had picked. Our pianist during this line added to it by playing just the melody and no accompaniment. (I didn't ask for this, but it was a great  idea)
Then was the challenge. Without taking off the blindfold to see the pictures, could the Blindfolded Listener tell us the words we skipped?
We decided to trick some older kids when it was their turns by picking more than one picture and seeing how they fared.

Pros: It made the one blindfolded (and even the others) think really hard about the words. Also, we sang the same song lots of times, but it was still fun.

Cons: The blindfold was hot. I'll have to use something different next time. Also, the instructions are a little complicated, but the kids understood after we got started.

Mother, I Love You

This activity can be used for any song that has a word that repeats several times. I used it for "Mother, I Love You" p. 207
Materials: extra chairs on the ends of each row (theoretically you only need them on 1 side of each row, but it was simpler to be on both sides)

Instructions: Have the kids sing "Mother, I Love You" and tell them before hand to count how many times you sing the word "I." Write the number on the board. We'll get back to that.
Ask the kids to make sure that there is an extra chair on the ends of their rows. Explain to teachers that the kids are going to be moving from chair to chair and if the teachers don't want to participate, they need to move to the aisles. (And, yes, it's lots of fun to see which teachers are game for this).
Then explain that every time every time you sing the word "I," you're going to move 1 chair over, first left, then right, then left, then right. (I pointed each time to help).

Pros: This one really had the kids' attention. Also, it was surprisingly reverent. The kids have singing time after individual classes which is after Sacrament meeting, so they always have energy. In fact, they behaved well after because it wore them out a little.

Cons: I didn't have any problems with this one.

Daring Dads Dare to do Right!

For Father's Day I wanted to focus on dads a bit, but I was short on preparation time since I was out of town until late Saturday night. I knew I had a picture of kids and a dad to use, and here's what I came up with for the activity.
I had been wanting to teach the song "Dare to Do Right" p. 158 because of its good message. The plan for teaching "Dare to Do Right" could also work without it being Father's Day.
To start with I talked about how dads are so great and daring, and today I wanted some volunteers who were willing to do some dares, and be daring like their dads.

1) I picked a child and told them that dads are strong and love the scriptures. I dared the child to hold out my little quad with his arms straight for the entire song while we all sang
"Book of Mormon Stories." p. 118

2) The next child I picked I explained that dads cheer people up when they are sad. I dared a child to not smile for 15 secs. and timed it. Then we sang
"If You Chance to Meet a Frown" ("Smiles") p. 267

3) Before picking anyone, I told them the dare, since this one was super scary. I told them that daring dads have to sometimes do things by themselves, and asked if anyone was willing to sing by themselves in front of us. Out of my primary of 20 kids, 5 volunteered. I called them all up!
For 1 of our songs I have pictures to go with each line, to remind them of the words. I had each child pick 1 from the board and hold it. Then the primary sang everything except those lines, letting each line be a solo for the kid who was holding it. We sang
"Whenever I Hear the Song of a Bird" ("My Heavenly Father Loves Me") p. 228

Here are the pictures I got off sugardoodle.net (thanks others online!) The kids love them.
http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9421

4)This one I wanted to make a point that you don't have to do something just because someone dared you to do it. I called up a volunteer and explained that dads do a lot of things with their mouths that are good. They tell us they love us and they give prayers. Then I asked a child to hold her breath for 10 minutes. That's when we discussed that not all dares are good ideas, and it's okay to say no. After that I lessened the time to 15 secs. We sang
"A Child's Prayer" p. 12

Note 1: There was some chaos when I asked the child to hold her breath for 10 minutes, other kids calling out that it was impossible. Some choristers would have handled this great, but I think that if I did it again, I would have followed a different plan.

Note 2: I could have easily challenged every child to participate in this dare, if I'd thought of it.

5) I told the kids that I had a really good dare for each of them to do. I was going to write it on the board. I then wrote "To Do Right" and "To Be True"
I told them we were going to learn the chorus to a new song about being daring, called "Dare to Do Right." I told them how easy the chorus was and sang it for them, pointing at the "Do Right" and "Be True" whenever we sang it.

Then I had some pictures to represent the first verse (from the primary cupboard, but I'm sure you could make your own easily too) and taught them that.

Dare to Do Right Week 2:

Materials: Animal erasers glued to Popsicle sticks, pictures to remind kids of the words

I had some little animal erasers. I bought a hot glue gun for just $4 and glued them to Popsicle sticks. It's amazing how much more fun and real props seem by putting them on sticks!
I explained that to help us sing this week, I had brought some very daring animals. There were hippos and alligators and cheetahs and ducks! Now some ducks you meet aren't very daring, but I promise you, all the ducks in my bag are!
I explained that when singing "Dare to Do Right" we were going to hold up our daring animals every time we sang the word "dare."
I had teachers help me pass them out and then I picked 2 kids to be examples of holding up their animals, standing in front of the primary.

Pros: Easy, cheap, and involved every kid while they were singing. The kids liked the daring animals a lot.

Cons: I don't know. I can see the sticks being a potential distraction. Kids might also fight over who got which animal, but everyone was pretty good last week.

I'm glad I had enough animals that I didn't have to use the palm tree ones. The "Daring Ducks" proved to actually be a favorite.

Clothespin Carnival Game

Materials Needed: colored clothespins (I used colored Sharpies to color mine), a heavy mug or jar with a wide mouth, a chair, chalk and blackboard

Instructions: Write the names of the 5 songs you want to practice today on the board, each with a color next to it that corresponds to a clothespin. Choose 1 child to kneel on the chair backwards and then drop clothespins into the jar from the height. Tell them the clothespin MUST be touching the tip of their nose when they let go (in order to make kids aim from a tall height). Of the clothespins that make it in, the child can then pick 1 song that we'll sing next (if they get red and blue in, they can pick either the red or blue song. But the can't pick the yellow song).
For smaller kids (about 6 and under) I let them stand in front of the jar leaning over instead of having them on the chair.

Pros: It was a new way to pick songs and the materials were easy. Also, it was lots of fun. The kids were really interested in trying the activity and wanting to get in certain colors more than others. The kids also really supported each other, wanting the person up front to succeed.
Cons: The activity was fun and I'd do it again, but it's not as good as activities that occur while singing or are directly related to scripture or doctrine.

Find the Frog

Activity time: as long or as short as you want it. The kids love this one in my primary and will play it forever.
Supplies: a stuffed animal (in my case, a frog) or an action figure or paper cut out of a shape. I know primaries that use action figures of Nephi or Moroni, which is great for tying the activity into scriptures.

This game is easy and most primaries do it: you have 1 child go out into the hall and then pick another child to hide the stuffed animal frog. Then the child in the hall returns and tries to find it while everyone sings. It's a game of hot and cold--the closer the child gets, the louder the kids sing. The farther away, the softer. It helps to direct so your pianist can see so they can do dynamics too.

Pros: This game is great for getting kids to practice the same song over and over again (which helps them learn words for the primary program). Also, it's really simple, inexpensive, and fun. The kids love to be picked to help for this game and I tell them I watch for good singers to be picked next. That really makes them sing well.

Cons: Sometimes the kids can get irreverant because they are so excited. I talk to them about it and if they're hyper I do a reverent song with them with no game to quiet them for the next part of primary.