Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Super Bowl Cards

These are the songs and ideas I will be using on my Singing Super Bowl cards for those of you that asked for them! Please let me know if you need anything else!


Sing “He Sent his Son” P. 34                                            
 Move Ahead 15 Yards                                   

Sing  “The Golden Plates” P.86
Move Ahead 10 Yards

Fill in the Blank:
The Golden Plates lay
Hidden deep in the _______
Move Ahead 5 Yards

Name that Tune & Sing P. 281
Move Ahead 5 Yards

Sing “Jesus wants me for a
Sunbeam” P. 60
Move Ahead 5 Yards

In the song, When I am Baptized
What is washed away?
Move Ahead 10 yards

Fill in the Blank:
Latter Day Prophets are number
One, Joseph Smith, then Brigham Young,
___________ came third we know
Move 5 yards

Sing 1st Verse “If the Savior Stood
Beside me” Move 10 yards

Sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Really fast, P. 275
Move Ahead 10 Yrds

Sing “Do as I’m Doing” Jumping Jacks
P. 276 Move ahead 5 yrds

Sing “ Do as I’m Doing” fish lips
Pg. 276 Move ahead
5 yards

Name that tune & Sing p. 188
Move Ahead 10 yards

Fill in the Blank: How could the
Father ------- the world the pathway we
Should go? Move 5 yards

Sing “My Heavenly Father loves
Me.” P. 228 Move 10 yards

 Name that Tune & Sing p.95
Move 10 yards

Fill in the Blank: How could the
Father tell the world of ______
and tenderness. Move 5 yards

Sing Verse 1 “I am a child
of God.” P. 2 Move 5 yards
 

I included 3 Touchdown cards in the deck. If the kids draw these they get an automatic touchdown.
There are 4 interception cards. These are:
Interception: Move other team back 10 yards
Interception: Move other team back 20 yards
Interception: Move other team back 15 yards
Interception: Move other team back 5 yards

There are also 2 Foul Cards in the deck: These are lose a turn cards




Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Super Bowl continued again!!

Please email me with any questions if this gets confusing. Sometimes my brain is a lot faster than the rest of me and it is even hard for me to understand. I have to sort out the ideas before I can finally see it for myself:)

On the rest of the cards used in the game I will have songs to sing, some fill in the blank, questions for the team to answer, name that tune cards, etc. You just mix it up and make it fun! I was going to include penalty cards but in an earlier post J Strasser suggested that she would have someone walking around when the teams are singing and if they see someone not singing that team will get a penalty flag and have to move their ball back 5 yards. I loved that idea so I will be having someone walk around as the referee and do this for me. You can find penalty flags at party city or of course make your own if you have yellow material laying around. Thank you for the cute idea J Strasser.

I will be wearing my son's old Jersey to dress the part. I am also considering the black stuff the players wear under their eyes. I love to dress up. It makes it that much more fun for the kiddo's. (and me)

I will let the kids use the Pom Pom's to direct the music and when the game is over I will get a picture with all the kids holding up the trophy! 

Thank you for stopping by! Happy Singing and please feel free to ask questions if needed!

Singing Super Bowl Continued

Pictured above is the finished product of the painted field. Its nothing fancy. I thought of doing felt but I didn't have any on hand and wanted to get this done today. You will notice there are two footballs involved and they are painted the team color. I will include game instruction below.

To start I will divide the primary into 2 teams. Red VS Yellow! We will do a coin toss to determine which team will start first. Whichever team won the toss will send up a player to pick a card. I will be putting the cards in this cute helmet pictured below.
 In my deck of cards I will include 3 touchdown cards and 4 interception cards. If your team is to draw a touchdown card they automatically get a touchdown and move their ball back to the 50 yard line. Each team has a ball and they are moving it towards their goal line on their turn. I am only doing 1 point for touchdowns so every time they make the end zone they get a point added on the chalkboard. If a team draws an interception card they get to send the other team back however many yards is says. It can put them all the way back on your side of the field and they have to work their way back to their side and end zone.

Singing Super Bowl Sunday

Here are some pics and details on how I will be doing the Singing Super Bowl this Sunday. I think the kids are going to love it!! I know I will love playing it with them! There's nothing that makes you feel better than seeing the kiddo's enjoying singing time! That is my goal. I want them to learn to love music. Primary is where children will gain their first testimony and I believe a great deal of  that comes through the music. I LOVE this calling and being a part of that in these children's lives!

Pictured above are the supplies I used for my field. Nothing too complicated. I cut a box and painted it green. I left the end flaps for my end zones and painted them the team colors. 
When you paint the cardboard it will buckle a little bit but have not fear, it goes flat once it is dry!!


When your field is drying you will make your cards. I used poster board and made squares 3 x 3. Once I cut them out I drew footballs on the cards and colored them in.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Primary Derby was a HIT!!

I did the primary derby for singing time yesterday and it was a HIT with the kids. They absolutely loved it and I will definately be making this a tradition during Pinewood Derby time each year. My hubby made a track for me.
We used baseboard from Lowe's. It has to be shaped like this one so that the cars do not fall off the track. The edges go up on the sides. We bought one 8 ft board and cut it in half for two tracks.


This was the finished product. My hubby made the supports on the back using a piece of wood in the garage and then spray painted it black. He screwed the track onto a small piece of wood that went in between the two legs. I will post the side view below

I wanted to get two checkered racing flags from party city for the kids to direct the music. When I went they did not have them available. I went to Wal mart and picked up a tablecloth for $2 and was able to use that to make 2 flags, 2 banners and the left over checkered part fit perfectly on the small table in the primary room.
For the flags I bought a dowel at Lowe's for $.56. I cut out my 2 sections from the tablecloth and taped and hot glued them to the dowels. The banners were the top and bottom portions of the table cloth. Perfect to hang above the chalkboards and the left over cloth fit on the small table in the primary room.

To play I taped the songs on the bottom of 14 hot wheel or match box type cars. I picked two kids to come up at a time, they picked the cars they wanted and on GO they would race their car down the track. Whoever's crossed the finish line first or at all,
won and that's the song we would sing. The kids that raced would direct the song with the racing flags. They loved it!!!
This was them in action!! A big hit! Definitely a keeper


This next week we will be doing our Singing Super Bowl. I will post pics of that in the next few days! Oh, and one more thing. The kids sang so well Sunday that the Rocking Ball dropped to the floor and they were able to get their treat. This was our monthly motivator. You can find that in a previous post. I will be starting February's motivator next week. The Bursting With Love package! Check back in for those pics as well! Thank you for stopping and Happy Singing!!

Friday, January 24, 2014

Singing Super Bowl Sunday

Its that time of year again!! Super Bowl Sunday! GO BRONCO'S, woot, woot!! I don't know about you but at our house its just another reason to EAT and get together with family!!
It used to be a tradition when I was the chorister to do a Super Bowl singing time each year on game day! I will introduce this to my primary next Sunday for the singing time activity! I know they are going to LOVE it!! I get crazy ides like super bowl snacks but its fast Sunday so we will have to do without the goodies. I know I will be wearing a Jersey and the black under my eyes for this one! I have to dress the part! FUN!!! I did contemplate wearing a referee shirt and using yellow penalty flags for the kids to direct the music with. What do you think would be the better choice on that one? Jersey, black eye paint or referee and yellow flags for directing? Please share your thoughts.
I will be building my field with cardboard and painting it in the next few days! Please stop back in for pics and details on the game and how to play!! Thank you for stopping by and please, always feel free to comment with questions! Happy Singing!!

Also to come: Pics of February's MOTIVATOR: Bursting with Love! I believe I will be filling a wrapped package with all things cookie decor! For the last week of the month when the kids get to hopefully open the package for their singing efforts, they will get to decorate a heart cookie! I think we will incorporate this last week into a heart attack on the bishop as well, that way the kiddo's can decorate him a few cookies at the same time. I will be coming up with the singing activity to go along with that later in the month. Keep an eye out for that one!!

February's choosing sticks! How can we already be done with the cute Snowmen? Pics coming this week!

Primary Derby Races This Sunday!

Last night was a horrible night for sleep but a wonderful night for creative thinking. My husband is going to put together my track for the Primary Singing Derby races this Sunday. I will post those pics when that is finished. I'm so grateful for my sweetheart and his help putting my ideas together. I get these crazy singing time ideas going through my head but couldn't make them a reality without the help of my AWESOME hubby! Love you honey!
Anyhow, while I was laying in my bed wide awake suffering with allergies at 3:00 AM this morning, I took some time to think about how to add some props for the races on Sunday. I usually like to dress up, or add a goody to go along with my theme. I thought it would be fun to purchase these cute racing flags pictured above (party city $.99) for the kiddo's to use to direct the music. So, after each set of cars race and we have our winning car and song, I will use my handy little choosing sticks and pick 2 children to come up and direct the song with the racing flags. I think adding this in will make it enjoyable for both Jr and Sr primaries since we are combined and it will also give more children a chance to participate. I am so excited! I think the kiddo's are going to enjoy this! Thanks for stopping by, Happy Singing & LET THE RACES BEGIN!!!






Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Primary Derby Races

Ok, this is crazy, I have finally been sleeping, which is a GREAT thing. The only negative to this is I'm not getting my quiet time to reflect and come up with singing time activities each week. I can't believe how hard this is for me these days. I guess it could be creative burn out after being in YW's for 2 years. I had to come up with creative things to do every week for the Beehives. If you've ever done that calling you know what I mean! Way fun but lots of work!! I think my brain has decided to take a vacation. I guess I should just face it! I am old and my brain is FRIED:)
Today as I was cleaning, I did have some THINKING time and came up with my FUNDAY SUNDAY activity for the week. Our ward and the scouts are getting ready for the annual Pinewood Derby at this time. My husband and son have been working very hard on his cool car! I have watched these boys get so excited each week as they have cut out, sanded and painted their masterpieces for the big day! I thought that it would be fun to have our own Primary Derby races in singing time this week. I will bring in hot wheels and match  box cars for the kids to choose from. Each car will have a song number taped to the bottom. I will choose 2 kiddo's to come up at a time and they will race their cars down my homemade track! I found this one on bloggingthemoments.blogspot.com. Hopefully mine will be similar to this when I get done with it!
Pics and how to's will be coming on that so please check back in for those by Saturday! Whatever car wins each time will be the song that we sing! I did contemplate letting the kids bring in their own Hot wheel or match box car and if theirs was to win then they could pick their favorite primary song for us to sing. This way would take a little more work because I would have to email parents and let them  know but if you decided to use this you could let the kids know a week in advance to bring in a car to race. ONLY hot wheels or match box size!! I will be using baseboard from Lowe's for my track and will post pics of that when it is finished!! Thanks for stopping by! Please comment with any questions! Happy Racing!!

BuRsTInG with LOvE

I have finally decided on my singing time motivator for February. Since it is the month of LOVE, I will be doing a wrapped package and calling this one BURSTING with LOVE!! I will have it tied up with string, and when I say "tied up" I mean this baby will be bundled well! Each week that the kiddo's do a good job they will get to roll the dice and cut off as many strings or ribbons as the number they have rolled. They will have four weeks to do this in.
I wanted the reward to be heart shaped sugar cookies that the kids could decorate and eat on the last Sunday. I will use this yummy recipe from thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com. Check it out! This is a fabulous recipe!!
 The box will be filled with all things cookie!! Sprinkles, frosting, red hots, nonpareils, etc. I will bring the sugar cookies that day so that when they open the box towards the end of singing time, they can decorate their cookie and enjoy!! The kids do not know what it is in the box.  They work extra hard each week just anticipating their reward!
This past week the Kiddo's did a fabulous job on He Sent his Son and by next week they will have gotten our Rockin Ball to drop all the way to the bottom for January's motivator! You can see this one in a previous post! They get so excited and I think it really helps them with singing when they feel they have something they are working towards!!  It helps the kids to able to monitor their progress as well! I will keep you posted on how this works out! Thank you for stopping by and Happy Singing!!

Friday, January 17, 2014

Week 2: "He Sent his Son" Missing Picture Review

This is week 2 for "He Sent his Son" with my kiddo's. I will be doing a missing picture game for review. This game is simple and I have found in the past works well to reinforce the memorization aspect of the music. I will run through the song with the words and pictures a couple of times before we start. I will finally get to use my choosing time sticks and pick a child to leave the room.
  We will then take a picture off the board and ask the child to come back into the room. The child then guesses what picture is missing from the board. We will then sing the song and stop at the phrase that goes with the picture and the child then tries to guess the phrase that went with the missing picture. This is a little harder for the little ones. You can have a Senior child come up and help if you are a combined primary like we are, or just use missing pictures for the little ones in Jr. and use both words and phrase with Sr. This is simple and a great way to help the kids get the pictures and phrases in their head. It helps put the two together and when they sing the song those images are memorized together. It's all a trick! They think they are playing a game but at the same time they are memorizing the song:)
We will also be testing our January motivator to see how well they do this week! Will the ball drop or stay the same? They love the anticipation! Next week will be a fun day Sunday and I will introduce the motivator for February! Come back and check it out!! Thanks for stopping by, have a Super singing time!!

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Happy Birthday

I thought I would share with you what I will be doing this year for birthdays in Primary. I know the presidency does something for each child but I don't like when we have the kids come up front and we sing to them and then there's this uncomfortable silence after the song where the child just stands there not sure what to do next. I decided I would do a birthday certificate and a simple treat each week for the birthday child/children. That way I have something to hand them when the song is over and they know to go back to their seat. I found these adorable certificates at the dollar tree and the treats as well! I have found that if I only do a couple different candies in the basket each week its not so hard for them to choose. If you give to many options they will stand their forever trying to decide! Take a look and share what you do with your kiddo's on their birthdays! Happy Singing!!

He Sent His Son

I started He Sent his Son this past Sunday. I will use the first Sunday of the month to introduce the song and the monthly motivator. I will play the video that I made with the music and lyrics so that the kids can sing along and become familiar with the tune. You can find that video on my blog in a previous post. Because I was sick the first Sunday of the month we started with week one this last Sunday. I absolutely love using the video with the kiddo's. They sang along and were able to get the tune in their heads before we started learning the words. It worked really well. I made copies of the video and sent one of them home with each child so that they can use them through out the year with their families for FHE, etc.
 Following the video I did a hands on activity. I gave each class a large manilla envelope with a phrase to the song. In the corner of their phrase was a number. This number told them the amount of pictures that were hidden around the primary room that went with their phrase. Then as a class,they had to work together and find the pictures that they thought went with their phrase of the song. I then had them come up one class at a time in order and read their phrase and show the pics that they found to go with the corresponding phrase. This worked out well because it was hands on and they had to learn the words and focus on the pics that went with their phrase. We then put them in order on the board and had enough time left to give it a run through. We only did page 34 this week. For next week we will conclude and run through all of the song and do an activity to help us review. On the last Sunday of the month I will do a fun singing time game and motivator celebration!! Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know if you have any questions, Happy Singing!!

Click Here  to use my pics and word docs


Primary Rockin Ball Drop

It is so hard to get the kids excited about learning the new songs each month. I decided that I will make a monthly motivator to help bring some excitement and anticipation to the kids for when they work hard and learn the new music. Since January is the new year we will be doing a Primary Rockin Ball drop to celebrate the start of 2014 and the new music! I usually do a cute treat to go along with the songs each week but this can get costly so I have narrowed it down to a monthly reward. This gives the kids something to work towards. I have found that when there is something to look forward to the kids will work harder and sing their little hearts out in anticipation of the 'bribery' that's awaiting their little hands. I will bring the motivator with me each week so that we can measure how well they are doing. The  motivator acts as a visual measure of their progress each week.
For January's ball drop  I took a brick and drilled a hole in the middle using a masonry 1 inch drill bit. I then bought a dowel that will fit good and snug in the 1 inch hole of my brick. These supplies came from Lowe's. I then went to JoAnn's crafts and bought a 6 inch styrafoam ball. This ball then pokes on the top of your dowel. Make sure it is centered and it needs to fit snug so don't push it on too hard.  I stuck blow pops into the styrafoam and there you have it. Each week as the kids do their song the ball will drop and in the end if they have done well, it will make it to the bottom and the kids will get their reward!! Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Singing!



Sunbeam Sunday!!

Wow, I can't seem to keep up. I promised to post this two Sunday's ago and finally here I am. I wanted to share what I did for the Sunbeams on their first Sunday in primary! I know its a bit late now but the kiddo's loved it so I will post anyway.
 It can be a scary transition the first time in primary so I wanted to do something fun and simple to recognize our little ones on their first day as Sunbeams. I thought it would be good for singing time to consist of fun songs that the little ones would already be familiar with from the Nursery. I made a cute Sun out of poster board and then on the back of each sunbeam were the songs we would sing. Each new child would come up and get a turn to pick a sunbeam/song to stick on Mr. Sun. At this time we would give them a cute Cap and diploma that I found at the dollar tree, and congratulate them for graduating from Nursery into primary. I was sick the day that I was to do this but I gave the materials to the presidency so that they could do it for me. The report back was that they absolutely loved it and that their little faces lit up when it was their turn to go up front. Check out the pics below. You will see the cute Cap and diploma that I was able to pick up at the Dollar tree. They have a ton of cute cutouts, stickers, etc in their teacher section. I was able to pick up lots of goodies that I will use through out the year. I will post pics and ideas on those as I use them. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Singing!!


Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Singing Circle

 I thought of an idea last night to help with word/song review and I think I will be trying this with my kiddo's here in a few weeks when we actually have a song to work with. We will be starting "He sent his Son" this Sunday so give it a couple of weeks and I will see how this one works out. I will have the kids sit in a big circle and starting with one child, they will say the first word of the song, it will go around the next child second word, next child third word, etc. until someone misses, when someone misses then it starts all the way over from the beginning this time starting from the child that missed. You continue this until they get all the way to the end of the song. I figure this would be a good way to measure where they are with the memorization. Maybe when they get to the end then we play some kind of musical chairs/hot potatoe type game. I will have to give that more thought and post that when I think it through some more. If you have any ideas please share! I can use all the help I can get!! My brain doesn't function like it did when I was doing this 20 years ago:) If you have a combined primary like I do then I will have sunbeams sit in between the bigger kids so they can help them when it gets to be their turn. I am not sure if this will be fun or not! Just thought it up and wanted to post it so I won't forget before I get a chance to give it a try.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Boom Boom Balloon

Ok, here's another fun one I did with the kids to go over songs for the 2013 program! We all know as Choristers how much the kids love the whole "pop" the balloon thing. I know most of us have done that a time or two. This game is AWESOME in the fact that it takes a bit longer to get the balloon to 'pop' so the anticipation is growing throughout singing time and since its a slower process its kind of scary!!!
My kids own the game pictured here. It is called Boom, Boom, Balloon. I bought it at wal-mart for $10 and after playing it with my kids a few times and seeing the excitement it created I decided I would put it to good use in primary:) So, I made balloons out of construction paper. On the back of these balloons there were songs for the program. You either had to sing it, answer a question about it, name that tune, or fill in the blank. If the child was correct they would get a chance to go over, roll the dice and push the pokey into boom, boom as many turns as the dice came up with. I think when I do this next time, I will only let them come push a pokey in one time and not use the dice because they popped the balloon a lot sooner than I thought they would. So, as they come up and get their turn the balloon starts to burst but doesn't pop right away so they get so excited just waiting for it to pop. This was really fun for the kids and it was a GREAT way to review all the music we were doing for the program. It could also just be used on a fun day to do different songs if the kids need a break from the program music!! I also told the kids if they popped the balloon before the end of singing time they would get a treat! I gave them all a Blow "POP" for popping boom, boom!! Thanks for coming and Happy Singing!! Please feel free to ask if you have any questions on anything and I will get back with you as soon as I can.



Choosing Sticks

Happy Monday! I am so sad, I was sick yesterday and did not make it to church to do Mr. Sun with the new Sunbeams. I actually sent this activity to church with the primary president so that they could go ahead and do it with the kids since I was home sick in bed. I will get pics on that as soon as I make it to the church to pick up my visuals.
Today I thought I would share my cute Choosing Sticks with you. I absolutely do not like standing up front every week and feeling like I am picking the same kids over and over again week after week. Not that anyone really gets left out with a primary of 15-18 kiddo's but it can happen and I don't like it!! So, I will be doing a different set of these each month to go along with holidays, etc. I figured I can send them home  with the kids the last Sunday of the month with their  motivation prize!! Oh yah, I have to get going on that as well. January's motivator will be the Primary Rockin Ball Drop to help bring in the New Year! Pics to come on that before Sunday!!
I know this isn't really anything new or that creative but I think they are cute and wanted to share! For January I am doing "Snowmen" I bought the cute pail in Targets $1 section and will probably be able to get a new one each month to go with the different Holidays. Next month my sticks will be red with a heart attached!! So fun!! I just love this kind of thing! Check them out and Happy Singing!!

Friday, January 3, 2014

Posts to come!

Just a quick review of what I am working on for this Sunday, besides welcoming in our new sunbeams. It seems that my brain is faster than the rest of me. I will be getting these put together so I can post the pics. Please check back in later today and tomorrow for the finished products!!

Welcome Sunbeams (Mr Sun) and Graduation Hat and Diploma
Start of "He sent his Son" Hidden Pictures
Each month I will be doing a motivator (bribery) call it what you may, it works! January's will be Primary Circle's Rockin Ball Drop!

I will try and get these done and posted no later than tomorrow afternoon! Thanks for looking and Happy Singing!

Snowflakes Falling



Snowflakes Falling

I looked out the window and what did I see
snowflakes falling on the evergreen tree!
Winter has brought me such a nice surprise
snowflakes falling right before my eyes.
I can take an armful and make a ball
a snowman built, it will be so tall!
It wasn't really so
but it seemed to be
snowflakes falling on the evergreen tree!!!

I found this cute idea on pattiesprimaryplace.blogspot.com. I did change it up a bit and have posted my version. Thanks Pattie for the fun idea!! Living here in the desert I look for as much Winter as I can and this will be perfect! I will be using this with a few other fun songs to help welcome in our new Sunbeams. I didn't want to start off learning a new song and scare off the poor little ones their first week in Primary. My plan is to make a sun and have them come up and stick the sunbeams on. Of course, there will be songs on the back of the beams and this will be one of them. I also found some really cute graduation caps and diploma's at the Dollar Tree to give to my sunbeams for graduating out of Nursery. Check back later today and I will have pics posted on those. Thanks for looking and Happy Singing!!