"Singing Derby" 2015

This was such a hit last year, we will be doing it again this Sunday in our Ward.

Next Week:  He Sent his Son "Special Delivery"

 

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!!

Posted by Stacy Sanchez at 3:28 PM

FHE "Music speaks to the Soul"

I will be handing out my 2015 DVD's next week. I thought it would be AWESOME to hand these out with a FHE lesson I put together. You could include this lesson with your Music CD's as well. This way, the kiddo's will not only get to share their songs for the year with their families but they can actually provide the whole FHE for Monday night. The DVD will come with the lesson that follows:

Opening Prayer

Scripture: D&C 25:12 For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.

Song: Children's songbook: PG. 252 Lift up Your Voice and Sing

Share an experience in your life where Music has touched your heart!

To expand on what I have been teaching this month on Testimony through Music I will include the following: "Sharing my Testimony through Music" By Felix Deidl  Click Here

Coloring page:

 President Monson: "Music can help you draw closer to your Heavenly Father. It can be used to educate, edify, inspire and unite."
  

Story: Primary Music Blessed my life click here

Activity: Watch DVD 2015

Snack: Popcorn and  Movie Candy

Closing Prayer

"So, now I've been called to Chorister, how do I conduct music?" LDS Course

I know there are many of you out there that have been called to be Chorister, and like me 23 years ago, have never directed a song a day in your life! We are called and accept and then we wonder "what did I just do?" Then, "I don't know the first thing about conducting music." and then it hits us,  " I can't even carry a tune" (don't worry, once you've been in there for awhile  you sound just like the kiddo's anyway!) It's all good!
Did you know that the church has a book that teaches you everything that you need to know about conducting music?  Nope, me either! Lucky for me my Grandma was the chorister in my ward growing up and she gave me a quick lesson and I dove right in!

I found this awesome book on LDS.org. It has lots of helpful info for those just starting out. Click Here
for this AWESOME book of wonder!


Welcome to your new adventure! This is the very best calling out there and  you are going to LOVE it! Happy Singing,

The Barefootchorister,

" I'd like to "BEAR" my testimony" I Know that my Savior Loves me!

Happy Wednesday! This has been one BEAR of a week, haha! (Sorry, that's not funny!)  It has been a tough week for me, we all have them, you  know the one's where you feel like you can't take on one more thing or you might just go NuTs on someone or something? Well, that would not be pretty in primary, therefore, I have decided for review this week, I will be doing an oldie but goodie.
 To help remind the children, once again, of the importance of  "BEARING" our Testimony when we are singing this beautiful song, I am going to do a twisted version of the Hot and Cold game using this beauty here:

For those who are not familiar with this easy prep singing time, let me fill you in before I add my twist. To play, you have a child step out in the hallway while another child hides your object, (in this case, it will be my angel bear.) Once hidden you have the children start singing your song to be reviewed and the other child will come in from the hallway. The children will sing the song quietly as the other child searches for the bear, if the child gets close to where the bear is hidden, the children will sing louder until the bear is found. I will have them finish singing the verse or chorus and then play will continue with the child that found the bear, hiding it from another child.

Ok, so this is simple enough, right? I am going to add a twist using bear cards made from this outline here: Every other turn, I will have a child pick one of our BEAR cards. It will tell us how we are going to play Hot and Cold with a Twist:

 Example: Fast and Slow: When the chosen child come's in from the hallway to find the hidden bear, the children will start out singing slow, the closer they get to the hidden Bear/Object, the children will sing faster!

Up and Down: The children will sing sitting down, the closer the child gets to finding the bear/object, the children will stand up!(keep singing)

High and low: The children will sing in a high voice, the closer the child gets to finding the bear/object, the children will sing in a low voice!

Ooo's and Ahhh's: The children will start out ooo'ing the tune, the closer the child gets to finding the bear/object, they will ahhh the tune!!

Girls and Boys:  The Girls start out singing, the closer the child gets to the object, then the boys start singing and the girls stop!! (tricky)

What other ways can you think of?

TREAT: I will be giving a few of these to each child with a tag attached that reads: I want to "BEAR" my testimony, I Know that my Savior Loves me!!

The kiddo's love these games and they are so simple and easy prep. This is a great game to use when there is repetition because they are having so much fun, and don't even realize they are singing the song, over and over again! Thank you for taking a peek! Happy Singing and hopes for a better ending to the WEEK!!!

"A Singing Disaster" I Know my Savior loves Me Verse 2

Happy Thursday! I hope everyone is having an AWESOME week! I started the first verse of "I Know my Savior Loves Me" last week using my "Greatest Treasure" idea. It was a huge success and the kiddo's really enjoyed hunting for their TESTIMONY treasure.
 In sacrament meeting the opening Hymn was, "Be Still my Soul." I had received some bad news on Saturday night and as soon as the congregation started singing this beautiful hymn, I started crying and could not stop. I was able to relate to the children how, when we sang that song in sacrament, it touched my heart, I felt the love my HF has for me, and I knew he was telling me everything was going to be ok. We then discussed how this song is their testimony and how when they sing this for the program they will be sharing their testimonies with their parents and touching their hearts and the hearts of others that may need to hear the message that very day, like I did with the opening hymn that morning.

For verse 2 this week, I will be taking a different approach on Testimony. To start out we will have a Wiggle song! You all know the one.

The Wise Man and the Foolish Man

The Wise man built his house upon a Rock,
The Wise man built his house upon a Rock, 
The Wise man built his house upon a Rock, 
and the rains came a tumbling down. The Rains 
came down and the floods came up, the 
rains came down and the floods came up, the 
rains came down and the floods came up, 
and the house on the ROCK stood still!!!

Discussion will go something like this: Today we will be learning the 2nd verse of "I know my Savior Loves Me." I will do a quick run through  of verse 1  to remind them what the treasure was that we found last week and how this song is their TESTIMONY. I will then discuss how the 2nd verse is about where we are today and how we are learning so that our testimonies can grow. I will then discuss our wiggle song and how our Testimonies help us to build our house/life on a solid foundation so that when the storms of life come, we can stand strong against them.

I will then start teaching verse 2 using these pics:

Now I am Here in this Beautiful Place,

Learning the Teachings of Jesus

Parents and Teachers will help guide the way,

Lighting our path every day,

Wrapped in the arms of my Saviors Love, 

I feel his gentle touch,

Living Each day I will Follow his way,

Home to my Father above!

To download and use my word doc: Click Here




To reinforce our discussion on how our Testimonies help to build a Solid Foundation in our lives,  I will use a motivator through out singing time. It will include these easy items and go like this:

After teaching each phrase, if the kids sing their very best, they will get to come up and roll the dice.

Depending on the number rolled, they will get to add blocks to their Testimony/Foundation wall. They will get to roll and build through out singing time, depending on their participation!!! I don't know about you but my kiddo's love MOTIVATORS!!!

At the end of singing time, this "Disaster" will come and we will see if the wall we built can withstand the storm! This is a blower that I have for a jump house. You can use any kind of blower, leaf blower, fan, anything that blows air. I am excited to try this, I know the kids are going to LOVE it!!!

Matthew 7:24-25 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the Rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the Rock!!!!

"The Greatest Treasure" Pics

Ok, here are the pics of how I plan on presenting this tomorrow! I went with gold and silver bags for my first four treasures and a treasure box for the Chorus.

Gift Bags from the Dollar Tree

Cute treasure chest that I found at party city

I will be numbering the treasures and hiding them around the room. The kiddo's will find them in order so that we are learning the song in order. The bags had tags on them so I just numbered the tags like so:

Chocolate coins will be in the final treasure chest

I will have the chocolate coins and this quote by Robert C Gay in the treasure box. This, along with the Chorus will reveal to the kiddo's what the song is about. I will then discuss with the kiddo's how we are BEARING our TESTIMONY when we sing this song and remind them that a testimony is very special. It protects us, guides us, can guide others to the truth, gives us strength and can always stay with us. It is a GREAT TREASURE!! We will then conclude with learning the chorus and each child will get a piece of the TREASURE!!

"The Greatest Treasure" I Know my Savior Loves Me!

Whew, here we go again! NEW YEAR, NEW SONGS! I'm not sure about all of you but I've had a really tough week deciding how to start off teaching this beautiful song. I have decided that I want to try and present the spiritual message as I do the introduction of the new songs each month. I immediately knew that I wanted the kids to understand that when we are singing this song for the program we will be sharing our testimony with everyone. That we KNOW HE LIVES and  LOVES EACH and EVERY ONE of US. My brain was all over the place. I went from BEARing our testimonies, teaching it with BEARS, all the way to Testimony the DRAGON slayer, where we would end up building an ARMOR puzzle to signify how our testimonies are like armor and make us strong and protect us. I just couldn't settle. I prayed that HF would guide me and use me as a tool to teach the children the message he would like them to receive in learning this beautiful song. I had thought about doing many things but just couldn't get that "ah'ha" feeling that I get when I know something is right. As I was driving to get my kids from school yesterday, its like magic, everything just started coming together and Voil'a, I had it! I am going to present this song using TREASURES because a TESTIMONY is a treasure. BEAUTIFUL, fragile, precious to each and everyone of us! Ezra Taft Benson has said, "A testimony is one of the few possessions we may take with us when we leave this life."

To start out I will have a short discussion with the kiddo's that goes something like this. What is the greatest treasure that you have? When you pass away what will happen to that treasure? Can it go with you?  Today we are going to learn a song that represents one of HF greatest TREASURES you can ever have and when you pass away this TREASURE can go with you. You can change lives using this treasure!!! Does anyone know what it might be?

We will then begin our TREASURE HUNT finding the pics and words for the song in little treasure boxes:

Treasure Box #1 will include these pics and words:

A Long Time Ago

in a Beautiful place

Children were gathered "round Jesus

Treasure box #2:

He Blessed and taught as they felt of his love

Each saw the tears on his face

Treasure Box #3:

The love that he felt for his little ones

I know he feels for me

Treasure Box #4:

I did not touch him or sit on his knee,

Yet, Jesus is real to me


The last treasure box will include the Chorus and reveal to the children that the TREASURE we are singing about is our TESTIMONY. I will also be including Chocolate coins in the final treasure box  to help them remember that their testimony is a TREASURE that will bring them eternal Happiness (I don't know about you, but chocolate makes me Happy!!) and that when we sing this song for the program, we are sharing our TESTIMONY, that Jesus lives and Loves us! We can touch the hearts of others with our testimony and help them to receive this TREASURE for themselves.

Final Treasure box #5 will be bigger and include: Chorus and pics as follows:

I KNOW HE LIVES

I WILL FOLLOW FAITHFULLY

MY HEART I GIVE TO HIM

I KNOW THAT MY SAVIOR LOVES ME!!


"MY TESTIMONY IS MY SOUL'S TREASURE" ELDER ROBERT C. GAY


What a beautiful song. I hope I can help the children feel their TESTIMONIES grow as they sing this beautiful hymn. Thanks for taking a peek. Happy Singing Everyone!!



Click here to download the Word Doc I will be using for my pics and words