Red, White and Blue! Memorial Day or July 4th Singing Time

Hello All! It seems like forever since I last posted on here. School is finally over and I might actually get a break for awhile now. The last couple of weeks have really "sucked" the life out of me and I am afraid I am suffering from major brain drain...I totally feel like this:

Not much brain function going on at the moment!!! I am walking around in a ZoMBie state. I am hoping after a week of rest this will improve and I will once again get back at least a little bit of my old self.... Stay tuned for updates!!

I always LOVE when there is a holiday because that makes my planning a little easier. I at least have a theme to start off with. I have decided that for tomorrow I will be doing something a little messy but fun! The idea has been out there for quite sometime. You can see it Here

I will be using red, white and blue potions for this. If the kiddo's mix a red potion then they will pick a song that we have been learning for the program out of a red bucket.

If they mix a blue potion then they pick a game to sing one of the program songs out of the blue bucket, (silent singer, hide the note, name that tune, mystery word,  etc,)

If the potion is clear then they will pick song and how to sing it out of the white bucket. (sing in one breath, sing holding your tongue, do the wave like the flag and sing smile sing, etc.) 

I am thinking I will do this with both Jr and Sr. however, if you want something easier for Jr you can find a cute and simple idea posted under my 4th of July.Memorial day posts from last year.

You can also find this sweet and simple idea on Pattie's primary place Here

or for Sr. you can get a copy of some patriotic songs off of this site Here I thought of making copies of this and having the kiddo's sing a few of these tomorrow. Maybe if they mix a white/clear potion then they sing a patriotic song.

Well, there ya have it folks. This is about all I can muster at the moment. I am hoping to get some energy back this week and get some plans going for teaching The Holy Ghost and for Fathers day I will be teaching this song from the 1983 Ensign Here

Happy Memorial Day Everyone!

Mama Cakes

I have a cute idea I will be doing tomorrow to celebrate Mothers Day. This may be a bit more prep than others are looking for at this last minute but I have been so busy and my brain has been so overloaded that I was not able to think up an idea until this morning while I was lying in bed being lazy!! It seems that meditation and quiet brain time have become a special occasion these days! Its actually quite scary!! Perhaps we should all take time out and remember this sweet talk by Dieter Utchtdorf Here. I know I need to!!

So, as I lay and contemplated a theme for Mothers Day, my mind kept wanting to turn to FOOD, sugary, sweet, fattening yummy's. I guess you can't really call it food can you? Its basically food for me, but not everyone else:) Maybe if I had actually gotten my behind out of bed and eaten something, OOEY, GOOEY GOODNESS, wouldn't have been the only visions dancing in my head this morning!!! However, I was able to come up with a cute idea while visions of YUMMY's danced around up there!

I will be putting the idea on here and posting pics later today/tonight as I get everything put together. Hopefully we aren't looking at midnight before this is complete!

To begin: Draw a huge recipe card on a white poster board. You can purchase this for .33 at Wal Mart! The following will be written on the card

Recipe: Mama Cakes (things that make a MOM the best in the world)

For the ingrediants you will post a small pic/symbol by each word on the recipe card and these are the symbols that the children will look for to find the ingrediants hidden around the room.

Ingrediants:

1.) LOVE: You will have a child walk around and find the baggie that has the heart symbol. It will have some sugar in it and a strip of paper with the song and a quote: "No love is greater than mom's love."  Song: (Love one another Pg. 136)  You will have someone read the quote and then they sing the song. Once this is complete you will have the child dump the sugar in the bowl and move on to the next ingrediant.

2.) FLOWERS: "A Mother is like a flower, each one beautiful and unique." Song: (I Often go Walking Pg. 202 1st verse) Ingrediant: Flour

3.) Babies: Mama's love their babies!! "I'll Love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be." Song: (I Am a child of God pg.2)  Ingrediant: Dash of salt

 4.) Bake Goodies: Mama's bake Yummy stuff. "Happiness is ...baking a cake." Song: (Popcorn Popping Pg. 242.)
Ingrediant: Brown Sugar

5.) Good Examples: "To the world you are a Mother, but to your family you are the World." Song: (Love is spoken here Pg. 190) Ingrediant: Baking Soda

6.) Eternal Queen: "There is no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of Motherhood." Song: (Families can be together Forever Pg. 188) Ingrediant: Egg

When you mix all of these characteristics together you get the end result!! AN AWESOME MOMMY? Mommy Cake, that is:)

I will then pull out a baking sheet filled with these cute little mini cupcakes for the kiddo's. They will each get one for doing so well  and take one to their MOMMIES!!! Happy Singing and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!

Easy, Peasy, Pumpkin Pie!!! (More easy Prep for those CRAZY weeks)

LOL! I love this pic! It's silly, but wouldn't it be nice if our kiddo's sang out like this! I think its every choristers dream to teach the kids to LOVE the music of the gospel and to SING with all of their hearts. I know I LOVE and look forward to the weeks where it feels like the kids are actually feeling the music and enjoying singing the songs.

I have been having the craziest past few weeks. The end of the school year is insane and it seems the teachers are in a HUGE hurry to get everything crammed in for the end of the year. To top it off my darling and only daughter turned 12 on May 2nd and being the social butterfly that she is, decided she wanted a party with 20 of her nearest and dearest friends. Why is it that raising boys seemed so much easier and not quite as SCARY?  I'm not sure I'm ready for this whole girl thing, UGH!!

Needless to say, come Saturday night, I was totally worn out from partying with all these balls of energy and hadn't even begun to prep for singing time on Sunday. I quickly opened my blog and picked a fun and simple idea from my previous post. I then realized the next few weeks are going to be insanely busy and if its that way here then I'm sure there are others out there like myself who just can't find enough hours in the day and before you know it, Saturday night hits and its like,"Whoa, I forgot to do my prep for tomorrow!!!! What should I DO"?

I have a few more short and sweet singing time games and activities just for those exact UT-OH moments that we all have! They take minimal prep and can be put together last minute for those moments that we need them.

Crazy Hat Day

This first one is brought to us courtesy of the Crazy Chorister and can be found on her blog Here
For this one you can bring in multiple crazy hats. If a class sings extra well then the kids get to pick a crazy hat for their teacher to wear through out the rest of singing time. You will have the kids trying extra hard so that their teacher gets to wear a silly hat. Prep, putting some hats in a basket or bag to bring and picking what songs to work on. Simple!!!

Spin a song

For this next one all you need is a spinning chair from the Bishops office and some songs written out on white paper. I have seen this in multiple places so thank you to whoever came up with this short and sweet idea! You will place the songs in a circle and the chair will go in the middle. You can pick a teacher or child to sit in the chair. I would have the pianist play a song while you spin the person in the chair around. When the music stops, the song is picked by where ever the child or teachers foot is pointing. SWEET!!! This one could get a little crazy so you may have to remind the kiddo's that we can only do the fun stuff if they participate and keep it down!!!

Cup/Shell Game

This is the good old hide the ball under the shell/cup game. All you need for this one is 3 shells or cups and a ball or small object to hide. I found one version on this blog Here
To play: You will hide your object under a cup and mix it up. Pick a child to come and try and find the ball. If they get it right then they pick their favorite song to sing, if they are not right then you get to pick a program song to sing. Easy, Peasy!!!

Pictionary

This one may not work for Jr primary but would be so simple for Sr. All you need is chalk, eraser and some strips with song titles in a can. You could split the kids into two teams and they can compete to see who gets the most right. Once they guess what song the person is drawing then they sing it to get the point and play passes to the next team. If a team can't guess it then they other team can try and guess for the point. ETC.

The last one I have for today can be found Here

Hum It!

To play you will need a radio, phone, ipod something that you can play the music with headphones. You will have a child come to the front and put on the head phones. You will push play. The child will then hum the song they are listening to and the other children will listen and try to guess the song he/she is humming. When they get it right then they will sing it and then whoever guessed right is next to wear the headphones.


I hope these are helpful to those in need this week! Our callings should not be over whelming, but a blessing in our lives! Happy Singing Sunday and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!