Runaway Gingerbread Man

Where has the time gone? Oh my goodness, I can't believe Christmas has come and gone and we are already to the New Year!! I promised two weeks ago to have this posted and the time just got away from me. I'm not very good at this whole blog thing. I get so busy with life and don't get to my posts. I will try and be better. Of course, this would mean that I would have to be very organized and have my singing time planned out at least a week ahead. I find this to be a problem because my ideas come to me randomly while I am lying in bed, complete silence in the middle of the night, and usually only a couple days away from prep time. We will have to see how this works out! I have been checking out other blogs and see that some of these "superwoman choristers" have their singing times planned out for a month in advance. Wow, you are AWESOME!! There is no stinking way I can do that unless of course I copy your exact outline, and though this is something I would have dreamed of having when I was chorister years ago, I love to be creative and try and come up with some things on my own. I feel I have been blessed with a creative side and with life as crazy as it has been raising 5 children, I now only have 3 left at home and may once again be able to connect with this part of my life again. So, please bear with me on this journey and I will do my best to get these things out to you as they come!!

I love the sites and sounds of this season. Living in Arizona without snow, I like to keep my snowmen out from November - March, then it just gets so stinking warm that you can't pretend anymore and you have to pack them away for yet another season. I love Christmas, I love baking goodies and I love Gingerbread Men!!! So, this idea came to mind around 3 AM, while lying in bed for yet another sleepless night. I just decided that if I wasn't going to be able to sleep then I can use this quiet time to come up with ideas for singing time. May as well make good use of the silence! Oh, and by the way, counting sheep doesn't work! Once my mind starts going, its hard to get it to STOP!! So, I thought this one up and tried it with my kids a couple weeks ago!! I must say they LOVED it and it made for a great singing time activity!!

For this one, I just cut out my gingerbread man from the poster board. You have to be careful because you still want to use the outline of your man for the activity. I just told the kids that I made a gingerbread man to use for singing time and he has ran away. So, all you have hanging is your outline and it appears that your gingerbread man has jumped right off the board and ran away!!
I then made little gingerbread men cutouts and on the back of these were my clues. Now, let me tell you how hard it is to come up with clues that include primary songs. I was up until 1AM thinking up my clues and putting this all together. So, you will have your first clue right on the board next to your outline and you just play the part. Act surprised that he is gone and tell the kids it looks like he left a clue so that we can try and find him. I will include the clues that I put together, but you can come up with whatever works for your group. Keep in mind, the clues I used were hidden throughout the building, this may not work for everyone. I would just send a member of the presidency and one child to get the next clue while the rest of us sang the song on the back. Each clue leads to the next and so forth until you find the "runaway gingerbread man" and his hiding spot. I finished off with homemade gingerbread cookies for the kids to enjoy once we found the "runaway." This turned out to be lots of fun for both Jr. and Sr. primary. Give it a try and share your thoughts and please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for stopping by and Happy Singing!!

Clue #1 "Do as I'm Doing and run, run, as fast as you can, clue #2 you'll find in a pan (kitchen)
Clue #2 Christmas bells are ringing and so are my ears. If someone made a hoop here, you'd hear lots of cheers (gym)
Clue #3 I am like a star shining brightly, smiling for the whole world to see, clue #4 hiding in this tree (Christmas Tree by star)
Clue #4 I love to see the Temple shining oh so bright, You can find the next one hanging by a light (light switch)
Clue #5 The wise man built his house upon a rock and the gingerbread hid his clue upon a clock (clock)
Clue #6 I looked out the window and what did I see, popcorn wasn't popping but a clue was there for me (window)
Clue #7 If the Savior Stood beside me, would I say the things I say, you will find this last one, where you go to pay (tithing box)
Clue #8 You will never find me, singing Oh so bold, but its pretty dark in here and really, really cold (refrigerator)

Singing Snowball Fight

Happy Monday! I wanted to share a super FUN activity I did with the kiddo's on Sunday. I do both Jr. and Sr. primary combined and this is one that was enjoyed by all!! Living in the desert does have its advantages, like 73 degrees today:) got ta luv it, however, growing up in the mid west and moving from Utah 5 years ago, I do tend to miss the snow this time of year. It doesn't quite feel like Christmas when you can still walk around in your shorts and flip flops. So, again, while lying awake at 3:00 AM one morning a few weeks ago, I thought I would take advantage of some quiet thinking time and come up with a couple of cute singing time ideas to get us through the INSANELY crazy month of December. I am the room mom in my 10 year old daughters classroom this year and for her holiday party I will be bringing in the snow with a winter wonderland theme. I thought it would be fun if I could incorporate this same kind of theme into a singing time and bring the snow to the kids. What could be better than a good, old fashioned snowball fight!!!

 This is a team activity so you will break your group up into 2 teams. As you can see from the pics, I did a blue team and a red team. You will then make some snowballs out of poster board. On the back of your snowballs you will write the song to be sung and page number for your pianist. You want to be creative here and mix it up a bit. I did some fill in the blank, name that tune, and then you will have a few "wild" cards that are a free throw, or a remove 2 balls or 1 ball. This just mixes it up a bit and makes it more fun! If the team performs well or is able to do what is on the snowball they get to tape it on the opposing teams character.  For a free throw card I hid a few plain snowballs around the room. If someone drew a free throw ball they could search and find one of the hidden balls and they could put the free throw ball and the hidden ball both on the other teams character.

I dressed the part and wore my gloves and scarf for singing time. The kids loved it!!
Did I mention that I love. Love. LOVE, to incorporate a fun snack into my singing time activities? Following our "snowball fight" and all the hard work, I gave each of the kids a vanilla cake pop bon, bon resembling a snowball. I got the recipe off of one of my favorite sites out there, Jamiecooksitup.com. Check it out for fabulous recipe ideas.
Please check in for next weeks activity. I will be doing "Runaway Gingerbread Boy" Thank you for stopping by and Happy Singing!!