Heads up 7 up Review

PREP RATING: 0
HEADS UP 7 UP


Do I have a FUN and easy one for you today! This one comes to me courtesy of my children's elementary school and their AWESOME teachers! Both of  my kiddo's have talked about this particular game this week and how much fun it was playing it in class. I can't help myself, when I see and hear the excitement in my hard to please 9 year old sons voice, my wheels start turning. I think of the dred on the boys faces in primary when they hear those words, "it's singing time!" You know the one:

So, if there's a game that can bring this much excitement to my son then it can bring this excitement to my boys in primary and make "singing time" that much more enjoyable for them.

Most of you have probably played this one yourselves or have at least heard of it through your own children. It is called, Heads up 7 up. For this game 7 children are it and stand at the front of the classroom. The children at their desks put their heads down. On go, the 7 children that are it will walk around and each tag one person. If you are tagged you then put your thumb up like in the pic above. When the 7 are all done tagging someone they will go back to the front of the room and the kids at their desks will then put their heads up. The 7 who were tagged and have thumbs up will then try and guess who tagged them. If they guess right then they get to come to the front and be one of the next 7 and the person who tagged or touched them is out, if they aren't right then the person who tagged them gets to stay up front and be one of the 7 again.

So, how can I use this for singing time, you ask?  Here's my idea!  I would have 3 kids be your taggers instead of 7. I think that is too many and might get to be a little crazy. The idea of play would basically be the same. You could use this for repetition on one song or just go down the line and use all the songs. A new song each round.
 The children would put their heads down and cover their eyes with their hands. They would sing the chosen song as the 3 taggers walk around and tag their 3 victims. The 3 taggers do not sing while walking around. When the song is over the taggers should be standing back in the front of the room. The 3 children that have their thumbs up would then try and guess which tagger touched them. If they are right, they come to the front for the next round, if they don't get it right then the child that tagged them gets to stay in the front and keep tagging for the next round until someone guesses right.

Something so simple, great way to work and do repetition on a song or all the songs for the program!! Have an AWESOME weekend and HAPPY SINGING EVERYONE!

Fun with CUPS!

PREP RATING: 1
CUP REVIEW

Good Morning Everyone! I wanted to get a couple of fun, quick review games on here before my day gets away from me.
First, I would like to share or "vent" with all of you. Maybe you can share your feelings with me and I won't feel as frustrated or as discouraged!  I was reading somewhere online last night how you shouldn't use games to teach the music in primary. That you should let the spirit guide you. Its funny to me when I see this because when I pray about my calling and lay in bed at night, the inspiration that I get most always leads to a fun game or idea that I can use to teach the music. There are times where a game is not appropriate, for example, I was led in a different direction while preparing to teach "I Stand all Amazed."  I LOVE my calling, I LOVE the MUSIC and I LOVE teaching. I DO pray for inspiration and I DO feel inspired when I put these ideas together. I don't think we can judge how others are inspired to do their callings. If we feel that church is not the place for a game then we don't have to do a game but if others do, and that is the direction they feel inspired then that may just be where their "talents" lie. (Matthew 5: 16)  I'm sorry to start out this way. I promised myself I was just going to do my "blog" and share my ideas and not read certain sites because I usually end up feeling bad or having doubts about the way I am approaching my calling. Thank goodness in the end there is only one judge. He knows our hearts and he knows our minds. I am grateful for my HF and I am so thankful I don't have to stand in his place here or in the end as judge of all!! Just sayin'

Ok, now that I have that off of my shoulders, I would like to share a couple quick review ideas with all of you:) I feel better now, thank you for letting me "vent" and for supporting me anyway! You are great friends and I appreciate all of you and your kind, sweet words that you share with me each week as we serve these beautiful children of our HF.

Have I mentioned before how much I just LOVE pintrest? I have found a couple of CUP games that I think would work well for review ideas with the music. I know that games can get a little rowdy in primary and that this may be the reason some feel that games are not appropriate, however, I always have a plan in place and if the kiddo's know the plan and don't behave then I will and do stop the game. You always have to make the rules clear and stick to them. This will help keep some reverence and the kids can have a good time learning/reviewing the songs.

This first game I found on Here. You could use this one as a review for one song or you could use it and review all of the songs. To play, I would choose a child to come to the front. If using for review on all of the songs, they would pick a song out of a bucket. (For longer songs, I would put those in the bucket one verse at a time. Example: 1st Verse "I Stand all Amazed.)  The object of the game would be to see how high they can stack the cups before the end of the song. The goal is to use every cup. If they fall while the song is still going, then they would start where they left off. When the song is over, their turn is over! You could do this to work on repetition on one song as well. This way they will be singing the same song over and over, but having a good time while doing it!!

This next one I found would be good for one song repetition and great to work on memorization. So, if you have one that the kiddo's are struggling with, this would be a GREAT one! I found it on this site Here.
 For this one you can buy styrofoam cups with the rim at walmart for $.98 a dozen. You have to write each word to the song on each cup so you have to have enough for 2 sets. (not a good one for Seek the Lord Early, since there are 68 words:) Or, for longer songs you could write a few words on each cup. To play: I would have 2 kids come up at a time. While the primary kids are singing the song, your 2 "stackers" have to race and see who can put the words in order the fastest. When the song is over, we see who made it the furthest and the winner gets to stay up and compete against the next chosen "stacker." You could also play it where on go, your two "stackers" race to stack the words in order. Once someone gets them in order, they are the winner. The other child gets to lead the primary in singing the song and they pick the next competitor.

These are just a couple ideas I thought would be great to use for review. I don't know about all of you but my kiddo's have about had it with the same songs. These games are a GREAT way to repeat, and make it fun at the same time. Remember, "A Child who Sings is a Happy Child"!! Happy Singing!

3,2,1,Blast Off Incentive

I made my 3,2,1 Blast Off Incentive Booklet today. I will be using this to check off the songs for the program as we "perfect" them for performance. This will give the kiddo's a way to visually monitor where things stand with each song. Once we have all 8 of them down, my husband will be bringing a rocket into primary. We will then attach a label with each song and go outside and launch those "puppies" into space!!! This is where the incentive part comes in!! What kid wouldn't want to see this? I am looking forward to introducing this idea tomorrow and seeing the response! Hopefully they are as excited as I am. Sometimes I think I get more excited about this stuff than anyone! What a nerd, I know. Here are the rest of the pics. Please let me know if you have any questions. Happy Singing tomorrow!!

S.E.E.K Board (Phew)

Ok, I decided after putting this together today that I am going to start putting a "prep" rating at the top of my activities. On a scale of 1-10 this baby was an 8. Wow, this took some time!! In other words, if your looking for something that you can put together quickly, this ones not it:) I have actually been working on this throughout the day. I wanted to get my 123 Blast Off program incentive on here too but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

I realize that we only get 20 minutes to run through our music each week. This activity would be a 2 weeker if I wasn't getting the whole hour on Sunday. Yes, my presidency is AWESOME like that. They will be sharing a short message each week in August and then I get the rest for singing time!! Yay, I am so excited about that. I LOVE to do singing time and I will finally have the kiddo's to myself. Where was I? Oh, so, if you do this baby I would plan on using it two weeks in a row!! Lots of work, but, 2 weeks of prep done in one day (woo hoo!)

Here are my "prep" pics. Please let me know if you have any questions! I will be posting my 123 Blast Off Passport booklet tomorrow if you are interested in a "check off" incentive of the program songs!! Happy Singing Everyone and Happy FRIDAY!!

Started out with this!!

My Supplies: Yellow paint, paintbrush, pics for song, index cards for words. 

This is what I did with that Yellow Paint:)

I then added my SEEK letters at the top. You can write them in but I bought mine at the Dollar Tree in the teacher section!!

I then measured and added my lines.

Write your words on the index cards. I put points on the back of each card in red. This is how many points they earn if they can sing without the word.

Finished product! Now, we see how it goes!!

"Hot Seat"

Happy Wednesday!! I am in the process of putting together my S.E.E.K board for this week. I was actually out of town for one last weekend get away before school starts TOMORROW, and didn't get to that one yet!!
 Oh my, where does the time go!! This is actually the first year I'm not quite ready for this!! Don't get me wrong, I really, really, want the chaos and craziness of 'summer' to just go away, (and the AZ heat) but, it went SUPER fast and my brain is not quite ready to get back on track!!
I will post the pics of my SEEK board as soon as they are finished for those still interested! For those who used the idea on Sunday, I would love to hear back on how it worked out! Please share:)

Now that we are through all of the songs for the program, I will be posting some fun review games and my 123 Blast OFF passport incentive. This will measure our progress on all of the songs. Before the program on October 12th, (ugh) I am hoping to send our songs to the MOON in a fun blast off activity!! Fingers crossed that we make it that far!!

For this week, I will be posting a Fun review game I played with the kiddo's years ago! It is called "Hot Seat."To play you can use this with one song the kids need work on or to go over a few songs at a time. You will need to print out a few "key" words to the song or songs you want to review and put them in an envelope, bucket or something with the song title on the outside. This way if you do multiple songs you know where your words are for which song.

Song Envelopes

 You will then have two kiddos come up at a time and sit back to back in your two chairs. You will let them know which song you are
starting with. You will pick a word out of your envelope, bucket etc for whatever song you are starting with. You then show the secret word to the kids in primary, but not your "hot seat" competitors. You will then have the kids start singing the song. When they come to the secret word they will skip it but keep singing. The kiddo's in the Hot Seat will listen  for the "silent" word. Once they know what it is they will jump up out of the Hot Seat and say the word. If they are right then they get to stay and keep competing for the Hot Seat Champion title!!
I will play using each song several times so that they get good practice in. This is a good one to use on the words you think the kiddo's may be struggling with. I will have the kids sing the song all the way through before we move on to the next song because we will be stopping a lot for the game so it won't make it to the end until I am ready to move on to the next song. If you are using this to review for just one song then you could have the kids sing the song all the way to the end and whoever jumped out of their HOT SEAT first waits until the end of the song to say which word was left out! I actually like that way because you get your repetition in there as well!!

Object: Be the Hot Seat Champion!!

Small Incentive Treat: Fire flavored Jolly Rancher

Pics for Song Grid S.E.E.K Game

SEEK

SCRIPTURES

FATHER

 

 

 

 

 

PRAYER

 

PROPHETS

 

COMMANDMENTS

LOVE

Song Grid (To teach a new song) S.E.E.K

Hello All! As promised, I wanted to post an idea you can use to teach a new song. This one will help the kiddo's get the words down and I will be using it for "Seek the Lord Early." You can use this for any song. It is simple and one I think the kiddo's will like.

To start out you have to determine the amount of words in your song and make a grid with squares = to the amount of words. For instance, in "Seek the Lord Early" there are 68 words. Therefore, I will make a grid with 68 squares. It will be 4 squares across and 17 rows down. This will get me 68 squares. At the top above the first row of squares I will put SEEK and then I will number my rows on the side 1-17. I am naming this one "SEEK" because of the song but you can name your grid differently for whatever song you use. You can just use numbers for columns at the top as well. This will make more sense as I go along. I will write/type all the words to the song on index cards. On each card along with the word I will put the amount of points earned if they can sing the song with out that specific word. I will also use pics in place of some words. Example: In place of the word Seek in "Seek the Lord Early" I will put a pic of a magnifying glass. If a child pics the coordinates that match up to a pic then those will be worth 100 points if they can sing the song without that pic.

Ok, so this is how you do it!! You divide your kiddo's into 2 teams. All the words/and some pics are on index cards and taped in order on the grid. You determine which team goes first, (sing off, etc.) Your starting team will pick a coordinates out of a bucket, for example they come up and pick an S2, they will go to the S column and down 2. They have to remove that index card and sing the song without that word and or pic. If they can do it then they get the amount of points listed on the index card that they removed. If they can't sing without the word then the other team gets a chance to try. If the other team can do it then they get the points. Play then goes to the next team. They pick a coordinates: (example K5) they will then go to the K Column and down 5. They would have to remove the word and or pic and sing the song without the word to score the points listed on the card. You can add up the teams points as you go along.

Object: Be the team with the most points at the end of singing time

I have learned that the kiddo's always like a challenge and this game will make them feel like they are competing for something while at the same time they are removing the words and learning the song. These games always bring out the best singing and the kids are having such fun, that they don't even realize their singing their little hearts out!! I will end with a little prize for everyone for doing their very best, probably some "smarties" for being such smart singers!!!

                                                                                                      

Thank you for stopping by!! I am sorry I didn't have pics to post of my Grid. I haven't actually put that together yet. Please feel free to comment with any questions and I will get to them as soon as I can. Happy Singing this WEEK and stay tuned for my 1,2,3 Blast Off Passport to measure the Progress on our songs for the Program!! We are going to send them to the "MOON." before our program on October 12th.