Activity: Christmas Symbols

This Sunday I'm going to discuss with the Primary children the purpose of the decorations and things at Christmas time and how they are symbols of Christ.  I'm going to use the Sharing Time lesson in a 2004 issue of LDS Living for this Singing Time.  There are also other symbols you could use in addition to these if you choose.

The lesson suggests having enough of each ornament for each class in the Primary to decorate the tree.  I'm just going to have one of each for time's sake because it is after all, Singing Time!  The lesson does not specify songs to sing but suggests to sing Christmas songs that the children are familiar with to reinforce the concepts taught.

The symbols and songs I chose are:

• Tree
• Away in a Manger (v3)
• Star (and lights)
• Stars Were Gleaming
• Candy Canes
• Once within a Lowly Stable (v2)
• Angels
• Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus (v2)
• Red, White & Green Ornaments
• The Shepherd's Carol
• Gifts
• Little Jesus

Additional symbols I thought about but didn't include were Wreath: crown of thorns, eternal love (Mary's Lullaby); and Santa: generosity and kindness (Have a Very Merry Christmas).

I made printouts of a simple tree (for two pages) and of the symbols I listed above (on one page) that can be downloaded below:

     Tree                                     Ornaments

     

Bells Chart - Christmas Music

Here are a few bell charts I made for some Christmas music.  I converted two of the songs into the key of C in the LDS.org music library, and the others are in the original key and have either a sharp or a flat (if you only have the 8 note bell set you can just leave out those notes you don't have).  I have the 13 note bell set.  My Primary kids are really excited to get to play the bells this week!  They love them!

For the Christmas songs that we only get to since once a year I will also post the words on the board so everyone can sing along while they play.

ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH: Bell Chart

CHRISTMAS BELLS: Bell Chart

JOY TO THE WORLD: key of C

Bell Chart                                 Sheet Music

       

THE FIRST NOEL: key of C

Bell Chart                                 Sheet Music

       

Nursery - Singing Time Cards

We have 3 Nursery classes in our ward, so I've thought there was no way I could do singing time in Nursery.  Well I finally chatted with the Nursery leader because I would love to have my hands in Nursery music somehow, and we decided I would visit one class each week on a rotation.  Anyway, she told me each class has a singing time packet with cute ways to choose songs -- one is a fishing game, another is laminated cards that look like jellybeans, and I forget the other one.  From what she knows these are all wiggle songs.  So to keep with what the kids are used to I made some cards to supplement their singing time.  And I actually made 3 sets so each class can be singing these songs even when I'm not in there.  We will take turns choosing from their wiggle pile and my new pile of Gospel related songs.

In case they aren't even using the ones they have, or if they want to do all of my cards or whatever, I also made a wiggle song set.  I know there are a few songs that could go either way, but I wanted to make use of the entire sheet I would be printing on.  I hate wasting resources!  :)  I printed all of these on card stock and cut them out to about 3x4 inch cards.  After I write the song name on the back of each card I'll laminate them.

There are 12 songs in each set.  That is a lot of songs!  There are so many great ones to choose from.  We obviously won't have time each week to sing all the songs, but hopefully it will be a good and fun rotation, and the children will be getting exposure to these wonderful songs.  Also, I did not make a card for I Am a Child of God (2) because my intention is that that will always be the last song we sing together.

Here are links to both sets:

Gospel Song Cards:

Wiggle Song Cards:

Gospel Song Cards:

• Temple: I Love to See the Temple (95)
• Christ w/ children: I Know That My Savior Loves Me (2015 outline... I'm going to sing just the chorus with these nursery kids)
• Family in front of temple: Families Can Be Together Forever (188)
• Houses in the rain: The Wise Man and the Foolish Man (281)
• Rainbow: When I Am Baptized (103)
• Missionary tag: I Hope They Call Me on a Mission (169)
• Star: I Am Like a Star (163)
• Footprints: I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus (78)
• Bird: My Heavenly Father Loves Me (228)
• Heart: I Feel My Savior's Love (74)
• Light: Teach Me to Walk in the Light (177... I still don't love that picture but it was the best I could come up with) 
• President Monson: Follow the Prophet (110)

Wiggle Song Cards:

• Happy face: If You're Happy (266)
• Snowman: Once There was a Snowman (249)
• Hands together: Roll Your Hands (274)
• Wiggly hands: I Wiggle (271)
• Book of Mormon: Book of Mormon Stories (118)
• Child with arms bent: Hinges (277)
• Four children: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes (275)
• Stream: Give, Said the Little Stream (236)
• Popcorn: Popcorn Popping (242)
• Sun: Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam (60)
• Smile: Smiles (267)
• Child jumping: Do As I'm Doing (276)

Picture a Christmas - Simple Sign Language

This year I'm teaching Picture a Christmas from the Children's Songbook for one of our ward Christmas party songs.  I wanted to teach it with sign language so I called upon a friend of mine in another ward to make a video of the sign language for this song (since she knows ASL and has been teaching this song in sign language in her Primary the last few years!).  She is so sweet and did it for me!  Thank you Sara.  :)  Here is the link to her YouTube channel to view the simple sign language for this song.  (She even told me that she doesn't end up doing all the signs she does in this video with her Primary.  I have found that if I do too many signs for my Primary that the kids are too focused on doing them right and not singing hardly at all.  Just something to keep in mind.)

Simple Sign Language for "Picture a Christmas"

Away in a Manger (Children's Songbook)

Here is a flip chart I created for the Primary songbook version of Away in a Manger last year.  I went over it with the children as a flip chart and also had printed just the pictures and cut them out for them to put in order on the board as a supplemental activity to review it.

Flip chart:

Just pictures:

Activity: Pin the Couple on the Temple

The Primary theme for the month of October is all about the family.  Since we have General Conference this weekend, our Primary Presidency combined the first two themes/lessons for the first week back in Primary (the second week of the month).  I wanted to do something simple and fun and sing lots of classic and beloved Primary songs about the family.  I came up with:

PIN THE COUPLE ON THE TEMPLE

I've prepared a couple sheets of paper with this picture on it several times and songs and questions on another sheet for print on the back of the picture sheet.  I'll cut them out and stick them up on the board or around the room for the children to choose one at a time.  We will read the question and then sing the song and verse together to find the answer.  For Junior Primary they can all help each other answer the question.  I'll have Senior Primary answer the question themselves if they can, and ask a friend for help if they need it.  And then, once we have sung the song and answered the question correctly, the child up front (who chose the picture with the song) will be blindfolded, spun around, and will pin (stick: magnet, tape, pin... whatever) the picture of the couple onto the picture of a temple on the board.  We will do this as many times as we have time.

If you're still reviewing for your Program you could include your Program songs or do a similar activity to incorporate your Program songs.


MATERIALS:

• Large picture of any temple
• Cut out pictures of a couple (picture above or in a document below)
• Questions related to chosen songs
• Magnets or pins or tape (to stick the pictures to the temple)

SONGS & QUESTIONS:

• I AM A CHILD OF GOD (2) - verse 1
• What did God give me?
• Answer: "an earthly home with parents kind and dear"
• I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE (95) - verse 1
• What is my sacred duty?
• Answer: "to prepare myself to go to the temple"
• I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE (95) - verse 2
• Who is sealed together in the temple?
• Answer: "families"
• FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER (188) - verse 1
• How long do I want to share my life with my family?
• Answer: "through all eternity"
• FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER (188) - verse 2
• What will I prepare to do while in my early years?
• Answer: "to marry in God's temple for eternity"
• THE FAMILY IS OF GOD - verse 1
• Who is in our Heavenly Father's family?
• Answer: "me, you, all others too"
• THE FAMILY IS OF GOD - verse 2
• What is something a father does for his family?
• Answer: "preside, provide, love, teach the gospel, leads family prayer"
• THE FAMILY IS OF GOD - verse 3
• What is something a mother does for her family?
• Answer: "care, prepare, nurture and strengthen children; teaches to obey, pray, love and serve"
• THE FAMILY IS OF GOD - verse 4
• What will I help my family remember?
• Answer: "God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be, this is how He shares His love, the family is of God"

Document of Pictures & Songs & Questions for download:

Activity: Stretch / Workout - (13th Article of Faith)

Well we just had our Primary Program this past Sunday and I have to say, I am so impressed with the kids and how well they did all around!  I didn't think I would feel the Spirit as strongly as I did, but I got choked up during one of the songs in the middle of the program.  The Spirit testified to me about how precious each of these wonderful children really are and how special they are to our Father in Heaven, and what a great work we are doing in the Primary to teach them of these important principles.  This was my first program, and it was a wonderful, wonderful experience.  I tried in the weeks leading up to Program day to not be stressed about things being "perfect" (like I tend to do with things even in my personal life) but I tried to relax and just enjoy singing with the children.  It didn't matter to me if they sang quiet (which I knew they most likely would), but I tried to do my best in helping them know and remember the words to the songs.  And they knew them.  They did so great.  It was an awesome day.  :)

Now we get to play and sing all kinds of other songs for fun!

This week's Sharing Time lesson is about being honest, and it references the 13th Article of Faith.  So I want to teach/go over the 13th Article of Faith song with them.  But it's kind of long, and I don't want to do something with showing words because most of our JR's don't read, and I haven't found much on the internet related to teaching the song, and the ASL video I found of the Articles of Faith is great but too much work for a sign language novice like me to try to figure out all the signs by this Sunday.  Nothing was really speaking to me.  Until tonight when a great idea was impressed upon my mind!

I like to get the kids moving since they sit so much in the other hours of church, and I think it's important for them to be able to move for them to learn well.

Soooo......  I'm going to do a stretching/workout routine with this song with them!  The idea is for it to be comparable to working out our spiritual muscles.  And really you could adapt it for any song.  And I'm even thinking about making this a "warm up" song (or activity) as the children are coming in to Primary so they can move but get ready and focused for Sharing Time.  I'm super excited about it!

These are some actions I came up with (I'm sure you could probably think of more!):

• With both arms out to sides, move side to side from waist up
• Biceps pump in front of your body (like doing bicep curls with weights)
• Squats (in place or side to side)
• Forward lunges (jump to switch, or step together to switch)
• Muscle flexing
• Reach both hands up
• Bend over and touch toes
• Stretch arms up one at a time (like a sleepy stretch)
• Stretch arms out in front of you and wiggle fingers

And I'll do those in that order for this song.  I'll try to describe it, but I'll probably end up making a video so it's easier to understand (I'm totally a visual learner).  [By the way, it's probably a good idea to plan on wearing a flowy skirt as opposed to a restricting one when you plan to do this activity. ;)]

• "We believe in being" --- Start with both arms stretched out to your sides, feet apart
• "Honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous" --- Keep that position and bend at waist to one side and then the other (4 times slow, aka: R, L, R, L)
• "And in doing good to all men" --- Biceps pump (either 4 fast ones or 2 slow ones)
• "Indeed we may say that we follow" --- Squats side to side (4 slow ones, aka: R, L, R, L)
• "The admonition of Paul" --- Forward lunges (2 slow step change ones, or 4 quick jumping ones)
• "We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things" --- Muscle flex freestyle! (3, one for each phrase)
• "And hope to be able to endure all things" --- Stretch up with both hands on the word and high note of HOPE, and then slow bend over to touch toes by the end of the phrase
• "If there is anything virtuous, lovely or of good report or praiseworthy" --- Stretch arms up one at a time (6 times, aka: R, L, R, L, R, L)
• "We seek after these things" --- Stretch arms out in front of you and wiggle fingers for a good finger workout/stretch

And there you have it!  Something engaging for the kids, super low prep for you, and can be used for probably almost any song.  Bingo!

Happy singing.  :)