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.  :)

Bell Chart - Seek the Lord Early

This is my bell chart for Seek the Lord Early - p. 108.  This is in the original key and is best played with the 13- or 20-note bell sets.  Since there are 3 flats that are played frequently in the song, the 8-note bell set won't work well with this bell version.

I'm considering using the bells in our Primary Program for this song.  I made this chart so the bells are played only on the downbeat (first note) of each measure.  I'm starting to lean more toward this kind of bell-playing in Primary.  When I've done it this way it seems to be easier for the kids and it goes faster as you don't have to slow the song way down for them to get all the notes in.

This won't be the chart I will use in the actual Program.  Still haven't exactly figured that out yet.

Seek the Lord Early - Lesson Plan (& Other Ideas)

Lesson plan for Seek the Lord Early. Some material could also be used as review.  Also some other ideas.

********************

Sing the song to them:

1. Listen for the phrase "seek the Lord early" and when you hear it stand up or sit down 
2. How many times did you hear that phrase? (3) 
3. Sing again, this time sing the phrase with me when it comes up 

HIDE AND SEEK - big glasses, magnifying glass, binoculars, flashlight, telescoping binoculars, etc

• Choose 4 children (one from each of 4 groups) to come up to the front and choose a seeking item out of a bag with their eyes closed.  Have them keep their eyes closed and guess what the item is. Sing the song while all 4 children look around the room for items/pictures, (and, for SR if they seem to know the song already, get in order in front during any remaining time of the song).  Then sing corresponding phrases in 4 groups. Swap pictures and repeat.

Picture options: (printed OR borrowed from Church library)

1. Lord in magnifying glass OR Jesus the Christ
2. Scriptures & prayer OR Scriptures OR Praying 
3. Prophet / President Monson
4. Ten Commandments

Download B&W Pictures:

(pages meant to be cut in half, to end up with 4)

********************

SENIOR: (I will stop here for JR but continue with the following for SR)

+ WORD STRIPS ON BOARD TO PLACE IN CORRECT COLUMN:

• Sing the song together while children come up to the board and place word strips in the correct column. You can choose children to come up by signaling to them or tapping them on the shoulder or you can have the children choose who comes up next. This can be done as "tag" -- You choose the starting child and when they are finished they choose another child and so on.

I WILL:

• Seek the Lord 
• Search the scriptures 
• Pray to Heavenly Father 
• Obey the prophets
• Keep the commandments 

HE WILL:

• Help me know the truth 
• Show me his love 
• Be found in my life

Download Word Strips:

********************

OTHER IDEAS:

PICTURE HIDE & SEEK (HOT 'N COLD): (From the 2014 Primary Sharing Time Outline)

• Use pictures to teach the song a phrase at a time (sample pictures are available at sharingtime.lds.org). Display all of the pictures on the board. Invite a child to go out of the room while someone else hides one of the pictures. Have the child come back and “seek” for the picture by listening to the other children sing louder as he or she gets closer and softer as he or she gets farther away. Repeat as time allows.

DIVIDE INTO GROUPS: (From LDS.org)

• Divide into two groups and have one group sing only the first two words of each phrase and have the other group complete the phrase. Change groups and repeat. You can divide the groups in many ways: boys/girls, by colors on clothes, color of eyes, birthdays in the first and second part of the year, etc. 

KEY WORDS:

• Put word hints on the board (in two parts: first three then second three; OR all at once).  Tell the children to listen for these key words as you sing the song.  After singing the song through, ask if anyone can come up to the board and write out one of the words.  If they can't get them all, sing through again until they do.
• t _ _ _ _ (truth) 
• s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (scriptures) 
• p _ _ _ _ _ (prayer) 
• o _ _ _ (obey) 
• p _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (prophets) 
• c _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (commandments)

Review Activity: Tic-Tac-Sing (Baptism)

TIC-TAC-SING is basically tic-tac-toe game show style as a review activity.  This post has help info for the song BAPTISM (p. 100) but this activity can be tailored to any song or multiple songs!

Prep using one of the following:

• Draw a tic-tac-toe board on the board and have the children draw X’s and O’s; or 
• Do a life-size version by setting up 9 chairs for children to sit on while holding up X and O papers; or
• Make a poster with removable X's and O's

To play: 

• JUNIOR: Play all as one team
• SENIOR: Split the Primary into two teams (one side vs. the other, boys vs. girls, kids vs. teachers, kids vs. you)
• Sing through one verse at a time. Invite one child from each team to come up and answer a question, game show style. Have two buzzers or an item (like a pen) in the middle of them for them to grab when they know the answer. The child who buzzes or grabs first gets to answer first, and if they get the answer correct they get to put an X or O up on the board for their team. If they answer wrong the other child can steal for the other team by answering the question correctly. If neither gets it right, the Primary may answer and no X’s or O’s get played. If they are all stuck you could sing the verse through one more time to help them find the answer. Play as long as time permits (until you run out of questions, or ask the questions over again!), clearing the board when someone gets 3 in a row.

BAPTISM Activity Questions:

Verse 1:

WHO did Jesus come to? (JOHN THE BAPTIST)
WHERE and WHEN did Jesus come to John the Baptist? (JUDEA LONG AGO)
WHAT did Jesus do when he came to John the Baptist in Judea long ago? (WAS BAPTIZED)
HOW was Jesus baptized by John the Baptist? (BY IMMERSION)
WHERE was Jesus baptized by John the Baptist? (RIVER JORDAN)

Verse 2:

WHY did Jesus say he needed to be baptized? (TO FULFILL THE LAW)
WHO questioned why Jesus needed to be baptized? (THE BAPTIST)
WHY else did Jesus say he needed to be baptized? (TO ENTER WITH [HIS] FATHER IN THE KINGDOM]
WHERE is Heavenly Father's kingdom? (UP ON HIGH)

Verse 3:

WHO must follow Jesus? (WE)
WHAT must we witness faith in? (JESUS' WORD)
WHY must we be baptized? (TO SHOW OBEDIENCE)
WHO was our example that we are following when we are baptized? (JESUS)

Here where I got this activity from, and her post has more ideas if you are looking for more inspiration for this activity: http://intheleafytreetopsthebirdssing.blogspot.com/2012/06/tic-tac-sing-review.html.

The Family Is of God - Picture Prompts

I thought my Primary children could use some extra help as we're reviewing The Family Is of God.  Since this song is long and wordy, I felt that showing them some simple picture prompts might help jog their memories as they think about which words come next.  I also had/have the intent of using these pictures as a review activity for them to put in order up on the board as we sing each verse.  AND they are all line drawings in black and white, because I didn't want to use a ton of ink, and the Church just came out with an awesome new resource of a line drawing bank on their website.  Soooo...

The first document here is the flip chart, if you will, in PDF format.  The order of pages: verse 1, verse 2, verse 3, verse 4, chorus.  I printed 4 of the chorus for easier flipping (or non-flipping rather):

The second document is the large version of the images in a Word Doc.  They are jumbled up, not in order, so as to fit them all on the least amount of pages (10), for ease of printing:

And the third document is a one-page answer key in PDF format, if you want to use the document above:

I Love to See the Temple - Sign Language

Here is a video I made of simple sign language (ASL) for I Love to See the Temple.  This in no way is meant to be a translation to ASL, but a teaching tool to help the children in Primary remember the words to this special song.  I included signs for specific key words to go along with the timing of the words in the song.

The video is mirrored so you may lead with your right hand (if it is your dominant hand).  Lead with whichever hand is most comfortable for you.  The children will either mirror you or lead with the hand that is comfortable for them, unless you tell them otherwise.

VERSE 1

I LOVE to SEE the TEMPLE.
I'm GOING there SOMEDAY
To FEEL the Holy SPIRIT,
To LISTEN and to PRAY.
For the TEMPLE is a HOUSE of GOD,
A place of LOVE and BEAUTY.
I'll PREPARE myself while I am young(CHILD);
This is my SACRED DUTY.

VERSE 2

I LOVE to SEE the TEMPLE.
I'll go INSIDE SOMEDAY.
I'll COV'NANT with my FATHER;
I'll PROMISE to OBEY.
For the TEMPLE is a HOLY place
Where WE are SEALED TOGETHER.
As a CHILD of GOD, I've LEARNED this TRUTH:
A FAM'LY is FOREVER.


ASL Video:
LDS.org ASL video list (scroll down to find I Love to See the Temple -- there are two videos, an adult and a child)

Bell Chart - The 13th Article of Faith

Here is my bell chart for The Thirteenth Article of Faith.  It is for the 13 note bell set.  Each bell note represents each note sung in the song.  If you only have the 8 note bell set, you can still use this chart just by not playing the Bb's.