Mother's Day Singing Activities

Next Sunday is Mother's Day here in the USA. Some of you will be lucky or unlucky (however you like to look at it) to have a break to go to Relief Society by having the youth or Priesthood do your calling for you that day. But then again, some of you will still be with the kiddos. That's where I'll be, huffin' and puffin' and getting my workout in for the day.

Here are a couple of ideas I've done before on Mother's Day. Pass them along to the youth or Priesthood, or anyone you know who needs a quick easy plan.

1. Mother's Purse

Find the items on the list, print the tags, if desired and place in a purse or bag. Select a Primary song to go with each item. Have a child pick an item from the purse. Read why the item relates to mom then sing the song doing the action.

Click HERE to download purse idea with tags.

2. Mother's Day Match

Simply print the pictures, select Primary songs for each match, and you're ready to play a matching game. You can talk about each picture and how important our mother's are to us.

Click HERE to download match game with pictures.

3. Pass the Flower

This one is super easy and hardly any prep. Select the Primary songs you want to sing. Find a real, plastic, silk, or paper flower. Start singing. As you sing, pass the flower from child to child, up and down the rows. Have the pianist stop frequently whenever she/he feels like it.. The child holding the flower has to say something they are THANKFUL FOR or LOVE about their mother. Then continue on with the song. If you have a big Primary or want to give several children a turn, pass 2-4 flowers at the same time but start them in different rows. For a small Primary, you could pass the flower around in a circle.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

Happy Mother's Day and Happy Singing!

New Welcome Song

I'm going to teach a new welcome song this month. My kiddos don't know 'Our Door Is Always Open'. It's a fun, short song that can be sung as a round. 

I've made a flip chart.

Click HERE to download the flip chart.

Happy Singing!

Praise to the Man

I've been working on my plans for 'Praise to the Man' and finally have the introduction ready. 

Here is what I'm doing:

I wanted to tell the kids a little bit about the composer W. W. Phelps and why he wrote the song.

I'll change things a little for the Sr. Primary to make it more of a challenge.

This song has LOTS of hard words so I made a word/meaning card match for the Sr. kids. I think it will help all of us understand the song a little better.

I'm going to try to work up the hand bells to play for the program so watch for that to come in the next few weeks.

I also made a flip chart for reviewing later. 

Click HERE to download my lesson plan with pictures & word/meaning cards.

Click HERE to download the flip chart.

Happy Singing!!

SO WHAT...?

One of the purposes of the Primary Chorister calling is to teach the gospel through music. Sometimes I find myself trying to talk and explain the messages of the songs TOO MUCH!! I think many times the songs teach the message much better than I do and I need to just sing more and let the spirit talk.

A great idea I learned from my daughter Tricia several years ago is the 'SO WHAT' concept and I've been using it in Primary and it works great! Here's the concept:

After a lesson, conference talk, scripture reading, hard experience, etc, ask yourself- 'SO WHAT'. Don't say it like a spunky, sassy teenager but say it like a son or daughter of God- "SO WHAT..." Then fill in the blank with what is appropriate like-

"So what... did I learn?"

"So what... is HE trying to teach me?"

"So what...does this mean to me?"

"So what...will I do differently?"

Sometimes it may even turn into deeper reflections like-

So Why? So How? So When? So Where? or So Who?

So how do I use this in Primary? After I've taught a new song or sang an old favorite, I'll simply ask one or two children to answer- "So What... does this song teach YOU?" It's a great simple, easy, fast way for the kids to reflect on the message of the song. It also helps THEM to verbalize the lessons they have learned.

My daughter learned this concept from a gospel doctrine teacher in her ward. She can't remember his name now after all these years but whomever you are THANKS for sharing. This has helped me so many times in my life. I use it when I write in my journal, study scriptures, have a bad or good experience, listen to conference, or hear a talk or lesson in church. 

And now I use it with my Primary kids.

Jesus Is Our Loving Friend

For the opening song this month,, I'm doing 'Jesus Is Our Loving Friend.' This is one of my favorites from my childhood. Some of my kids know it but others don't. I hope a lot of the teachers know it. So I put a flip chart together just in case.

Click HERE to download the flip chart.

Happy Singing!

This Is My Beloved Son

I think I have another new favorite Primary song. Our pick for April's program song is 'This Is My Beloved Son' CS page 76. I taught it on Sunday and the kids and teachers LOVED it. I was very surprised how fast they learned it.

Here was my plan:

When I introduce a new song I like to focus on the words and meaning of the song. I found in this book how Bro. Gardner came up with the idea for the song.

Love this book. It is out of print but you can probably find it somewhere.

I also made a flip chart for later in the year to practice with.

Click HERE to download my plan.

Click HERE to download the flip chart.

Mother's Day Medley

I finally made a decision as to what to sing for Mother's Day. We are going to do a little medley of My Mother Dear CS 203, Love Is Spoken Here CS 190, and Dearest Mother I Love You CS 206. It's nothing fancy and it's easy for my pianist. I went to LDS.org/music/index and transposed My Mother Dear and Dearest Mother I Love You to one flat (key of F Major). On the Church's website page, on the top of the song, there is a title that says 'key'. Just change it to F Major and it like magically changes the song to one flat. 

It's wonderful and easy! Love Is Spoken Here is already one flat so now you have all the songs in the same key.

We are singing My Mother Dear first with a little introduction. Then we go right into Love Is Spoken Here with it's introduction as well. We are only singing the first verse. Then without an introduction we go right into Dearest Mother I Love You. Then back to Love Is Spoken Here 3rd ending to finish. 

Click HERE to download the medley

My kiddos already know Love Is Spoken Here and Dearest Mother I Love You. We'll just need a little review with the flip charts. But I need to teach My Mother Dear. So I've put together some puzzles and I'll use Sharla Dance's approach.

I'm excited to start practicing these songs. Here are the downloads if you'd like them.

Click HERE to download the PUZZLE activity.

Click HERE to download the flip chart MY MOTHER DEAR

Click HERE to download the flip chart LOVE IS SPOKEN HERE

Click HERE to download the flip chart DEAREST MOTHER I LOVE YOU

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Singing!