Choose and Review: Bag It

This month's theme is "The first principles and ordinances of the gospel make it possible for me to live with God again." Select a song to correspond with each of these principles and ordinances (as described in the 2011 outline): faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost. Now place a picture, preferably church-produced, or object representing each of the principles and ordinances in a bag. Invite the children to select an item. Discuss the item and its relevance and then sing the corresponding song. You can add a few extra songs by choosing some additional items/pictures to place in the bag. These can correspond with supporting gospel principles.

If I were doing this activity this month, I might take it one step further and use pictures from scripture stories. This is a great way to review some of the stories and support the theme for the year. There are so many scripture stories to choose from, but here is an example from the Book of Mormon:

Faith: GAK 313/2000 Stripling Warriors Sing "Faith"
Repentance: GAK 311/ Anti-Nephi-Lehies Sing "Help Me, Dear Father"
Baptism: GAK 309/Alma Sing "When I Am Baptized"
Holy Ghost: GAK 316/Jesus teaching in the Americas Sing "The Holy Ghost"
Scriptures: GAK 325 or 326/The Gold Plates and Scriptures Sing "Scripture Power"

Repeat: Remote Control

I recently found this fun idea on Sugardoodle and thought I would pass it along. It works great as a repeat or choose and review activity.

Arrange "buttons" on the board to look like a remote control. Invite a child to come up and select a button to practice singing the song.

• Pause: The children "pause" on the word they are singing each time the button is held up


• Play: The children stand and sing. When the play button is pointed to the left, they lean left. When the play button is pointed to the right, they lean to the right.


• Fast Forward: Sing fast.


• Stop: The children stop singing when the button is held up. You can set a limit on how many times the child can stop the primary during the singing to help maintain reverence.


• Refresh: Sing the way they just did. For instance, if they just sang the 'fast forward', they will do that again.


• Record: If you have the ability, record the children as they sing and play it back for them to hear.


• Info: The children have to answer a question regarding the song and then sing the line the answer comes from.


• Volume: The button is lower or raised to control how loud the children sing. There is also a mute button that indicates only the piano plays while the children think of the words in their heads.

If you wanted to use this activity for a choose and review, you could just put the name of a different song on the back of each button.

Go to www.sugardoodle.net to find this idea in its entirety and download the remote control buttons to print out. You will need to look in the Primary Music Leader heading.

Happy Singing!

Tools: Hula Hoop

One quick motivational tool is a hula hoop. There are a few ways to use the hula hoop:

1. Highlight the similiarities between the shape of the hula hoop and the shape of their mouths when singing certain words/vowels.


2. Invite a child to come to the front. Hold the hoop and each time the child walks through the hoop the children start or stop singing. Place it on the floor and each time the child steps in the hula hoop the children stop singing.


3. Challenge the children to push their sound through the hula hoop. Use this activity to focus on the mechanics of singing as well as the importance of strong and focused singing, as opposed to screaming or yelling to produce a bigger sound.

Any other ideas?

Repeat: What's Missing?

This idea is one I have seen in the Friend and on the Children Sing blog. I love it and think it works great for teaching,repeating, or choose and review. Today I want to focus on using for a repeating activity. Pick an item to correspond with key words or phrases from your song. Place these items on a tray or table. Begin the activity by discussing the items and then invite the children to decide which item goes with which key word or phrase. Invite the children to sing the song through either as you discuss each item or in its entirety after they have all been discussed.

For the second phase of this activity send one child out of the room and invite another child to take something off of the tray/table. The child who left has to come back in and figure out what item is missing. You can give the child time to decide by having the primary sing through the song before he/she gives their guess. You could also just give the child a set amount of time to decide and then sing through the corresponding phrase once the child has correctly guessed the missing item. It all depends on how much practice the kids need on this particular song.

Repeat: Eraser Pass

In this method of reviewing a song, the children are first challenged to erase all the words on the board that are not contained in the song. Before Primary place all the key words on the board in rows. Next to each word place two addtional words; one similar and one opposite. Be sure to switch up the order of the words so the kids don't catch onto any pattern.

Before you begin this activity you need to lay out the ground rules. The children must continue singing the song over and over until only the key words are left on the board. They are not allowed to talk. You will select two people to have an eraser and once they have erased one word, they quietly hand the eraser to the next child. This contines until the end. To create more of a challenge you can ask the kids to guess how many times it will take them singing through to complete the challenge. They could also set a goal.

If you want to add to this activity you could sing another marathon session of the song and challenge the children to begin erasing all the key words. Continue singing through the song until all the key words are gone.

I would definitely use this activity in conjunction with some other activity since it will definitely not take you the whole time.

Teaching: Key Word Scriptures

This teaching method would definitely work best in Senior Primary, though it could be modified to meet the needs of the little ones. The idea is pretty simple. Pick one key word from each phrase in the song you are teaching. Write out the phrases for the children to see (on posterboard, whiteboard, chalkboard, etc.), leaving a blank in place of the key words you have chosen. In place of those key words you will write a short scripture that contains the word. You can find scriptures for each word by doing a search on lds.org. It would work best if you can find a scripture that contains the word a few times and speaks to the meaning or context of the word to add extra meaning and application to the activity.

The goal will be for the kids to determine what word should go in the blank. As they are searching for each key word, you can sing through the particular phrase over and over making sure to hum in place of the key word. You can instruct the children to sing along with you once they have found the word....humming the key word. This is a great way for the kids to let you know they have found the answer. Once it appears the children are ready you can invite them to whisper the word in unison.

Here is how I would use this method for the song "Faith" if I were teaching it as my chosen song this month:

Phrase #1: Sun (Ecc. 1:5)

Phrase #2: Lord (1 Sam 12:18)

Phrase #3: Seed (Mark 4:31)

Phrase #4: Heart (Psalms 57:7)

Phrase #5: Right (1 Kings 15:11)

**Another way you could work this method is to pass out the scripture references to 1 or 2 classes each and ask them to find the words. One class could be in charge of writing the word on the slip of paper and another in charge of drawing a picture or deciding on an action to go with the key word.

**Junior Primary modification: Have pictures on display that correspond with each word and challenge them to listen to the scriptures and pick the correct picture. Once the picture is chosen, the kids could learn/practice the applicable phrase.

2011 Challenge: Mini-Lesson

Another way you can encourage, promote, and teach about the Spirit and singing is through a mini-lesson during your singing time. I have seen it done and done it myself in a few different wards. It has always been successful and I like it because it only takes a few minutes. Here is the basic outline:

1. Read D & C 25:12


2. Briefly discuss the meaning with the children. Emphasize the importance of singing and its ability to invite the Spirit, bear testimony, show love and reverence (respect), and praise God.


3. Encourage the children to remember this as they sing each Sunday. Introduce the idea of Sunday singing or testimony singing.


4. Bear testimony of music and the Spirit

Like I said, very simple and quick. Even the smallest children can understand this thought and it is something you can refer back to when the kids are having a hard time keeping still and singing.