B.E.A.R.S. Singing Time

Tomorrow, we are wrapping up the B.E.A.R.S. scripture reading theme my presidency introduced at the beginning of the year.

Each Sunday every child who brought their scriptures to Primary got to put a 'warm fuzzy' into a large container and when the container was full we would have an ice cream party! The kids rose to the challenge and we're ALREADY having our ice cream party tomorrow! So, the presidency asked me to incorporate BEARS into my singing time as well!

Here's what I came up with.

Materials Needed:

• 3-4 Stuffed Teddy Bears
• Laundry Basket and Blanket
• Gummi Bear Clip Art
• Fun Ways To Sing Cards
• Gummi Bears

We'll start singing time by going over our April Songs I Feel My Savior's Love for Junior and I Wonder When He Comes Again for Senior. I'll only spend a few minutes on each of these, since we'll be singing them over and over again with the gummi bears. Each time we sing the song I'll be making eye contact with every child to make sure that they are participating, singing/trying to sing the words, and being reverent. The primary kids know that if I pull a name out of the jar and I have seen this child not doing one of my 3 requirements, they get put back in the jar. It works like MAGIC!!

I'll then post the 4 Gummi Bear Clip Art Pictures on the board. I'll let a child choose 4 Fun Ways To Sing Cards (from Brittney's FANTASTIC blog!) and place them next to each gummi bear.

I'll draw a child's name out of the can and have them come up to the front and close their eyes. I'll then place a gummi bear in their hand and they have to put it in their mouth with their eyes STILL CLOSED and they have to guess what color I gave them. If they guess it right, we will sing it in the fun way that is posted by that color of gummi bear. If they guess it wrong, we will sing it like a perfect primary choir. This is a different variation of the Skittles Game. (I can't find the genius blog that I found the skittles game on, but when I find it, I'll post the kudos!!)

As they sing like a perfect primary choir they will be trying to awake the stuffed teddy bears out of hibernation for the Spring! :) Depending on how well they sing it I will bring 1,2,or 3 of the bears out of my makeshift cave (laundry basket and blanket). The Better they sing the more bears come out! At the very end of singing time when they give it all they've got, I'll bring out a baby cub along with all 3 of the other bears. Thanks to Gina from Sugardoodle for this hibernation inspiration!!

I'm a little worried that some of this might be too juvenile for Sr., but I'll spice it up for them somehow, maybe I'll let some of them be the judges and tell me how many bears should appear...

Reverence R Us

Reverence is often the bane of any Primary's existence. Some Sundays are definitely better than others. One Sunday you go home proclaiming that you have the greatest calling in the world! The next Sunday, you can't get home to your Dr. Pepper and your bed fast enough...

I thought I would post just a couple of tricks that have worked more often than not in our primary.

I remind the kids that I only pick reverent helpers, so if I am using popsicle sticks to choose my helpers that day, I secretly look at the name on the popsicle stick and say: "Man, I really hope this child is reverent while we sing this song, otherwise someone else will get a chance..."

Another trick is the "POWER SNAP"...This is exactly like the 'power clap' used in business meetings, but I figured that would be WAY TOO LOUD. basically with the power clap, if you can get the entire room to clap once at the same time it creates a really cool sort of sonic boom. Same thing with the snap, the kids love the challenge of everyone trying to snap at the same time. So, if things start getting rowdy I begin my little chant:

'Everybody snap on 1 (snap)

'Everybody snap on 1 (snap)

Everybody snap with 2 (snap, snap)

Everybody snap with 2 (snap, snap)

How about 3 (snap, snap, snap) etc.

Usually by the 2nd 'everybody snap on 1, we are all in sync and quiet...I don't move on to 2 and 3 snaps until everyone is quiet and snapping. When I first started it, I got my peanut gallery saying "what if I don't know how to snap?" I said, "You'll quickly learn" and sure enough everyone is snapping! haha! In Senior Primary we've even gotten up to 5 & 6 snaps just to challenge ourselves!

One more thing that I found works like magic before we begin primary is that I am already singing when the kids are walking into the primary room. Without saying anything they are singing right along with me, we usually get about 5-6 reverent songs in and the spirit has already entered the room...

...Good Luck & May The Reverent Force Be With You...

Unwrap The Present

This week for singing time, I was inspired by the game Unwrap The Present.

I brought a wrapped present to singing time. We sang our Christmas songs we are working on and while we sang them, the kids passed the present around the room. The pianist would stop whenever her heart desired and the kid with the present had to unwrap ONE layer of the wrapping and answer the question/challenge written on the next layer.

Questions/Challenges were as follows:

• In The Song Once There Was A Snowman, How Many Times Do you Say The Word "Snowman"
• In The Song, Christmas Bells, What do the Christmas Bells Tell You
• Sing The Last Line of "Lullaby Little One"
• Name another name for Jesus that we sing in the song "Lullaby Little One"
• Why Couldn't Mary & Joseph stay at the inn?
• What Did Mary wrap Baby Jesus in?
• What song are we singing next week in Sacrament Meeting

Another variation would be to have the kids sing the next line/word of the song where the pianist stopped...

Of course you need to set ground rules of:

reverence

only tear off ONE LAYER at a time

pass the present in a timely manner (no holding on to it)

The kids loved it, and the older boys were so attentive to be sure they knew the answers to everyone's questions. We got throught 6 of the 8 layers!

I'm thinking of doing this for Junior Primary next week, with easier questions/challenges!