November can be a strangely in-between time for planning singing times. You’re done with your program, (yay!) but it’s not quite time for Christmas songs yet. It’s a great time to…

on our new facebook page, Annie left this idea just moments after I started up the page. I can tell the facebook page is going to be a great resource for ideas and information! Check it out! Skittles game: (As always, be sensitive to food allergies. Fruity candy is usually safe, but always get approval from the primary presidency first!) "We take a bag of Skittles and I draw names and the child comes to the front of the room. They close their eyes and put a skittle in their mouth and try to guess the color. If they get it right then the get to pick a song, but if it's wrong then it's my choice. It's a great way to review program songs, the kids love it, and it's super easy...hardly any planning involved. I always give each child 3 or 4 skittles after singing time so there's no fighting." Some variations I thought of for reviewing ONE song: You could use this like I use the magic potion game. Write out the words to a song on a dry-erase board using marker colors to match the colors of skittles you have. If they guess the correct color, you erase that color of a word. If they guess it wrong, you don't erase any words. You can switch this, depending on the tendency of your primary, i.e. they prefer to get them wrong so they don't have to erase any words. :) The color of the skittle represents a certain phrase of a song. If they guess it right, they sing just that phrase. If they guess it wrong, you sing the entire song. The colors represent different ways to sing the song, if guessed correctly. If guessed wrong, you just sing it normal. Do you have any ideas? suggestions? Love this idea, Annie! Thanks so much!

A couple of years ago I used this Popcorn poster as an incentive to refine their songs for the primary program. The idea was to have them get the popcorn into the bucket. When they finally sang the song as well as I had hoped for, I had a child put the song in the bucket. When the bucket was full, we gave them each a popcorn bag filled with popcorn to take home. It was a simple idea that really worked!

This was a pretty fun Singing Time and a fun way to review! I saw this on another chorister blog: Sing or Dare! Took two 12"x18" sheets of yellow paper and created a "road sign" look to them. The kids had the choice of SING or DARE. SING had different ways to sing the songs we were reviewing. DARE had a fun quick question or silly activity. For my ease, I had the SING and DARE cues/clues/directions taped to the back of their respective signs. It was a nice way to keep the kids engaged and participatory!

This activity works best for me with Senior Primary, but there’s a couple of juniors who do great at it too. It’s important that you use songs that are pretty familiar. It works great …

This is a tried-and-true activity for every chorister, I'm pretty sure. I have used these cards a few times, and they are a hit every time....

Audience: Junior and Senior Primary Preparation: On posterboard, write out words to a verse of a song. Then, prepare blank strips to cove...

Tomorrow I'm doing a review with mustaches! I Mustache You a Question! I'll do things a little differently in JR than in SR. JUNIOR In Junior I'm going to have a child choose a mustache on a stick and have them answer a question to see which song we are going to sing. I have the song order pre-determined. Then we'll sing the song, in a fun or reinforcing way I've already chosen. The questions I'll ask are as follows: Name this song: "He Sent His...?" Name this song: "I Will Follow God's...?" Name this song: "I Stand All...?" Name this song: "The Family Is...?" Name this song: "When I Hear the...?" Name this song: "Truth from...?" Name this song: "I Love to See...?" SENIOR In Senior I'll have a child choose a mustache on a stick to choose the song we're going to sing. Each mustache will have a song written on the back. Next we'll sing the song, in a fun or reinforcing way I've already chosen. Then I'll ask a few questions about the song to a few chosen children, where they can earn their own stick-on mustaches. If they need help they can ask a friend, who can also earn a mustache. Super singers can also earn mustaches. By the end of Singing Time hopefully all the kids will have gotten a mustache. Below are the questions I'll ask, and a Word Doc to download for ease. Download Questions (DOC) HE SENT HIS SON · QUESTION: How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness? (Answer: “He sent His son a newborn babe with peace and holiness.”) · FILL IN THE BLANK: How could the Father show the world _________? (Answer: “the pathway we should go”) · QUESTION: What 4 things does this song say the Father asks of us, that the scriptures say? (Answer: “Have faith, have hope, live like His Son, help others on their way”) I WILL FOLLOW GOD’S PLAN · QUESTION: My choice was to, what? (Answer: “come to this lovely home on earth… and seek for God’s light to direct me from birth”) · QUESTION: Name at least 3 things this song says that I can do so I can be happy on earth and in my home above. (Answer: “follow God’s plan for me, hold fast to his word and His love, work, pray, walk in His way”) I STAND ALL AMAZED · FILL IN THE BLANK: I stand all amazed at the ____________? (Answer: “love Jesus offers me”) · QUESTION: What are 3 things this song says that Jesus did for me, a sinner? (Answer: “suffered, bled, died”) · FILL IN THE BLANK: Oh, it is wonderful that _______________? (Answer: “He should care for me, enough to die for me”) THE FAMILY IS OF GOD · QUESTION: Why did Heavenly Father send us to earth, through birth? (Answer: “to live and learn here in families”) · FILL IN THE BLANK: A father’s place is to preside, provide, to ________________? (Answer: “love and teach the gospel to his children”) · QUESTION: Name at least 4 of a mother’s purposes. (Answer: “care, prepare, nurture, strengthen, teaches to obey, pray, love, serve” · FILL IN THE BLANK: I’ll love and serve my family, and be ____________? (Answer: “a good example to each family member”) · QUESTION: Why did God give us families? (Answer: “to help us become what He wants us to be”) WHEN I HEAR THE PROPHET’S VOICE · FILL IN THE BLANK: When I hear the prophet’s voice ____________? (Answer: “I feel closer to God” OR “I will gladly obey”) · QUESTION: When I listen to the prophet’s voice, what do I feel deep within my heart? (Answer: “the Savior’s love”) · FILL IN THE BLANK: Who speaks through the prophet for our day? (Answer: “the Savior”) TRUTH FROM ELIJAH · FILL IN THE BLANK: The hearts of the children have _________? (Answer: “turned to their fathers… have turned, have turned, have turned”) · FILL IN THE BLANK: Because of the truth they have ____________? (Answer: “learned from Elijah… have learned, have learned, have learned”) · QUESTION: What does this song say that we as the children can do about family history? (Answer: “seek out our loved ones, preserving their names and their memory”) · QUESTION: What does this song say that we can do about temple work? (Answer: “strive to be worthy to kneel in the temple and bind them to us for eternity”)

Use this awesome craft to help your kids sing louder in primary sharing time as well as nursery and even family home evenings.

“Everyone Who” is another way to choose who will sing as you review a song. Write the phrases on slips of paper and put them in a basket or can to draw from. Do the actions while you sing the song, yet one more time. If there are just a few children who stand to sing, have everyone else hum while you help those few sing. If you can think of another example to add to the list, please leave a comment. Everyone who has a pet at home stand and pretend you are petting your pet while we sing. Everyone who likes to play soccer stand and swing you leg back and forth while we sing. Everyone who plays a musical instrument stand and pretend to play it while we sing. Everyone who wants to go on a mission stand and “knock” the rhythm on a pretend door. Everyone who likes to take a walk stand and walk in place while we sing. Swing your arms. Everyone who goes to bed by 8:00 come up and pretend to sleep while we sing the song to you. Everyone who likes to swim stand and pretend to swim while we sing. Everyone who likes to read a book stand and pretend to read while we sing. Everyone who likes to build a snowman (or sand castle) stand up while we sing. Everyone who likes to ride a bike stand and pretend you are riding your bike while we sing. Everyone who likes to paint stand and pretend to paint the melody of the song while we sing. Everyone who likes to draw stand and pretend to draw the melody of the song while we sing. Everyone who wants to grow to be tall stand on your tip toes while we sing. Everyone who likes to make mud pies stand and sing. Everyone who likes to rake leaves stand and pretend to rake while we sing. Everyone who has to set the table for dinner stand and sing. Everyone who has to pick up their toys at home stand and sing. Everyone who has to fold their own laundry stand and pretend while we sing. Everyone who likes to cook stand stand and pretend to stir a pot while we sing. Everyone who likes to eat pizza stand and pretend to toss pizza dough while we sing. Everyone who has a birthday in the summertime (winter, spring or fall) stand and help me lead.

This Sunday is the fifth sunday, and I have the entire singing/sharing time. I wanted a game where we could sing like crazy and review songs, but also have fun. This idea was inspired by someone with the idea of "musicship"...but I can't remember who. ****I just got a comment referring me to the correct site. The Crazy Chorister was the one I got the original idea from. Thanks to Dana who sent this information!**** I tweaked it a little to make it work for our primary and what we needed to get accomplished. On a poster board, I made a grid: 1-6 across the top and A-G going down the sides. I cut out 3x3 squares of cardstock to fill in the blank spaces. The children will come up (for Juniors) and pick a square and the older kids can just call out coordinates (A2) for example. Behind the square will either be a symbol or blank. If it's blank, we don't do anything, and have someone else pick another square. I have 3 different symbols on different colors of cardstock; a 4 stars, 11 ships, and 6 flowers. On each of the symbols, I penciled in a song title. All of the cards will be faced down, as so: The ships represent the program songs. (I divided up the verses, so one ship would represent "How Firm a Foundation (verse 1)" and another ship would have "How Firm a Foundation (verse 3)". The flowers represent songs we will be singing at the retirement center in two weeks. These are "non-denominational songs". We have our Father's day songs, one of our mother's day songs, I am a Child of God, Wise and Foolish Man, etc. You could just do wiggle songs for these. The stars represent "free choice", where the child can pick any primary song he wants. For most of the songs, I will have a little bag with papers inside, with different ways to sing the song. I thought about bringing my dice, but it's getting hard enough for me to move around without carrying a ton of stuff. These papers might say "sing staccato, stand on one leg, loud and soft (I have sticks with a lion and a mouse that they can alternate during the song), girls sing, boys sing, don't sing words that begin with "H", etc. If they have a rough time with a verse, we'll probably review a little and sing it again. ****It would be fun to have a picture or phrase or something underneath all of the squares that they slowly uncover. However, leaving it blank, you can use the poster over and over, just rearrange the cards and erase the song titles for different ones as needed****

Last week I used the clown in the cone with Jr. Primary and the Keyword Connection game in Sr. Primary. There is one word on each key, they guess the song that it goes to and we sing! We reviewed I Know That My Savior Loves Me a few times also.

I work with the 8-12 year old girls at my church twice a week at Activity Days. It’s seriously so much fun. The girls are at that perfect age where everything is fun, even if it’s just a game I made up right then and there! We meet during the week, so our meetings get…

Happy Tuesday! I have been trying to come up with a few cute ideas for singing time on Mothers Day. I have to say I haven't made it very far. Thank goodness there are lots of cute ideas out there already in case my brain just doesn't have the space to come up with anything new. I'm not really sure what my problem is, it could be my ADD/OCD but I have a really hard time reusing the stuff I have already done. The kids have fun and I know they would LoVE for me to play some of these games more than once but something in my head refuses to just play the same games over again. The kids probably don't even know what we did last year and there are new children in primary so they wouldn't know. What the heck! Does anyone have any guesses as to my diagnosis? Yah, me either.... Anyhow, I have come up with one cute idea that I think the kiddo's would like. It can be used as a review on all the songs up to this point or great for one song that could use some repetition. To start out you will want to have some cards printed out with baby animals on them. I will use these pics and print them out on cardstock. You can click, save and print these if you want to use the same ones that I am using. Once your cards are done you are ready to play! TO PLAY: Pick a song to review or sing. You can either do one song the whole time so the kids can work on the words or do a choosing activity to determine your song. Next step will be to have a child come to the front and draw a baby animal card. They show the card to the kiddo's and the child then becomes that baby animal. They will step out into the hallway and you will pick another helper to be the Mommy animal. So, if a pig card was picked then the chosen child becomes the mommy pig. The mommy will remain in her seat. You will then start singing your song. Once the singing starts the baby animal will reenter the primary room and go stand in the front. While the kids are singing the Mommy animal will sing but at the same time she will make a noise of whatever animal it is that she is calling to. So, if its a pig she will sing but every once in awhile she will throw in an "oink" or grunt sound. She will do this throughout the remainder of the song. When the song is finished the baby animal has to walk over to whoever they think was making the "oink" and ask ARE YOU MY MOTHER? If they are right then they get to pick the next person to be it, if they are not right then the child that tricked them gets to pick the next card and be the next baby animal.

Be sure to check out our EMBARK Girls Camp posts (based on this year’s youth theme)! A great fit for Girls Camp and full of activities you could use on any weeknight. We’ve all b…

Follow this step by step tutorial of how to make your very own punch board for activities in family home evening, music time, education etc.

a compilation of singing time ideas for primary, some our own, but most from other sites and places. We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas. E-mail at [email protected]

12 fun printable Unicorn activity pages for kids ages 4-12+.

Getting comfortable with a new group of people can be a terrifying and uncomfortable situation with a sea of unfamiliar faces and a head filled with strange

I recently was called to lead the music in Primary in our LDS ward. Now if you're not familiar with this calling, it essentially means I am in charge of leading the music during opening exercises and then lead a 20 minute music set in which I teach the children (ages 3-11, which is somewhat unusual, often it is broken into Jr & Sr primaries at 3-7(turning 8) & 8-11) the primary songs, specifically songs for the yearly primary program in the fall! This year has a beautiful line-up of songs, starting with a new song, If I Listen with My Heart. It is a beautiful song! We've already learned verses 1 & 2 so this week we needed something new to learn verse 3. So after some brainstorming with my husband he reminded me of this great idea to have a dart-less balloon game! It was the perfect idea! No sharp things, but great incentive to sing! Most kids love the idea of popping a balloon! First, one foam-core board from the dollar store, the words printed out big, 12 balloons, 12 tacks, and the numbers 1-12 printed out big. Next I rolled up the numbers and stuffed one in each balloon. Then I measured out the board and drew lines that intersect 12 times. The rest of this I waited until the night before so I didn't have sharp things hanging out at the house all week and balloons taking up way too much space! Saturday night I poked the tacks through the board at each intersection and used masking tape to tape them down so they didn't fall out Front of the board I also inflated all the balloons. Right before I did the activity (at church, between Sacrament meeting and singing time) I taped the balloons to the board. They are taped so the tack does not touch the balloon, but is really close! The idea is that when the child throws a beanbag it will push the balloon against the tack and pop the balloon! Then when we were ready to go I put the word strips with the third verse on the board and we sang it through a couple of times, talking about the words and such. Then I let one of the sunbeams (ok, so it was Mr. A, I may have bribed him that he could pop one if he would go potty....) toss a beanbag, and on the second try it popped! The kids thought it was the coolest! Then we took the number that fell out and took down the corresponding word strip (12 balloons = 12 word strips) Then we sang the song again (without the chorus) with the missing word strip. If they sang it well (got most of the words, sang loud and 'pretty') we did it again! Sometimes we had two people pop balloons to speed things up a bit. We didn't get through all 12 balloons in primary, but Mr. A & Mr. C had fun finishing them off when we got home!!! There are soooo many possibilities with this activity! This could become your traditional Balloon Pop game, you could put candy in the balloons and it becomes a modified piñata, or you could use it to learn colors, for motor skills, the possibilities are endless! Enjoy! I love to share ideas! Just one request! If you want to put this idea on your blog too, please link back here to my blog, share the love!!

I am sorry that I can't remember who I copied the design of this box off of. If you know, please comment so credit can be given! Sharin...

All About Birds Ad Libs

I've been trying to figure out how to teach this great song. My SR knows it well so I will just be reviewing it but most of my JR don't kno...

If you're planning a youth retreat, here are some free themes you can use - complete with activities, games and discussion ideas

When it's almost time for the program its time to get out some kind of motivator to get the kids prepped for the program. I've seen many different motivators, usually a poster with ice cream cones and the scoops of ice cream are added to the cones as the children improve in their proficiency in a song. When they have added a certain number to each scoop, essentially learning all the songs they are awarded a prize, such as an ice cream party. Personally, i'm not a huge fan of food as a motivator so the ice cream idea and other "food" related ideas were out for me (like earning toppings for pizza, or fruit toppings for fruit pizza). This year I traveled over to the local teacher supply store (i'm at my parents this week so it was good old Utah Idaho Supply, but if I had been at home I would have gone to Learning is Fun). I picked up two different kinds of motivators, one for Jr. and one for Sr. I had the marble jar laminated so I can use it again. They only charged $2.00 to laminate a poster, I was really happy about that. For the Jr. Primary each bird will represent a song, and when the bird lands in the nest they are ready to sing the song for the program so the object is: to get all the birds into the nest. For Sr. Primary I got the marble jar, although part of me still wishes I had gotten keys and locks, and they had to move the key toward the lock to unlock it. At any rate, There are ten rows/columns which is perfect for the 10 songs we're doing so I'll put a song at the top of each column and as they get better at a song I'll add marbles to that column. Some columns they will fill up the first day and others will take a little longer. Now for the motivator - what will they get if they get all the birds in the nest and all the marbles in the jar. I didn't want to do food. I thought about trinkets or something from Oriental Trading, I thought about stickers or pencils that say primary from Deseret Book, but I finally settled on a new song in a bag. They loved the last song in a bag so i'll have another one ready when they have completed their charts. We have 10 weeks until the program, one of them General Conference, so only 9 working Sundays. We should be ready.

Prince Ernst August of Hanover, 33, and Russian fashion designer bride, Ekaterina Malysheva, 31, tied the knot in a surprisingly simple ceremony in Hanover City Hall today.

The 'Woman at the Well' Craft is a fun and exciting craft that will keep your kids entertained as you discuss the story of the Woman at the Well.

This Sunday is going to be very, very fun in the Lyman 3rd Ward Primary. Being Father's Day, and because the children have learned the The Holy Ghost and its ASL signs so quickly, I have decided to just have a fun day of singing with the dads. We will sing The Holy Ghost as our reverence song, and we will review all the program songs next Sunday, since it's the last week of the month. I am going to invite 3-4 four dads to come into Junior Primary, and 3-4 more to come into Senior Primary. I will have chairs in the front, facing the children, for the dads to sit on. I made these choosing ties: Here's the PDF if you would like to print them: Father's Day Ties.pdf I printed them out on white card stock and had them laminated, so I can use a dry erase marker to write the name of a primary song on the back. Use magnets to put the ties on the white/chalk board. Have a child come up and choose a tie then sing the song written on the back. Boppin' Pop How to Play: The children will get a kick out of this, so I am going to explain to them, that although it might be funny and it's okay to laugh, I will pick a very reverent child to be the next Pop Bopper. I will begin by showing the children the ties on the whiteboard and explain that there is a fun song written on the back of each tie. There are either "action" songs or "boppin'" songs. When an "action" song is chosen, the dads will sing them with us and do the actions with us. When a "boppin"' song is chosen, the dad's get to be bopped! Wait until the first "boppin'" song is chosen and then explain how "boppin'" works: When the dads are bopped (gently of course) on the top of their heads they should open their mouths wide and shut them again, only once for each bop. They should be looking straight ahead, blankly. You be the first "bopper" to show the children how it is done. Start the song with the children singing, and, as if you are playing the xylophone, gently bop the dads on the tops of their heads with each syllable of the song. I got this idea from this youtube video. It takes a long time to get to the "bopping" part on the video because the first part is so funny. But it gives the general idea. He finally starts giving the instructions at about the 6:40 minute mark: Boppin' Songs: Hello Song (Children's Songbook p. 260) The Wise Man and the Fooliosh Man (Children's Songbook p. 281) Book of Mormon Stories (Children's Songbook p. 118) Nephi's Courage (Children's Songbook p. 120) We'll Bring the World His Truth (Children's Songbook p. 172) Jesus Want's Me for a Sunbeam (Children's Songbook p. 60) Follow the Prophet (Children's Songbook p. 110) For this song I will have each Dad choose one prophet poster to wear and we will sing the corresponding verses, while the dad wears the poster and we play the game. Action Songs: Smiles (Children's Songbook p. 247) If You're Happy (Children's Songbook p. 266) Do As I'm Doing (Children Songbook p. 276) For Do As I'm Doing, I use these: They are from Divine Secrets of a Primary Chorister, and she has something like 20 different actions that are really cute. Click here to print your own set. I use these quite a lot. I have printed them on white card stock, cut them out and then had them laminated. For this Sunday, I will flip them upside down and have each dad choose one at random. Then we will sing Do As I'm Doing, following the dad and whatever action he has chosen. Preparation: You will need one of these water noodles: I have seen them at the dollar store we have here in town, and also at K-mart and Walmart. Cut the water noodle so you have two lengths about 20-24 inches long. You just need two, so you will have a little extra for something else. I plan on giving the participating dads a bottle of "pop" as a thank you for their help. Something like this: Or this: You can print out your own "Top Pop" label at 2CleverBlog. Its FANTASTIC! Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! Have fun!

Big ups to this bowler in the sky: John Hinkle Jr. of Illinois bowled a perfect 300 using a bowl custom made with the ashes of his late father.

This is fun idea when teaching a new song. I put the bell on the table and call two children up to play against each other. I have them ...