We have had some great Singing Time leaders while I have been in primary. Here are some of their great ideas and mine!
- Play Musical Children. Tell the children that while they are using their best singing voices, you are going to turn around. At the end of the song you will turn back around and see who is in a different seat! Appoint a teacher or primary presidency member to silently point to 2 children to switch places while you are turned around. Have fun guessing!
- Make a bouquet of flowers or a tree. Tag the flowers or the tree with songs. Place pictures around the room that match the songs and have the children pick a flower then match it to a picture around the room. Sing the song.
- Use a poster board a draw a big house, temple or church. Make paper doors and windows that can glue along the top edge only so you can lift them up. Have a different song under each door or window. Look for super singers to lift up the papers and see what we will sing next.
- Make a great silly hat! Like a sombrero. You can use pom poms and ric rac- pipe cleaners, plastic fruit, birds,etc. Then tell the children which ever class sings the- loudest, best, most reverent, knows the most words...etc gets to put the hat on their teacher. They LOVE this!
- Divide the primary into two groups. Pick a teacher from each side to represent the teams. Prepare in advance 2 marshmallow shooters. (get a piece of plastic pipe 1/2 inch in diameter, from any hard ware store- and cut it to a 10 or 12 inch length. you will need two of these- they need to be able to fit a mini marshmallow through the pipe) Decide what is your goal for this sharing time and create a game around it. If you would like them to sing louder, memorize the words, be more reverent, or even mix up a bunch of signs like- sing like a lion, hum, reverent, beautiful singing, leave out a certain word,etc. Which ever group sings the song the best earns a turn for their teacher to use the marshmallow shooter by blowing in it 3 times to aim at a target. That can be a sheet of paper bullseye or a hoop to shoot through. Teams are awarded points for every mallow that hits the target.
- Make a home made drum from an oatmeal or other container- or use a real drum- and play name that tune. Let children come up and tap the tune to see if their team can guess the song. If not it goes to the other team for their team mate to tap the same song. Then sing the song and award a point when a team guesses correctly.
- You can Never go wrong with the hot and cold game- or hide the critter- what ever you like to call it. Hide an item (a picture, small toy, stuffed animal, etc) One child goes in the hall while the another hides it. Child comes back in and searches for it while the kids sing. Getting louder if they are close- Softer if they move farther away.
- One lady made a cute snake in a big box. She said that her snake likes singing and might come out if they sing really well. She let a child come help pull the snake out of a hole in the box while they sang. She had made a really long snake. A lot of it was old socks and fabric sewn together and stuffed. But they kept singing and pulling this huge snake, that was so long! After a while it was just strips of fabric and then even some rope that was the snake because he was so long- he went around the primary room!
- Kids love home made instruments and real instruments they can help make the music for the songs.
- FISHING GAMES! Of any kind! Use a stick with a string and a magnet or close pin if you do not have a real pole.
- Singing Olympics- Have a couple children or teachers take turn being judges and giving "scores" on the songs they sing. Prepare in advance signs that say JUDGE #1 JUDGE #2 JUDGE #3, etc. and some signs with scores they can hold up. Whether it is points, or poor, fair, good, great- or reverent, loud, too soft, etc.
- Hot potato can be done so many ways. Pass an item around through the whole primary room, and ask the pianist to stop throughout the song. Who ever has it in their hands when the music stops may need to say the next line of the song, pick the next song, hold up the words to the new song you are singing while you play, hold up a sign of how you will sing this time- like the loud, soft, hum, la la's, ooo's, girls, boys, brown hair only, etc.
- When learning a new song, have the children come up and help do motions you make up to help them learn the song. Sign language can help.
- make simple puppets-brown paper sack or out of gloves, etc with the different ways you can sing or groups who could sing- girls, boys, blue eyes, blond hair, sandals, tie, pony tail, lion, mouse, reverent with arms folded, standing, etc. Put puppets in a big box or bag and let children pick out a puppet and use it while you sing that way.
- Hide songs on little papers under their chairs or around the room-let them find them and then sing those songs.
- Hide little paper under the chairs of a few kids. After you sing the songs you are working on- let the kids with a paper taped under their chair pick their favorite to sing.
- More to come soon!
