Nursery

I was asked to start doing singing time with the nursery. It's a little hectic since there's two different nursery classes. With primary, that makes 4 singing times. So this last Sunday, I did singing time with junior primary, singing time with nursery class #1, singing time with senior primary, and singing time with nursery class #2. It was...fun?
I'm working on getting a collection together of visual aids for the nursery kids.

They each hold a star for singing, "I am Like a Star" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

Animals for "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".

Suns for putting up to their faces while we sing, "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam." Unfortunately, a few of the kids tore their suns apart. This project definitely calls for heavy duty paper plates.

Wiggle-O-Meter

I made this a while ago, thinking I would need it often. As it turns out, I've only pulled it out once. These kids aren't too wiggly. They're pretty darn attentive. Too bad.
The time I did use it, when Junior primary was being a little too noisy, I pulled it out and said, "Oh no, I just checked my wiggle-o-meter and there's bad news. According to this, we have a serious case of the wiggles on our hands." I told them that we needed to get the level of wiggles down. I had a couple kids lead us in "Do as I'm Doing". Each time we finished singing, the red would go down more and more until it reached "calm and cool".

Week 7-Finishing "He Sent His Son"

This week we needed to learn the end of "He Sent His Son": the double question "What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say?" the answer, "Have faith, have hope, live like His son, help others on their way", and the final couple lines "What does He ask? Live like His son." I hung the cards on the board like this.

After I had someone reveal the double question, I told them that the answer was like a list. The answer listed four things that we need to do. So it's a sort of "to do" list. I told them that I had some different lists with me and I needed them to help me figure out which list belonged in the song.

They had no problem figuring this out of course. So then I had someone remove the "A" fromt he answer card.

All that was left was the couple lines that summarize the whole song, "What does He ask? Live like His Son."

Week 6-He Sent His Son cont'd

We had already learned the first 2 questions and answers for "He Sent His Son" so my goal was to learn the 3rd question and answer. On the chalkboard I hung the cards we had learned so far with the new ones covered up.

I had one of the kids reveal the new question, "How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?" We talked about what those two "grown-up" words meant. Then I told them that before we showed the answer I needed to tell them about what was in my bag. (I knew I needed to have hearts today because it was Valentine's Day.) I carried my bag over in front of everyone, pretending that it was really heavy. I said that I had a picture of someone in my bag who loves them sooo much. I said that He loved them so much that as soon as I put His picture in my bag, the bag was filled up with love. Then I started pulling out handfuls of hearts and letting them fall on the floor. As I pulled out more and more hearts I continued talking about how this person loved them so much and how I knew that He loved them so much because He did the most loving thing in the world for them. By this point, they all knew that a picture of Jesus was in the bag and they helped tell about what He had done for us that was so loving (sacrificing His life for us) and how because of Him we can live again. I showed them the picture which was of Jesus with a little child (one that was in a beautiful frame that I had borrowed from my parents.) They liked the picture and the big mess of hearts I had made on the floor.

Then I had someone come up and reveal the answer, "He sent His son to die for us and rise with living breath".

Another Project that took Forever!

I wanted to help the kids feel excited when they learn one of our primary program songs (and I can't remember which website I saw a similar idea to this) so I told them that once they learned our first song (I Know that my Savior Love Me) they would all be official members of the "Music is Cool Club". Today I passed out the membership cards to them. Their names and class name (membership level) is on the front. On the back of the card is a chart with all the songs and a box to place a sticker once that song is mastered. So they each got to put one sticker on their chart. This process created a little bit of choas but it was manageable. Then I had them pass their cards back to their teacher so the teachers can keep them safe (I can't risk any kids losing their cards--I had to make about 70 of them so it might make me cry!)

I told the kids that at the end of the year, everyone who has filled their chart with stickers gets a (small) prize. Of course, no one will be denied a prize.

Week 5-He Sent His Son

We got to start a new song this week--"He Sent His Son". I told the kids that the song was made up of questions and answers and today we would learn the first question and answer and the second question and answer. So I had 2 question marks and 2 A's taped on the chalkboard, covering the actual questions and answers.


Then I picked someone to come up and remove the first question mark to reveal the first question "How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?"

This next idea I got from Sis. Stebbing (a chorister from a previous ward). I told the kids that we had a special guest to help us figure out the answer to this question. Our guest was a little 1 month old boy. I had the pianist play the song in the background as the mommy of this little boy walked around to all the children so they could all get an up close look at the baby. I told them to think about how the baby made them feel in their heart (love, peace, tenderness etc.) This baby happened to be blessed that day in sacrament meeting and was wearing all white which was an added bonus.

Then I had another kid come up and remove the "A" to reveal the answer "He sent His son a newborn babe, with peace and holiness".



Then we revealed the second question "How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?" To help us think of the answer I had two kids come up and I blindfolded one of them and had the other lead him/her to the other side of the room. Then we revealed the answer, "He sent His Son to walk with men on earth that we may know."

The pictures with lyrics were again, printed from JollyJenn.

Week 4-I Know that my Savior Loves Me cont'd

This week we learned the second verse of the song. I again had them use props and pose for photos to make a flip chart of the second verse. They loved getting to see the pictures I had printed from the previous week of the first verse. Here's a couple of the pictures from this week. (After we took these pictures I had them printed as 8x10's at Costco and then mounted them on cardstock. So now we have a photo flip chart to use each time we review this song.)

A Project (that took way longer than I thought)

I was assigned to make the CD's for the primary kids of all the primary songs we'll be learning this year. Yikes! It took hours and hours but it is done, and I really hope the kids don't lose them.

P.S. I love the font on the CD covers. Liesel posted on sugardoodle about how to download this font and other really cute ones. Thanks Liesel!

Week 3-I Know that My Savior Love's Me Cont'd

This week was about teaching the first verse of "I Know that My Savior Loves Me". I decided it would be fun to involve the kids in making our own flip chart for the 1st verse. So I gathered some props and my camera to make our own pictures to flip through. During the week I had the pics. printed as 8x10's at Costco and then mounted them on cardstock. The kids liked it and it was easy. Here are a few of the pics: