Sing-a-long Primary video follow up

Well, I think this is a good idea, but next time I think I'll do things a little differently.  It was too much for the kids to try and record all the songs in one music time.  I had the junior primary do 4 songs and the senior primary do 4 songs.

It started out well.  The kids were really excited to make their own movie.  They sat up straight with their arms folded and sang out.  By the last song, all I got on tape was a lot of fidgeting and yawning, and nose picking.  

Next year, if I'm still in this calling, I'll do the songs a month at a time.  The last Sunday of the month we'll record the song we've been working on, and I can post it on youtube if the kids want to see it right away.  Then when all 8 months of songs have been recorded, I'll just compile them to a dvd and pass them out to help the kids practice for the program.  

This would also be fun for a Quarterly activity in the fall.  We could split up the kids and let them come up with the pictures or actions, film it, and then get back together and eat treats while we watch what everyone did.

Here's one of the songs.

click for the original sing-a-long post

Sing-a-Long Primary Video

So while I was drifting off to sleep for my Sunday afternoon nap, I had an idea to review the primary program songs.  I lead the children in music at our church and we have a program coming up showing what we have learned this year.  Our primary program is not until Oct. 24th, so we still have many weeks to review.  I know this idea won't work out for many people who have already done their program or have it coming up soon, but maybe you could use it next year.  

I was thinking about how to get the kids to listen to their songs to practice for the program.  I actually think the kids know the songs pretty well, but there are a few places we could improve.  I was thinking about a dvd we got from my mother--in-law several christmases ago that has the songs for the 2006 program on it with pictures to go along with the songs and the words written on the bottom.  We listen/watch it most sunday mornings because the music is nice and the kids can sit and watch the pictures if they're done getting ready for church and we are busy.

Anyway, I was thinking, "why don't we make a video just like it, but with the kids?"  and I thought "yeah, that would be really fun!".  We could assign each class one song to prepare actions for, or pick out pictures for the song, and then video tape those kids doing the actions while everyone in primary sang in the background.  That way each child would be sure to see their face on the video.  I'd also get video of the whole group singing.  I'd then take the video home and edit it on my mac to put the words going across the bottom like a sing-a-long video.  We could either make dvds for everyone (which would cost money) or post it on youtube (which would be free but I don't know if some parents would be against that for some reason)  The kids would surely want to watch and listen to themselves lots, don't you think?  


So we're going to try it this Sunday, and hopefully it will go well.  I think the kids will be excited to perform their best for the video and it will help us get ready for the program.  


(click here  to see follow-up post)

Primary Music Mascots

(It's kind of hard to tell, but there's a princess puppet and a knight puppet by Melissa & Doug, and then

a three headed dragon Folkmanis puppet)

Last Christmas, my wonderful brother and his fantastic wife sent my children three puppets for Christmas. I love puppets. When I saw these I knew I had to figure out some way to use them in primary during singing time. So one Sunday I introduced the children to a friend of mine, who would come out if we sang beautifully. Her name was Princess Primary. The kids loved her. She sat on the podium and listened to them sing, and blew them kisses when they were especially reverent or sang especially good. The next week Princess Primary told them that they sang so beautifully she brought one of her friends to hear them also. His name was Sir Sunday. He talked in a low voice and gave the kids high fives in the air for their great work. Over the next few weeks, Princess Primary and Sir Sunday were frequent visitors and helpers. Then one Sunday, awakened from his slumber by the angelic singing, the Dastardly Disruptive Dragon emerged from his cave and carried off Princess Primary, in hopes of stopping the singing. Each time we sang a part of the song we were learning, Sir Sunday came closer and closer to the tower (piano) where princess primary was held captive, until finally at the end of singing time we were able to rescue her. The kids love when the Dastardly Disruptive Dragon comes to singing time. They love to see him get angry at their reverent singing.

Obviously not everyone likes to use puppets, but I've found that they work really well to get the children's attention and make singing time fun for them. So I'll probably be posting a lot of my singing time ideas that use the puppets, and just thought you ought to know where they came from.

Back to School Primary singing time

I lead the music for the children at church, and this year I did a back to school music time. I started by asking the kids to raise their hands if they were starting school soon, and if they wanted to play pretend with me. I told them I was going to pretend to be the teacher and they could be my students. I pulled out my teacher glasses, pointer, and bell. I told them that whenever I rang my bell, they were supposed to sit up straight and fold their arms. We practiced that several times, and I asked them to really slouch before I rang the bell, and they thought that was fun. Next I pulled out a backpack that I had filled with school supplies. I invited up a child to pull something out of the bag, and then we would sing a song with an activity that went along with the school supply. Here's what I had:

erasers - we "erased" a word in the song. We sang "follow the prophet" and were silent whenever we were supposed to sing "prophet"

glue sticks - we glued first our legs together, and then our arms to our sides, so that we had to hold really still while we sang "come follow me"

crayons - the children only sang when I held up the color they were wearing. I put three different colors on each card and held up the cards as we sang "He sent his son"

ruler - we measured how well the children sang. They were given a grade for their reverence while singing, how beautifully they sang, and how well they said the words while we sang "Beautiful Savior"

calculator - we counted how many times we said the word "faith" while singing the song "Faith"

magnifying glass - they watched me closely and copied me perfectly while we sang "I belong to the church of Jesus Christ", so if I put my hand on my head or lifted my leg, they followed

pencil - we "wrote" our own songs, singing "fun to do", or "if you're happy and you know it"

scissors - I "cut out" the kids who were too wiggly while singing "The Holy Ghost". I tapped them on the head if I saw them move and then they would sit down

sharpener - we "sharpened" our song by clearly enunciating each word for "I know my Savior loves me"

Between each song the kids slouched in their chairs and I rang the bell and called up another child to pick an item. The kids had a lot of fun with it the first week, and we only got through 3 items, so I can still use it for 1 or 2 more weeks.

(added - Today I threw some tape into the backpack also and told the kids that I had taped their mouth shut and they had to just hum the song. Fortunately, they weren't too silly with it.)