Primary Pumpkin Patch

An idea for an Autumn Program Prep Music Time.

Paper Prep:
Cut out some bigger-ish crow shapes. Give the Crows "names". 

Name suggestions for the Crows might be;

• watching eyes - Ms. Attention (Ms. Alert)
• tall bodies - Mr. Stature
• smiles - Mr. Happy
• words - Ms. Melody
• volume - Mr. Loud

Cut out pumpkin shapes and write song names on them, which will be stuck on the board, or around the room to be the "Primary Pumpkin Patch"

Extra Prep:
Straw hat for yourself / Teachers.

  

Getting Helpers:
Before Primary, ask some people to be Crows. The Crows are the judges who will determine how well the kids do.

Instruct the Crows that they will "fly" away when the kids are doing well in their area (which is their Crow's name) for that song.

Tell the Crows to only fly away if the kids are actually doing well in that area. If the kids aren't doing well in that area, the Crow sticks around! And then you and the kids will discuss what they can do better to make the stuck Crows fly away. But let the Crows know not to fly away "just because", but that they are actually helping you out! Making sure that unless the song really is good, you want to sing it 2 or 3 times. You can also help them out by saying things like, "WOW! The kids looks really HAPPY, don't they?!", and such.

Also tell the Crows that they will fly back for each song. So stay around! Don't go to class!

*Extra instruction for one of the Crows - the one for "Volume" will fly down the hallway and stick on the wall at the point where he can't hear us singing anymore. The better the kids sing, the farther Volume Crow goes down the hallway! After church the kids can go see how far down the hallway Volume Crow. This also means you'll have to make one Volume Crow for each song. **Actually, when I do this Primary Pumpkin Patch activity I will be spreading it out over two Sundays. I will use the Volume Crow by himself the 2nd Sunday.

In Action:
Explain that the Primary Room has been transformed into a Primary Pumpkin Patch!

Some times Crows come and try to get the pumpkins. Scarecrows are in pumpkin patches to make the Crow go away, right?! So today we'll be Scarecrows, JUST IN CASE any Crows come.

But! Since this is the PRIMARY Pumpkin Patch, we will be SPIRITUAL Scarecrows. We will sing so Spiritually and so Lovely that the Crows will leave.

**Draw parallels about how the pumpkin patch is like our life and sometimes bad things come into our lives and we have to get them out. For instance, when you have a bad thought - you can sing a Primary song to get the bad thought out. [sing: Hum Your Favorite Hymn 152]**

 But luckily there are no crows in OUR Primary Pumpkin Patch (signal Crow helpers to come in)....

OH NO! We will have to sing really well to scare these crows out of here! Point out each Crow and it's "name", explaining that doing certain things will scare off certain Crows.

1. Choose a Pumpkin to see which song to sing.
2. Sing it until all the Crows have "flown" away.
3. Then choose another Pumpkin and...
4. the Crows come back for the next song!
5. And, repeat.

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***Adding a "competitive" element for Senior Primary:

Give each Song points for how many crows fly away, and see which song they can earn the most points for.

• 5 points each crow that flies away on the first try
• 3 points for those that leave on the second try
• 1 point for any crows the leave third try.

--Sing the song a few times, keeping track of the points, then add them up and move on.


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Making Crows and Pumpkins:

making the Crow template

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*This is a Primary Notes 29 original idea by Ashlie Johansen