Song Stopper

This is my twist on the old "random stop and say the next lyrics" game. My daughter calls it "Song Stopper".... and the idea just grew from there!

I will use this clip art to make stop signs,
then write song numbers on the signs and tape them to the board.

*Identify Teams

1. Have a child choose a stop sign song off the board.
2. Choose a child from each "Team" to come up to the 2 buzzers on the table.
3. Sing until the Piano stops.
4. Give a point to the child who buzzes in first with the right answer.
5. Keep singing and stopping and giving points until that song is over.
6. Children sit back down.
7. Repeat for the next song.

Go Fishing (Feed 5,000)

PREP:

- Fishing pole with magnet on the end

- Paper fishies with paper clips. *Write # values on the fishies. In the 100s or 1,000s. Make them easy to add up.
- Chalk and eraser

IN ACTION:

1.   Intro: "Jesus fed 5,000. Can we go fishing and feed that many?"...

2.   Sing.

3.   Choose a child to "go fishing".

4.   Add up the points

5.   Repeat.

"We Are Trying to Be Like Jesus" Match Game

uhhhh.... sorry this picture is squished. I don't know how to fix it right now....

Mine were too heavy for magnets. So I taped them on the side and they flipped open.
 I added a tape dot to the corner to help hold it them shut.

SET UP:
Write on the board: "We Are Trying to Be Like Jesus"
Set up pieces under the title, facing the board.

INTRO: Say, "We're going to play a matching game to see who can try to be like Jesus..."

1. Sing I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus
2. Choose a child to come up and make a match.
3. Flip to reveal pictures of the kids!
4. When a class match is made, have each child in that class say a way they try to be like Jesus.
5. Repeat

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PREP:

• Beforehand, take pictures of each class, and print doubles of each!

Battleship

I haven't made my own Battleship game yet.... but I am saving this one as reference for when I do!  Sing.Play.Eat.

WE Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ MATCHING GAME

For reviewing/repeat-singing the song I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ...


PREP:
Take pictures of Primary kids, print 2 copies of each picture and make a matching game out of them. (II want to take pictures of their classes at church, to try to include as many kids as possible. Maybe even get pictures of the Bishopric, Primary Presidency, Teachers and other Ward Members.)


IN ACTION:

• Tell the kids that we're going to play a game to find people who belong to the church of Jesus Christ!
• Invite a child to make a match
• Sing - look for a super singer to come up next!
• Repeat

Reverent Red Rover

1. Divide the Primary into 2 sides.  Have them sit in their teams.
2. Teachers watch while you sing.
3. Teachers choose a super singing Team.
4. That Team gets to choose a child to come to their side.

TP Snowman Bowling

Stack toilet paper rolls.
Roll up songs inside.
Make a cute top hat.
Bring a ball.

BAM. Snowman Bowling.

*NOTES:

• Have a few kids be the "snowman restackers" and "ball getter".  Makes your life easier.  ;)
• SR Primary (mine, at least) gets crazy with games. It was loud, but I expected that, so I let it happen and went with it.

Gumball "Game"

We filled our gumball machines!
TOP: Senior Primary
BOTTOM: Junior Primary

This Gumball Game Idea on Over The Big Moon is adorable!  It'd be a great way to review a few songs.

1.  Assign each song a color

2.  *Hand out stickers to Teachers*

3.  Invite a child to operate the gumball machine.

4.  Whichever color comes out is the song we sing.

5.  *Teachers watch for Super Singers*.  If a child gets a sticker they get to come up and put it in the gumball machine.

6.  --->  WHICH SONG WILL GET THE MOST GUMBALLS?


*Here's a visual from another website: 

source

A Noteworthy Review Game

Paraphrase: 

We are going to play a game. The point of the game is to have as many "notable points" left over. If we have "no notes" left over then we are not ready for the Program!

1. Start with a number of "notable points". (I'll write on the board next to a note drawing)
2. Have pianist play a note of a song. Add notes until the kids get it.
3. Subtract how many notes it took to get the song from the total.
4. Repeat with the next song.
5. See the total at the end.
6. If you still have remaining points you are ready for a Primary Program that will surely be "Noteworty".    ;)

Song Slap

• Have words from the song on the board
• Divide the Primary into Teams
• Invite a member from each team up
• Sing
• Have the pianist stop somewhere in the song
• The kid who is quickest to put their hand on the word that would've been next wins a point for their team.

I'm Thinking About....

*This activity works well for the song To Think About Jesus.

1. A Child Holds a Thought Bubble with picture in it. Don't let them see it!
2. The Primary gives clues about what's in the bubble.
3. Child guesses what they are "thinking" about.
4. Ask, "is this something we should think about during the Sacrament?"
5. Get Answers
6. Sing
7. Repeat

PREP:

• Laminated thought bubble (maybe on a stick so they can hold it above their head)
• Pictures to stick on thought bubble

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UPDATE:
This one went well in JR and in SR.
In JR I only had good "thoughts", I decided last minute to pull out the "bad" ones.

Four Corners

·        Mark 4 spots in the room.

·        Have a chair up front, close to the board, facing the board.

·        One child sits on the chair, covering eyes

·        I count back from 10 while all other children go to corners.

·        Sing the song.

·        Child in the chair listens to the song, then chooses which corner was singing best. Those children sit down and hum. Remaining standing children are still in the game.

·        Choose a sitting child to sit in the chair up front.

·        Repeat until all kids are sitting.

He Sent His Son Jeopardy!

Play He Sent His Song Jeopardy!

1. Divide the Primary into teams
2. Invite two kids up to the buzzers
3. Determine a category chooser (I used the picking sticks to give another child a chance to help).
4. Choose category.
5. Ask question
6. First to buzz gets chance to answer. If they don't get it, the other player gets a chance to answer.
7. Give points to the team of whoever got it right, then sing that Q+A phrase. 
8. Repeat

I intended to write the name of the song on the board next to the game title. It didn't happen - but was a good thought.

Laminated pieces. The categories and questions are taped on and can be removed for future use.

Categories and Questions specifically for He Sent His Son:

TELL

• How could the Father TELL the world of love and tenderness?
• How could the Father TELL the world of sacrifice and death?
• TELL us what this whole song means [that Jesus lived and died for us!]. (sing last phrase)

SHOW

• How could the Father SHOW the world the pathway we should go?
• SHOW us all of the actions we learned for this song. [In JR: SHOW us your favorite action we learned for this song.]  (Sing the whole song with the actions)
• SHOW us where Jesus' hands were pierced when he hung on the cross. (sing the "of sacrifice, of death" Q+A phrase)

ASK

• What does the Father ASK of us? What do the scriptures say?
• What does he ASK?
• Who did Heavenly Father ASK to bear the sins of all Mankind [Jesus]. (sing the "pathway we should go" Q+A phrase)

*The first 2 questions are taken straight out of the song. When those are figures out, song that Q+A phrase. The red ones are the super hard questions. They're toughies. The part in parentheses suggests which part of the song to sing after those questions are answered.  :)

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PREP:

Two bells/buzzers

Game title
Category titles

9 category questions with point value on the back

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UPDATE:

• As I'd expected, this activity was a little tougher in JR - but with lots and hints and help we made it through.  ;)  And SR Primary loved it. Sometimes things lean younger or older. This activity leans older, but that doesn't mean it can't be done in JR. Just gotta make it work sometimes.  :)
• In JR I utilized my flip charts for this song (seen in this post). That helped.  :)  Visuals usually do for JR.
• Also, everyone in the Primary found out that I can't do math. In fact, math is nowhere near anything I studied in college. At all. DOH.

"The Plan" Life-Size Game: The Roadmap To Return

1. Put a game board of colored pieces of paper on the floor - starting at Heaven, leading to Earth, then going back to Heaven.. The pieces will have stuff to read/do on the back.
2. Invite a child to toll a die. Have the same child, or invite another child to move the playing piece.
3. Read the tasks on the spaces they land on. (Have the pieces face down so the kids don't know what to expect.)

START by singing ♫ "I Lived in Heaven".

These are the MUST STOP MILESTONES:

• Birth - ♫ I Am a Child of God
• Baptism - ♫ I Like to Look For Rainbows
• Mission - ♫ I Hope They Call Me on a Mission
• Temple Marriage - ♫ I Love to See the Temple
• Death - ♫ God Be With You til We Meet Again

OTHER Spaces include:

• Happy things, such as eating veggies, adding family members
• Bad things, such as eating too much candy or not being nice.
• Fill-in-the-blanks of the song ♫ I Will Follow God's Plan. They earn moving forward however many spaces they can complete.

When setting up the game pieces, half the spaces lead to Earth, half lead back to Heaven. Hopefully it's somewhat obvious that some spaces need to be planned out so that certain life events happen in life order. You'll have to figure that out, in person, with your own game board.

When a Team gets to Earth they have to sing the whole song (their team only) and if it's good enough, they can start the trek back to Heaven.

When the human playing piece gets back to Heaven EVERYONE in the Primary gets a ribbon to take home. I want to print these on cardstock and put them on a string;

I hope this makes sense! I'm tired-typing right now.  :)~

I've typed it all up HERE.
*1) Scroll down past the few first pages (1-8) which are this lesson, The Plan
*2)Unfortunately, GoogleDocs reformatted it a bit and some things are in odd places...    :/

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*UPDATE:
1) I have pictures of the actual game I will post later.
2) The game took a little longer than I expected, but all in all, it worked out okay.
3) The kids liked the ribbons at the end and looked so cute proudly wearing them in the hallway after Primary.
4) SR Primary thought is was HILARIOUS when they got TWINS!
5) This was a lot of prep to make the document, put the game board together and the ribbons too. I found myself on Sunday stringing ribbons during Sacrament.....  (probably also had to do with a week consisting of Parent teacher conferences, my daughter breaking both arms, my #1 job being a SAHM, my second side job out of the home, and the late Saturday evening performance I was in with the dance team I joined...)

Teacher Crossword

image source

Design your own crossword or use this crossword maker to help you design a crossword puzzle using the Teachers (last) names:
http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/CrissCrossSetupForm.asp

1. The Teacher's names are the crossword puzzle
2. The clues are facts about the Teachers
3. When a Teacher's name is figured out, sing their favorite song.

Help The Family Get Sealed GAME

image from LDS Image Library

FIRST - Create a Game Board. Either on posterboard, on the chalkboard, or with "spaces" on the ground.  The Game Board ends at a picture of a Temple.

SECOND - Create the Game Pieces. Either with paper/cardboard that can be taped and moved around a posterboard or chalkboard, or use children as game pieces (put hats on them so they know who they are in the Game).

NOW, PLAY! - The end goal of the game is to the get the whole family to the Temple, where they can be Sealed and become an Eternal Family.

---> Start Game Pieces at the beginning of the game board. Go in a preset order (ie, Dad, Mom, Sister, Brother... repeat). Choose a child to roll a die. Move game piece to that spot. That spot may have a question on it. Child who rolled the die must answer the question for the game piece to get that spot. If no question, game piece can stay for free. Sing, and choose child trying their best to be the next die roller.

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*Questions can be Temple Prep questions or questions specific to the song. Make up some appropriate questions.

QUESTIONS based on Families Can Be Together Forever:
V1
Who has a family here on Earth? (I do!)
How long is Eternity? (A long, long time)
How long can Families be together for? (For all Eternity).

Chorus
Families can be together forever, through who's plan? (Heavenly Father's)
Who's family do you want to be with for all Eternity? (My own.)
Who has showed you how you can get married in the Temple? (The Lord)

V2
When can you start preparing to go to the Temple? (Right now! While I am in my early years.)
How can you prepare to be in an Eternal Family? (Make good choices every day.)
Can just anybody get married in the Temple? (No, They have to be worthy.)
When you get married in the Temple how long are you married for? (For Eternity... Forever!)

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UPDATE:

• My kids liked the game.
• I just drew squares on the board. Easy gameboard set up. And then moved the pieces with magnets.
• It's an easy game that I can repeat again, and probably will.

Pin the Egg in the Easter Basket

image source

1. Child picks an egg - on the back is the song to sing
2. Put a blindfold on a child
3. Primary sings loud or soft depending on how close the child is to pinning the egg in the basket

*idea from Teach LDS Children

My "HOW TO SING" Hearts / Heart Darts Game

These are 8x10. That size works well if you want to print them as photos (for durability). Or, use a home printer. Whatever works for you!  Two pages below:

*PS - I used them with the Prayer Is a Conversation With Heavenly Father: Valentine's Version Lesson for learning the song I Pray In Faith.

8x10

8x10

-----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----
Here is how I used them - for Heart Darts! (magnetic dart board):

-----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----

I used these conversation heart printables from AF Singing Time to make the finished product:

• CONVERSATION HEARTS with words
• BLANK Conversation Hearts

If The Savior Stood Beside Me - Penny Games Lesson Plan

image source, Wikipedia

LEARN THE SONG - If the Savior Stood Beside Me

• Put word strips up one by one.
• After all are up - ask the children to take them down (roll a die to see how many to take down). Until they are gone.  *MAYBE USE THE FLIP CHARTS FROM OCD CHORISTER
• Repeat for all 3 verses.

EXPLAIN
A good way to remember something is to put a penny in your shoe. Then, whenever you feel the penny you’ll remember whatever it is you’re supposed to remember. At the end of Primary I’m going to give you all a penny to put in your shoe. Keep it there every day this next week and every time you feel the penny think to yourself, “would I want the Savior seeing or hearing what I am doing right now?".

PLAY "PENNY GAMES" (and sing while we’re playing!)

Penny, Penny, Who Has the Penny? (JR & SR)

• Children pass around a penny (maybe have a few going around). A child comes up to the front. Kids sing, pennies are passed around. Pianist stops somewhere in the song. Child at front guesses where a penny is.  If the person has a penny, they have to finish the lyrics. If not, they don’t have to. Repeat.

Penny Pinchers

• Split Primary into Teams.
• Pick a child from each team to come up. They are the “Penny Pinchers”.
• All children sing while the Penny Pinchers pinch as many pennies as they can and carry them to their Team’s collection container.
• *Tell the children that if I, their Teachers, or the Presidency catch someone not caught not singing I will have to take coins out of their Team’s collection container.

Penny Rolling

• Flatten a long cardboard tube (paper towel tube)
• Roll a penny see if they can knock down objects - see how many they can knock down while we sing.

Penny Bucket (SR)

• We sing while children try to walk from one side of the other with a penny on your shoe. Get the penny in the bucket without using your hands.
• Have a few lines on the floor. If the penny drops you only have to go back to that line.
• *Tell the children that if I, their Teachers, or the Presidency catch someone not caught not singing I will have to take coins out of their Team’s collection container.

penny rolling (turned into penny bowling when I found these miniature bowling pins!)

penny pinchers

HANDOUT:

A penny with this poem:

8x10

My Heavenly Father Loves Me - Walk Around a Heart Lyric Game

Put a big posterboard Heart on the ground. Put a big posterboard circle with the words “My Heavenly Father Loves Me” around the edge on the ground next to the heart. Laminate it/make it durable. Only one child can be on the circle at time when they walk - no pushing! Walk around the heart while the music is playing. When the song stops everyone stops singing! Whoever is on the circle when the song stops has to finish the phrase.  Repeat.