Learning to Follow

With our program still five Sundays away, and our songs pretty well learned, we have some time to practice a few program fundamentals.  But what to do?  I really wanted the kids in our primary to get used to watching the visual cues that are so common - louder, softer, smile, stand up, sit down, etc.  Because I was very tired on Saturday night, I wanted to keep things very simple.  I found a pair of white gloves in my craft box, and decided to take inspiration from the greatest mime of all time.  I'm just kidding - I have no idea who the greatest mime of all time is.  But they do wear white gloves and you do tend to pay close and quiet attention to mimes, right?  Just go with me on this one. 

For JP I just began by putting on the gloves and playing "Silent Simon," where they did everything that my hands did without saying anything.  To my amazement, they were completely enthralled!  We practiced standing up, up up, and sitting down, down, down.  We worked through a few of the songs that have special arrangements and they watched for their cut-offs and dynamics.  It was awesome.

But the real fun was in SP.  Since they all know how to read, I decided to print out, one phrase at at time, what I would normally say to introduce the activity.  When it was time for singing, I just stood up with my stack of papers and started turning them over one at a time.  The kids picked up on the game instantly.  Here are pictures of the first couple, the rest I'll just write:

And do it QUIETLY.

Are you ready?

Sit up straight.

Fold your arms.

Smile.

Smile bigger.

Good.  Watch me.

**At this point, I put on the gloves and ran through the same things I did with JP (up, down, loud, soft, smile, etc).  I did have a sign that said, "Let's try that again...QUIETLY," for when they got too loud (I only had to use it once).

Are you ready to sing?

**Now we ran through the songs I had picked out to practice, using the cues that they had just reviewed.

Very good.  Was that hard?

What was hard about it?

What was easy about it?

Why is it important to follow me?

Who else should we follow?

You guys are awesome.

Since sharing time was about following the prophet, it was a perfect way to end singing time with my testimony of the living prophets and the importance of following the right examples.  The kids were focused and attentive, and it was by far the most spiritual singing time that I've had so far.  Hopefully that makes sense!

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