Okay, so here's something that I've wanted to do since last year:
I would love to use blackout curtains (I got permission to purchase some, but never did) to make the room really dark. Then, using some pieces of firewood, some white Christmas lights and some red/orange fabric, make an indoor "campfire." You could make the fire as elaborate as possible...(I wonder if I have a little fan...?) Put all of the chairs away and have the kids sit on the ground around the fire and have a fireside sing-along. We have some musicians in our ward, so it would be really cool to have someone bring a guitar and/or a fiddle to play some pioneer tunes. I would love to have one of the men in our ward sing "Come, Come Ye Saints" a capella or with a violin, just to bring in a reverent spirit. If you don't have access to instruments, you could always download songs onto your iPod/mp3 player/smartphone/etc.
This idea could go several different ways, but I think it would be so fun to do something out of the ordinary, not just sitting in chairs and singing program songs.
What to do!?
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I did a guitar/fireside sing a long last year and the kids loved it! The man who played guitar for me called me last week and said he'd be happy to do it again this year and so that's what we're planning. I even downloaded a fire sound track from Itunes with crackling wood and coyotes howling, the kids loved it.
ReplyDeletei love this idea!!! i just know the children would love it too!
ReplyDeleteI have done something similar for a couple years... I am the chorister and the primary president gives me the whole sharing time. Here is a quick run down... We put down blankets for the kids to sit on (no chairs) I built a tripod out of 3 large branches/sticks. Tie it with rope 3/4 up and it will stand on it's own. 5 or 6 rocks (cleaned well) will create a nice circle for the campfire underneith the tripod. take another rop and tie it around the rope holding the Tripod together and hang a small lightwieght camping pot from that rope, so it looks like you are cooking over the fire. Make "Buffalo chips" out of paper plates by putting glue all over 1 side and roll around in dirt and grass. Write pioneer songs or games on the under side and hide them around the room. Here is the best part...I ask a ward member to dress up like a Pioneer. I had a man do it one year and a woman do it the next. We found a real Pioneer story about a young boy or girl that came across the plains. Our guests come in fully dressed with story memorized. They pretend it was them coming accross when they were little. We have them embellish a little by having them talk about the songs they sang and games they played as they came across the plains. While they tell their story, we Stop now and then and have the kids find the Buffalo Chips and bring them to the fire (I have the guest Pioneer always explain to them the importance of Buffalo CHips). The Buffalo Chip either has a song or a game on it. If it is a game, we choose someone to play the game (Girls against boys if you want a fun little competition), or sing the song. Some game ideas: 1) toss the rope (tied in a circle) over one of the tripod sticks (each stick is worth a certain amount of points). 2)toss the bean bag up and catch it in the tuna can (nailed to a board), 3) toss the Beanbag into an old pot from a certain distance, etc.
ReplyDeleteOne year I had the man from our ward come (actually my husband), he was awesome. He sat right down on the blankets with the kids and told stories about playing games and singing...then he sang with the kids. THEY LOVED IT, One of the years, I had a couple of our talented youth that played the Violin accompany us...no piano. They did a little fiddling around the camp fire pit. It was really awesome. There are tons of things you can do around the fire pit. It is now tradition in our ward. Something the kids look forward to. I do like the idea of making it look more like a fire...think I'll try that this year :-) -Karrie
I remember doing this as a kid and I loved it! We also shook butter then had slices of bread at the end. Thanks for reminding me that I wanted to do this!
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