Going on Vacation - Song Review

I just got this email today from Michaela Stephens, and I thought it was SO FUN!  She said I could share it with you all, and share I will.  As you can see, her version is for the United States, but you could definitely alter it to fit your location...since I know that you come from all over the world! 

Thank you so much, Michaela!

Materials needed:

-Large fold-out US road map

-6 (or as many as you have songs to review) pictures of vacation destinations in the US, downloaded from the internet. (Ideas follow below)

-Two interesting facts about each destination

-2 sharpie markers (different colors, one for junior primary, and other for senior primary) for drawing dot on the map and route to the destination.

On the back of each vacation destination picture, write (or tape a print-out of) 1 or 2 interesting facts about each destination.  Also write the title of a song to review.

Display the road map on the chalk board, with destination pictures around it. 

Explain to the children that the primary is going to go on a vacation trip, since it is summer vacation and we have lots of interesting places to go!

Draw a circle at your current location on the map.

Choose a child to pick a destination. 

Draw a circle on the map showing where the destination is.  (Make it about the size of a dime so they can see it.  Be sure to look up destinations ahead of time so you can accurately circle where they are on the map.)

Share the interesting facts about the destination.  (Optional mini-lesson analogy is also included below).

Tell them what song they will have to sing to get there.

Possible motivation idea:  Tell them that the louder they sing, the more fuel their airplane will have to get to their vacation destination

Sing the song.

When they have “arrived” use a sharpie marker to draw a big line on the map to their destination so they can see their route. 

Continue until all destinations have been reached.

Use a different sharpie color each for junior and senior primary.  The primary that comes second may find it interesting to see where the other primary has gone.

Possible Destinations:

The Grand Canyon

Mount Rushmore

Redwood Forest

The Sears Tower in Chicago

Washington D.C.

Yellowstone National Park

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a chasm 277 miles long and up to 18 miles wide.

The Grand Canyon took 3-6 million years to form

In some places it is a mile deep.

It was carved by the Colorado river which kept carrying away bits of sand and rock and soil until it got deeper and deeper and deeper. 

(Mini-lesson: If we choose the right all the time, we will make very good habits in our lives that are as deep as the Grand Canyon.)

SING “WE WILL FOLLOW THE LORD”

Mount Rushmore

It took nearly 14 years to make Mount Rushmore

Each head on Mount Rushmore is as tall as a 6 story building.

Each eye is 6 feet across.

(Mini-lesson: If we choose the right, people will want to remember us, just as people want to remember Jefferson and Washington and Roosevelt and Lincoln.)

SING “AS A CHILD OF GOD”

Redwood Forest in Humboldt State Park

The oldest recorded redwood tree is 2200 years old in that park

Redwood grow over 300 feet tall  (as tall as a 30 story building) and have trunks that can be 25 feet wide.

(Mini-lesson:The redwood trees have been called evergreen, ever-living trees because they live so long.  If we choose the right, we will have eternal life.)

SING “CHOOSE THE RIGHT”

The Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower) in Chicago

It is 108 stories high.

It is the tallest building in the United States

It takes one full minute for elevators to take people to the top of the building.

(Mini-lesson: When we choose the right, we stand tall, and people will look up to us.)

SING “STAND FOR THE RIGHT”

SING “NEPHI’S COURAGE”

Washington D. C.

The Library of Congress has 535 miles of bookshelves and is the biggest library in the United States.

What does Washington D.C. have?

Washington D. C. has memorial buildings, the Library of Congress, the White house, Congress, the supreme court, other government buildings, museums of art, natural history, American history, machinery and inventions, theaters, art collections, sports teams of all kinds, TV stations and newspaper offices of all kinds.

(Mini-lesson: If we choose the right, we will search out everything virtuous, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy, and people will seek us out to find out those things too.)

SING “WHENEVER I HAVE TO CHOOSE”

Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park

Is the very first national park in the United States.

Is over an active volcano!

Contains Old Faithful Geyser, which erupts every hour or so, shooting thousands of gallons of boiling water 150 feet in the air for about 3 minutes and then stops.

(Mini-lesson: We can be like Old Faithful Geyser when we decide to always choose the right when we are supposed to.  People will depend on us and they will plan around what they know we will do.)

SING “WHEN I AM BAPTIZED”

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