Last Minute Christmas Ideas

I love last minute singing times.  Last minute anything, actually, since I'm a bona fide procrastinator.  Here are a few ideas for those of you who are having a hard time finalizing your Christmas extravaganza for tomorrow!

1.  Snowball fight.  This can be a great way to end your singing time.  Just hand a piece of paper to each child, and have them write down their favorite song(s).  The reason it's a great way to end, is this:  don't sing them this week!  Take them all home in a garbage bag, and tally up the votes.  Write the top ten on paper strips, and number the back of the strips in order.  Then, on New Year's Day, do a "Primary Top 10" and sing them in order from 10 to 1, 1 being the most favorite-est song.  Easy, and you don't have to worry about planning anything when you should be out partying on New Year's Eve.

2.  A hand's on nativity.  Gather up a few items that the children can pass around while you sing songs about Christmas.  Try to find things that aren't breakable or noisy.  Children learn best when all of their senses are engaged, so this is a great teaching tool.  Here are some examples for some things that apply to different songs:

star ornament or cutout
stuffed sheep toy
sawdust (good for smell, touch, and sight)
drawstring sack with items hidden inside (to represent bread and cheese)
picture of nativity scene or infant Jesus
hay or straw, you may have some of this in your own nativity scene
baby Jesus from a nativity scene
linen cloth, tea towel, or bread cloth (to represent swaddling clothes)
bell
small wrapped gift
miniature Christmas tree
palm frond or branch from a fake tree in your house (I know some of you have these!  use it to represent Hosanna! Hosanna!)
any type of decoration that you have in your house that looks like an urn, dish with a lid, treasure box, etc. (to represent gifts from the wise men)

3.  Nativity scene.  Assign a song to each piece of a nativity and sing them to assemble the whole scene, with Jesus coming last.

4.  Hand bells.  If you have them, bring them out for some easy-going fun.

5.  Hymnbook sing-along.  I explained this activity in this post.

6.  Christ-centered singing time.  Go to lds.org and search for quotes from the prophet/general authorities on the Savior.  Read their testimonies between songs.

7.  2012 preview.  Play an MP3 recording of As a Child of God, have them sing or listen to the other songs from next year's outline.  They won't know some of them, but at least a few should be fairly familiar.  Get them excited about next year's theme and songs!

8.  Remove the "centerfold" of the December Friend magazine.  If you have alphabet magnets, put them in a bag or jar to be drawn out by a primary helper.  If you don't, just write letters on slips of paper.  Have a helper draw a letter, and read the accompanying scripture passage.  Sing a song between them, or do a couple in a row and then sing the child's favorite Christmas song.

What are you doing for the last singing time of 2011?

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Feel the Music - Round 2

Last year, in preparation for the primary program, I came up with an idea called "Feel the Music."  I won't go into a ton of detail on the purpose of the game here, but to read all of the details click on this link for the original post.

The gist of it was to feel an object and guess what it was just by feeling it.  I made a board with holes to put hands through so you can't see what you're holding.  We used that singing time to focus on the feelings that music gives us, and how we as a primary can bring the Spirit through our songs and that people's testimonies can be strengthened when they feel the Spirit - including ours!

This year I came up with a new way to use the same game - get the same point across but with a different twist.  I always like to change things up!  Here's the idea, that I came across on a homeschooling blog called Teach Beside Me, which belongs to Karyn (who also follows this blog - hi, Karyn - thanks for the awesome idea!!).  Fill balloons with textured items, 2 balloons for each thing - I used beads, beans, rice, cotton balls, sugar, oats, and rocks.  Put them in a bowl or two, and have the child find the two that match.  Follow the rest of the game, or come up with your own spin.  Either way - it was a very cool singing time, and the Spirit was very strong.   Try it...see how it makes you...feel!

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Feel the Music

Thankfully the chorister before me had already taught almost all of the fourteen (eep!) songs we are singing for our program, so I have really been able to spend most of our singing time reviewing and perfecting the songs.  I wanted the children to really understand the meaning of some of the songs we're singing, because they are such beautiful testimonies - so I thought of this way to relate physical feeling to spiritual feeling.

The Props:

• I took a piece of foam-core and cut out 2 holes, then covered them with felt flaps.  I just printed the lettering and picture and used spray adhesive to stick them to the poster.
• I took our list of songs and found an object that relates to it.  For example:
• I Know That My Savior Loves Me = heart
• He Sent His Son = envelope
• Follow the Prophet = Friend magazine
• Come Follow Me = fishing net
• I Hope They Call Me on a Mission = missionary tag

The Game:

• I picked a child to come up to the front and put their hands through the holes.  I put an object in their hand and they they had to guess what it was just by the feel of it.  Some of them were harder than others, so sometimes they guessed it right away.  Other times I had them describe what they felt and the other kids could help them guess.  In Junior Primary once they guessed it, we sang the song that it represented.  In Senior Primary, once they had guessed what the object was, I gave them the scripture reference that inspired the song, and we looked up and read them together.  Once we read the scripture, I had them guess what song the object and scripture related to and then sing it.  At the end of each song, I asked them how that song made them feel.  

The Point:

• I explained that our songs can help ourselves and others feel the spirit, and that each song we sing was inspired by our scriptures and the words of the Savior.  By understanding and feeling the true meaning of what we are singing, we can help others feel the spirit as we share our testimonies through music.

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