Monday, January 26, 2009

How Firm a Foundation

So, our new song for Feb is "How Firm a Foundation". I decided to introduce it in the following way.

Prep:

2 see through containers
1 flat rock (rather large)
1 lego house
4 cups sugar
1 pitcher of water
Printed picture helps off of the Jolly Jenn site

Tell the children that you are going to learn a new song for this month, but before you do you would like to sing "The wise man and the foolish man" At this point, draw their attention to the first container that has the rock in it. Place the lego house on the rock. While the children sing "the wise man built his house upon the rock", pour the rain on the rock. Obviously the house will stand still. At this point, talk to the children about what happened to the house when the rain fell. Then sing "The foolish man built his house upon the sand"...Place the same lego house on the "hill" of sugar in the other container. When the rain comes down..pour the water over the house....eventually,..the house will fall as the sugar dissolves beneath it. Talk about what just happened to the house and why it happened.

Then show the title to the song they will be learning. Ask them "What does Foundation Mean?" Talk about the rock being the foundation for the house and how you need something very strong to hold up through tough storms...relate that to the Savior and the Gospel being our "Firm Foundation" in our lives to save us from the storms that will come.

Teach the song showing the picture helps. Say a line and have them repeat it and then sing that line....continuing until the song is complete. Discuss any hard or difficult words that may come up. Help them get comfortable with the sound and feel of the song.

*Originator: As far as I know, Sister Bell who lived in my ward years ago.
**Adapted by The Crazy Chorister

5 comments:

Allisha said...

I had the same idea! Thanks for putting into detail for me! :)

Kent & Beka said...

Thanks for the sugar idea. I wanted to do something similar and the sugar will ensure collapsing success!

Teryn said...

Question for ya: How to you have enough time to do things like this, or especially the "Master Singing Challenge" from last week? I feel like I'm always rushing through and never get the whole message across- I doubt we would be able to make it to 25 points sheerly due to time constraints.

Melanie said...

Teryn,

Well, I have 20 min usually. And my kids know that to have fun with me they have to pay attention. So, I don't loose much time by way of distractions. I just get to it and cut time in half by just picking helpers quickly. I know it sounds like it takes a long time, but it really worked in 20 min exactly.

MCMULLIN FAMILY said...

Great idea! Thank you. Did I miss the picture helps that it suggests using? I can't find any - perhaps there were none provided and I am reading into it wrong.