Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Repeat Week-- Guess Who?

This month I have choose to teach the children Jesus Once was a Little Child. Last week's introduction activity went so well, and we hand enough time to get through the entire song as well as practice our pioneer song for Sacrament meeting later this month. A funny thing happened while we were learning the song...I asked the children if they knew what the word "Mild" meant (He was pure and meek and mild). One of the children raised their hands and said, "Not spicy?" Boy, I love this calling.

Since part of this song says, "He played as little children play, the pleasant games of youth.", I have been reflecting on some of the games I played as a child that I loved. One of those games was called "Heads up 7 up".

The basic idea to the game was 7 children would be picked to come to the front. Everyone else would be told "Heads down, thumbs up"...the children in their seats would then close their eyes and put their thumb in the air. The 7 children would then go silently around the room and touch one child's thumb (which that child would then put down so the other six children wouldn't pick them twice.) The 7 children would then come to the front of the room again, and the teacher would say "Heads up 7 up". The 7 children who had their thumbs touched would then stand up. They would each take turns trying to guess who out of the seven up front touched their thumb. If they guessed correctly, they got to switch places with the person up front. The goal was to try and be sneaky and quite enough where no one could guess it was you and so you got to remain up front.

So, how did I turn this into a Repeat week activity?....

Prep:

10-15 creative ways to sing the song (I have posted these all over the blog, but I'm going to try and compile them into one post for future reference)

picture helps if needed


Presentation:

Sing through the song once to remind the children of what they are learning and review any words or phrases that are difficult to understand to refresh their memory.

For the sake of time and reverence I decided to play this with only three kids up front instead of seven.

Call up three reverent children that were singing in your review. Explain "Heads up 7 up" to them only call it "Heads up 3 up" or "Guess who". Tell them that you will give one of the children up front a card that has a fun way to sing our song on it. Direct the primary to put their heads down and thumbs up (include the teachers in this it makes it more fun for the kids). The three that were chosen will then go and touch the thumb of three other children in their seats. When they are back up front, say, "Heads up 3 up" and have the children that were picked stand up. Then, instead of the child trying to pick who choose them, they are trying to pick who has the card. The first person to pick the one with the card gets to switch them places for the next round. Then you sing the song as directed on the card. Continue to play this game until time is out. You should be able to sing the song at least 6-7 times.

I really like this game because most of it is in complete silence.

Have fun.

***thecrazychorister

9 comments:

JJJAM&S said...

As usual...I love it!! Thanks Melanie!!

Julie

Angela said...

If you see this today, could you give me the 10-15 ideas on how to sing a song? I'm drawing a blank!

Melanie said...

Angela,

Well....

-Boys sing
-Girls sing
-Acapella
-Stacatto
-Warm-Up the song with oohs, ahhs,
-Soft/loud
-Stop/Go
-Sing to the Hallway to get a wave
-Let the children lead the song
-Take one word and hum it
-Try and cut off exactly when the leader shows the sign.
-Stand on one foot while singing
-no picture prompts
-teachers sing
-sing every other word
-whisper sing
-have the pianist play a random part of the song and have them try and just start to sing.
-Sing as if your are preforming in the program including standing and sitting down afterwards...

to name a few...

-Melanie

G-mom said...

you are so creative. I love the way your brain works!! you inspire me!!

Melissa said...

This sounds fun. :) I am having a tricky time getting the kids to sustain long notes... I'm trying to figure out a creative fun way to teach that this week.... if you (or any of your readers) have an idea that has worked for you, I'd love it.(melissa@the-austins.com or just comment on my blog) I'm thinking maybe I need a bag of balloons that I can let the air out of slowly? Maybe that wouldn't work on cut offs though..... I love the fun part of this calling, but every now and then I worry that I'm missing out on teaching them anything about music! :) (theoretically speaking I mean.)

Thannks! (sorry for pleading on your blog, I just know you must have lots of clever followers. ;))

Dana said...

Melanie, I'm stopping by to let you know that I used your heads up 7 up idea in primary today and it was a hit! So much fun! Thanks again for your ideas.

Melissa, I have a little beanie baby lamb and sometimes if not all the kids are singing I will have the lamb "watch" them. When more kids sing I raise the lamb higher in the air, and if anyone stops singing the lamb goes lower. The kids love it!

I'm thinking maybe you could make different length strips of paper representing the different lengths of the notes that you want them to hold. Put them up on the board. When you get to that note you could move the lamb (or whatever you choose) across the strip of paper to demonstrate how long to hold the note (sort of like the held notes in Guitar Hero). If the kids drop off early, you could have your lamb drop off early so they can see that they should've held the note longer.

Lindsay said...

I used this idea today and it was awesome. My very huge and generally rowdy Sr. Primary loved it and were totally quiet!

Tom and Juli said...

Thanks! I plan to use this idea today. I'm always trying to think of good ways to get the kids to repeat the song over and over without it getting boring.

Modd said...

I just found your blog a few days ago and have already gotten so many wonderful, creative ideas. You are amazing. Thanks for your enthusiasm--it's catching.