Thursday, August 19, 2010

Program Review Game #1: Outta This World

Are you ready for the weeks ahead to review the program songs? This can be challenging to help kids avoid boredom, but still accomplish the task of polishing up these beautiful songs. It is also a great time to review the messages these songs were intended to give and have the spirit witness again of the love the Savior has for each one of them.

It's been a while since I've posted an idea that has some real before-hand prep. I've tried to keep the ideas simple for the summer, but this idea will take some prep so don't put it off until Sunday morning if you choose to use it. Or, you can always just draw these on the chalk board if you want to make it slightly easier in the prep department.

Prep:

8 circles cut in various sizes and in different colors to represent planets (Put the title of one of the program songs on each of the planets)

1 cut out of a rocket ship. I'm going to put "Primary Rocket Express" on mine and make it really bright and colorful.

8 small flags that can be placed on the planets that say, "Claimed"

8 pieces of paper with one line from each song written on it (you can write a phrase for Jr. primary to make it easier for them if you wish)

Chalk

Before Primary, hang the planets around the primary room where they are easily visible. Place the slips of paper in a container. Have the flags on one side of the chalk board at the front of the room. On the other side, draw a Fuel Meter with the levels: Full, Half Full, Almost Empty, Empty..keep a piece of chalk and an eraser near by.


Presentation:

Tell the children that we are going on an exploration trip out into the universe. Tell them our goal is to "claim" as many planets as possible for our primary program. Have a child come a choose a slip of paper out of the container. Read or have them read the line of the song. Have the primary guess what planet (song) that line goes with. When they have guessed correctly, give the rocket ship and a flag to a child and have them stand beside you. Explain that we are going to sing that program song, and if they sing the song really well using our fuel meter as a guide we will be able to make it and claim that song/planet.

Tell them that the way the fuel meter works is as they sing:

Never Louder than Lovely
Smiling
Watching the Chorister for start and stops
Reverently folding arms and paying attention
and they know the words
They gain more fuel so they can make it to the planet. I'm not one of those people who just say, "good job you made it"...if they really didn't. If they have problems and don't make it to the planet...I'll stop and correct the mistake and try again. If they continue to have issues with that song...I'll simply tell them we didn't make that planet today, so we'll try hard to learn it in future weeks, and then I'll move on. If they do sing really well, I'll have the child who is holding the rocket and the flag move slowly towards the correct planet. When we finish, I'll have them place that flag on the planet and fly the rocket ship back home to begin the next song.
If you need to simplify that idea do so, and remember to have fun with it and make it work for your primary. It might make sense to only do half the songs one week and do the same activity the following week just to give more time to work on the songs that are troublesome.
Anyhow, I hope that gets the creative juices for program review flowing....
Have a Great Week!
*thecrazychorister

9 comments:

HAYHAY said...

I seriously love your ideas. I did the "Back to School" Idea with our songs last week and it was so fun. THis is my first time doing anything in primary and you've really helped me a lot!

Kathleen said...

I really like this idea, the fuel meter element is great. It's good for the kids to have some idea of what you expect is "good." Thanks.

... said...

I was just called as primary chorister and was excited to find your website! I have a question for you- the kids in my primary don't know very many songs. Do you ever try to sing a new song for the opening of primary, or do you wait for singing time to introduce a new song? I'm just afraid we'll be singing the same songs over and over for opening/reverent song (boring!)

Melanie said...

Well,

I try all sorts of things. If I have choosen a song that I'm sure is pretty unknown, I first make sure the song is a short one. Then, I'll actually have the chorister play the music once through as I read the lines to the children once. Then I will direct them to sing with me. It sounds like it would take a long time but it does not. I have also taken the time before primary to write out the words to a new song on the board and just directed them to read the words....the Jr. Primary usually can pick up and sing most of the song just by following me. Don't be afraid to also dedicated a Sunday every once in a while to learning random songs from the Children's Hymn book. That can be a fun adventure all in itself. Good Luck!

-thecrazychorister

Unknown said...

This is a GREAT idea. My primary is giving me 40 minutes this week to review the program songs, and I've been quite worried about filling this much time. I think this will keep the kids occupied and excited, and still be an EXCELLENT time to review the songs. Thank you!

Emster said...

What a great collection of ideas! I stumbled on your blog while looking for chorister ideas. Thanks a ton!

Anonymous said...

thanks for always sharing your great ideas. it's my first time in this calling and you've helped me sooo much. thanks

Hollie said...

My primary loved this activity! Before we started, I had everyone put on their spacesuits and they loved that! Thank you so much for your generosity!

Lizzie said...

I don't know if you even get messages about this blog anymore, but I just wanted to let you know that I used this idea today and it was a HUGE success! Thank you so much for writing all of these wonderful ideas down