Primary Olympics 2008!

Prep:

* Create a torch with a flashlight covered with red and yellow crepe paper
* Depending on the activities you choose..you'll need stuff...how's that for helpful?


Wow, what can I say..this is a big one to write down. I took two weeks to present this to the primary because it was a big activity. I wrote on the Chalk board "Welcome to the Primary Olympics 2008 today's events are:" and then I listed what we were doing. They're are eight primary songs in the program so I used six for the events (three each week) and one for the opening and one for the closing ceremonies. It really doesn't matter which ones you use where. I choose "Called to Serve" for our opening because the kids are so enthusiastic when they sing it...and "Home" for the closing ceremony because its pretty reverent. Anyhow, when the time was given over to me I shut off the lights and turned on the flashlight and ran down the aisle. I welcomed them to the Olympics and told them they were the best of the best singers in the world and I was so happy they had trained for these tough events today.....oddly enough all the kids broke out in applause. I quickly asked them to stand for the opening ceremonies. We sang "called to serve". Then I pointed to the board and told them that we had three events today...I will just list the all the events here that I did, but..please..don't limit yourself to my creativity...I'm sure there are better ways and better ideas...

1. Sycronized Singing (I had them sing through the song once and then they had to try to all stay together while I put up signs like "hum", "stop", "girls only", "boys only", "loud", "soft" etc.

2. 4X4 relay (I broke them up into four groups (one for each verse of the song) and had each group sing that verse and then pass the baton to the next group)

3. Marathon (I had one child (a shy one) come up and hold a picture of Christ above their head for all verses of "I am a child of God". I told the kids to sing their best so the child could "endure to the end"...the coolest thing happened on this one..half way during the song the child was visibly tired. Some of the other kids noticed and held their arms up to show support. Soon the entire primary was holding their arms up to show this child they were with them. The child was so happy and made it through the song.)

I told the children to go home and "train" for next week by practicing their songs.


4. The balance Beam (I brought in a 2X4X8 board into the room and had a class walk across it holding pictures of the savior while the kids sang the song)

5. Primary Volleyball (I brought a huge beach ball. I had the kids sing through the song first and then I had them divide into two halves. The child with the ball first would say the first line to the song, then toss it to the other side where they would say the next line..etc)

6. Olympic Basketball (I had one child try to make as many baskets into a container while the children sang a song.)

After we were all done the second week, I told them they all were Gold Medal winners. I had made gold medals with chocolate coins hot glued to yarn. Each received their medal and then we had our closing ceremony song where I slowly turned the light of our torch out.

*Originator: The Idea Door
**Heavily adapted by the Crazy Chorister