Sing for Baby Jesus-Christmas song review

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas up here in the Northwest!  Fresh snow is on the ground, the tree is up, and Christmas Carols are the daily beat to my day.  I hope you are enjoying the season and allowing some time to enjoy quite and peaceful moments where you can reflect on the Savior of the world and His love for you.

Today's activity is inspired by a Christmas story I read to my children each year entitled "The Last Straw" by Paula McDonald.  In it, a family decides to do secret acts of service for each other during the weeks leading up to Christmas.  For every act of service, they get to add a piece of straw to the manager...the goal being to make his bed the most soft and comfy it can be by Christmas.

In our 20 min of singing time, we will do the same thing, but instead of "service", we will earn straw for his bed as we review our Christmas songs for Sacrament meeting next week and make sure we are singing our very best.

Prep:

Several pieces of "Straw": You can use anything to represent straw.  (Yarn, rafia, ribbon, paper, or draw the straw on the chalk board and use pictures for the manager and Jesus)

A Manger: If you do not have a manager, you can use a basket or any container you could tape a picture of a manger to it.  Or, if you have an artist friend, have them draw you one on the chalk board.

Baby Jesus:  You could simply use a little baby doll, a figure from a nativity set, or a picture.

Song list for your Pianist

Presentation:

Tell the children that we have a special job to do today as we put the finishing touches on our Christmas songs for next week.  We will earn a piece of straw for every time we sing and act our best as we work on the songs.  We want to make baby Jesus' bed the softest it can be for him.

Review the songs you have selected.  Be generous with your straw giving.  Never use it negativity...never take any away that they have earned.  Work on Reference, standing and sitting, loud and soft,  watching the chorister.....etc.

Have a wonderful week!

-The Crazy Chorister

Guess Who Christmas edition

Merry Christmas to all of you!  I hope you can take the time to enjoy this season.  My stake is hosting a special nativity event for the community today, so we only have Sacrament meeting....hence, no singing time.  I had an idea come to mind this morning, so I thought I would share it in case this could help anyone out last min.

Remember the kids game "Guess Who"?  Loved that game so much.  This idea is based off of that concept.  I taught the kids "Who is the Child" last week.  If I were able to teach this week, I would have reviewed that song and also had a few more songs in the mix for variety.  This would work well especially if you wanted to sing Christmas songs.

Prep:

6-8 pictures of different people or objects that may be sung about in Christmas songs.  Example: A picture of Joseph, Mary, Jesus, A star, An angel, The stable, a lamb, a shepherd, a wise man, a present...etc.  One picture should coordinate with each song.   (I will just find free "clipart" and label each picture so there is no confusion as to what or who it is)  Let me know in the comments if you would like me to send you the clip art file of the songs I choose and the pics.  I'll eventually add it here, I just don't have it done yet since I'm coming up with this on the fly.

Words to songs your kids may not know

A song chart with pg numbers for your pianist.

Presentation:

Have the pictures displayed on the chalk board.  Tell the children that we get to sing Christmas songs today and that if they listen carefully, they will hear clues as to who the song may be talking about.  Sing the first song.  Have a child ask a yes or no question to begin to eliminate the other pictures to see if they can come up with who you have chosen to highlight in the song (such as, is this a person?  Is this a place?  Is this a boy?  Is this a girl?  etc).  Sing the song again (perhaps in a creative way) and have someone else ask a question of elimination.  Continue this pattern until time is up.  Give the kids a point for every one of the pictures they eventually get correct.

Have a wonderful week and don't forget to join us on Facebook so you never miss a post!

-The Crazy Chorister

Hear what they say to you....

Merry Christmas! This activity is meant to help bring in the Christmas season by reminding all our precious primary children that their Savior lives and loves them, and that Christmas is just as alive today as it was over 2000 years ago....we just have to open our ears and hearts to hear its message.

Preparation:

(Please do not feel like you need to buy things for these costumes...just use what you have at home...it doesn't have to be "authentic" looking)

1 Samuel the Laminate outfit
1 Card board box painted to look like a wall
1 Joseph outfit with a block of wood and a fake wood workers tool (out of cardboard)
1 Mary outfit and a rocking chair
3 Shepherd outfits (bathrobes and a head band) with staffs
3 Angle outfits (Simply some scarves will do)
1 large star
A set of bells

Place all of the outfits around the primary room with numbers above the spot (#1-#5) Have 1 bell at each spot. Sing Christmas Bells (pg 54). Ring a bell at the beginning and end of every sentence of the song while the children are singing. Ask the children what the Christmas bell said to them in the song. Tell them that the Christmas bell is going to help us learn a little more about the Christmas story. Tell them that when they hear your bell, they should be as reverent as possible so you can pick someone to help you.

1. Ring the bell. Choose a reverent boy to go to spot #1. Help him quickly dress like Samuel. Have him stand on the "wall". Ask the children if they know why Samuel the Laminite is a part of the Christmas story. Sing "Samuel foretells of Baby Jesus" pg. 36 Have the child bring the bell to the front of the room. Have him ring the bell so the children get reverent. Have him place the bell next to your bell and sit down.

2. Pick another boy to to find spot #2. Help him dress as Joseph and have him hold his wood and tool so everyone can see. Tell them that Joseph provided for his family by creating beautiful and useful things out of wood. Tell them there is a song about Joseph's role as the provider and protector of the Christ Child. Sing "When Joseph Went to Bethlehem" pg 38 Have him ring his bell and place it next to the other bells.

3. Pick a Girl to find #3. Help her dress as Mary. Tell them of the love Mary had for Jesus. Sing "Once within a lowly stable" pg. 41 vs 1. Have her ring her bell and place it next to the others.

4. Choose 3 children (boys or girls) to be shepherds. As they get dressed, tell of how blessed they were to hear from angles of the Christ Child's birth. Sing "There was Starlight on the Hillside" pg 40 second vs only. Have one of them ring their bell

5. Choose 3 children (boys or girls) to be angels. As they get dressed, tell how amazing a choir of Heavenly Hosts must a have been to behold. That the announcement of the royal birth came with music and Heavenly praise. Have one child hold the star. Sing "Stars were Gleaming" vs 1.
Have one child ring their bell and place it with the others.

Have 5 children come to the front (five who haven't yet participated). Sing "Christmas Bells" again, but this time have all five bells join. After you have sung the song, explain that each part of the Christmas story is special and can fill our hearts with joy. Tell them that each time they hear a bell this season to think of the little babe in Bethlehem who was born so they might have eternal joy.


(If your primary, like my primary, is not familiar with all these songs...you might want to make a poster with the words on it so they can sing along the best they can. Don't worry if they don't know all the words....the spirit will teach the message anyway..and its a great way to introduce the music too them. You could also provide a copy of the songs to your teachers so they will sing with you and help the children.)


*the crazy chorister