Follow the Prophet part 1

To introduce the song, I am going to begin by talking a little about prophets, who they are, why we need them, etc. I'll also share the following tidbit:

The composer of "Follow the Prophet", Duane Hiatt, tells a story about what inspired him as he was working on this song. In the book, Favorite Songs for LDS Children, he relates the following: Brother Hiatt was going through a very difficult time in his life when he was asked to write a "fun" song about the Old Testament prophets. He prayed to know what to do, and was "...reminded of Stillman Pond, a noble pioneer who buried nine of his eleven children, and then his wife, Maria, as they crossed the plains. He himself was so sick he could not sit up in the wagon. How did he see to drive? He peered through a knothole in the dashboard of his wagon, which gave him just enough perspective to distinguish the tracks of those who had gone before him, including President Brigham Young. I have often pondered what he must have been thinking during those difficult times: I have a testimony of the gospel. But I am so sad...so sick. How can I go on? I will keep my eye on the tracks ahead of me. Step by step, I will follow the prophet."

I will then show a picture of Adam and Eve, and explain that Adam was God's first prophet on the earth. Since the very beginning, God has given us prophets to show us the way to go to be happy. I'll then sing the first verse of Follow the Prophet, and bring out my upside down buckets (clean, empty tomato sauce cans would would work great, too) and little objects that go with the verse. (I just raided my kid's toybox for most of the items.)

For the junior primary I plan on explaining what each little object refers to. We'll see how that goes, and then I may have the sr primary try and figure out what line in the song the object belongs to. They are not all obvious, so it will be a challenge.

These are the objects and what they refer to:

The 1 craft punch: "first one that we know"
the flower: "in a place called Eden he helped things to grow"
"serving" spoon: "Adam served the Lord"
modern day girl: "we are his descendants in the latter days"

I will then put each object underneath a bucket, and mix them all up. We will sing the first line while a child comes up and tries to find the craft punch. We will keep singing until it is found, and once located I'll put it up high where everyone can see (I think I am going to put sticky magnets on the back of the lighter things, and I will put adhesive velcro on strong button magnets for the heavier objects.) We will continue this with each line and object until they are all up and in order.

Here are the objects for the second verse about Enoch.

doughnut: "he taught what was good" (the gospel is sweet and good. ya know. like a doughnut.)
pipe cleaner halo: "people in his city did just what they should"
unblemished fabric: "that there was no sin"
cotton ball cloud: "Heavenly Father took them up to live with Him."

Here are the objects for the third verse about Noah.

mini book of scriptures made from cardstock and paper: "the word"
mini paper megaphone: "tried to cry repentance" (I will put this up to my lips and cry "repent! repent!" to demonstrate Noah preaching repentance)
busy bee: "they were busy sinning"
blue glass pebble: "rain"

I will continue to post the remaining verses and objects that go with them. Be creative and use what you have on hand, or what you can make from simple craft supplies. These items will be fun to use in review, trying to remember which object goes with which verse.

Let me know if you use this idea, or how you changed it to make it better! I'd love to know how it goes in your primary. :)