What's in my apron

I posted a few days ago my "Follow the Prophet" singing time. These are the visual aids I'll have in my apron pockets to help with each song. All of these ideas came from my favorite music go-to book, A Children's Songbook Companion.

We'll Bring the World His Truth (CS 172)
I have a picture of the army of Helaman, and will give a brief overview of their story, along with a super visual - 20 pages with 100 stick figures on each, taped together to represent the 2,000 young men. I have key words for the first two verses written on paper feathers.

When We're Helping (CS 198)
I will have a spoon, some socks, and a dusting cloth for children to choose from my pockets, and we will play-act helping using these items during the "tra la la" part of the song. We will also clap to the beat of this fun Greman folk song rhythm. (1-2-3)

Love is Spoken Here (CS 190)
No visuals for this one.

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden (CS 237)
I have a picture of President Kimball, who often encouraged families to work together in the garden. We will do sign language with this song. This is a great site to find ASL words.

Kindness Begins with Me (CS 145)
Some visuals I copied from the book.

Follow the Prophet Prompts

I just made these little stick prompts to remind the children which verse is coming up as we sing in the Sacrament Meeting program.

Follow the Prophet 3

Yesterday to review "Follow the Prophet", I picked a child (using jar of popsicle sticks with names) to choose a verse to sing. We quickly reviewed lyrics while the child searched through my bowl of visual aids for the objects that belonged to the verse that was selected. We then sang the verse with the visual aids on the board.

I then had a child select a sign to direct us in singing the chorus only. That way the children are able to focus on the lyrics of the verse, and then have fun with the already well-known chorus. The child puppets are copied from "A Children's Songbook Companion". As the sign is raised up we sing in the way indicated - girls only, Lulu-loo, stop/go, "humming" Humphrey, "cha-cha" charlie. Shherie (soft), boys only. These little puppets never get old. I always have them on hand for when we need to have a little fun.

Follow the Prophet part 2

Last week's introduction to Follow the Prophet went pretty well. I used empty tomato sauce cans instead of my buckets, because they were easier to slide around. The children loved trying to find the different objects under the cans, and we were able to happily repeat each verse several times as we did so. Just for fun, I had everyone stand up and "walk like egyptians" for the chorus. It was a hoot.

I have prepared just three more verses of this song to learn. For the Moses verse, I have the following objects:

miniature envelope: sent to Israel
leash made from ribbon, a brad and an eyelet: He would lead them
turtle: they were slow to listen
40 paper circle: they were in the wilderness for 40 years

I used a coloring page of Jonah for this verse, found here. Here is another great coloring page if you need a whale.

My objects are:

Barbie shoe: tried to run away
Potato head ear: he later learned to listen and obey
Train engine: When we really try (it's the little engine that could - I think I can! I think I can!)
Whale: deep down inside the whale

My last verse:

green ball: a world (use your imagination , folks! ;)
remote: go and watch the news
go sign: we can get direction
President Monson photo: If we heed the prophet

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. :)

Jingle Bell Bracelets

I love bringing fun instruments into primary from time to time. I have pipe chimes, finger cymbals, maracas, and these jingle bell bracelets.

They are very easy to put together, and the colors of the pipe cleaners make them really festive and fun. Just thread one end of a pipe cleaner into the little loop on the bell. Thread 3 or 4 bells on, depending on their size and jingley-ness.

Then take a second pipe cleaner and twist around the first, going around the bells to keep them in place.

Then twist the ends of the pipe cleaners together, tucking in the metal ends as best as you can. I remind the children when I pass these out that there may be a pokey end on them, so to be extra careful.

These are really fun to use when singing the chorus of "Follow the Prophet". I demonstrate how to hold the jingle bracelet quietly still during the verse, then I have the children follow my lead during the chorus as I jingle the bracelet to the left, to the right, up high, down low, in a circle...