Articles of Faith: Hand Signs

Our primary president showed us some Article of Faith hand signs to help the kids remember them based on the number.  Here they are, I thought they were pretty clever and helpful:



1st - 1 finger pointing up to God
2nd - 2 fingers for Adam & Eve
3rd - 3 fingers for 3 syllables of "A-tone-ment"
4th - 4 fingers for 4 steps of principles & ordinances
5th - Hand with 5 fingers, place on head like an ordination
6th - 5 fingers  wrap around 1 pointer finger (steeple) on other hand and it looks like a church
7th - 5 fingers form a "mouth", 2 fingers are the "tongue" sticking out
8th - 5 fingers held out like a book page and 3 fingers scroll across the hand (page) like you are reading
9th - Show 9 fingers but hide the thumb,  because it hasn't been 'revealed'
10th -10 fingers for "ten" and again for "tribes"
11th -Two hands flat and facing each other make the 11, then put them together like you are praying/worshipping
12th - 2 hands make a crown
13th - 5 fingers for honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, then a thumbs up for doing good

Primary Punch

My favorite show when I was sick from home as a kid was "The Price is Right" and so many of the games they play on that show can be adapted to primary singing time.  In fact, my dream one of these days (after the program) is to do a "The Song is Right" day in primary and do all sorts of games like Primary Punch, Primary Plinko, etc.  I even have a really "loud" jacket to wear that is very shiny and exciting.  Can't wait!

This is what mine looked like, but not even this nice.

In the meantime I'm working on trying out a few of these games.  Primary Punch is one of them.  The kids get to punch through a tissue paper covered cup and get the song title inside (or object to represent the song).  I wanted to have a whole board and nice set-up but I didn't have the right materials and my husband wasn't around to help with some logistics, so I just threw something together like this:

The kids loved the idea and had fun, so that's the most important part.  But it needs some tweaking for next time.  They got so into the punching that the cups didn't last long on the board and came off.  Also, putting rubber bands around tissue paper so it didn't come off or rip was harder than it looked, should have had my kids help but I was running behind. 

This is what I'm going to try next time!

I think next time I'll try something more stable, put the cups behind a sturdy piece of cardboard, and just tape or glue squares of tissue paper over the holes.  Much simpler I think.  We shall see.  I'm envisioning something more like this:

Now I think I'll go scrounge up that loud jacket and get working on a Plinko board, I'm thinking of using pegboard, seems like it would be pretty simple?!  However, in primary music I've learned that what seems simple can actually be fairly complicated, so this time I'm not going to try throwing it together last minute.

Conference

What a great conference we had last weekend, I'm all refreshed and ready to go after a nice break from primary planning.  Oh, and I just have to share the great conference helper my sister made for me:

Its a jewelry/craft storage box, and before conference I fill each compartment with some candy.  The kids get the candy that corresponds to each speaker if the can recognize them.  The kids love it and dad & mom too!  I also print off personalized conference packets to keep them entertained and focused.  There are tons of different conference ideas on pinterest and sugardoodle.

I've got a great family, by the way.  Last year I wanted to have a tent for the kids to sit in during conference like King Benjamin's people did - turned the door of their tents toward the temple and the prophet.  I asked my dad to make one.  I just wanted a simple triangular A-frame type set-up.  I should have known it would end up being slightly more complicated, but the kids loved it and it was roomy enough for them to enjoy it too.  Thanks Dad!