UNO

To learn "The Lord Gave Me a Temple" (pg 153) I wanted to find an activity that would have lots of repetition, but also mixing up lines so they could learn them separately.  Came across a version of UNO that I thought might work on this blog HERE.

I made the board very similar, a big poster board, with 4 colored sections: red, yellow, green, blue.  I put pictures for each section of the verse, and broke each section into two lines (they used 3).

I then got my trust UNO cards out from the game closet and went through deck, only using the 1s, 2s, skips, reverse, wild.  I put the cards in an order that I liked, so they could work on a few lines before we mixed things up.

So if they drew a blue 2, we would sing the 2nd line in the blue section.  If you got a skip, you could pick a line to remove from the board.  If you got a reverse we would reverse to a section of the song they picked and sing it again.  Wild they could choose what they did.  Anyway, as we went along over and over through the song, parts were removed so they had to keep remembering what was there.

I think overall this was good because they learned the song better, but the mix-up was a bit confusing even for me and I think it could have been more organized.  Doesn't help when I keep messing up the lines myself!  I do think this UNO board could be adapted very easily to other songs, I put plastic over the top so I could change pictures/words for other songs.

Primary Olympics: Review

We participated in the Primary Olympics this week since the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics just finished.  The idea came from here, and I used it to review our primary program songs.  My version followed hers closely, with a couple changes.  I printed out the cards for each event, but I added the images from the official olympics website to the front so they would have to guess based on the picture what event they wanted to do.  You can use most any song for review, you don't have to use the same songs.

First we started off with the Torch Relay: Teach Me to Walk in the Light.  As suggested, I taped red/orange/yellow tissue paper flames to the top of a flash light and we turned the lights off while they passed it around and sang the song.

After that, kids could pick which event they wanted to do:

Archery: The Lord Gave Me a Temple vs2.  As the kids sing the teacher/kid stretches their arm out like they are shooting an arrow.  Out/wide stretch for louder, in/narrow for softer.  *this was a little hard because they are still struggling with the words on this song

Volleyball: I Will Follow God's Plan for Me.  Split the room in half, each side sings until the leader "volleys" the song to the other side and they pick up where they other side left off.  *this was fun!

Rhythmic Gymnastics: the Lord Gave Me a Temple vs1.  Keep a rhythm while singing, like LAP, CLAP, SNAP, THUMBS over shoulder.  *Had fun with this but also a challenge to keep it up, the kids liked it and we did a couple of rounds of this to get better.

Marathon: Praise to the Man.  Sing as much as you can in one breath.  *Fun, but obviously some of the kids didn't quite get the concept of NOT breathing, some insisted they had sung the entire verse and chorus without taking a single breath.

Synchronized SINGING: I Love to See the Temple.  Kids have been learning sign language for this song, so we practice synchronizing our motions.

We finished by doing a Closing Ceremony, passing the torch around again while singing our closing song.  In one of my few times of bringing a treat, the kids got a gold/silver/bronze wrapped candy piece on their way out the door. (rolos, kisses, etc.)