Checking the Charts

We had a big shake-up and boundary change in our ward recently and lost a bunch of people, including our primary chorister.  So I was asked to sub for a couple of weeks.  As it had been a bit since I'd been in and I knew the program was coming up, I figured I should probably check out the program songs. So we literally did just that.

I started by getting into my awesome outfit:

Calling Doctor Crazy!

I tried desperately to find a stethoscope but had no luck, so I settled for a little flashlight and a tongue depressor.  Then I pulled out my chart (clipboard) and pen and got started on the check-up.  I had previously hidden the names of each song under a few chairs, so I had each "patient" come to the front and tell us who they were (the name of the song).  I then proceeded to check them out while the kids sang the song.  I would get the started waving the tongue depressor down, and once they were singing I looked in the kids ears, mouth, listened to their heartbeat, opened their eyes wide, checked their armpits, had them make a muscle, bent as many joints as I could do.  As long as the song took.  We then went through my chart notes together.

Each chart simply had 4 sections listed:  Ears (loud/soft), Pulse (slow/fast), Throat (words), and Heart (feeling).  I talked about each one and had them join in on whether or not each was good enough or needed some medical attention.  

On some of the easier songs I had other kids be the doctor to each other, and I switched once as well and had the kid be the doctor to me.  The rule if they got to be the doctor was that they had to wear the funny hat, I'm always a big fan of supporting those who are willing to not worry about whether they look silly or not!  The kids sometimes had a hard time not giggling instead of "checking" but other than that, we had fun.  If it had not been fast Sunday I would have brought in a small piece of candy or lollipop to send them home after their "doctor's visit."

Reverence is Love (Personalized)

Was asked to sub (yay!) and had fun with some new ideas I thought I would share.

For "Choose the Right" the regular chorister told me the kids were mixing up certain words, like "right / light" and "in / when".  So I simply wrote two sets of words on papers and had kids come up and hold them.  When we got to that spot of the song we stopped and figured out which one it was and then the wrong one was crumpled up and thrown at the audience, gently of course.  I also thought it would be fun to bring in a paper shredder and let them shred whichever word was wrong.

The 2nd verse on "When I Am Baptized" was also giving the kids some troubles, so I focused on the idea of "washing" our wrongs away.  I found an old eyeliner pencil in my rarely used makeup bag and first practiced on myself!  I had 4 kids come up and asked them if they had washed their hands.  I then had them show me, and I then proceeded (with their permission) to use the eyeliner pencil to write a word on their hand, one that the kids had a hard time remembering.  Then they held their hands up so the kids could see them.  As we sang and the kids remembered the words better, I used some makeup wipes to clean each word of the hands.  The kids thought it was fun and crazy.  It was a little hard to write some of the longer words on small hands, so be aware of that.  

Another song the chorister wanted to introduce was "Reverence is Love" so I found a great idea to personalize the song a bit.  I asked parents to send me pictures of their kids doing a few things like "thinking" or "being kind" or "sitting quietly".  I then used those pictures to make visuals.  They absolutely loved seeing their own faces and recognizing friends on the signs I was holding, I loved seeing their smiles really light up when they recognized someone!  It helped them be reverent too, because they were looking and not talking, and we also discussed how each of us helps everyone be reverent.

These are the ideas I implemented, and they worked well.  Another idea I had that I didn't have time for was with the song "Hum Your Favorite Hymn".  I remember my mom always loved pointing out the two "V" words (vim and vigor), and what they mean.  I started thinking we could relate that to a "Flying V".  Have one kid get up and start singing the song by themselves (if you get a brave soul) or maybe you, and then have kids come join in in a "v" shape behind the front person, helping sing.  You could talk about how birds take turns being the leader to help the whole group, relate that to helping each other sing, as well as make good choices (relating to the song).  I'll have to try this out sometime and see how it goes.

And here are a few other random ideas I didn't get to but wanted to try:

1) Have someone dressed as a mailman periodically bring in a "letter" address to primary or someone specific that has song or clues inside.  

2) Door 1 or Door 2 - get some big fridge boxes and have something behind each one, maybe a good thing and a "ZONK" or something like that.

4) Singing Bee - like a spelling bee, but have it in teams, maybe they come up and everyone sings, you listen to the leaders of both teams and if someone misses a word they go to the back or go sit down, see which team lasts longest.