We will pretend it's all our birthdays in Primary. We will take turns singing birthday songs to a group of kids for each song we review or each time we run through the song as if it is their "birthday". We will make sure everyone has a chance to get sung to.

Here are the songs that I'd like to review:


If you don't already follow LDS Primary Choristers Facebook page, join! So many great ideas out there. Since I've been planning this "unbirthday party" I have found some really great ideas to make these birthday songs more fun.

One chorister posted an idea for "Your Happy Birthday" (CS #283) that I love!! For "zip-a-dee-ay" and "heigh-dee-ho" she substitutes nonsensical funny words. She has a cute jar with 2 sets of different words- one set to substitute "zip-a-dee-ay" and the other set to substitute "heigh-dee-ho". She has come up with some pretty awesome words. Click HERE to see her original post. She was so kind to write up all her fun words for others to print and use. Click HERE to access her post with the document of fun words. This will be a hit for sure!

For "You've Had a Birthday" the same talented chorister posted another idea. Click HERE to see her post. She created different "personalities" for singing the song. When the song says, "You've had a birthday, shout hooray" she substitutes "hooray" for a word that one of the "personalities" might say. For example, if the personality is a cowboy, he shouts "yee-haw!" I just love this idea! The children will have so much fun choosing the different personalities.

For "Happy, Happy Birthday" all the primary kids that are singing to the children in the front will act as "birthday candle flames" where they sway and move. At the end of the song, the children being sung to get to blow out the "candles" and all the "candles" fall into their seats.

"Feliz Cumpleanos" needs some real teaching. The pronunciation of the foreign words deters the Primary from really learning it, I think. So we will practice the pronunciation really well so they will feel comfortable with it.

This would be a great Singing Time to hold in August when the first Primary was held on August 25, 1878. Then it would be a real Primary birthday party.

I hope this goes well because I really want to do a "Visitors Day" too where we practice welcome songs.

• Don’t ignore the problem if it is reoccurring. It will let others know that it’s okay to join in.
• Don’t use sarcasm or humor to embarrass the child or control the child. (Ex. “Laman and Lemuel murmured a lot, just like Johnny does to me.”)
• Don’t compare the child to another. (Ex. “Charlie isn’t being reverent.” Or “Amanda is sitting so nicely, unlike Susie.”) 

• Talk to the child privately (after church, on another day). Talk to the parents. This will let the child know that you respect them and won’t call them out in front of their peers. It will also let them know that you notice their behavior. Be kind. Talk with a soft voice and look at the child with soft eyes.
• Praise the child when they behave well. Point out talents and strengths the child has. (“I see Daisy sitting so nicely with her arms folded and ready for our activity. Thank you, Daisy.” Or, “I love this painting of the Savior. Do you know who else is a really good artist in our Primary? That’s right! It’s Johnny.”)
• Be inclusive or generalize when giving instructions. (Ex. Are we ready to begin? It looks like there’s still a bit of chatter. Let’s see if we can all get in our ‘reverent position’. There are a few that still aren’t quite ready. Let’s review the reverent position. Arms folded, feet together, sitting up, eyes on me, and mouth is closed. Good. Looks like we’re all ready.”)
• Look inward. Is MY lesson boring? Is MY lesson too roudy? Am I talking too much? (see below “Change your plans”)
• Get help from others. Ask the Primary Presidency or teachers to help you. You’re in the middle of Singing Time and you can’t pull Susie out to the hallway for a heart-to-heart. Ask the other leaders to help you. (Ex. Sister Markham, could Charlie get a heart-to-heart with you for a minute?)

• Move closer to the child. (This will be easier if you have the room set up where you can reach the children better. I have noticed that long rows are hard to walk around. If you have an aisle down the middle, it makes it a little easier but I know it’s not always possible.)
• Use a gentle touch on the shoulder. You don’t have to say anything, just keep going with what you’re saying/singing but a touch will let the child know that you notice him/her.
• Invite the child to participate. Ask him/her to help you hold something. Ask him/her to act something out for you. Role play. Ask him/her to draw names for the activity.
• Ask him/her to help you clean up afterward. (“Rosie, could be my helper and erase the board for me? I know you would do a really good job.”) Kids love to feel important and love responsibility.
• Get out your “magic quiet bubbles” or “silent spray”. Bring in an empty bubbles bottle or spray bottle. Label it “Quiet Bubbles” or “Silent Spray” or whatever you want. When it gets too noisy and “the one” won’t stop, use a little humor and blow “bubbles” or spray your “spray” on the child. It’s not the kind of humor that is meant to hurt or make fun of a child. It’s humor that is done with love. (Ex. I hear some chatter. I think I need to get my magic Silent Spray out. Let’s see if that works. (spray, spray) I think that does it. Oh, I hear something in this corner. (spray, spray) Awesome. We’re ready to begin.”)
• Listen. Most times, the child wants to be heard and validated. If the comment or question that the child asks is off-topic, try something like “That’s an interesting thought but that might take us away from our lesson today.” Or “Hmm…I haven’t thought about that. If you’d like to talk more about it, let’s talk after Primary.”
• Change your plans. Think on your toes and switch up your activity to provide a different type of engagement.
• Serve the child. True story: One week “Jason” was just grumpy and was talking out of turn and got in trouble during Sharing Time. He was not happy and it made me sad that he was going to sit through Singing Time upset and quiet. He looked like he wanted to cry. I noticed his shoe was untied. I bent down and quietly said, “Hey Jason. I’m so glad you’re here today. I noticed your shoe was untied. Let me tie that for you. I want you to know that you’re a great kid.” He was a little shocked but didn’t say anything. He didn’t sing but next week he was happy and wanted to help ME! I was so happy. We’re pretty good buds now.  Write an encouraging note to the child. Drop off a treat. Tell the child that you love him/her.
• Gold Coins. I have a bag of plastic gold coins that say “Token of Appreciation” and “You were caught being good”. There are others available from Oriental Trading that say “You really shine”. I love these. My kids love these. I use these for those that make an extra effort in Singing Time or those who help me clean up after Primary. I have 2 girls that help me every week. The boy in the story above received a gold coin one Sunday and it made his day! This is a simple gesture to encourage the children and let them know that I notice them and the good things they do. I hand them out at the end of Primary when I can tell them one-on-one how much they are appreciated. Sometimes I have to send the coin in a note if I can’t pull them aside.

This blog post came as a request by a sweet Primary chorister who wanted some ideas of how to end Singing Time each week. The chorister before her would do a cheer but she wanted to do something different. I loved her idea of doing something special/routine to end Singing Time. Here are a few ideas that I gathered from other teachers. I hope you find something useful here.

• Puppets: Create a "Singing Time" puppet that opens and closes Singing Time. Ask it questions and let it whisper in your ear. Relay the responses and messages to the Primary. 

• Questions: Ask the children questions at the end. They can be anything from "How does this song make you feel?" to "What did you learn from this song today?"

• 60 Seconds: Ask a question that requires a one-word answer. Receive as many one-word answers from the children as fast as you can in 1 minute. You can make this as fun or spiritual or serious as you want. For example, "What's your favorite ice cream flavor?" or "How do you feel right now?" This would be a great way to get to know your primary kids real quickly too. 

• Call and Response: This is slightly different from the call-and-response for getting a noisy class under control again. Same idea but with a more positive vibe. For example, you can ask, "Do you know how much I love you?" and they can respond "THIS MUCH!" with arms stretched out as wide as they can. Or blow them a kiss and have them "catch it". Let them know they are loved. This is why we do what we do, right?

• Goodbye song: create your own or maybe sing the "Hello Song" but instead of "hello" sing "goodbye". Here's an example:

           Goodbye, goodbye,

It's not very often that Singing Time gets out of control but when it gets to loud or crazy, how do you bring the children back to a reverent mode? Here are a few ideas that might help get their attention and get them back on track:

1) Prepare yourself. Plan your activities so that they run smoothly. Pray and know your songs. Think like a primary child. Is the activity engaging? Is the activity too complicated? It the activity simple to follow? Is there a lot of talking and not much singing?

2) Prepare the children. Get some wiggles out if necessary. Sing a couple of wiggle songs BEFORE you begin explaining the Singing Time activity. Then you can explain the activity and remind them to be reverent. For example, "We can still have fun but we must remember that we are at church, in Heavenly Father's house. We need to be respectful. Remember that there are also others around us who are also trying to learn and focus. If it gets out of control and too noisy, we will have to stop the activity." Follow through!

A couple of days ago I posted my birthday gift idea for my Primary kids who will be turning eight. You can make an "all white" necklace or adapt any way you'd like.


Here is a quick tutorial on how to make these cute necklaces.



Here's the list of supplies you will need to gather:

• 24- 1" Gumballs (I ordered these on Amazon.)
• 6 feet of 2" Poly tubing (You can order this on Amazon as well and you will NEVER run out. The roll is gigantic. I split the roll with my sister and it will last me forever. You can purchase it HERE.)
• Ribbon, colored elastics, or loom bands

NOTE: I have used curling ribbon, colored mini hair tie elastics and loom bands. My favorite is loom bands, which I have used in the picture above. The hair elastics are too little and hurt my fingers. The curling ribbon takes more time than I wanted. The loom bands are awesome because they are stretchy and don't hurt my fingers. I also LOVE the look of them.

I hope this was helpful. These are cute for graduations and other celebrations as well.

Valentine's Day is one of my very favorite holidays. Last year I posted this activity to another blog (and ended up shutting it down due to traffic control).  So, I'm posting it here again for this year.

Feel free to download and print the PDF for all images HERE.

This year I want to give my Primary kids a birthday gift from me. I just love these kids and want them to know that I am thinking about them. I came up with this bubble gum necklace for my eight year-olds. The song lyrics printable for "When I Am Baptized" came from Larcie Bird's blog. It is just darling! Visit her blog for a free printable.
I love these bubble gum necklaces. I will post a tutorial on how to put them together in the the next couple of days, if you're interested in making them at home.

Children learn different ways. Some children can learn a new song by just reading words. Others need some pictures or perform actions to really learn a song. And, still for others, these ideas may not be very effective. So, we are going to explore the different ways people learn. You may even find out the best way YOU learn.