How to End Singing Time Each Week

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,

           Goodbye, goodbye,

           We had some fun today, goodbye

           Goodbye, goodbye,

           Goodbye, goodbye,

           We sure enjoyed Sunday

           Because we're friends in our Primary (stress on EE)

           And we can't wait to gather again next week.

           Goodbye, goodbye, 

           Goodbye, goodbye,

           We had some fun today! Hey!

           I'd love to see some really good variations on the "Hello Song".

• Testimony. Yours. Share it! Nothing is better than being able to share your own testimony with the children. It can be super simple and informal. "I know that Jesus lives and that he loves you."

I hope one of these is useful for you. If you have other ideas or implement one of these, let me know how it goes. I'd love to hear your experiences.