4 Ways to Boost Stale Wiggle Songs

He's all made of hinges!

"Popcorn Popping;" "Hinges;" "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes."  Oh, how we love our Primary wiggle songs!  The only problem is when you have smart kids. Or older kids.  They get really tired of the wiggle songs.  Wait, is that actually a problem? We love our smart, older kids!  They think they're too cool to move with the music, but they're still young enough to need to move their bodies in order to learn.  Here are 4 ways to give your wiggle songs a boost.

1.  Child-led

Sometimes it's fun to bring a child up front to lead the actions.  Sometimes I'll ask the birthday child or the visitors to come up and choose different actions for "Roll Your Hands" (p.274) such as stomp your feet, turn around, swing your arms, etc.  Reluctant children are more likely to participate if a peer is leading them.

2.  Funny voices

Why does playing pretend draw children's attention so well? I don't have a clue; I only know that it works!  Why not try singing "Hinges" (p.277) with voices such as cowboy, opera, English butler, or SCUBA diver?  You could even stylize your actions some.  One note on this style:  I only use funny voices with purely fun songs, never with doctrinal songs.  My mom corrected me on that when I was eight, and it's a lesson that obviously stuck.  Thanks, Mom. :)

3.  Animals

Children are fascinated by animals.  Sometimes I'll say, "I went to the zoo recently, and I was just thinking, let's try singing in some animal styles."  I'll ask for animal ideas, and then I'll pick one for "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" (p.275). Things like cheetah and turtle are easy--you just go fast or slow--but the kids will still like it more when you make it a pretend game instead of just announcing the song will be a different speed.  The trickiest animal suggestion I got was a sloth.  Hee!  We acted like we were lazy and tired, and the kids ate it up.

4.  Sports and Activities

Lots of older Primary children are involved in sports or other extra-curricular activities.  Participation in these activities helps form their self-image, and they are typically very eager to share what they are doing.  You could say, "Let's sing, 'Do As I'm Doing' (p.276), and for our actions, I want to hear some of the activities that you do on the weekend or after school."  Take a suggestion, and then quickly choose an action to demonstrate it.  Added bonus:  you get to learn more about the children!

These are some of my favorite ways to boost a wiggle song that's lost some of its charm.  I'd love to hear what's worked for you, as well. :)




Happy singing!

Puzzle Pictures

I nearly failed art class in both junior high and college.  My home is only sparsely decorated.  My husband has had to remind me to put photos in my blog posts.  I'm not a visual learner!  However, I've realized that many of my Primary children learn best through interacting with colors and pictures, so this activity is for them.

Preparing the Puzzles

A four-piece puzzle keeps things simple for Junior

I normally use this Puzzle Pictures activity with a song that lends itself well towards concrete representation.  This week, I'm pairing it with "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus" (p.57).  I print off 4 pictures from the Church's Gospel Art collection, here, onto card stock.  Then I cut each picture into four puzzle pieces and put the pieces for each puzzle into separate plastic baggies.  When I get to the Primary room, I put little rolls of masking tape on the back of each piece, making sure to keep each 4-piece puzzle separate from the others.

For Junior Primary

My intro to the activity is simple.  "Will you help me put together a puzzle on the board?"  Then I start singing while I walk around the room.  For Junior Primary, I hand out the pieces to the first puzzle to various children, and I motion them forward to tape their pieces in place on the board.  When the puzzle is complete, I start on the next set of pieces.  

For Senior Primary

A mixed-up challenge for Senior

For the older kids, I want to make the activity more challenging.  I deliberately mix all 16 pieces together, and I tape them up around the Primary room, making sure to place some in the back of the room.  I give two rules:  no talking, and raise your hand if you see a piece you'd like to place on the board.  I start singing, pointing to individual children or tapping them on the shoulder when they raise their hands.  Sometimes children need to rearrange a piece or two, and that's fine.

This activity is great at engaging the children.  They want to figure out what each picture is, and when they do, the applicable story of Jesus pops to the front of their minds.  Right as they're finishing the last puzzle is a wonderful time to bear a one-sentence testimony of the Savior.  The children's minds are already turned to Him, and you can echo what they're thinking and feeling.


Happy singing!

Turning "Simple" Into a Fun Challenge

Sand blocks. I showed you how to make them. I told you I'd be using them. I even hinted that you could keep them simple for junior primary and then step it up for senior primary.  My weekly outline posts can only have brief descriptions of each activity, though, so here's a more in-depth look at how to make the magic happen.

Starting with Simple

First, let's take a look at how the activity goes for junior primary.  This week, I'm using the President Monson verse of "Follow the Prophet," found in The Friend magazine here.

Tapping the far edges

Tapping the near edges

We start with light tapping, where I touch the farthest edges of the blocks together and then quickly switch to the nearest edges touching. I make these quick (so the children don't get bored), giving two taps per beat.  I use 8 beats ( or 16 taps), for the phrase, "Heav'nly Father loves us and wants us to return. He...."

Scraping on the sandpaper side

Then I switch to 8 counts of scraping the sand blocks against each other, along the sandpaper side, on each beat. This uses the phrase "...blesses us with prophets who help us to learn."

For the rest of the song, I alternate tapping and scraping, in 8 count intervals.  About half-way through the song, when the children are following me well, I change things up slightly.  For the taps, I hold the blocks right in front of my body, but I move the scrapes to different locations.  The first time, I hold the blocks out to my right.  Taps are back in the middle, then scrapes to the left this time.  Taps in the middle, then scrapes up high, etc.  The song ended at some point during all that, but since we're now changing the movement some, the children aren't tired of the activity yet, and we just repeat the song and continue on.

Extender Activity for Junior

If I have lots of time and want to extend the activity further, I switch to only scrapes, and I change the location every 4 beats. I try to trick the children or be silly in some way (holding the blocks next to my belly button or nose, for example),  as kids love it when a lesson feels like play.

*Note: These instruments make a lot of noise.  You will have to sing a LOT more loudly than you normally sing in order to be heard. Not that I learned that the hard way or anything...

Presenting a Challenge

Symbols to match the actions

Now think about senior primary.  Your older children will groan if you present sand blocks in the way I describe above. Instead, consider how they will respond if you place papers like the ones pictured up on the board. Before I pass out the sand blocks, I demonstrate my chosen actions without any explanation.  Then I ask the children to match my actions to the coordinating symbols on the papers.  When my senior primary was new to this type of activity, I put the papers in order. Now, I place them on the board out of order, and the children have to unscramble them before they get any instruments. It normally only takes one time through the song. My kids catch on fast!

However, since you don't have the benefit of watching my actions, here's the interpretation.  One piece of paper shows the actions for 4 beats. The diagonal slash marks are for scrapes; the eighth and sixteenth note flags are for taps at the designated speed; the long flat line is a clap-and-hold; and the apple-ish shape shows them to hold their sand blocks together and circle them around their heads.  If my code doesn't float your boat, then make your own! The important thing is just to have some visual identifier for each action. 

Extender Activity for Senior

Again, if I have more time for this activity, I extend it by changing it up slightly.  I invite a child to reorder the papers any way he likes, and then we all do the pattern again. The children love the movement and mental challenge so much that they don't notice we've sung the song something like 10 times. :)


Happy Singing!

The Pealing of the Bells

Hand bells

Last Sunday, I experienced Primary music bliss.  I walked into the room carrying some black cloth cases, and the children's eyes got wide. They grinned, whispering excitedly to their neighbors as they pointed at what I was carrying. Yes!--I confirmed with a grin and a nod. It was hand bells day. 

I don't blame them at all! I feel the same way. The bells are colorful, the tones are clear, and the feeling of everyone working together to make beautiful music is just impossible to beat.

Choosing Bells

The bells that I use are a basic 8-bell diatonic set for the key of C, from middle C to the C one octave above, (meaning no sharps or flats). Mine are Schylling brand, from amazon.com, here, but there are different brands on sale all over. Each color is a different note.  There are also add-on packs with accidentals, higher notes, and lower notes. I mostly just have multiples of this basic set, in order to get more children playing at the same time. My senior Primary has 50+ children there every Sunday, so mass involvement is crucial to me!

The full set of hand bells

I also got carrying cases, since the initial packaging isn't really made for long-term use. 

Hand bells in their carrying case

How to Chart the Songs

I searched long and hard on Pinterest to get ideas for charts to go with the bells, and I settled on one from a blog called Imagine Our Life.  I don't know anything else about the blog, but this felt pattern and I fell in love at first sight!

Movable hand bells chart

I opted to go with this chart because it's movable. I don't have to make a new chart for each new song I teach with bells; I can just move the colored notes--which adorably match the colors of the bells--as needed, since felt adheres to itself pretty well.  I also love that it utilizes a music staff. I don't teach the musical notation at all, but the children who can read music find it helpful, and I feel that I'm helping to establish a foundation for all the rest.

I found all the needed supplies at my local craft store. I got a yard of white felt for the base, and the small colored felt squares were something like $.35 each. Nice.

Supplies for making a movable bells chart.

Here's a close-up of the ribbon, felt circles, and magnet clips that I use to hold up the chart on the chalkboard.  Well, the circles are basically circular. I used a toilet paper roll as my stencil.  If you're interested, hop over to the other blog for the tutorial.

A close-up of the chart components

In my picture of the chart above, you can see that I use the notes from the guitar chords listed in The Children's Songbook.  The song shown is "Did Jesus Really Live Again?"  I use a drop down menu on the Church's interactive music player to change the key of the song to C to match my bells, and the listed chords are transposed, as well. What a dream come true!  While in Primary, the children play the chords like an accompaniment, and we sing the melody over the top. I make sure to print out a copy of the transposed song for my pianist, so she can play the melody line with us.  Next time I bring in the bells, I plan on having the children play the melody line, to change things up. On my very favorite Primary music site, To Teach a Child a Song, there is an example of how to mix in harmony notes, too.

Introducing the Hand Bells

I've found I have to go over the ground rules each time I bring in my hand bells. When you get your bell, you immediately bring it to "resting position," sitting lightly on your shoulder.  You keep the bell there until your turn to play, and afterwards you return the bell promptly.  This ensures you can actually hear the desired notes. :)

Resting position is no joke.

Before I pass out the bells, I have the children practice the motion with me: hand on shoulder, straighten arm to play, hand returns to shoulder.  We practice again in unison, pretending to ring our bells at the exact moment I reach up and touch a chord on the chart.

Then we pass out the bells. I have roughly half as many bells as children, so I have them trade off with a neighbor after each time singing through the song. If you're new to using complex activities in your singing time, be aware that you might be singing the song completely by yourself.  Even children who know the song well may be so focused on their playing that they forget to sing. That's okay!  They are hearing the song over and over again, in a new and interesting way.

One final note:  be sure to bring in hand bells for songs with a slower tempo.  If the notes move too quickly, the children will find it difficult to keep up, and they will become easily frustrated. And after all, singing time is all about finding joy in music as well as in truth from Our Father in Heaven. :)

Happy Singing!

Egg Cartons Can Be Instruments, Too

The kids in my Primary love it when I bring instruments. I love it when the cost of them doesn't break the bank.  Solution? Egg cartons! 

Gathering Supplies

Collect those egg cartons!

Like most Primaries, ours doesn't have much of a budget for buying instruments.  So, whatever I want I buy for myself, and the supplies just belong to me instead of to the Primary.  With Heavenly Father's blessing, surely (surely!) I'll get to teach Primary music more than once in my life, so it will be worth it.  What am I saying? It's worth it anyway. :)            

However, my personal budget isn't limitless, either, so I sent a Facebook call out to my nearby friends, asking them to save their egg cartons for me.  I received a decent number that way. A friend of mine said that she just asked her grocer for extra cartons, and he gave her a huge stack. Either way, it is pretty painless. For a drum stick, I used rhythm sticks (which my darling mother-in-law gave me for Christmas), but you could use thin dowels or even pencils, instead. Ideally, you would have one carton and one stick per child, but you can do just fine with only enough for half your children. Then, they can take turns and hear the song repeated even more times. :)

The Skills

 I have two main ways that I make music on an egg carton: a tap and a scrape. The tap is just as it sounds. I hold the carton open, bottom facing up, and I tap the stick on the lid of the carton.

The tap

The scrape is made on the sectioned side of the carton. I touch my stick to one end and then drag it down the egg cups, ending on the other end of the carton. Go grab a carton out of your recycling bin and try it right now. It sounds great. :)

Starting position for the scrape

For Junior Primary

Many a Primary music leader has been frustrated by an activity that worked well with one age group but flopped with the other age. For ease of planning--and to minimize the carting around of materials--I normally try to come up with different version of the same activity for Jr. and Sr. Primary.

For Jr. Primary, I keep the beat and pattern extremely simple.  Remember, you have tiny Sunbeams (3-year-olds) in your class, and it's all they can do to stay in the general vicinity of their chairs! My pattern for Jr. Primary is normally this:  8 scrapes, 8 taps, repeat. If you go less than 8 times, the littles ones will be completely lost.  However, by the end of the song (We did this activity with the Enoch verse of "Follow the Prophet" (The Children's Songbook p.110), the older children are getting bored.

To take it up a notch, I ask them to face a partner. You play the scrapes on your own carton, but you play the taps on your neighbor's carton. I ask a child to be my partner and help me demonstrate first. The older children in Jr. Primary love the added complexity, and since the Sunbeams don't pay attention to you once they have an instrument in hand, they aren't confused. Win-win! ;)

For Senior Primary

The pattern for Senior Primary

I think it goes without saying that if you tried the above pattern with your Senior. Primary, you'd completely lose the children's attention. They would feel like you were babying them.  Frankly, they'd be right. These kids are smart, and they want a challenge!  Here's part of the pattern I did with my Sr. kids last Sunday.  (See photo on right.)

If you can read music, you will recognize the simplified notation.  I don't explain the symbols to the kids. Rather, I make it a code that they have to figure out. I write this up on the board, with exactly this placement and coloring, asking them to see if they can crack the code.  Then I sing and play the egg carton through the song by myself.  Here's the interpretation:

Black=scrapes, red=taps, blue=rest or instructions.  Single line=one action per beat, lines connected at the top=two actions per beat, squiggle=scrape back and forth quickly during the assigned beats.  The x2 means to play that line of code twice before moving on.

Once the children have this pattern down, add in the partner like in Jr. Primary.  They'll likely have that down in one repetition, so then you can have them form groups of four and stand in a circle.  In this configuration, they'll tap on the carton of the person to their right.

This past Sunday was my first time using the groups of four. Let me tell you from cold, hard experience that if you don't demonstrate how the groups of four work before telling the children to go do it, they won't understand what to do. Since they don't know what YOU want them to do, they'll come up with something different that THEY want to do.  *sigh*  Next time, I'll know better! :)

Regardless, I love this activity. The children get to move with the music, and although you may be singing by yourself a lot (even kids who know the song will have to concentrate a lot on following the pattern, so they might not sing), the children are hearing the song over and over. And repetition is key in learning a song!


Happy Singing!