"I Often Go Walking"--Let Your Little Ones Gather Blossoms in the Primary Room

Gathering blossoms of blue

Is it time to start thinking about Mother's Day? If you want your children to perform a song in two months, then yes!  "I Often Go Walking" hasn't been sung in our ward in several years, so that's what I'm planning on doing.  I have a lot of young Sunbeams, and I thought up this Junior Primary activity with them in mind. 

 Preparation

Gather a ton of tiny flowers.  You could do real or silk, if you have a lot available, but I opted for paper.  I have a paper punch that spits out flower-shaped pieces, so I punched out about 150 flowers from different shades of blue paper.  The song specifically mentions "blossoms of blue," so I thought I was being clever. ;)  You could definitely cut out simple flower shapes using scissors and any colors of paper you like.

Paper flowers

Right before Singing Time, scatter your flowers in the back of the Primary room in a more-or-less line, along a path the children will be walking.  

Presentation

Tell the children you'd like their help to act out a song about gathering flowers.  Ask the teachers to help the children follow you row by row, walking in a big circle around the edge of the Primary room.  Instruct the children to take only one flower, and then to keep walking.  Start walking and singing, motioning for the first row to stand and follow you.  When you reach the scattered flowers, take one and keep moving, pausing your singing if necessary to repeat instructions.  

Loop around to pass the flowers again, this time asking the children to take two flowers, since it's their second time around.  Sing over and over as you walk. If your children are continuing to enjoy the activity, you can collect 3 flowers the third time around, then 4.  

Lead the children back to their seats, and then instruct them to put away their flowers.  I gathered mine back up to use again, but if you want your children to take them home, then I recommend giving them baggies or envelopes, so the flowers won't cause a distraction during the rest of Primary. 

Happy singing!

Looking for more?  Here's a good reminder for teaching Sunbeams, 4 Ways to Help Your New Sunbeams Shine.  Or, try pairing this walking activity with a sitting one that requires concentration, like ASL.

White Board Colors--An Older Child Activity for Verse 2 of "If I Listen With My Heart"

White Board Colors

I always worry a little bit when preparing to teach wordy songs with several verses. I want to be sure to give my children different experiences learning the different verses, so they can have separate and distinct memories associated with the words. 

After working on verse 1 of "If I Listen With My Heart" with my kids for a few weeks, they knew it pretty well.  So, I decided to introduce verse 2 with White Board Colors, an activity I borrowed from Elise over on the Facebook Choristers group. (Love that place!) This activity does well for a first introduction to a verse, since the children are encouraged to interact with the song in a number of different ways.  

The Prep Work

Virtually nil.  Gather white board markers (or chalk, if that's how your room is set up) in 6 different colors.  Before Singing Time, write the entire lyrics for the verse on the board, along with these 6 instructions:  

Share (in purple)

Draw (in red)

Sign (in blue)

Erase (written in black)

Eyes closed (in orange)

Hum (in green)

The Instructions

Hold up a bag containing your six markers.  Announce, "I have different colored markers in this bag. When I offer the bag to you, choose one--without looking!--and then check for your color-coded instructions on the board."  Offer a brief explanation of each one:

Share=pause the singing to share one way you can listen to the living prophet


Draw=erase one key word, then use your marker to draw a simple picture to replace the missing word


Sign=using your marker, underline one key word, then make up and show a sign-language style sign to represent the chosen word


Erase=take the eraser (left by the board) and erase one word

Eyes closed=using your marker, underline a word or phrase on the board. The entire Primary will then close their eyes during that phrase every time.

Hum=using your marker, underline a word or phrase to be hummed every time

The Presentation

After the instructions, immediately launch into singing.  Walk around the room, offering the bag to various children to choose a marker.  I normally pass out about 3 at a time, and then I wait for space to open up at the board before passing out more markers.  Ideally, you'll be singing constantly, only pausing when a child draws the Share marker.  I find that it's helpful to stop every so often, though, to encourage a child who's confused about the instructions, or to clarify the sign that a child chose.  

The variety of the activities allows you to repeat this song over and over without feeling stale.  I sang this verse repeatedly for ten minutes, until we finally ran out of time.  The kids never did lose interest!



Happy singing,

Looking for more?  Even a great activity like this one shouldn't last your full 20 minutes.  Take a look here for a complete Singing Time plan that includes White Board Colors, as well as a couple contrasting activities.