Singing in the Leaves (my tribute to Gene Kelly)

So the leaves in my neighborhood are coming down in buckets.  It's so beautiful.  I had this thought...I want to use these leaves in primary but they are so messy.  But what if I filled a Rubbermaid tub with a bunch of colorful leaves.  That way the leaves are contained. 

So this is a simple singing time:  Inside the tub with a million leaves, put little objects in there with songs attached to them.  I have a few smallish fall and Halloween items, but they could be any kind of item.  Blindfold the helper and have them dig in the tub until they feel something that isn't a leaf.  Pull it out, sing the song. 

You could even do this next month and have the kids dig for an object that represents a blessing and a song...they have to guess what blessing the item represents and then sing a song that coordinates.

EX:  An apple- I am grateful for food.  Sing FUN TO DO (EATING AN APPLE IS FUN TO DO)

And so forth. 

Sing or Hallowen Dare! AKA Sing or SCARE!

One of my most successful singing times has been SING OR DARE.  I am not sure why the kids love this so much but they do.  And it seems like they always choose the DARE cards over the SING cards.  So I make sure I have plenty of DARE CARDS.

So for the Halloween version of this game you have create similar cards but the DARES have to do with costumes.  I have a tub full of random costumes I have collected over the years.  You will want to find things easy to get on...meaning just hats or belts or wigs or things of that nature.  So you present the cards to the helper and they choose to be safe or brave.  The DARE cards will all include a costume they have to put on as well as what they have to do with it. 

The Cowboy/girl:  They have to put on the hat and the bandana and hold the gun, stand on a chair and say YEEEE HAW!

The Pirate girl/boy:  ACT OUT HOW A PIRATE ACT, make sure you say, ARRRR MATEY!

Long blond wig and crown with wand (yes if a boy picks this card, they have to put it on)... go tap someone on the shoulder with the wand in a 'lovely voice' and give them a compliment.

Spider-man gloves (I have these funky gloves that make sounds that are part of a spidey costume)-  Lead the children in your favorite song wearing the spidey gloves!

Witch Hat-  Put the hat on and tell the children this Halloween riddle:  what do witches put on their hair?  Answer- SCARE SPRAY!

Mickey Ears Hat (from Disneyland) -  give your best voice impression of Mickey Mouse

The sing cards are as follow:

Sing your favorite Program song of this year

Sing your favorite primary song about our Savior

Sing your favorite song about autumn time.

Sing your favorite primary Christmas song

Sing your favorite wiggle song

Sing Do As I Am Doing backwards!

You can tweak this how you like, using the costumes you love and find appropriate and easy!  Enjoy!

Falling Leaves Singing Time

So my program is over and I have 3 whole months to just play.  Perhaps most of you choristers are still doing intensive reviews.  But for those of you wanting to play, here is an idea.

I made and laminated these leaves years ago and I use them for a variety of things.  I highly suggest having a set of these.  I free handed them on poster board and colored them with chalk.  They can be used so many different ways.

So I chose 10 of my leaves.  5 of them have a lyric taped to the FRONT.  5 of them have a song and a way to sing it on the back.  Here is how this works:

I will put all the leaves on the board with magnets.  The kids (pick helpers) get to choose.  They can choose what they see, which is lyric, or they can choose the unknown, having to turn the leaf over to find out what they have to do.

For example:  One leaf has the lyric on it...'everyday I need'.  They have to figure out where that lyric comes from.  You can go hard or easy with these lyrics depending on your crowd.  When they get the lyric and guess the song, you sing it.  For this particular lyric...it goes to Scripture Power of course.

The other leaves...well they choose and turn it over and read it silently.  It will give a song and tell the helper how they have to sing it.  So it's like name that tune.  The helper has to be brave in this endeavor so put out your disclaimer that if they choose the UNKNOWNS, they have to be prepared to sing.  Some will find this challenging and some will find this horrifying.  HA HA.  But let's say they choose the leaf that says CALLED TO SERVE, HUM on the back of the leaf.  Well they have to hum (solo) and see if the audience can guess it with just their voice.  Then once they guess it, sing it with the entire group and with accompaniment. 

For me, I may just do the lyric portion for the juniors as I don't see 3 year olds getting the task of humming, ooing or auuuhhhh a song.  Then with the seniors have both portions as they like challenges and tend to be more up for these sorts of task.  Either way, the goal is to make all the leaves FALL off the board.  So once all the 'easy' ones are gone, they will be left with the other. 

I hope it will be fun.  I chose seasonal and fun songs because the kids have worked hard and I thought it would be fun to just do up tempo fun things.

Writing the Lyric

So I was pondering my last post and that song, OH WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE AUTUMN TIME WHEN ALL THE WORLD IS CHANGED.

I was thinking I wanted to put a spin on this song and make it more interesting.  First I will present the song as it is written, found in this link:  We will sing it with the handy-dandy flip book pages.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6S_8KBQBYDxVkF3N3F1WVNfQVU/edit?pli=1

Then I thought it would be fun to get feedback from the kids.  What do they like to do in the Autumn time?  You ask for suggestions from the kids.  Chose someone to share and write it on the board.  Get a few examples of what they do in the autumn time and then try to put them in lyrics that rhyme

For example:  A child might say, play football, another might mention Halloween, or carve pumpkins or wear scarves or whatever.  So with the help of the kids, rewrite the song...

OH WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE AUTUMN TIME, WHEN ALL THE WORLD IS CHANGED?
Do you play football games?
then ask, what would rhyme with that?

Or dance in the rain?

Carve pumpkins for night?
Wear costumes that fright?

IS THAT WHAT YOU DO?  SO DO I?

You will have to help guide them in this, but with the help of their peers, I think you will end up cute lyrics. 

autumn leaves

 

So the leaves have so many uses.  You can use these so many ways.  How I used them, I put them in a bucket and then I let a helper spill them out all over the floor.  Then the helper "raked"  the scattered pile and then I asked them to pick ONE up.  On the back of the leaves are a variety of songs, program review, seasonal songs (Leaves Are Lalling All Around, Autumn Time, Five Little Pumpkins), & I also put questions on the back about school or the season that didn't have any song at all.  The kids thought this was fun. Each time I scooped them up and let the kids dump them out. We are starting to have many leaves all on the ground and so it was an appropriate one to do last week!  The leaves were free handed...using contruction paper and sharpie markers, really easy. I laminated them so they would last.

 

Put the Scarecrow Together

This is a pretty cute scarecrow.  It would work like a puzzle.  Songs on back or ways to sing songs on back.  Hide the pieces around the room and see if the kids can put him right!

5 Little Pumpkins...

Yes.... fall is almost here.  Last year, I taught the kids this song and they LOVED it.  I will be resurrecting it soon as autumn is on its way.

I LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW AND WHAT DID I SEE? (use hands like glasses)
5 LITTLE PUMPKINS STARING BACK AT ME (hold up 5 fingers and point to yourself)
FALL HAS BROUGHT ME SUCH A NICE SURPRISE (hands out in surprise)
A PUMPKIN PATCH RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES (hold up 5 fingers and point to eyes)
I CAN TAKE A PUMPKIN AND CARVE IT OUT (mold arms in a circle and pretend to carve)
GIVE IT 2 EYES (hold up 2 fingers and point to eyes)
A NOSE (point to nose)
A MOUTH (point to mouth)
IT WASN'T REALLY SO BUT IT SEEMED TO ME (shake finger)
5 LITTLE PUMPKINS STARING BACK AT ME (hold up 5 fingers and point to yourself)

I love a spin on an oldie but goodie!

Back Pack, Back Pack!

Back to School.  Well...I have seen this idea posted several places.  This cute drawing is my sister's design.  Most of the posts show a real backpack, but there is something about thse fun poster props that I just love.  The front pocket of this thing opens to shove the items in or pull them out?

This obviously can be done a variety of ways.  The items could just have songs on the back.  Some could have questions, like who is your favorite teacher, your favorite thing about school, ect...  I like to include FUN TO DO and IT'S AUTUMN TIME, LEAVES ARE FALLING ALL AROUND.  But it could have program songs on it.  Skies the limit.

I did just see how the item represent certain things which is clever.  This is handy when reviewing for a program.  For instance:

An Eraser:  Erase a word from a program song, like CHOOSE in the CHOOSE THE RIGHT
A Calculator:  Calculate how many times you sing JESUS in, I'M TRYING TO BE LIKE JESUS
Ruler:  Who "rules" in singing this, divide the group into two sides and have them compete
Glue:  Glue legs together, arms to the side and sing super reverently
Markers:  Hold up different colors at a time, they have to stand if they are wearing that particular color (use with a less reverent type of song)
Pencils:  WRITE your favorite program song...could use pencil to lead the children in singing
Scissors:  CHOPPY = staccato 
Sharpener:  Sharpen the words of a song that needs practice

I love back to school!

Back To School

Well....the presidency wanted to do some serious review on Sunday and so I had little time to really do anything fun.  School starts this week and I have to honor things like this, I am very seasonally oriented.  So I prepared something as a "wiggle" activity to do in the midst of singing the songs that sadly we are all tiring of quickly.

This is a simple jar full of "emotions".  This goes with HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT.  We change it up... IF YOU ARE SAD SCHOOL IS STARTING....  IF YOU ARE GLAD SCHOOL IS STARTING...

The kids got to choose their emotions...what are they feeling about summer being over and school starting.

Blah...if you are sad school is starting, then say BLAHHHHH!
Boo Hoo...if you are sad school is starting, say BOO HOO
YAWN....if you are sad school is starting, then yawn
Jump For Joy...if you are glad school is starting, jump for joy
Shout Yipee (opera style)...if you are glad school is starting, sing yippe opera style
Twirl...if you are glad school is starting, then TWIRL (spin)

They were totally into this.  It was totally silly but even the seniors got into it.  Oh did I mention, I was just called as the senior leader in addition to juniors.  So I am trying to figure out how to entertain the big kids. I have realized, they can be enticed to be silly here and there!