Shamrocks & Rainbows

How funny that St. Patrick's day falls on a Sunday this year.  We have to celebrate!  I have been doing loads of blog searches and have combined and morphed a few ideas I have seen out there on the net.  Last week I did my crazy leprechaun hats and it was a huge success.  So I am using on of my hats from last week.  Inside the hat, I will place 10 cards that I just made using free clip art off the net.  Some cards have a shamrock on it and some have a rainbow on it.  I am going to have a helper choose a card out of my crazy hat.  If they get a shamrock, they have to answer a question.  If they get a rainbow card, they get to come forward and mix a color potion.  Once the potion is mixed, it will fizz up (hopefully they will think this is COOL) and that color will indicate who sings our song.  Let's say the helper mixes the cup with RED in it, then those wearing red have to stand and sing.  We should get the main colors of the rainbow if we get to all the rainbow cards.  The question cards do not have a song attached and so hopefully those will go quickly enabling you to get through all 10 cards.

Here are the questions:

1.  Name a symbol we see at church that is green and has 3 letters on it?  CTR
2.  What does it mean to be green with envy?  JEALOUS
3.  True Or False, green is a primary color?  FALSE
4.  What is a new missionary out in the field called?  A GREENE
5.  What is your favorite thing that is green?  trees, clovers, eyes, broccoli, etc..
6.  Do you feel lucky?  Name a blessing you enjoy...
7.  Sing if you hate green beans (have those people stand up) then continue and ask...sing if you have ever drank green milk...if you like Lucky Charms cereal...if you choose the right.  You should hopefully have the entire primary standing by the time you list them all off and then sing a song, maybe let the helper choose his/her favorite!

For the Rainbow part of this...bring a cookie sheet to primary and place 4 clear cups on it.  Fill will a small about of white vinegar.  Have the spoons resting on the cookie sheet with drops of food coloring on them and a small amount of Baking Soda on them.  Have the helper stick the spoon carefully in one of the cups.  It should turn a color and fizz immediately.  You may want to experiment with this and find out the best and cleanest way to do it. I plan to have it all ready to go so there is no scooping or pinching in colors.  I did read some blogs where they had some cups not fizz and some that did but we all know the kids want to have the cups fizz, which is why I am doing them all this way and adding questions to spice it up.  Once the color is made, have those people wearing that color stand and sing.

Here are the 4 songs I chose to go with color cups:

PINCHING MY CHEEKS IS FUN TO DO - FUN TO DO
Once There Was A Tulip (see previous posts for new lyrics to Once There Was A Snowman)
In The Leafy Treetops
Popcorn Popping

All these are fun songs and springy.  We will review If the Savior Stood Beside Me prior to our little games so that will be the spiritual portion of singing time.

St. Patricks Day Singing Board Game

Once again, I can't take credit for this.  My sister Kirstin created this and I copied it.  It is a spoof off any board game.  Can be played with dividing the primary into two teams OR you can just take the journey from start to finish with the entire primary.  I made two magentic markers.  I will use the chalk board to put this poster up (with magnets).  You use a dice to roll and see how many spaces you go.  Some of the spaces are SING IF, which have coordinating cards.  Other spaces have PICK A CARD, which have coordinating cards.  The other spaces are just fun, things to do with green, lose a turn, go back, ect.  This was just free handed on a poster board.  The spaces can be anything you really want.

SING IF CARDS:

Sing if if you are wearing a CTR ring

Sing if you are wearing green

Sing if you have green eyes

Sing if you love the color green

Sing if you hate green beans

Sing if you know this song (have pianist play a little bit of a song & guess)

Sing if you have ever drank green milk

Sing if you don't like being pinched

Sing if you have ever eaten LUCKY CHARMS cereal

Sing if you CHOOSE THE RIGHT

PICK A CARD CARDS

What is your favorite thing that is green?  (ex:  trees, flowers, mountains, my eyes, ect)

What is a new missionary called? (a greenie)

Green is for GO, get another turn (have child roll dice again)

What does "green with envy" mean?  (Jealousy)

What is green and has four leaves and one stem? (a four leaf clover/shamrock)

True or False?  Green is a primary color?  (false)

Name a symbol we see at church that is green and has 3 letters in it.  (the CTR shield)

The cards could be use seperately as well, without the board game.  You could just choose a helper and have them pick between the two decks.  You could divide the group into teams and have the cards worth points and see what they earn by answering the questions right or singing the songs well.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!





A Pinch Of This Or That...

As I review the song Choose The Right and Stand For The Right, I have a plan that coordinates with St. Patrick's Day.  I will choose a helper to help lead a certain verse or chorus of our monthly song.  If they sing it well, my helper will get to pinch me!  This will not take the entire singing time, it is just something I will incorporate in my presentation. I think the kids will think it is funny!

The Irish Hatter

I stole this idea of course.  I just love this one!  So these hats came from Dollar Tree and Target.  They are so silly and the kids just love embarassing the leaders.  You can use these hats a variety of ways. I am half tempted to wear one while I do singing time because they already think I am a clown, I might as well dress for the occasion!

Anyway, I have 5 hats (may need to buy a few more).  Each hat will have a song that coordinates.  I will choose a helper.  The child will choose from the hats or goofy headbands.  The helper will lead the children in the song.  At the end of the song, he will choose a leader (or his teacher) to wear the hat he has chosen.  I think they will think it is really funny to see the adults wearing these things.  Me, too!

You could also put ways to sing a song on these hats.  Or the kids could wear the hats.  Endless possibilities.  My own 4 children are already fighting over which hat they get to wear on the 17th of March so they don't get pinched.

St Patrick's Day Fun

I am always thinking of the next thing, BE PREPARED (I stole that motto).  So of course Valentines Day has come and gone.  So now what?  St. Patrick's day!!!! I have spent alot of time blog stalking and found some ideas that I have morphed into my own.  I found some very cute supplies at the Target $1-Spot and $1-Tree.  I got this pack of 12 foam shamrocks...half were glittery and half were plain.  On the glittery ones, I have put the word RIDDLE.  On the back is a silly Irish Riddle.  On the other shamrocks is the word SONG and on the back are primary songs.  I have attached magnets to them. I love that the chalk boards are magnetic.  It is so much easier to post things up and have children pick this way, tape is always a nightmare I feel.  So this is the game.

I will split the primary in half, using the asile up the center to divide it evenly.  Two teams.  Each team gets a chance to come pick a shamrock.  They can pick a glittery one or a plain one.  If they pick a plain one, their team has to sing the song by themselves and if they perform it WELL, they will earn 3 points.  If they choose a glittery shamrock, they have to answer the silly Irish riddle on the back.  They can have help from their team (including leaders).  If they get it right, they get 5 points.  The team with the most wins. 

Riddles:

What is out on the lawn all summer long?  Paddy 'O Furniture
What do you call a fake stone in Ireland?  A Shamrock
Why do frogs like St. Patrick's day?  Because they are GREEN!
Where would you find a Leprechaun baseball team?  The Little League
What kind of bow cannot be tied?  A rainbow
Why do people wear shamrocks?  Because real rocks are too heavy

There are alot of Irish jokes/riddles out there, but I felt these were easy and tame for church.  The kids only have to answer along the lines to get it right and I figure with teacher's help, they might get most of them.  Hopefully it will be fun!

The songs I have chosen
I LIKE TO LOOK FOR RAINBOWS
GIVE SAID
FOLLOW THE PROPHET
JESUS WANTS ME FOR A SUNBEAM
FUN TO DO
HAPPY & YOU KNOW IT  (if you love wearing green, clap your hands!)

Again, I do games in addition to singing the song of the month. I like to mix in oldies that the kids don't get to sing because there is an agenda to learn the NEW song of the month.  I tried to find songs that went along with Green and St. Patrick's Day.