These ideas are a compilation of ideas I have collected over the years from several choristers. I hope that by sharing these with you, that you will be able to glean many ideas to help you in your Primary Music calling. This is just the first of a few different posts on this subject. I will be sharing several other ideas that I have collected in the next couple of weeks that have been fun and helpful with my own Primary. Enjoy!

Primary Singing Time Helps

1. Folding Laundry - Have a basket filled with socks (probably 8 pairs and
the rest "spares"). In one sock of each pair put a paper with the name of a
song. Choose a child to come up and find pairs within a certain amount of
time (30 seconds or so). If they find a pair then sing the song that is in
the toe of one of the socks. If they don't get a pair, call on someone else
to try it.

2. Name that Tune - "March Madness" - A round laundry basket is the basket
and three or four small balls are needed. The child gets to choose where
he stands (the one-note line or the three-note line. They shoot all the
balls. The pianist plays as many notes of the melody as the child earned
with his/her basketball shots (up to 12 notes). They primary tries to "Name
that Tune" and then they sing it. This could be done in teams if you wanted
to.

3. Teach each line to a different class while telling the rest of the
primary that they can't learn the lines you're teaching the other classes -
they can only learn the one you teach them. Within 10 minutes they will
know the entire song and be laughing the whole
time because they were "naughty" and learned the lines when you told them
not to.....

4. The pom pom game is my primary kids' favorite game EVER. Take three
identical plastic cups (not see-through) and one pom pom. Put the cups
upside down on the table - the pom pom under one of the cups. Move the cups
around like a magician, trying to make it so the kids don't know where the
pom pom is. When you stop moving the cups, call on one of the kids to guess
which cup is hiding the pom pom. If they guess correctly, the child gets to
choose the next song to sing. If they don't get it, the chorister gets to
choose the song to sing. I use it when we have only a couple of minutes left
or when I need an emergency sub lesson because I've had to call someone last
minute (you can use paper cups from the kitchen and a wad of paper if you're
desperate).

5. An idea that I got off of a Primary Music list has been VERY successful for our senior primary. They are probably the most requested songs by my senior primary.

I have a small piece of poster board - probably about the size of two
pieces of paper - for each book of scriptures - Old Testament, New Testament
and Book of Mormon. Choose two colors for each one. Write the names of the
books, alternating colors every few words. I'll show you what I mean using
caps and non-caps (but I usually write the words normally but in two colors
- red and blue, for example).
Example - FIRST AND SECOND books of nephi, jacob, ENOS, JAROM, OMNI,
WORDS OF mormon and mosiah. *In the Book of Mormon.* ALMA, HELAMAN, THIRD,
fourth nephi,
mormon, ETHER AND MORONI, LEARN the teachings of the prophets *In the Book
of Mormon.*
I divide the senior primary into two groups (boys are red, girls are
blue or by class). When the words are in their color, they stand and sing
the words. They sit down and are quiet when it's the other group's turn to
sing. Both groups stand and sing *In the Book of Mormon.* I have it written
in both colors - one right over the top of each other. I always have to
remind them that in our primary we "Never sing louder than lovely!" They
love this so much that they often forget.

6. I give a teacher a piece of colored paper with some tape on it. He/She
goes out into the hallway and starts walking away from the Primary
room. When she can no longer hear the singing, she tapes the paper to the
wall. The kids like to go down the hall after Primary and see where the
paper is.

7. Use the "music language". My kids love to sing songs using "decrescendo"
and "crescendo". We talk about how quietly we have to start to be loud (but
never louder than lovely) at the end. We talk about how loud we need to
start in order to still be singing by the end of the song. I've also used
piano, mezzo forte, forte, staccato, legato, etc., to have them sing certain
ways. The senior boys will sing forever if they can sing crescendo or
staccato.

8. I always keep those big clown sunglasses that you get at the dollar store
in my box. I call them my Super Singer Sunglasses. I call on a child to
wear the glasses and look for a Super Singer to come up and wear the glasses
next (or pick a picture or hold a visual or something....). This is best
with junior primary.

9. The silly hat works best for junior primary, too. The class that is
singing the most lovely, loudest, being the most reverent, etc., gets to
have their teacher wear the silly hat while we sing the next song.

10. Use an egg carton with a small ball in it. Mark each little egg cup
with a different "thing". I made little pictures of 12 different things, six
ways to sing and six types of selections, and stuck them in the individual
egg cups. Put a small ball (marble) in the egg carton. Close it and let a
child shake it to choose the next way to sing the song. They loved shaking
the egg carton and also had a fun time singing.These are the 12 things I
used: 1. Sing like an opera singer; 2. Boys only; 3. Standing up; 4. Sing
with your mouth closed (was very funny); 5. Sing staccato; 6. Sing with your
eyes closed; 7. Sing like a wide-mouth frog; 8. Sing in a whisper; 9. Sing
like a cowboy; 10. Sing like a flamingo (standing on one leg); 11. Girls
only; 12. Sing like a monster (I let them make faces, sing in a gruff voice,
etc.)